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A Cheap, but Scientific Solution
This can be done cheaply (and reasonably accurately) with a smartphone, your fists, and some physics (which can be streamlined in excel or other spreadsheet). You want numbers to accompany your punches, so with a little effort, you can become intimate with character of your punches.
I'm pretty sure every smartphone has an ...
14
For non-contact training, I just wear my glasses.
For sparring, I take them off [1].
For non-contact stick training, we wear safety goggles, which fit over the top.
For heavier stick training, I either take them off, or wear prescription sports goggles. They're goofy-looking, but so am I--it's a wash.
[1] In a fight, your glasses will come off--might as ...
14
There are many reasons for this.
Boxers use oil/vaseline to make their bodies more slippery. Obviously doesn't work in a tank-top.
12-rounds of boxing against 8/10oz gloves would end up wrecking an olympic style tank top really fast. Something would go loose, and there would have to be breaks in the fight. You don't want to hit anything that is not just the ...
12
"It depends." Partly on your goals, partly on what you hope to achieve via sparring.
First things first: If shin guards are standard in your studio or if your instructor recommends them, then absolutely get them. You might talk to the senior students and see if they agree with the advice before springing for them, but this is one of the situations you ...
11
Okay well if you do wing chun that is great, so do i! Yes it is definitely worth practicing alone. Here are some of the things i do:
Get a 3 section wall bag and a wet towel (with somewhere to hang it). Assuming you have correct form on your sun fist punch, you should practice punching the center of a wet towel with out any water flicking back onto you. And ...
11
Practice on your own is pretty much an unavoidable element of the martial way past a certain point.
Other than developing your body through conditioning exercise (Bruce Lee's plyometrics are a good starting point), you can develop your body through breathing exercises (the Systema DVDs about breathing are pretty interesting and insightful).
It is important ...
9
Its really useful. Most useful the sooner you see it afterwards. I've found, in the past, that anything relatively tricky (like jumping techniques, or flips) really benefit from this.
Many times with instruction I've been told, "you just need to do X" and I'll think to myself that I was doing X! Very easy to sort out the "I thought I was doing X" ...
9
Thicker doesn't equal better. It's more about the quality.
Judo mats need to be different then TKD or Karate or even wrestling mats.
You should be looking for mats designed for judo.
Dax, Swain, and Zebra are all reputable brands that make excellent tatami.
things to look for:
texture on the tatami (should be the rice grain pattern, this ...
8
Usually, it's enough to give a light sanding with fine grit sandpaper and a rub down with boiled linseed oil. It's important to use boiled linseed oil, as it will properly permeate the wood.
If they were meant more for decoration or a trophy after years of service, and no longer intended to be used, a light varnish will give them a beautiful luster. ...
8
I usually wash it at hottest possible temperature, and that does the trick (beware though, this might shrink a new dogi). If it is very dirty, I handwash it with plenty of washing detergent (making sure it gets in there), and then let it soak overnight, before I wash it.
Back when I was a kid, my mom used to soak it with chlorine to get the worst grass and ...
8
Short answer - catch your shin on your opponent's knee or elbow in a roundhouse kick without shin guards and see how you feel. ;)
Or, to look at it another way - Do targets defeat the purpose in training? Does a face mask or mouth guard defeat the purpose of training? Does practising with dull/not metal throwing stars or a wooden blade defeat the purpose?
...
8
If you're conditioning your body, shin guards defeat the purpose.
If you're sparring, shin guards allow you to walk home afterwards.
8
What is shown is a vambrace, or possibly a bracer repurposed to be more armor. A vambrace is a tube of armor, anything from metal to leather, used to protect the forearm. A bracer is intended only to protect the inside of the arm of an archer. What is shown in the image looks more like a bracer, but seems to be intended for use as armor, much like the ...
7
The problem with boxing gloves is that they get moist inside, and don't always get a chance to dry. What you can do is to crumple a few pages from your local newspaper and stuff that into it. That will absorb the sweat, and they won't get moldy.
I've also heard of people putting them in the freezer or out in the sun, but I'm not sure if any of these are ...
7
If there's one thing I've learned over the years of training (Ninjutsu as well): It's better to have the equipment and not need it than to need it and not have it. If the instructor suggests them, buy them; he'll make your life hell if he thinks you're not taking his advice.
Any sort of padding will make the training less realistic, but is that necessarily ...
6
Grappling dummies have their place and are useful. But like you said they are no substitute for a real body.
I must preface this with the fact that they only grappling dummies I've used are the ones with no legs or arms that are really only mean for dragging around, picking up, and working ground and pound. and they are good for that.
As for grappling ...
6
Firstly, there is no minimum for injury prevention - but the thicker the rubber, the better the protection. Too thick and it will feel spongy, so while a thick rubber might be suitable for a martial art that incorporates a lot of throws, you might want a thinner one for disciplines which require jumps and rapid changes of direction.
The karate and TKD clubs ...
6
I use gel handwraps for boxing, and have used gel gloves. My experience with foam is that it compresses and shifts over time in your gloves, whereas gel gloves seem to do this less, and last a bit longer as a result.
This is entirely anecdotal, based on my personal experience.
6
I know this answer comes late, but perhaps it will add additional info for folks coming here for the first time.
The weight of the glove is not related to the hand size or amount of protection that it offers. Once you know the weight you want, you'll want to try on a few different brands to see what works for your hands - I, for instance, swear by my Twins ...
6
For mat size, I am listing the official competition mat sizes as a reference to help you assess the difference between practicing throws and takedowns and practicing ground techniques: keep in mind that these are large competition areas meant to minimize out-of-bound stoppages and injury risks, and they are a reasonable upper bound for a mat used by two ...
5
Does filming and analyzing yourself in training help to improve technique?
Yes and video is even more important to the coach. Video becomes an objective record that student and coach can both examine in detail. There is no room for interpretation of the facts: this is what actually happened.
Full disclosure: I hate looking at video of myself.
5
There are various versions of the rubber jigsaw mats that are pretty good, I've trained on a number and have had them for home. They are not cheap cheap, but also not that expensive. But there are options, it gets more pricey the thicker you get them. Any thickness is pretty good for purely grappling.
For throwing / takedowns then the thicker the ...
5
I've tested a variety of different solutions for protection in sparring. I have found nothing better suited to the task than the BTS High Gear system. This offers a similar profile to boxing/sparring headgear with wrap-around eye protection, full face cover, full peripheral vision, light weight...
The problems with fencing masks is they tend to have an ...
5
I wash my handwraps every other class. They don't take up much space in the wash machine so it's no trouble at all. I would recommend getting one of those lingerie/delicates laundry bags to put them in, or they turn into a tangled disaster.
as for the gloves like everyone else says, dry them out/ sanitize them after class. and don't store them in a bag. ...
5
For my large MMA/Boxing gloves:
Spray Lysol on the inside
Wipe it down with a dry paper towel
With a damp paper towel wipe down the inside
With all straps/Velcro open let try and air out in a well ventilated area
I normal wrap my hands in the paper towels to clean out the inside of the glove. For wrist straps I always let them hang dry in a well ventilated ...
5
I find wearing a 100% cotton undershirt helps if you can tolerate it. It acts as an intermediate layer and worse case can be swapped with another.
For stains that manage to get past this using some sort of spray'n'wash product is useful but it needs to applied after a training session or soaked in combination to help remove the stubborn ones.
5
There is an additional angle here: the shin guards do not just protect your shins, they also protect your sparring partner from your shins. This can even be the more important thing, because while your shins can hurt a lot when hit, they are actually quite robust, they are very effective as blocks and can do great damage in attacks.
Head, groin and gum ...
5
I never used these when I briefly took Tae Kwon Do when I was younger, but we use these same kicking pads in my kung fu classes. The way we hold them depends on the kick, but in general we tend to hold the pad close and braced against our bodies while in a grounded stance. I don't quite recall the stances in Tae Kwon Do, but I'm sure there is some analogue ...
5
I've been training in (and recently teaching) Krav Maga for a while, and groin kicks are a regular occurrence. From my experience, it really doesn't matter all that much which cup you use, as long as you check it regularly, it shouldn't break spontaneously. Cups will usually crack first. Even if you wear a cup, it's still gonna hurt, you just have to get ...
5
I would recommend plastic/goggle type glasses with an elastic band around your head. While it's true that glasses will normally come off in any real physical altercation, seeing and understanding the techniques during the hours and hours of practice is more important (IMHO) than your potential discomfort if you have them knocked off. Sport glasses were very ...
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