Question about Kyokushin Full-Contact Sparring

[DaChroniclez]

The school i am looking into claims they do full contact sparring, but when i read it, it said that they use Shinpads and Gloves, is this still viable? I thought Kyokushin was all about strengthening the body, will this still work or is it wrong? Im not that familiar with how effective padded sparring is, etc.. help is appreciated.

[nago]

A lot of Kyokushin schools here in Japan also wear some pads and do a lot of mirror fighting without contact. Most only spar hard once or twice a week. The body can only take so much punishment. As you condition your body you can step up the contact, but here even the "well known" fighters dont go at it everyday. It benifits no one to get hurt and miss training all together.

[Dijita]

It's going to depend on both the school and the situation. For example, in our class, we sometimes use gloves and shinpads but sometimes we don't. Usually if it is getting close to a tournament we spar with the gloves/shin pads as to avoid any injuries right before a tournament.

 

In the tournaments however, the fighters fight without gloves. In the colorbelt division (which is where you would start fighting) you have the option whether or not to wear shin pads.

 

I'm preety sure most schools will do varios "drills" so to say that focus on conditioning the body.