Recommended Helmet for Padded / Waster practice?

[James_Knowles]

I just want to re-inforce what Jeff said. Don't be sparring with wasters beyond your control. The goal is education, not enriching doctors. You can break bones even with lots of personal protection.

Some semi-random thoughts:

Nobody should be striking harder than one's partner can safely take. The flip side to this is ensure you have good equipment so you don't cheat your partner out of a good practice.

!!!NOTE!!! Watch how tired you are when sparring. I tend to push myself beyond prudent boundaries and have suffered various injuries (including a shattered finger) as a result. Personal protection won't save you in these situations. Be smart.

One may also consider that too much protection can be counter productive as one can (1) not realize that a legitimate blow was received and (2) not learn to use correct technique as one relies on the protection to cover up mistakes.

As for knee pads, I bought some wrestling knee pads after Jake's awesome unarmed class. That completely removed all the skin from my knees! That took a lot of careful care to heal correctly.

While I don't get hit on my knees (knock on wood), when you go to the ground they're priceless. I've found that I'm a lot less fearful of groundwork with them on.

[Matt Bruskotter]

Lots of good info! Thanks! Now, to go shopping.

[Jaron Bernstein]

When we do padded sparring a helmet is a must. Gloves are nice as I have had many a mashed finger.

[Tim Hyde]

What kind of gloves do you recommend, I was looking at hockey gloves today and most at the local dicks sporting goods looked much too cumbersome.

I know that for more protection it will need to be cumbersome, but is there any glove thats in the medium that anyone recommends that is agile yet protects well.

[James_Knowles]

What kind of gloves

Yeah, hockey gloves can be quite restrictive. Personally I don't like them. Casper has taken a knife to his hockey gloves to give his hands and fingers much greater mobility.

I have bag gloves from which I removed the bar in the palm (undid the stitching with a razor). Good padding on the back of the hand and lower fingers. The bad thing is that the fingertips are exposed. These are gloves that I used when I did a lot of sword tag (before I found ARMA).

[Jake_Norwood]

I've used lacross gloves (similar but superior to hockey gloves) for some time. They're still too bulky, IMO, but they usually get the protection thing done. Revival clothing has some padded gauntlets that are probably pretty nice (with kevlar reinforced models on the way, so I hear). Motorcycle racing gloves are probably another decent idea--the kevlar plating would distribute the force of many a hand-strike.

Jake

[Jamie Fellrath]

I use Galls® Forced Entry Gloves, and I know a lot of other guys do too. They offer great mobility and awesome protection.

http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&style=TE383

[Matthew_Anderson]

Jamie: "I use Galls® Forced Entry Gloves, and I know a lot of other guys do too. They offer great mobility and awesome protection".

http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&style=TE383

The only thing I didn't like about those gloves is the way the grip felt on a waster. With the padded weapons, which usually have a tape wrapping of some sort, they were fine, but the palms felt slippery against a wood grip. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like the waster would slip out of my hand. Anyone else experience this? Otherwise, they seem pretty good. They're really light, not too bulky, etc.

[Jamie Fellrath]

Interesting... I don't think I've ever tried using them with my waster. I suppose if that's an issue, though, you could wrap some leather around your waster handle or some such thing.

[Tim Merritt]

I have these (Galls). True, a bit slippery with wood. Another thing I found, is that there wasn't enough give across the top of the knuckles, making you work harder to grip, tiring the hands, and rubbing the knuckles raw. So I took the pads out of the top, scored them (put cuts not quite all the way through) in a natural pattern, and reinserted. Makes them bend easier, and improves grip. And another thing, I put a leather wrap on my waster, which improved grip.

[Tim Hyde]

Hello all, Thanks for the help again. Had a great time at my first practice last night. Good group of people.

I did however run into an unexpected problem... I cannot wear my glasses under the hockey helmet as the frames might shatter or break into my eyes. What do those of you who wear glasses do, wear sport glasses or something? I have trouble seeing without them on unfortunately so Its like fighting a mysterious blob of doom to me

[Jaron Bernstein]

I am among the blind also. <img src="/forum/images/icons/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Get yourself a pair of prescription rec specs or what the military calls BCG's (birth control glasses, yeah they are that ugly). Those are now your martial arts glasses. Before you buy any helmet, see if it fits with those glasses.

[Jamie Fellrath]

As I remember, make sure they have some wiggle room in there. Jaron, didn't we bust a pair of your glasses right down the middle because there wasn't enough wiggle room for them in the helmet you were wearing?

[David Craig]

I did however run into an unexpected problem... I cannot wear my glasses under the hockey helmet as the frames might shatter or break into my eyes. What do those of you who wear glasses do, wear sport glasses or something? I have trouble seeing without them on unfortunately so Its like fighting a mysterious blob of doom to me

I had that same problem for quite awhile. It was solved by getting prescription goggles of the "extreme sport" type. They fit under masks/helmets. In addition to being able to see when fighting, they also give you the bonus of some additional protection for your eyes should your mask fail. My eyes are very bad and I had difficulty finding goggles to match my prescription. But I was able to get a pair from sportrx.com. They were nice to deal with, the goggles arrived quickly, and the price was reasonable -- given what I normally have to pay for glasses.

David

[Jaron Bernstein]

Not down the middle, but the temple broke.

I had to get my BCG's with prescription lenses. Otherwise I would too be fighting against the dreaded "blur that hits you" <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />