Pads,mitts and head guards.

[kilogreen]

Hi there, i have been into martial arts for about 20 years and have been in and watched alot of tournaments, not necessarily all karate but most karate, sport karate, freestyle etc. In most of these you are required to wear protective equipment eg mitts and shinguards, in the tournaments i saw alot of injuries caused by people going in full throttle and knocking people out or busting noses. In the tournaments i have taken part in i have never worn any mitts or guards of any description and have noticed that these tournaments have a lower casualty rate at the end of the day.

I'm just being the devils advocate and putting a debate forward about the use of pads.

1.If you had pads would you hit the person harder?

2.If you were bare fist would you think twice about plowing in full throttle just incase you caught one?

3.Would it be considered more of an artform if you can control rather than kill?

Just to see what people think.....comments please....

[bushido_man96]

The level of contact depends more on the tournament rules rather than how much padding is worn. Many point tournaments are light to medium contact, and they still wear padding. At these events, you will likely see fewer injuries, if the refs are doing their jobs.

I try to spar with the same emotion, whether I am padded or not. If I don't have pads on in class, I will try to control myself so as not to injure someone. However, if it is tournament, and there is no limit on the contact, then I would go after them. At our tournaments, we spar with pads and chest protectors, but we have to have body displacement to score points, so we have to make some good level of contact. We can also win by knockout, so the level of contact gets up there.

[elbows_and_knees]

Hi there, i have been into martial arts for about 20 years and have been in and watched alot of tournaments, not necessarily all karate but most karate, sport karate, freestyle etc. In most of these you are required to wear protective equipment eg mitts and shinguards, in the tournaments i saw alot of injuries caused by people going in full throttle and knocking people out or busting noses.

point style padding sucks... It's not made for full contact hitting. most point tournaments I've seen outlaw hard contact, and IME will deduct points for excessive contact. However, even full contact gear won't prevent busted noses and KOs though - that's just part of full contact fighting.

In the tournaments i have taken part in i have never worn any mitts or guards of any description and have noticed that these tournaments have a lower casualty rate at the end of the day.

you weren't using a high contact level.

I'm just being the devils advocate and putting a debate forward about the use of pads.

1.If you had pads would you hit the person harder?

the rules should dictate that, not the use (or lack thereof) of pads.

2.If you were bare fist would you think twice about plowing in full throttle just incase you caught one?

No.

3.Would it be considered more of an artform if you can control rather than kill?

both. Not everyone has enough power to kill - few do. On the same token, not everyone can spar with control. Personally, I'd be more impressed by the man who can kill. If I can kill you, I can always be taught to spar with control, however, just because I have control when I spar doesn't mean I can generate the power to kill you.

[kilogreen]

all very valid points indeed...thanks for the response...

[Orion]

Personally I have never sparred but I can say this from a beginners point of view. I would be scared to hit someone without pads on. Im not mike tyson but if I hurt or injured someone I think I would stuggle to spar again.

[elbows_and_knees]

Personally I have never sparred but I can say this from a beginners point of view. I would be scared to hit someone without pads on. Im not mike tyson but if I hurt or injured someone I think I would stuggle to spar again.

What if you ARE wearing pads and hurt them? injury is always a factor in fighting.

[Empty_Hand]

Gonna have to go with Orion on this one. In other words I haven't advanced to kumite yet. I realize that once this happens injury could very well be a factor. Regardless of the pads or no pads issue, I feel focus, speed, balance and power are essential. Perhaps if both participants in a sparring session/tournament remember this then injury could be minimized. Actually this was just mentioned in my class Saturday; Focus, Speed, Balance, Power and proper kihon. Five things I hope to bring to every battle.

[sonofkanga]

A few links to full contact no pading knockdown fights.

 

for more just type -kyokushin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT8D2MOBl5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjLI6wjRRGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrG8SAcS3eI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53MpRTVX9vs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3DqMBrUBDk

My point,

to put things in to perspective.

It takes a lot of training to be able to do that.

padding is a must if you train daily,but their presence should not change youir atitude:

ICHI GEKI;HISSATSU

OSU

[Rick_72]

We use the standard padding for kumite; hands, feet, head, and mouthguard. No chest protector. I've gone a step further with the shin pads, because I once had a waist high round house kick blocked with someone's bent knee, and my ankle swelled up like a balloon, so I didn't like that much haha.

I think having progressed through stages where I would get in the ring and pound on my opponent and get pounded back, I've gained a lot of control, as have most others with experience. I usually base how a kumite match is going to go by who my opponent is. If I'm fighting a lower belt in class without much experience, I understand that I'm probably going to get hit with about 80 - 100% of their power. If I'm fighting with a brown or black belt, I can usually expect controlled, fast strikes that I feel but don't leave me sore the next day.

I have to agree with elbows_and_knees, standard sparring pads are garbage. While its going to take a little of the bone on bone contact off of it, your going to feel everything as if you were bare anyway. Two weeks ago I had my nose busted in kumite by an orange belt. Some face contact is going to occur when your fighting inexperience guys, but the padding provided from our gear was more or less non exsistant. That being said, I don't think the outcome would have been any different had we not been wearing any padding at all. I just would have been angrier, for his lack of control haha.

[Yasutsune Makoto]

I've always believed that padding is there to leave the tournaments sponsers a little comfy feeling in their stomach. As you all have mentioned, they do very little to protect the opponent, the only thing they protect is your own knuckles (sometimes).

This said...

1) No, probably not

2) Yes, but not in the match, before beginning I would realize that injuring my partner is a possibilty and make sure that I know where my fist is going and have control of it at all times. (ideally)

3) Artform, yes. But that depends on what you're sparring for. It was already stated that good point fighters, with good control can't necessarily hit hard, which is very true. The point is control, if being able to hit hard is the key, then being able to control that power is the advanced stage of kumite. Not needing full contact sparring to hone your abilities to make a killing/KO blow.

off of that.

The attitude when stepping into the ring should never be "this is for points". It should be, I will kill him! Then delivering that strike with control...Kumite is like friendly/psuedo killing practice. So I don't see any reason to injure your opponent. Hurting is fine, injuring is bad!

imo.