Do you wear head gear?

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 1:42pm

I believe this has been discussed before (probably by me) but after a recent discussion I gotta ask, do you wear head gear when you spar?

To me, with MMA-style training head gear is overrated for protection. If anything it gets in the way of transitions, and does little to protect you from much more than cuts.

When you get hit in the head, you're rocked. Sure a boxing glove and some cushion of a head gear is gonna protect you a bit, but at the end of the day, you're getting rocked in hard sparring. Does anyone here think that head gear really makes that much more of a difference in regards to preventing head blows (excluding the protection from cuts)?

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 2:17pm

Until I picked up some decent boxing instruction recently , no I did not use head gear . I didn't feel I needed it . When we went hard I had space to work games , more time to implement them , multiple tools and methods to keep me safe and the areas that were targeted were more spread out .

Under restricted rules sets or space you are forced to play different games . Sometimes those games involve constant brain bouncing and some what friendly headhunting . I know I haven't been knocked the **** out in class and I have taken shots that rattled me to the point I have had to sit down .

I am pretty sure those same shot would have laid me out without the head gear .

* shrugs *

so I guess I am trying to say if you are learning to strike the head effectively , you should be wearing protection just in case it works ...

**recourse** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 2:42pm

I'm ordering headgear right now. At my gym there's a rule of no head kicks if the person isn't wearing headgear.

**Dempsy Roll** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 2:57pm

You have to wear headgear during sparring at my gym. Apparently it has something to do with insurance.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 3:07pm

I never used to wear head gear, but my current gym was being real naggy about us wearing head gear for sparring. Plus I figured I might as well get used to wearing head gear so it doesn't mess with me during the fights where it's required (using loaner head gear to fight in can really suck).

I have this head gear and I actually like it quite a bit

It's pretty comfortable and slim so it doesn't really get in the way or block your vision. I can't stand head gear with chin and cheek protection.

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 3:42pm

Head gear is always a good idea when sparring for safety's sake. I would highly recommend the Rival head gear. It is hands down the best headgear I've ever owned.

**E-Van** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 3:50pm

Originally Posted by KidSpatula

I never used to wear head gear, but my current gym was being real naggy about us wearing head gear for sparring. Plus I figured I might as well get used to wearing head gear so it doesn't mess with me during the fights where it's required (using loaner head gear to fight in can really suck).

I have this head gear and I actually like it quite a bit

It's pretty comfortable and slim so it doesn't really get in the way or block your vision. I can't stand head gear with chin and cheek protection.

I love this gear and i will tell you why. At the gym we dont wear to much head gear but my freinds and I (who all train mind you. We arent back yard wannabees) like to do conditioning circuits wear one of us stays in while we rotate fresh bodys in and out.

Now when you are wearing this type of head gear with some good boxing gloves it keeps alot of the damage from occuring. Not all but some. And like you said Kenpo.. a good shot will still rock you.. but it realy does well in protecting alot of the black eyes and cuts.

**Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 3:58pm

I wear three different types of headgear:

1) A Daido Juku "spacehelmet" when I spar hard-style.
This is because we only wear the kyokushin "foam" knuckleprotectors. Getting hit in the head doesn't protect you against a knock-out but I don't have to show up on mondaymeetings with a purple-yellow eye (or 1 side of the face purple-yellow).

2) I started a few years ago to wear boxing headgear (In the style of KidSpatula's one) when I was training Muay Thai. The reason was that you can take punches to the head easier with those kickboxing gloves and keep fighting, but your brain is still bouncing around in your skull.
You fight different than when your opponent is wearing MMA gloves. With the heavier boxing gloves you take more chances, taking more hits to the head. I consider it more a longterm investment.

3) Wrestling earprotectors when training BJJ. I'm no fan of coliflower ears.

I'm a recreational fighter and just wanna keep training as long as I can, so I take a little bit extra care with age creeping up.

**Domite** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 4:03pm

I don't train MMA, but in kickboxing, I like headgear for protecting my lilly white skin. I bleed often enough from the nose. It is pretty annoying to have the top of it obscure your vision though.

I own FightGear, works pretty well for me.

**maofas** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 8:43pm

Showing up to work with facial bruises sucks, because your choices are either a) letting people think you're the type of person who hangs out in bars getting into fights b) telling lay-people you do martial arts which is never a smart idea.

Since I got my nose fixed (so I can breathe I mean, it's still huge) I'm trying to be good about wearing headgear. Unfortunately the only things really suited for really hard contact that protect your nose without your opponent wearing big gloves are either a) vision impeding b) expensive as **** and need to be imported.