@UCadpne8fHgK4kH4d1q8668g it helps to a degree, it’s not gonna stop a knockout and punches are still going to hurt. It may help prevent serious complications but the point of the comment was to demonstrate that it’s not gonna stop your brain from rattling, it’s not gonna stop pain, and it’s not there to prevent a KO. The objective of sparring headgear (which is what we are discussing, not combat helmets they are two different headgears) is to prevent things like bruising and lacerations which is why you see it used at amateur level fights and sparring, because not everyone can afford to show up to work with bruises, black eyes, and cuts. People getting knocked out, hurt, concussed with headgear on though is by no means a rarity.
Speaking as a former football player, this absolutely makes sense. I was amazed to discover just how much it still HURTS when you get hit hard, especially getting hit in the head - and that's with a hard fiberglass helmet! The pads do help, but the moment you start RELYING on your pads, instead of your own skills and instincts, you're going to get yourself hurt.
I've heard that there are less head injuries- or any kind- in rugby than in American football, for exactly this reason. Protective gear encourages people to beef up too much and to crash helmets and so on- or to grab and twist.
Any job in the healthcare industry pretty much. I don't mean from having it ONE time, but if you come to work again and again with black eyes, then yes, you will probably be fired.
@@jamessarvan7692 Was gonna say, if you are in the US, there's probably labor laws to stop them from blatantly firing you because of health conditions (like being dinged up from sparring). Bosses can still get rid of you though, whether it's firing for something you didn't do, or putting you at the top of the list when they need to lay folks off.
+ramsey i think the head gear does protect you from the impact you feel.. its definetely less painful when hit without head gear than with head gear.. however yes it doesnt protect you from the concussions to the brain.. but nothing will protect you from that either..
@@johnnychannarong5484 I would argue it's good for 50% fights, when you want some semi-realistic training but don't want to get bruises or cuts or broken things.
True, true.....But eveytime I go easy on the opponent they think their slick and they think their winning the fight and I'm never able to showcase my skill. The times I go 100% my opponents hardly land punches
@@diamondmax5141 you have nothing to prove. I pull my punches in hard sparring. Sparring isn't about building your ego or proving your abilities, it's about testing your abilities.
My experience is the ones that always go hard are there to keep themselves from getting in trouble outside of a gym. It's sad but that's their nature. I always saw hard sparring reserved for those that compete for fights to get used to the pressure of live fighting.
It also makes your head bigger, so when you move your head to the side, or duck under, you are actually more likely to get hit. Some punches that would have just gone right by your head will hit you needlessly.
definitely correct… headgear might protect a bit more than just against cuts, but definitely not much for the brain. still useful, just don't mistake headgear for something more than it is. same goes for all kinds of helmets. i had a bad crash on my bicycle (wearing a helmet) and got KO'd and had a serious concussion. helmet kept it from being a lethal open head injury, but wasn't ever capable of solving every problem
Yeah I mean you should be wearing a helmet on a bike because it'll save your life more than not. But in this sense headgear is not anywhere near designed the same as an actually helmet.
When I kickboxed, our instructors insisted on Headgear but it was to prevent superficial damage only. We were all taught to use control as the primary method for safety in sparring.
yeah, this is why I don't wear headgear. doesn't stop concussions, makes people hit you harder, and makes it harder to slip punches and see them coming.
Lomachenko and Floyd wear headgear with a faceplate which is more visual limiting.. I guess the limit in visual visibility makes them rely more on intuition
@@SubscriberswithDankPlaylists i don't, as i have never been cut in sparing, you are not liekly to get a cut well wearing big sparring gloves, and because we don't wear head gear, we aren't throwing bombs and trying to knock each other out.
the people who love to hit hard will hit you harder regardless of whether you are wearing a headguard or not. they are NOT going to hold back just because you are not wearing a headguard.
Only sparred once with a headgear on. It was miserable. This huge thing constricting my head on all sides, limiting my visibility, and making it a bigger target. I felt like my head was stuck in a bucket, and the opponent was pounding on it full force. I can attest - it did nothing to tone down the impact force, in fact, compared to all the times I sparred without it, it actually amplified it. Great vid
@BigBoyRocky I think its a psychological thing. When your opponent is wearing heargear, you feel safer in going harder with your strikes. The same can ne said for boxing gloves or fist wraps, they allow you to strike with more force than youd normally be able to do safely. I believe his opponent, whether they were conscious of it or not, started hitting them harder due to the extra safety gear.
Besides from what you have already pointed out, headgear can be useful when someone gets knocked out and falls down. Falling when unconscious can lead to some really horrible head injuries, so it is good to reduce the damage to the head with headgear in such a case. Personally I started using headgear only because of competition rules started to demand it. Felt it was better to be used to having headgear on when I compete.
Headgear won’t help you falling backwards other than preventing damage to your skull. Concussive damage will still happen from the blow of hitting the ground
@@nicksalvatore5717 True, the concussive damage will happen even with headgear on. Still, preventing/reducing damage to the skull is not a bad thing. When falling one usually uses a technique to break fall to reduce the risk of injury, but that will not work when unconscious and thus the damage to the skull can become quite a lot worse. Therefore, headgear is useful when falling backwards while being unconscious. After all, one does not want more damage to one's skull than necessary. Though it is good of you to point out what specific parts of the head actually gets protected as I was quite unclear in my original post.
The bounce of the headgear, the larger target area, and the reduced visibility all serve to *increase* acceleration and damage to the brain. Moreover, the perception of protection is a "licensing effect" that makes sparring opponents hit even harder. That's why anybody that has ever sparred will tell you that they get more headaches when they wear headgear. I'm typing this as I watch and listen and you make all these points after I typed this :). Superficial damage is rare with larger boxing gloves to begin with and the only part of my face that I don't want superficial damage is my nose and the headgear is absolutely useless for that.
CTI I have personally always wore karate style instep guards underneath Thai instep guards. Anyone using head kicks in sparring should be able to control the kick.
Are these good for Muay Thai? : www.amazon.com/Contender-Fight-Sports-Kickboxing-Protective/dp/B00SLZLF6O/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1524007395&sr=8-12&keywords=shin+guards+muay+thai
CTI probably better off getting these if you're serious my friend: www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00I8CWQH2/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1523998332&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=fairtex+shin+guards&dpPl=1&dpID=51EmOuhqoUL&ref=plSrch I use an older version of these above with some karate instep guards underneath. Every now and then you can still go through the pads with those two on. These pads will last you save the extra money in not having to replace them as often.
On a tight budget, would these work?: www.amazon.com/Sanabul-Essential-Guards-Small-Medium/dp/B072ZT7NRJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1524001834&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=shin+guards&psc=1
I think it also protects your cheekbone and eyebrow bone from fractures which is pretty valuable, point still holds, you shouldn't spar that much with enough force to break any bone
One good example of what use headgear is what i once saw in my HEMA practice. They put a helmet on the wall. Now why was this helmet special? They went absolutely crazy with it and hit it as hard as they could with different sort of blades and axes. If someone would've been wearing the thing, they'd be dead. So they used it as a good example of not hitting hard, or you'll potentially end up killing your friend... Now that's not to say it's totally useless in HEMA. It's absolutely necessary, because without it, you'll run the risk of splitting their skulls with light contact. So be safe, people and don't think helmets always protect or that they never do.
While I appreciate the Olympic weights analogy, for this discussion that's actually the incorrect equation from a purely engineering or physics perspective. You're decreasing the force of the weight drop by distributing the force over a larger area while the whole purpose of head gear is supposed to be to increase the delta-T of the force impulse equation. This is why head gear in American football and crumple zones in cars are so effective. Basically, the force impulse equation states the Force times time of the collision equals mass times the change in velocity. In a collision scenario you can't change the mass or the velocity so the only way you can decrease the force is to increase the time of the collision. The deformation of the head gear is supposed to increase the time of the collision and better protect the fighter. However, I would argue that head gears are far too soft to actually do this. If you can easily push in a headgear to its maximum deformation with your finger then its going to do nothing to stop a fist flying at your face. Its not the head gear doesn't help, its that all head gears on the market, even the "high grade" ones, are poorly designed from an engineering perspective.
While you are technically correct about increasing delta-T, the fact is that if you consider that a normal sized helmet (unless we're talking about something too large for practical training) delta-T can only be increased so much since the punch will only have less than two extra inches before it reaches the head. Sure decreasing the jolt of the huge amount of force that comes with a smaller delta-T does help, but the help will be pretty limited as the force will still be too large for the brain and when stacked against the type of behavior that helmets seem to encourage in pretty much every contact sport, it seems to always end up being a pure negative, aside from some very specific situations like mentioned in the video.
Well the american football example is one that shows why protective gear can be counterproductive and more dangerous than if you didn't have any. The problem with your analysis is that the change in force of the impact is negligible. The best the gear does is reduce the force on at the surface on the skin. People often hit and get hit harder with head gear making them more dangerous when looking at the impact on the brain. Essentially while yes headgear reduces the force on the brain, it's negligible and way less than you would expect, hence counterproductive. Edit: Also it might be better to look at the impulse than force. Any reduction in force results in the same impulse to the brain due to extended period of action.
The problem is deceleration, not acceleration. It is not the problem of the brain that is motion. It is a problem when the skull that encases the brain suddenly stops or has a sudden change in an opposing direction. Headgear doesn't offer much protection against a concussion. Football players still get concussions with the very best helmets you can get. In fact, every year, about a dozen or so high school kids die as a result of football being closed-head "internal" injury. A helmet doesn't hold your brain. Neither does your skull. Ramsay is correct, headgear protects the head from surface damage such as skull fractures, abrasions, and cuts. A skull fracture would mean your brain could spill out especially if the dura is broken. Any professional football player will tell they had tons of concussions and concussions don't tell you about brain damage either. You can have an ice pick stuck in your brain and you will probably not have any signs of a concussion, though clearly your brain is damaged in some way. IT DOES NOTHING TO PREVENT YOUR BRAIN FROM BOUNCING AROUND IN YOUR SKULL. No more, no less than boxing gloves were "supposedly" designed to cushion blows to the head. Boxing gloves actually protect the hands upon impact, not the brain, and makes punching the head much more effective because there is less hand injury. In fact, Boxers don't even need to close their fists when they punch. One of the goals of a Boxer is to try to push the skull with such velocity that the head snap back causing the brain the move with the skull. Of course, the skull doesn't perpetually move in the same direction, it stops with the rest of the body causing the brain to smash against the skull. That is how a knockout is achieved. The amount of cushioning that modern helmets and gloves have are largely irrelevant.
I remember having an amateur fight with headgear and it was the stupidest thing ever. I was fighting with my headgear the whole time and kept getting caught by punches I could have easily dodged. Yeah I didn't get any cuts but I left with a headache. Could barely see.
Control and trust in competent sparring partners is *way* more effective in preventing brain trauma than headgear. Along with good defense and head movement. The reason I use it in sparring is keeping me from black eyes and cuts. I'm a grad student, and it can get a bit awkward doing a presentation or taking part in a research meeting with a stitched eyebrow and a black eye. This was in the first sparring lessons in my gym, "this piece of headgear will not protect you from trauma, what will is proper sparring technique and etiquette." Great video.
You're correct about what headgear does. I'm a retired U.S.Army 91W Combat Medic. I have dealt with a lot of head injuries. What causes brain injury is the shock to the brain when the head gets slammed, as it is free floating inside your skull in Cerebral Spinal Fluid. Head gear won't stop the brain from getting damaged. What will? Don't get hit. For those who criticize your analogy, with the floor, or equation being right or not, they just don't get the point. Even wearing a ballistic helmet like we do in the army, won't keep your brain from getting scrambled when you're hit. Thanks for the video.
Totally correct with this. Does not protect against any concussive effects.I wore it at first but ripped it off as it impaired my sight on the angles etc.
It won't prevent the brain from moving around inside the skull but it protects my nose during sparring and saved me countless black eyes. But, yeah, heavy shots are still felt and concussion still happens whether you wear headgear or not.
He's right a headgear wont prevent you from getting KO'd but it WILL protect you from getting your nose smashed or permanently disfigured. I have seen so many boxers who have a squashed in looking nose if they wore a face saver headgear then their nose would not be squashed in looking like that. Also a headgear will prevent you from getting your teeth knocked out as well. (.p.s. I am referring to a FACE SAVER headgear, the ones that have a steel bar going across the nose area).
At most, it’s a 5% decrease to brain damage, based on the small padding and dispersion of impact, but’s that’s being generous, and that’s not worth the extra hassle. That being said, if you’re concerned about your physical appearance it looking like you train to fight, wear them. I have a friend who trains MMA for self defense, and intentionally makes sure he doesn’t loom like he trains. He wear pads to make sure he doesn’t get cuts or bruises, spars with guys who are controlled enough to place hits on the padded areas, and even wears loose fitting clothing to hide his physique. He doesn’t want to advertise he is tough, because he feels that strength invites challenge. He’d rather be the quiet guy who is the most dangerous in the room than the loud guy who says he is the most dangerous in the room. The only reason I k own he trains is because I dropped him off at the gym a few times when his car was in the shop.
the headgear wouldn’t save your brain from impact but it definitely help to protect your face, I think that is the whole point about it, we just expect so much from it.
Well said, Ramsey! I trained for years without headgear. Then recently, because I saw more people using them, I got some. After I put them on, I hit myself in the head to see how it would feel. That's all it took for me to know what headgear really do :-) I hope people take your advice as CTE is a growing epidemic.
Excellent video and explanation! In open karate tournaments now, the many sanctioning organizations in the States and Canada have made headgear mandatory in kids divisions. Sounds like a good rule EXCEPT too many officials allow much more contact, thinking the child is protected more! To make matters worse, many of these headgear have clear face shields that protrude 2-3 inches from the face, making what amounts to a lever when the strike comes from the side, resulting in much more torque on the head and neck.
I didn't pay much attention to the video. What I get from it is that we need concrete helmets in case someone attacks us with Olympic weights. MMA championships here I come!
Thank you for the video. Everything absorbs some force/energy. Headgear won't absorb 100% of the force from a punch, but it must absorb some (it's literally physics). Wouldn't a lab test be able to determine how much it'll absorb relatively easily? It may be 1% and it may be 80%. I have no idea, and I'm sure it depends on tons of factors, anyway.
Amazing video!!! Thank you so much. I box but only do body sparring, but the gym wants me to buy headgear so I can start proper sparring to replicate a fight. I was also not convinced about these head gear, and this video just reinforces it.
Very helpful video - thank you. My son’s taken up boxing & wanted some headgear, he needs to watch this video - especially your point about “control”. Thanks again :)
Knights used to have rounded helmets so the force is reflected off the side. Its the same concept they use in fencing and bike helmets. Perhaps someone could design something similar for MMA.
The one and only plus I found with headgear is that if you can get good at slipping with head movement using the head gear, it seems 10x easier without it. The biggest downside I found was that if someone hits you, you only have that little window that you're looking through in the first place, and when you get hit the surface of the other guys glove completely covers up that window, and even if its only for a slit second it is literally like being in a dark closet and that is the exact opposite of what you want.
Very good advice on the sparring too. There are heaps of videos on UA-cam where people are 'sparring' for two or three minutes & it's more like a full on war!
Similar analogy: Running shoes with the foam midsoles. The foam redistributes the impact of the foot striking the pavement to reduce the concentrations of pressure in specific areas on the foot. Run barefoot, your feet will hurt, with shoes it'll feel better. But the force from the ground is still the same. Fyi the brain just floats in your head, it's barely supported by dura matter and the arachnoid membrane. I personally have to use head gear in a smoker fight, but if can avoid using it I will. Avoiding head shots will save your brain, your head still moves when you get punched in head gear. Same as your foot still absorbs pressure when you run.
The foam deforms, increasing the time over which the force of the punch is applied to he head and therefore decreasing the acceleration applied to the skull and the brain within.Therefore, for a punch of given power, headgear does protect the brain from blunt force trauma. However, as you alluded, the tendency is to increase power when the headgear is on, which counters the effect of the padding. There's also more torsional forces due to leverage applied by glancing shots.
It protects from cuts, bruises etc, basically you won't look like the aftermath of a drunk bar fight or mugging next day at work. I always feel a lot more confortable and have more courage to try out techniques that leave me more open. Otherwise everybody just plays waaay more defensive, even if we agree on force level involved and so on.
Excellent advice sir. I have become a huge fan of your videos as they contain very logical advice backed by experience and humility. I only wish that I could find an MMA instructor like you here in central Texas. I usually end up only finding "McDojos".
That said, I think it has helped me when I get swept to the floor. Around a year ago I was swept hard, and fast, I had no time to react and fell on my head. My headgear protected me from too much damage. When I get hit, I personally agree that the headgear isn’t needed, but in a more professional fight I think I would prefer it
Agreed headgear only prevents cuts and swelling not brain damage If anything headgear is more dangerous because beginners think there protected In my opinion it’s harder to slip punches with headgear cause it keeps moving
I agree 100% I also found when I sparred regularly that I was faster without the gear, and with better visibility. I tended to get hit less without the gear.
not a lot of people understands this, thanks for making this video, many people think that head gear is like a free pass to strike the head at their 100%
I belive boxing headgear needs to get more scientific testing to see how much it really protects. That said there are some models that I would consider for sparring, specifically the ones that have a face mask. Sure enough, they are not 100% concussion proof since your brain can still wobble inside the skull with each strike, but: 1. The face mask does protect your chin, meaning that it considerably lowers the chances of getting KO by hitting these pressure points and prevent the eventual strike you take to the head when you hit the canvas (which can be arguably as bad or worse than a punch). Some headgear I've seen without facemask also seem decent at protecting the chin, not against a bare fist or a small glove, but at least boxing gloves seem too big to squeeze in there. 2. It will protect your nose and eyes, which are sensitive parts that break and damage easily, and can lead to chronic issues
What kind of testing would you do? I dont really see how any kind of head gear, will protect your brain from banging back and forth, everytime youre hut
I disagree. It may not stop the force entirely but it does decrease it. The reason that a bouncy ball losses a little height on each bounce is that a little bit of force is lost to the energy of deformation. The ball loses some kinetic energy to the fact that the ball is literally squishing down. This is the same reason modern cars are designed to crumple on impact. It may not make you invincible (as you say), but I think every little bit helps when we talk about protecting the brain.
Padding of any kind will absorb energy and decrease the concussive force, a little bit. Not much but enough. With the added effect of helping with facial damage.
The coach is right. A hard hat is different in concept for it is designed to get just one accidental hit in the head, while the headgear used in sparring has to protect against multiple blows.
Headgear only protects from cuts, not shaking the brain around violently. Additionally, headgear will actually serve to the antithesis of its purpose because (IMO) you can't see punches coming cause now my vision is reduced by the headgear in the way and I will consequently take more punishment. Some people also feel protected by the headgear so they will purposefully take more punishment because they think the headgear is somehow protecting their brain floating around inside their skull. Light and technical sparring protects you.
The thing is though a lot of people tend to over kind of worry about brain damage I’ve been doing boxing for about 2 years and a friend of mine has been doing it for 6 years and he is doing great in college one of the best students in the college and it’s a good school and I don’t have any sort of stutter or slurs or anything but yet have suffered several concussions (This was just to clear up for people that it’s not bad)
Interesting to think that one of the most important thing in combat helmets from before the Romans until modern times, as well as hard hats for construction, is the webbing on the inside that keeeps the helmet away from contact with your skull. Thickness and material doesn't matter, if the helmet is in direct contact with you head you are going to get your skull caved in
I totally defer to you from a practical fighting and training perspective, but your physics is wrong. As well as spreading force, it also smoothes out the acceleration curve. The same amount of momentum is transferred, but the amount of time it takes to transfer it is increased. The time it takes to compress the padding at the start of the punch and decompress at the end of the punch stretches out the whole collision. It's the acceleration of the skull that rattles the brain. If you get the same difference in velocity over a longer time, you have lower acceleration, hence less rattle and less damage. Try dropping an egg onto concrete vs onto a pillow. Same principle. The problem with headgear is that the cushioning effect is too small to compensate for the larger target area and people feeling like they have licence to go nuts.
The acceleration is the key as to the why numerous recent scientific studies classify headgear as dangerous. The increased "bounce" coupled with enlarged mass of the head makes the whiplash effect of taking a punch stronger, which slams the brain harder into the sides of the skull. Thats what as far as I remember the studies are based on. I can say that from personal expeirience, helments in skiing feel like they gave me worse concussions in crashes than if I hadnt have them. Helmets huge benefit is that for the tradeoff of a little worse concussion, your skull wont split open. Great for skiing, bike riding etc., but useless for boxing.
This kind of set me free, in some odd way. I’ve been looking for new headgear that would be good for places that require use of headgear-it happens I did sparring in such a place last time. and after doing it, I knew it was true. It didn’t stop me from getting hit or feeling it, but it did keep me from looking like a mess. I need to learn head movement and evasion.
To explain the floor analogy more accurately: Dropping dumbells on solid concrete vs. using a wooden platform increases the Pounds Per Square Inch (PSI). If you were to take a sledgehammer and swing with 200 pounds of force, it will crack the concrete. However if a 200lb human were to belly flop on it, it wouldn't crack. Same force, smaller force per square foot. Head gear will prevent broken facial bones, some bruising, and cuts, but the impact force that causes your neck to spin and your brain to concuss is the EXACT same.
Thank god for this video, I was about to buy headgear so I could go harder sparring. Guess I'll stick to using my arms to block hits, and only spar with partners who can exercise control
I’m glad I’m not the only one that has this philosophy. I wear it during hard sparring so I won’t look too mangled. I use the analogy of getting hit by a car going 60mph wrapped up in foam and bubble wrap. My outside might look okay but my insides are gonna be trash
Headgear not only reduces superficial injury to the skin like you said but it also reduces the impact of blows to your actual eyes, nose, ears but more importantly it plays a role in reducing the risk of enduring a concussion during training and competition. So yes headgear is important; the British journal of sports medicine also concluded in a 2015 article based on a study measuring peak contract force and impact response that there was a significant difference when taking a blow with headgear in comparison to no gear at all. In nutshell use headgear, the benefits outweigh the risks.
Great advice. Only you can’t convince true believers who can’t accept facts, logic and statistics. It’s like people following religious cults. It’s actually kind of sad and scary. Yet a sucker born every minute. Let the buyer beware.
Did you not watch the video? Of course headgear offers some protection but the problem is, people think they can bang a lot harder because they overestimate it effectiveness. Are you really prepared to risk getting CTE? Sparring without head guards is all I do and I NEVER get hit hard in the head because I’m not relying on padded headgear to save me. If someone starts swinging hard, sparrings over. Sparring ain’t a fight, it’s a learning process…
@@andrewtanczyk4009 You are mentally somewhere else, arnt you? Ever drove in a 50s stiff car? They didnt bent and ppl died inside. If the PADDING doesnt DEFORM (permanently like on cars) the FORCE is not ABSORBED and thus must be transfered to the brain (passengers) and neck. How dumb can u be?
Not to mention how hot they are to fight in,I've fought in headgear and I was more worried about overheating than getting punched also the lack of visibility they give
I always felt headgear limited my vision and movement When female boxing champion Jennifer Han was preparing for her title defense against Liliana Martinez in 2016, I would spar her after class, her sisters thought I was crazy for not using headgear
But with a nosebar it protects my nose from breaking! I dont get the point of headguards without nose protection anyway. And it protects ears and eyes, so its definitely worth it..
It's like if you were driving a car with a bumper protecter and go running into cars, the damage to the shield wouldn't be as much but the damage done to the human inside would still be the same.
Whether in a fight, tackle or car crash, brain injury is the result of acceleration of the skull. Sure, padding can spread the recoil of a blow over a longer time, thus reducing acceleration. But a punch has both a large momentum & a continuous force applied behind it even after the point of contact. So just an inch or two of padding will do little to reduce a blows momentum before your skull starts to accelerate. People often confuse kinetic energy & momentum.
@@nickjo05 your sparring partner sees you have headgear, they don’t hold punches as much, and since brain damage is based off of rapid movement of your cranium, which headgear doesn’t prevent, you are just hitting the brain harder.
@@nickjo05 find a good boxing coach, with good sparring partners, and if you’ve done that step correctly you have done pretty much all you can. Combat sports will always leave some kind of damage, no matter the type.
To be fair, at one point Ramsey says "its stupid to go hard enough to cause brain damage".. well sadly, what we science has found is that there really is no.. Safe amount of cranial impact, you dont need to get concussive side effects for it to slowly cause brain damage and C.T.E over time, very minimal trauma over a long period of time is all thats need, football players, hockey players, boxers, all of it.. I think anyone who wants to do these sports, specially MMA should be aware of the possibility of this creating early onset dementia, Alzheimers and C.T.E (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which can take years before its full effects become known. Mood swings, problems thinking, problem solving, and behavioral issues like impulse control. So regardless of how careful you might be, it might never be enough and you really have to ask yourself is this something Im willing to gamble on, and if you are then you absolutely should take every precaution you can, I believe Ramsey has talked about light sparring before, if you're going to spar, spar light.
I love when he says "That's before I really knew how to fight; I was a traditional martial artist." Please guys... learn to REALLY FIGHT!!! Simply Practicing the Art keeps getting guys beat the heck up.
Goodness i kept getting beat up in the boxing ring, it’s hard to slip at first with headgear, im thinking of training mitts with headgear to getused to it
Even in sparring when you try to go light it doesn’t always happen that way when punches are being thrown. Especially with more experienced fighters who transfer body weight from leg to leg 🦵 when punching. After all you still have to punch with proper body mechanics in training other in the fight you will punch like you’re playing patty cake 🎂! The problem is when sparring turns into gym wars from egos, rivalries, and just tough guys. Whenever they did that to me and started hitting me hard I had no choice but to hit them hard and get their respect. Other times I couldn’t help it because I have some more natural punching power. Nonetheless the headgear is important and reduces impact and even concussions.
Good video thanks Ramsey. I also found that headgear creates more danger for the neck, especially with uppercuts. The extra weight and size feels dangerous if the neck isn't tucked in properly with a good uppercut can give one of those nasty feeling spinal hits were it feels like the whole nervous system up the upper spine feels a jolt. Only happened to me a few times but man o man does it feel like a hell of a hit.
A trainer of mine once said wrap a spray can in as much bubble wrap all you want and shake it the ball inside is still going to rattle
Smart trainer!
Gonna remember that one
K-N-E-GAMING gonna remember that one.. x2
I agree, but the bubble wrap / head gear would help stop the can / skull from bending dented and cut.
SmokeyD 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
Headgear is really just there for emotional support
That’s rough buddy
Brandon Baza it’s true though
Lmao
And for that it will always have a place in my heart
@UCadpne8fHgK4kH4d1q8668g it helps to a degree, it’s not gonna stop a knockout and punches are still going to hurt. It may help prevent serious complications but the point of the comment was to demonstrate that it’s not gonna stop your brain from rattling, it’s not gonna stop pain, and it’s not there to prevent a KO. The objective of sparring headgear (which is what we are discussing, not combat helmets they are two different headgears) is to prevent things like bruising and lacerations which is why you see it used at amateur level fights and sparring, because not everyone can afford to show up to work with bruises, black eyes, and cuts. People getting knocked out, hurt, concussed with headgear on though is by no means a rarity.
Speaking as a former football player, this absolutely makes sense. I was amazed to discover just how much it still HURTS when you get hit hard, especially getting hit in the head - and that's with a hard fiberglass helmet! The pads do help, but the moment you start RELYING on your pads, instead of your own skills and instincts, you're going to get yourself hurt.
Helmets aren't fiberglass.
I've heard that there are less head injuries- or any kind- in rugby than in American football, for exactly this reason. Protective gear encourages people to beef up too much and to crash helmets and so on- or to grab and twist.
True.
United States football, real football is what Messi plays
@@bomnitoperro9422 🏈
Well it does save me from getting fired from my job because of black eyes all the time, so I'd say it was worth the investment for me.
James Sarvan what job fires you for having a black eye?
Any job in the healthcare industry pretty much.
I don't mean from having it ONE time, but if you come to work again and again with black eyes, then yes, you will probably be fired.
"I practice kickboxing/muay thai/boxing I swear!" is the new "I ran into a door"? :P
Same if you work as teacher.
@@jamessarvan7692 Was gonna say, if you are in the US, there's probably labor laws to stop them from blatantly firing you because of health conditions (like being dinged up from sparring). Bosses can still get rid of you though, whether it's firing for something you didn't do, or putting you at the top of the list when they need to lay folks off.
Tbh headgear protected my ears and nose from breaking.
It certainly can help with that sometimes!
+ramsey i think the head gear does protect you from the impact you feel.. its definetely less painful when hit without head gear than with head gear.. however yes it doesnt protect you from the concussions to the brain.. but nothing will protect you from that either..
@@johnnychannarong5484 Are we reading your comment correctly?
It's less painful "WITHOUT" the headgear?
James Otey my bad.. I wrote it wrong.: it’s less painful with head gear ..
@@johnnychannarong5484 I would argue it's good for 50% fights, when you want some semi-realistic training but don't want to get bruises or cuts or broken things.
"It's not going to stop the Force!"
- Jedi Master Dew
I won’t spar with someone that I feel I need to wear headgear with. We are training technique not trying to knock each other out.
True, true.....But eveytime I go easy on the opponent they think their slick and they think their winning the fight and I'm never able to showcase my skill. The times I go 100% my opponents hardly land punches
@@diamondmax5141 fair enough. Sometimes you have to let them know what you could do. Not everybody has the frame of reference.
@@diamondmax5141 you have nothing to prove. I pull my punches in hard sparring. Sparring isn't about building your ego or proving your abilities, it's about testing your abilities.
My experience is the ones that always go hard are there to keep themselves from getting in trouble outside of a gym. It's sad but that's their nature. I always saw hard sparring reserved for those that compete for fights to get used to the pressure of live fighting.
Personally I hate headgear all it does is limit your vision casuing you to get hit more than you would otherwise.
It also makes your head bigger, so when you move your head to the side, or duck under, you are actually more likely to get hit. Some punches that would have just gone right by your head will hit you needlessly.
To be fair, so it does to your partner.
Ye but it protects from cuts, black eyes, cauliflower, and broken noses. It's kind of a trade off.
@@evileddy9844 broken noses and black eyes are a big one for me. I can't afford to show up to work with a black eye. I simply don't want a broken nose
@@evileddy9844 Tbf I've fucked my nose wearing headgear
definitely correct… headgear might protect a bit more than just against cuts, but definitely not much for the brain. still useful, just don't mistake headgear for something more than it is. same goes for all kinds of helmets. i had a bad crash on my bicycle (wearing a helmet) and got KO'd and had a serious concussion. helmet kept it from being a lethal open head injury, but wasn't ever capable of solving every problem
Exactly. Maybe it doesn't absorb as much of the blow as we'd like, but it could still be the thing preventing a worse injury than what we get.
I think it mainly protects against swelling, hematoma and bone fractures *including cuts as you mentioned. Just my two cents. 😀
Yeah I mean you should be wearing a helmet on a bike because it'll save your life more than not. But in this sense headgear is not anywhere near designed the same as an actually helmet.
@Anthony VeeL You ever crashed at 30-40mph?
Okay so what if you weren’t wearing a helmet? Would you still be alive ?
When I kickboxed, our instructors insisted on Headgear but it was to prevent superficial damage only. We were all taught to use control as the primary method for safety in sparring.
One underrated aspect of decent headgear is it protects the ears from blows, tinnitus isn't fun and strikes to the ear is a good way to get it :/
@@aeropone Lucky and unfortunate is suppose :/ ? Got it mildly myself but I can do without making it worse for sure haha.
yeah, this is why I don't wear headgear. doesn't stop concussions, makes people hit you harder, and makes it harder to slip punches and see them coming.
same dude I hate how late I see hooks coming with shitty headgear
Lomachenko and Floyd wear headgear with a faceplate which is more visual limiting.. I guess the limit in visual visibility makes them rely more on intuition
but how you deal with cuts tho?
@@SubscriberswithDankPlaylists i don't, as i have never been cut in sparing, you are not liekly to get a cut well wearing big sparring gloves, and because we don't wear head gear, we aren't throwing bombs and trying to knock each other out.
the people who love to hit hard will hit you harder regardless of whether you are wearing a headguard or not.
they are NOT going to hold back just because you are not wearing a headguard.
This guy seems to be one of the most honest people i ever heard of.
Thank you for that thorough explanation. love the puppet show btw
I'm not kidding, I once had a sparring partner who got a bit annoyed and said "Hey, put on some headgear! I wanna punch harder!" 😟
BJ19 ws - In that case, I would humbly suggest he ought to start hitting himself....
Don’t spar with him if he spars hard
what a prick
Only sparred once with a headgear on. It was miserable. This huge thing constricting my head on all sides, limiting my visibility, and making it a bigger target. I felt like my head was stuck in a bucket, and the opponent was pounding on it full force. I can attest - it did nothing to tone down the impact force, in fact, compared to all the times I sparred without it, it actually amplified it.
Great vid
Only thing I will say is this might be true but it wouldn’t amplify the force or impact of any sort
@BigBoyRocky
I think its a psychological thing. When your opponent is wearing heargear, you feel safer in going harder with your strikes. The same can ne said for boxing gloves or fist wraps, they allow you to strike with more force than youd normally be able to do safely. I believe his opponent, whether they were conscious of it or not, started hitting them harder due to the extra safety gear.
that puppet show at 5:35 is the best thing ever.
Besides from what you have already pointed out, headgear can be useful when someone gets knocked out and falls down. Falling when unconscious can lead to some really horrible head injuries, so it is good to reduce the damage to the head with headgear in such a case. Personally I started using headgear only because of competition rules started to demand it. Felt it was better to be used to having headgear on when I compete.
Headgear won’t help you falling backwards other than preventing damage to your skull. Concussive damage will still happen from the blow of hitting the ground
@@nicksalvatore5717 True, the concussive damage will happen even with headgear on. Still, preventing/reducing damage to the skull is not a bad thing. When falling one usually uses a technique to break fall to reduce the risk of injury, but that will not work when unconscious and thus the damage to the skull can become quite a lot worse. Therefore, headgear is useful when falling backwards while being unconscious. After all, one does not want more damage to one's skull than necessary. Though it is good of you to point out what specific parts of the head actually gets protected as I was quite unclear in my original post.
make no sense, the punch or the floor will equally gives brain damage, that what the whole video explain
@@nicksalvatore5717 Are you stupid? He wasn't talking about concussions. You ever heard of skull fractures...? absolute inbred.
The bounce of the headgear, the larger target area, and the reduced visibility all serve to *increase* acceleration and damage to the brain. Moreover, the perception of protection is a "licensing effect" that makes sparring opponents hit even harder. That's why anybody that has ever sparred will tell you that they get more headaches when they wear headgear. I'm typing this as I watch and listen and you make all these points after I typed this :).
Superficial damage is rare with larger boxing gloves to begin with and the only part of my face that I don't want superficial damage is my nose and the headgear is absolutely useless for that.
What if it
is kicks?
CTI I have personally always wore karate style instep guards underneath Thai instep guards. Anyone using head kicks in sparring should be able to control the kick.
Are these good for Muay Thai? : www.amazon.com/Contender-Fight-Sports-Kickboxing-Protective/dp/B00SLZLF6O/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1524007395&sr=8-12&keywords=shin+guards+muay+thai
CTI probably better off getting these if you're serious my friend:
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00I8CWQH2/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1523998332&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=fairtex+shin+guards&dpPl=1&dpID=51EmOuhqoUL&ref=plSrch
I use an older version of these above with some karate instep guards underneath. Every now and then you can still go through the pads with those two on. These pads will last you save the extra money in not having to replace them as often.
On a tight budget, would these work?: www.amazon.com/Sanabul-Essential-Guards-Small-Medium/dp/B072ZT7NRJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1524001834&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=shin+guards&psc=1
Yep. Sparing taught me positioning and ringmanship.. mostly. I loved it, we had good people.
I think it also protects your cheekbone and eyebrow bone from fractures which is pretty valuable, point still holds, you shouldn't spar that much with enough force to break any bone
One good example of what use headgear is what i once saw in my HEMA practice. They put a helmet on the wall. Now why was this helmet special? They went absolutely crazy with it and hit it as hard as they could with different sort of blades and axes. If someone would've been wearing the thing, they'd be dead. So they used it as a good example of not hitting hard, or you'll potentially end up killing your friend... Now that's not to say it's totally useless in HEMA. It's absolutely necessary, because without it, you'll run the risk of splitting their skulls with light contact. So be safe, people and don't think helmets always protect or that they never do.
While I appreciate the Olympic weights analogy, for this discussion that's actually the incorrect equation from a purely engineering or physics perspective. You're decreasing the force of the weight drop by distributing the force over a larger area while the whole purpose of head gear is supposed to be to increase the delta-T of the force impulse equation. This is why head gear in American football and crumple zones in cars are so effective. Basically, the force impulse equation states the Force times time of the collision equals mass times the change in velocity. In a collision scenario you can't change the mass or the velocity so the only way you can decrease the force is to increase the time of the collision. The deformation of the head gear is supposed to increase the time of the collision and better protect the fighter. However, I would argue that head gears are far too soft to actually do this. If you can easily push in a headgear to its maximum deformation with your finger then its going to do nothing to stop a fist flying at your face. Its not the head gear doesn't help, its that all head gears on the market, even the "high grade" ones, are poorly designed from an engineering perspective.
Faakkkkss
While you are technically correct about increasing delta-T, the fact is that if you consider that a normal sized helmet (unless we're talking about something too large for practical training) delta-T can only be increased so much since the punch will only have less than two extra inches before it reaches the head. Sure decreasing the jolt of the huge amount of force that comes with a smaller delta-T does help, but the help will be pretty limited as the force will still be too large for the brain and when stacked against the type of behavior that helmets seem to encourage in pretty much every contact sport, it seems to always end up being a pure negative, aside from some very specific situations like mentioned in the video.
Well the american football example is one that shows why protective gear can be counterproductive and more dangerous than if you didn't have any. The problem with your analysis is that the change in force of the impact is negligible. The best the gear does is reduce the force on at the surface on the skin. People often hit and get hit harder with head gear making them more dangerous when looking at the impact on the brain. Essentially while yes headgear reduces the force on the brain, it's negligible and way less than you would expect, hence counterproductive.
Edit: Also it might be better to look at the impulse than force. Any reduction in force results in the same impulse to the brain due to extended period of action.
The problem is deceleration, not acceleration. It is not the problem of the brain that is motion. It is a problem when the skull that encases the brain suddenly stops or has a sudden change in an opposing direction. Headgear doesn't offer much protection against a concussion. Football players still get concussions with the very best helmets you can get. In fact, every year, about a dozen or so high school kids die as a result of football being closed-head "internal" injury. A helmet doesn't hold your brain. Neither does your skull. Ramsay is correct, headgear protects the head from surface damage such as skull fractures, abrasions, and cuts. A skull fracture would mean your brain could spill out especially if the dura is broken. Any professional football player will tell they had tons of concussions and concussions don't tell you about brain damage either. You can have an ice pick stuck in your brain and you will probably not have any signs of a concussion, though clearly your brain is damaged in some way. IT DOES NOTHING TO PREVENT YOUR BRAIN FROM BOUNCING AROUND IN YOUR SKULL. No more, no less than boxing gloves were "supposedly" designed to cushion blows to the head.
Boxing gloves actually protect the hands upon impact, not the brain, and makes punching the head much more effective because there is less hand injury. In fact, Boxers don't even need to close their fists when they punch. One of the goals of a Boxer is to try to push the skull with such velocity that the head snap back causing the brain the move with the skull. Of course, the skull doesn't perpetually move in the same direction, it stops with the rest of the body causing the brain to smash against the skull. That is how a knockout is achieved. The amount of cushioning that modern helmets and gloves have are largely irrelevant.
@@samuelmorales2344 perfect summary, well done man
I remember having an amateur fight with headgear and it was the stupidest thing ever. I was fighting with my headgear the whole time and kept getting caught by punches I could have easily dodged. Yeah I didn't get any cuts but I left with a headache. Could barely see.
Control and trust in competent sparring partners is *way* more effective in preventing brain trauma than headgear. Along with good defense and head movement. The reason I use it in sparring is keeping me from black eyes and cuts. I'm a grad student, and it can get a bit awkward doing a presentation or taking part in a research meeting with a stitched eyebrow and a black eye. This was in the first sparring lessons in my gym, "this piece of headgear will not protect you from trauma, what will is proper sparring technique and etiquette." Great video.
You're correct about what headgear does.
I'm a retired U.S.Army 91W Combat Medic. I have dealt with a lot of head injuries.
What causes brain injury is the shock to the brain when the head gets slammed, as it is free floating inside your skull in Cerebral Spinal Fluid.
Head gear won't stop the brain from getting damaged.
What will? Don't get hit.
For those who criticize your analogy, with the floor, or equation being right or not, they just don't get the point.
Even wearing a ballistic helmet like we do in the army, won't keep your brain from getting scrambled when you're hit.
Thanks for the video.
I find that TKD headgear very useful. I used the foam to cover my fishing hooks.
Totally correct with this.
Does not protect against any concussive effects.I wore it at first but ripped it off as it impaired my sight on the angles etc.
It won't prevent the brain from moving around inside the skull but it protects my nose during sparring and saved me countless black eyes. But, yeah, heavy shots are still felt and concussion still happens whether you wear headgear or not.
He's right a headgear wont prevent you from getting KO'd
but it WILL protect you from getting your nose smashed or permanently disfigured.
I have seen so many boxers who have a squashed in looking nose
if they wore a face saver headgear then their nose would not be squashed in looking like that.
Also a headgear will prevent you from getting your teeth knocked out as well.
(.p.s. I am referring to a FACE SAVER headgear, the ones that have a steel bar going across the nose area).
At most, it’s a 5% decrease to brain damage, based on the small padding and dispersion of impact, but’s that’s being generous, and that’s not worth the extra hassle. That being said, if you’re concerned about your physical appearance it looking like you train to fight, wear them. I have a friend who trains MMA for self defense, and intentionally makes sure he doesn’t loom like he trains. He wear pads to make sure he doesn’t get cuts or bruises, spars with guys who are controlled enough to place hits on the padded areas, and even wears loose fitting clothing to hide his physique. He doesn’t want to advertise he is tough, because he feels that strength invites challenge. He’d rather be the quiet guy who is the most dangerous in the room than the loud guy who says he is the most dangerous in the room. The only reason I k own he trains is because I dropped him off at the gym a few times when his car was in the shop.
the headgear wouldn’t save your brain from impact but it definitely help to protect your face, I think that is the whole point about it, we just expect so much from it.
thanks for the puppet show.
i'm autistic and this way i can understand your point a lot more clearly. x'D
I once sparred in an ancient headgear with a plastic mask. It ended up slicing my shoulder when I caught a punch.
Well said, Ramsey! I trained for years without headgear. Then recently, because I saw more people using them, I got some. After I put them on, I hit myself in the head to see how it would feel. That's all it took for me to know what headgear really do :-) I hope people take your advice as CTE is a growing epidemic.
A good summary of everything I have heard and the reason I don't use head gear.
I don’t think this is something boxing gyms will ever understand lmaooo
Excellent video and explanation!
In open karate tournaments now, the many sanctioning organizations in the States and Canada have made headgear mandatory in kids divisions. Sounds like a good rule EXCEPT too many officials allow much more contact, thinking the child is protected more!
To make matters worse, many of these headgear have clear face shields that protrude 2-3 inches from the face, making what amounts to a lever when the strike comes from the side, resulting in much more torque on the head and neck.
I didn't pay much attention to the video. What I get from it is that we need concrete helmets in case someone attacks us with Olympic weights. MMA championships here I come!
Thank you for the video.
Everything absorbs some force/energy. Headgear won't absorb 100% of the force from a punch, but it must absorb some (it's literally physics). Wouldn't a lab test be able to determine how much it'll absorb relatively easily?
It may be 1% and it may be 80%. I have no idea, and I'm sure it depends on tons of factors, anyway.
Ramsey is like the coach you never had....thx for this!
Amazing video!!! Thank you so much. I box but only do body sparring, but the gym wants me to buy headgear so I can start proper sparring to replicate a fight. I was also not convinced about these head gear, and this video just reinforces it.
All headgear reduces is the anger of parents of the kids in your club.
Very helpful video - thank you. My son’s taken up boxing & wanted some headgear, he needs to watch this video - especially your point about “control”. Thanks again :)
Knights used to have rounded helmets so the force is reflected off the side. Its the same concept they use in fencing and bike helmets. Perhaps someone could design something similar for MMA.
Headgear also protects your skull from damage, but you don't often spar against somebody who can fracture your skull.
we need more of those puppet shows
Oooohhh I see so your telling me. Just ordered my football helmet, excited to start sparing
The one and only plus I found with headgear is that if you can get good at slipping with head movement using the head gear, it seems 10x easier without it. The biggest downside I found was that if someone hits you, you only have that little window that you're looking through in the first place, and when you get hit the surface of the other guys glove completely covers up that window, and even if its only for a slit second it is literally like being in a dark closet and that is the exact opposite of what you want.
Very good advice on the sparring too. There are heaps of videos on UA-cam where people are 'sparring' for two or three minutes & it's more like a full on war!
Similar analogy:
Running shoes with the foam midsoles.
The foam redistributes the impact of the foot striking the pavement to reduce the concentrations of pressure in specific areas on the foot.
Run barefoot, your feet will hurt, with shoes it'll feel better. But the force from the ground is still the same.
Fyi the brain just floats in your head, it's barely supported by dura matter and the arachnoid membrane. I personally have to use head gear in a smoker fight, but if can avoid using it I will. Avoiding head shots will save your brain, your head still moves when you get punched in head gear. Same as your foot still absorbs pressure when you run.
True video! Thank you. I spar boxing without headgear all the time and I still have a fully functioning brain 😂
The foam deforms, increasing the time over which the force of the punch is applied to he head and therefore decreasing the acceleration applied to the skull and the brain within.Therefore, for a punch of given power, headgear does protect the brain from blunt force trauma.
However, as you alluded, the tendency is to increase power when the headgear is on, which counters the effect of the padding. There's also more torsional forces due to leverage applied by glancing shots.
And it makes your head heavier which makes it fly or spin around harder.
That would actually work in your favour due to increased inertia.
@baldieman64- Place a accelerometer sensor on a dummy head with that headgear and you'll see that you are wrong.
It protects from cuts, bruises etc, basically you won't look like the aftermath of a drunk bar fight or mugging next day at work. I always feel a lot more confortable and have more courage to try out techniques that leave me more open. Otherwise everybody just plays waaay more defensive, even if we agree on force level involved and so on.
The amount of times i've been cut is the only reason i wear headgear
Excellent advice sir. I have become a huge fan of your videos as they contain very logical advice backed by experience and humility. I only wish that I could find an MMA instructor like you here in central Texas. I usually end up only finding "McDojos".
That said, I think it has helped me when I get swept to the floor. Around a year ago I was swept hard, and fast, I had no time to react and fell on my head. My headgear protected me from too much damage. When I get hit, I personally agree that the headgear isn’t needed, but in a more professional fight I think I would prefer it
No matter what protection you wear it can’t stop shock. The shockwave always goes through everything.
Agreed headgear only prevents cuts and swelling not brain damage
If anything headgear is more dangerous because beginners think there protected
In my opinion it’s harder to slip punches with headgear cause it keeps moving
I agree 100% I also found when I sparred regularly that I was faster without the gear, and with better visibility. I tended to get hit less without the gear.
not a lot of people understands this, thanks for making this video, many people think that head gear is like a free pass to strike the head at their 100%
Technically it slows the acceleration of the punch slightly, decreasing the force transferred to the brain, but only slightly.
Bumper Headgear keeps your Nose from breaking and your eyeballs from getting very sore
I always hated headgear. Makes your head a bigger target, gets moved around, and limits vision. I never used it while sparring (boxing).
I belive boxing headgear needs to get more scientific testing to see how much it really protects. That said there are some models that I would consider for sparring, specifically the ones that have a face mask. Sure enough, they are not 100% concussion proof since your brain can still wobble inside the skull with each strike, but:
1. The face mask does protect your chin, meaning that it considerably lowers the chances of getting KO by hitting these pressure points and prevent the eventual strike you take to the head when you hit the canvas (which can be arguably as bad or worse than a punch). Some headgear I've seen without facemask also seem decent at protecting the chin, not against a bare fist or a small glove, but at least boxing gloves seem too big to squeeze in there.
2. It will protect your nose and eyes, which are sensitive parts that break and damage easily, and can lead to chronic issues
What kind of testing would you do? I dont really see how any kind of head gear, will protect your brain from banging back and forth, everytime youre hut
I disagree. It may not stop the force entirely but it does decrease it. The reason that a bouncy ball losses a little height on each bounce is that a little bit of force is lost to the energy of deformation. The ball loses some kinetic energy to the fact that the ball is literally squishing down. This is the same reason modern cars are designed to crumple on impact. It may not make you invincible (as you say), but I think every little bit helps when we talk about protecting the brain.
Padding of any kind will absorb energy and decrease the concussive force, a little bit. Not much but enough. With the added effect of helping with facial damage.
The headgear in my boxing gym use to slip down over my eyes. More of a liability than a help!
The coach is right. A hard hat is different in concept for it is designed to get just one accidental hit in the head, while the headgear used in sparring has to protect against multiple blows.
One of the best explanations ever.
Headgear only protects from cuts, not shaking the brain around violently. Additionally, headgear will actually serve to the antithesis of its purpose because (IMO) you can't see punches coming cause now my vision is reduced by the headgear in the way and I will consequently take more punishment. Some people also feel protected by the headgear so they will purposefully take more punishment because they think the headgear is somehow protecting their brain floating around inside their skull. Light and technical sparring protects you.
You forget the head gear that protects the nose. Super easy to break a nose.
The thing is though a lot of people tend to over kind of worry about brain damage I’ve been doing boxing for about 2 years and a friend of mine has been doing it for 6 years and he is doing great in college one of the best students in the college and it’s a good school and I don’t have any sort of stutter or slurs or anything but yet have suffered several concussions (This was just to clear up for people that it’s not bad)
Interesting to think that one of the most important thing in combat helmets from before the Romans until modern times, as well as hard hats for construction, is the webbing on the inside that keeeps the helmet away from contact with your skull. Thickness and material doesn't matter, if the helmet is in direct contact with you head you are going to get your skull caved in
I totally defer to you from a practical fighting and training perspective, but your physics is wrong.
As well as spreading force, it also smoothes out the acceleration curve. The same amount of momentum is transferred, but the amount of time it takes to transfer it is increased. The time it takes to compress the padding at the start of the punch and decompress at the end of the punch stretches out the whole collision. It's the acceleration of the skull that rattles the brain. If you get the same difference in velocity over a longer time, you have lower acceleration, hence less rattle and less damage. Try dropping an egg onto concrete vs onto a pillow. Same principle.
The problem with headgear is that the cushioning effect is too small to compensate for the larger target area and people feeling like they have licence to go nuts.
Sounds reasonable.
I believe you are right.
@@mabloch2410 Many things sound reasonable yet they are not right. That's why we have science. Anyway, he is right. :)
The acceleration is the key as to the why numerous recent scientific studies classify headgear as dangerous. The increased "bounce" coupled with enlarged mass of the head makes the whiplash effect of taking a punch stronger, which slams the brain harder into the sides of the skull. Thats what as far as I remember the studies are based on. I can say that from personal expeirience, helments in skiing feel like they gave me worse concussions in crashes than if I hadnt have them. Helmets huge benefit is that for the tradeoff of a little worse concussion, your skull wont split open. Great for skiing, bike riding etc., but useless for boxing.
I think you should've added "And if you really don't even know what headgear is good for, stay away from sparring until you do" xD
Yes!!!
You can also use it as a shaving guide...
Glad you said it. I been saying the same thing for years but nobody wants to hear it.
This kind of set me free, in some odd way. I’ve been looking for new headgear that would be good for places that require use of headgear-it happens I did sparring in such a place last time. and after doing it, I knew it was true. It didn’t stop me from getting hit or feeling it, but it did keep me from looking like a mess. I need to learn head movement and evasion.
To explain the floor analogy more accurately:
Dropping dumbells on solid concrete vs. using a wooden platform increases the Pounds Per Square Inch (PSI).
If you were to take a sledgehammer and swing with 200 pounds of force, it will crack the concrete. However if a 200lb human were to belly flop on it, it wouldn't crack. Same force, smaller force per square foot.
Head gear will prevent broken facial bones, some bruising, and cuts, but the impact force that causes your neck to spin and your brain to concuss is the EXACT same.
It does actually stop some force but would require a lot more foam to avoid brain damage from a strong punch.
Thank god for this video, I was about to buy headgear so I could go harder sparring. Guess I'll stick to using my arms to block hits, and only spar with partners who can exercise control
I’m glad I’m not the only one that has this philosophy. I wear it during hard sparring so I won’t look too mangled.
I use the analogy of getting hit by a car going 60mph wrapped up in foam and bubble wrap. My outside might look okay but my insides are gonna be trash
Headgear is important to help keep you from getting cut. That's it.
I fucking died, the headgear puppets were too much.
Headgear not only reduces superficial injury to the skin like you said but it also reduces the impact of blows to your actual eyes, nose, ears but more importantly it plays a role in reducing the risk of enduring a concussion during training and competition. So yes headgear is important; the British journal of sports medicine also concluded in a 2015 article based on a study measuring peak contract force and impact response that there was a significant difference when taking a blow with headgear in comparison to no gear at all. In nutshell use headgear, the benefits outweigh the risks.
Great advice. Only you can’t convince true believers who can’t accept facts, logic and statistics. It’s like people following religious cults. It’s actually kind of sad and scary. Yet a sucker born every minute. Let the buyer beware.
Did you not watch the video? Of course headgear offers some protection but the problem is, people think they can bang a lot harder because they overestimate it effectiveness. Are you really prepared to risk getting CTE? Sparring without head guards is all I do and I NEVER get hit hard in the head because I’m not relying on padded headgear to save me. If someone starts swinging hard, sparrings over. Sparring ain’t a fight, it’s a learning process…
@@andrewtanczyk4009 You are mentally somewhere else, arnt you? Ever drove in a 50s stiff car? They didnt bent and ppl died inside. If the PADDING doesnt DEFORM (permanently like on cars) the FORCE is not ABSORBED and thus must be transfered to the brain (passengers) and neck. How dumb can u be?
Also in expansion to that last bit. If you don' know what a headgear is for or that you should control yourself while sparring don't enter a ring.
IN THIS CASE, WE SHOULD STOP WEARING A MOTORCYCLE HELMET
If you’re wearing a motorcycle helmet for boxing, then yes, stop it.
Not to mention how hot they are to fight in,I've fought in headgear and I was more worried about overheating than getting punched also the lack of visibility they give
new headgears protect vs broken nose,black eyes ,cuts ,jaw fractures and on and on...
I always felt headgear limited my vision and movement
When female boxing champion Jennifer Han was preparing for her title defense against Liliana Martinez in 2016, I would spar her after class, her sisters thought I was crazy for not using headgear
But with a nosebar it protects my nose from breaking! I dont get the point of headguards without nose protection anyway. And it protects ears and eyes, so its definitely worth it..
Protects against cuts though.
It's like if you were driving a car with a bumper protecter and go running into cars, the damage to the shield wouldn't be as much but the damage done to the human inside would still be the same.
Whether in a fight, tackle or car crash, brain injury is the result of acceleration of the skull.
Sure, padding can spread the recoil of a blow over a longer time, thus reducing acceleration. But a punch has both a large momentum & a continuous force applied behind it even after the point of contact. So just an inch or two of padding will do little to reduce a blows momentum before your skull starts to accelerate.
People often confuse kinetic energy & momentum.
Headgear helps avoid cuts and damage to the face but still ducks up your brain.
It reduces surface trauma, but because of the placebo protection, it could actually increase brain trauma
bro what how can placebo protection increase brain trauma
@@nickjo05 your sparring partner sees you have headgear, they don’t hold punches as much, and since brain damage is based off of rapid movement of your cranium, which headgear doesn’t prevent, you are just hitting the brain harder.
@@TheTobiasSimon damn bro i am really scared i’m gonna get brain damage from boxing do you think if i strengthen my neck muscles i will be fine?
@@nickjo05 find a good boxing coach, with good sparring partners, and if you’ve done that step correctly you have done pretty much all you can. Combat sports will always leave some kind of damage, no matter the type.
To be fair, at one point Ramsey says "its stupid to go hard enough to cause brain damage".. well sadly, what we science has found is that there really is no.. Safe amount of cranial impact, you dont need to get concussive side effects for it to slowly cause brain damage and C.T.E over time, very minimal trauma over a long period of time is all thats need, football players, hockey players, boxers, all of it.. I think anyone who wants to do these sports, specially MMA should be aware of the possibility of this creating early onset dementia, Alzheimers and C.T.E (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which can take years before its full effects become known. Mood swings, problems thinking, problem solving, and behavioral issues like impulse control. So regardless of how careful you might be, it might never be enough and you really have to ask yourself is this something Im willing to gamble on, and if you are then you absolutely should take every precaution you can, I believe Ramsey has talked about light sparring before, if you're going to spar, spar light.
I love when he says "That's before I really knew how to fight; I was a traditional martial artist."
Please guys... learn to REALLY FIGHT!!!
Simply Practicing the Art keeps getting guys beat the heck up.
Goodness i kept getting beat up in the boxing ring, it’s hard to slip at first with headgear, im thinking of training mitts with headgear to getused to it
Even in sparring when you try to go light it doesn’t always happen that way when punches are being thrown. Especially with more experienced fighters who transfer body weight from leg to leg 🦵 when punching. After all you still have to punch with proper body mechanics in training other in the fight you will punch like you’re playing patty cake 🎂!
The problem is when sparring turns into gym wars from egos, rivalries, and just tough guys. Whenever they did that to me and started hitting me hard I had no choice but to hit them hard and get their respect. Other times I couldn’t help it because I have some more natural punching power. Nonetheless the headgear is important and reduces impact and even concussions.
Good video thanks Ramsey. I also found that headgear creates more danger for the neck, especially with uppercuts. The extra weight and size feels dangerous if the neck isn't tucked in properly with a good uppercut can give one of those nasty feeling spinal hits were it feels like the whole nervous system up the upper spine feels a jolt. Only happened to me a few times but man o man does it feel like a hell of a hit.