Equipment

[Gerry]

Hello everyone,
I wanted to get some opinions on the Macho head gear and Chuck Norris type goves. I know that they are used for drilling and sparring in JKDU but it seems that with such small gloves you would hurt your hand punching into that metal face cage. Has anyone ever experienced this or should this not be a concern? Wanted to get advice before making such a big purchase.

Gerry

[armlok]

Hi Gerry,
I use the Norris/Harbingers.They give adequete protection as long as you connect with the padded part of the glove. Cut out the bar in the palm. Beware these don't give good protection for weapons sparring (thumbs and fingers), but I'm too poor to buy more equipment. I think a regular bag glove would work great for punching but I use the Norris/Harbinger 'cause I like to grab.

[Jim McRae]

Gerry:

The Macho headgear is by far the best I have ever used — definitely buy a set. I agree with armlok's critique of the Norris/Harbinger gloves. Although they are useless for stick sparring, I use them for aluminum/steel training-knife sparring all the time. With empty-hand sparring, the only damage you will usually get is on the knuckle of your thumb, where the thumb occasionally grazes the face cage during punching. I have had a pair of the Century-Norris gloves for years and have used them for lots of full-contact sparring matches and I have never hurt my knuckles. I would recommend buying a good set of elbow pads too, since you can easily split your elbow wide open on the cage (I speak from experience...). Don't get the Boxergenics gloves for use with the headcage, as they don't offer nearly enough hand protection.

Take care and train hard,
Jim McRae

[Gerry]

Thanks

Thanks for the info. I think that the headgear and gloves will be my next big purchase.

Gerry