What type of martial arts does sparring without padding?

[Dominus]

I am interested in this because I believe that padding is not good for training, since on the street, you won't have pads or protection, and you need to get used to that. Anyway, what styles don't use padding?

[jaymac]

Sometime padding isn't good for training because the individual isn't afraid to let strikes come in. However, if you own a dojo, many insurances state that your students must wear protective gear. There are styles that do not practice with gear, I am sure there must be a way around the insurance issue like a contract stating " if you are injured during.... medical costs will be paid by the injured...."

I am not sure though.

[Jiffy]

My thoughts.... find another insurance company. Our insurance company understands the nature of MA and therefore we practise how we want.

Anyway, onto the topic. Heaps of styles train without padding, i think it is more dependant on the individual schools that the style. For instance, in most arts I have trained in, I know some that train with padding, and some that don't.

[b3n]

Kyokushin sounds like the style your after, but whether they use padding or not varies from dojo to dojo.

[karatekid1975]

Let me know if there is one. I hate the gear ....

[Charlie]

Most of Kyokushin and its "offshoots" (Ashihara, Seido, Enshin, Shidokan, Oyama, etc) do at least some sparring without padding or with minimal padding (light gloves/shinguards). The tournaments they enter or sponsor usually are no pads/gloves at the advanced (black belts) level.

[Texman]

i think it is more dependant on the individual schools that the style.

Jiffy is right. If you're really keen to be sparring without padding, find a teacher who doesn't require padding. This is how it works in our dojo.

However, I question your logic here. You risk serious injury without safety equipment and that certainly isn't good for fighting in a real situation - someone tries to mug you and you can't defend yourself because of your dodgy knuckles you smashed in sparring one day.

I don't think there are many places too where you are allowed to hit full contact, so even without padding you're not going to get the same feeling as being in a real fight. You're more likely to get this because you're not so scared of hurting anyone BECAUSE you're wearing pads.

As far as getting the feeling of hitting something so that you don't break your wrist the first time you defend yourself, train with a makiwara or heavy bag. Pounding into someone is by far the worst way for both of you of conditioning.

[SubGrappler]

To be honost, padding can be a blessing in disguise, it just depends on how much padding you use, and how realistically you spar.

For example, since you're so caught up on being street realistic, if you were to spar full contact with no padding everytime you went to class, you'd get beat to hell, which would mean you'd only be able to actually spar full out maybe once every week or two. Padding allows you to fight with more power (which makes for a more realistic situation) and helps minimize the injuries. This allows for a much faster recovery time which means you'll get to spar more often.

That being said, I believe any style that you train in is going to spar with protective equipment- its an advantage that modern fighters have over those of the past and it would not be wise not to take advantage of it. Tournaments are a different story. Kyokushin tournaments I believe fight with no padding. Amateur MMA has instep guards and 4 oz gloves. Boxing matches have gloves and headgear, and muay thai matches have gloves, headgear, and instep guards.

[marie curie]

Yeh, padding can be a great idea, especailly when you are a beginner. However, if you are dead set on training without, be sure to make sure any place you find is reputable and check around with thier reputation. Padless sparring has advandages, yes, but can be very dangerous, so I'd be careful.

[hurricane]

I too think it depends on the dojo. I do Shotokan and we don't spar with padding. In tournaments, we use gloves and a mouthpiece, both mandatory. But at the dojo, we fight without the stuff. But I've been to other Shotokan dojos where they used gloves in class. But I think in general, Shotokan uses little padding apart from the gloves.