@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.
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.
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.
+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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 :)
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
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This brings my head to a different point- it was suggested I get a rash guard while rolling because sweat pours off me. Obviously this is going to help cool me off while making me a more frictional surface overall. Good recomendation or no? Should I be rolling without the rashguard every now and then to be able to use slippery movements if I plan to not wear a rashguard during competition? Now for physical labor I swear by it- less sunscreen is needed all over my skin, superficial cut protection, being cooled off more effectively... I don't care about slick skin when that's not the point. If anything it's nice not to smell as bad when I'm done.
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!
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.
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).
Good vid, makes sense. I used to wear headgear for boxing and I think its important to choose when it is needed or not. If you have good head movement it can be really better for you as you can slip some of punches you wouldnt with headgear. If you dont use too much head movement like a lot of muaythai style fighters, then it probably doesnt matter. But its good to have it sometimes when you spar outside or somewhere where the floor is hard, could be dangerous when you fall and helmet could save you from bad injury, or when you are preparing for a fight a cannot afford some cut or blackeye ..
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.
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
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.
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.
Ramsey, what do you think about safety of using boxing covers during sparring if you are not able to dodge upcoming punches? Personally covering techniques are important part of my fighting style, but I still wonder - can brain be still damaged by taking punches on guard covers? It is perhaps much less dangerous than getting hit straight on the face, but...
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.
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.
Got into my second sparring match and was trying to use more headmovent and I was getting lit up!! Suggestions for best head gear for peripheral vision?
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.
Ramsey when doing the clean and jerk should you always drop the weight or control it down ?? I feel weird if I would just drop it make noise and everyone watching lol ...that's not a video question by the way that just me asking real quick
+Talent Dance TV if you're going to be dropping weights, make sure you're using rubber bumper plates, and dropping them on a lifting platform. Generally, if the weight is light enough to easily lower without dropping, I'll do that, and if it's too heavy to safely lower, I'll drop it.
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.
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)
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.
I just recently found this channel, but I love the learning i get from it. and Ramsey has this thing about him where he seems to be joking or making light of the stuff hes talking about, BUT he makes sure he gets his point across. Now i have no idea if hes doing it this way because hes on TH-cam and trying to make it entertaining as well. or If hes like that off cam as well. It does seem like though he would be the same off cam as well as on cam. either way I'm glad I found this channel. My favorite vids so far are with him just destroying these "fake" womens self -defense videos and exchange he gives you really knowledge that you can use instead. keep up the great work.
Nothing is scripted here. If I’ve ever said anything clever, amusing, or funny, it was purely by accident. When I made this video there were about 12 people who watched this channel.
The thing with head gear is that it limits your vision and makes surface area larger making you get hit more. Also to makes your head heavier some people don’t realise that it is not your skull that braces the impact it’s your neck. Your neck is what holds your head and if you do get hit reduces the momentum, but the heavier something is the more momentum it has.
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 prefer the Hayabusa T3 style. It's like a leather layer of skin to stop cuts, but I do wish it had more nose protection, like the Winning fg2900. I don't like getting broken noses, and I got 2 corneal abrasions because of gloves scraping my eye. I never understood the even thickness all over the head, that most headgear has. Should be minimal on most parts, then thicker around the nose, and forehead. I always feel I am at a disadvantage when I am wearing headgear and my partner is not. I will pull my punches to the head, and I will do a lot more body shots, yet they normally, think they can go full force on me. But... I really like my nose the way it is. 6 broken noses is where I draw the line.
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.
Very good advice on the sparring too. There are heaps of videos on TH-cam where people are 'sparring' for two or three minutes & it's more like a full on war!
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 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.
Ramsey this is an old video, but I hope you're willing to respond. I train in a boxing gym--it's not an mma gym, it is 100% boxing only. As you may know, boxing gyms just tend to have a very different culture than mma gyms. I'm not sure why--maybe it's a combination of tradition, and of the type of gym goer. MMA gyms often cost 100-150$ and attract individuals who aren't really always serious about fighting, while boxing gyms are often much cheaper and attract a lot more average gym goers who do like/want to fight). That said, one of the differences is the type of sparring. Sparring in traditional boxing gyms is hard...I've rarely seen anyone spar less than 80%+. It's not uncommon to get rattled. Would you say that CTE is a concern for someone who spars once or twice every 2-3 weeks? I've definitely be rattled before and sparred with some pretty serious guys.
If you’re sparring anywhere close to 80% power, 2 or 3 times a week, that basically the same on your brain as 100 to 150 fights in a year. Every strike to the head causes brain damage. Every last one.
@@RamseyDewey correct. Clear difference between going to an MMA gym or a boxing gyms. That’s all their is in boxing gyms. They hardly ever go light. That’s why you need headgear boxing. Big difference between boxing and martial arts.
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.
There’s still a huge debate in the scientific community as to whether headgear can help prevent concussions. Competition headgear at amateur boxing tournaments might honestly do more harm than good; however serious sparring headgear made my reputable companies like Winning and Cleto Reyes will make your sparring life much better, particularly for newbies because newbies will get punched and kicked in the face a lot no matter how much they work on their defense - that was and still is the case with me. I much appreciate your videos Ramsey but Praetorian? That’s crap and if sparring is something that someone wants to be a permanent part of their life you as a coach should tell them to be willing to make a serious investment. Just as a 400 dollar pair of Winning gloves is better than thousands of dollars on hand surgery, so it is with the many serious injuries that can come from being hit in the head, be willing to pay money for genuine protection. In my own experience I boxed at gym where the trainer frowned upon headgear. I took a simple not particularly painful jab to the eye and it bruised the back of my retina which led to a bit of PVD and a subsequent eye floater. Because of that light simple sparring session, I now have a permanent tiny black dot in my vision. A headgear would have stopped this, no it’s not a concussion but I wouldn’t exactly call it a superficial injury as it will be with me till the day I die. After that I bought a Cleto Reyes headgear with a nose guard, no more worries about eye floaters for me anymore as I will not spar without it. The other day I was sparring Muay Thai and got kicked in the head; it dazed me for about thirty seconds and then I could continue sparring. No shin pad on my opponent and no headgear on me would likely have meant a cracked cheek bone and possibly worse trauma to the head. Regardless of the issue of concussions, as you note there are quite a number of facial injuries to worry about. Eye floaters suck. Broken noses suck. Burst ear drums suck. When hit with a hook to the jaw with headgear it may not prevent a concussion but it can help prevent a dislocation. In my opinion people should spar with headgear, just be there to watch them and like you say, keep it controlled.
Absolutely. I think it's very common nowadays to go against using headgear. But to get a permanent eye injury during sparring training is pointless, and I've seen that happen way too often. Ill take protection against loss of vision over discomfort and tunnel vision any day.
Headgear only makes it harder to use head movement, harder to see hooks coming and it slows you down overall.. i see the headgear with the same effect as shadowboxing with dumbells, when you take put the dumbells Down you feel very fast, the same when you take the headgear OFF, your head Can move much faster
This is true and it doesnt help that much but, it helps. If you look at a car it has a zone which can fold so before the car stops it takes more time and this way decrease the force .This works the same with headgear. Yes it isnt so big but it takes some impact.
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.
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%
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.
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.
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.
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 🏈
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.
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.
"It's not going to stop the Force!"
- Jedi Master Dew
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
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.
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 ?
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.
Thank you for that thorough explanation. love the puppet show btw
This guy seems to be one of the most honest people i ever heard of.
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.
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.
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.
that puppet show at 5:35 is the best thing ever.
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
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
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 :)
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.
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".
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.
I find that TKD headgear very useful. I used the foam to cover my fishing hooks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This brings my head to a different point- it was suggested I get a rash guard while rolling because sweat pours off me. Obviously this is going to help cool me off while making me a more frictional surface overall. Good recomendation or no? Should I be rolling without the rashguard every now and then to be able to use slippery movements if I plan to not wear a rashguard during competition?
Now for physical labor I swear by it- less sunscreen is needed all over my skin, superficial cut protection, being cooled off more effectively... I don't care about slick skin when that's not the point. If anything it's nice not to smell as bad when I'm done.
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!
Headgear also protects your skull from damage, but you don't often spar against somebody who can fracture your skull.
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.
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).
Good vid, makes sense. I used to wear headgear for boxing and I think its important to choose when it is needed or not. If you have good head movement it can be really better for you as you can slip some of punches you wouldnt with headgear. If you dont use too much head movement like a lot of muaythai style fighters, then it probably doesnt matter. But its good to have it sometimes when you spar outside or somewhere where the floor is hard, could be dangerous when you fall and helmet could save you from bad injury, or when you are preparing for a fight a cannot afford some cut or blackeye ..
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.
Nice channel, dude. Greetings from Brazil.
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
Great video thanks alot for the advice
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.
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.
Ramsey, what do you think about safety of using boxing covers during sparring if you are not able to dodge upcoming punches? Personally covering techniques are important part of my fighting style, but I still wonder - can brain be still damaged by taking punches on guard covers? It is perhaps much less dangerous than getting hit straight on the face, but...
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.
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.
thanks for the puppet show.
i'm autistic and this way i can understand your point a lot more clearly. x'D
Got into my second sparring match and was trying to use more headmovent and I was getting lit up!! Suggestions for best head gear for peripheral vision?
Ramsey is like the coach you never had....thx for this!
Do you wear earguards while practicing grappling? If so do you only wear it while sparring or, do you wear it while just drilling techniques as well?
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.
Ramsey when doing the clean and jerk should you always drop the weight or control it down ?? I feel weird if I would just drop it make noise and everyone watching lol ...that's not a video question by the way that just me asking real quick
+Talent Dance TV if you're going to be dropping weights, make sure you're using rubber bumper plates, and dropping them on a lifting platform. Generally, if the weight is light enough to easily lower without dropping, I'll do that, and if it's too heavy to safely lower, I'll drop it.
Ramsey Dewey oh awesome cheers Ramsey yeah I use the bumper plates and an Olympic lift platform
At the gym
+Talent Dance TV in that case drop those weights all you want!
awesome thanks ramsey :)
I once sparred in an ancient headgear with a plastic mask. It ended up slicing my shoulder when I caught a punch.
I’d say it helps a little bit with headkicks. Not with the concussion but definitely prevents your skull or jaw from being fractured
True video! Thank you. I spar boxing without headgear all the time and I still have a fully functioning brain 😂
very useful information! thank you
Ramsey i wanted to know how does a knockout feel? And more importantly how did you recover from your first knockout ?
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.
Whats the best headgear for eye protection (while keeping vision range) ? Are those with a plexiglas Shield good or Bad?
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.
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)
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.
I just recently found this channel, but I love the learning i get from it. and Ramsey has this thing about him where he seems to be joking or making light of the stuff hes talking about, BUT he makes sure he gets his point across. Now i have no idea if hes doing it this way because hes on TH-cam and trying to make it entertaining as well. or If hes like that off cam as well. It does seem like though he would be the same off cam as well as on cam. either way I'm glad I found this channel. My favorite vids so far are with him just destroying these "fake" womens self -defense videos and exchange he gives you really knowledge that you can use instead. keep up the great work.
Nothing is scripted here. If I’ve ever said anything clever, amusing, or funny, it was purely by accident. When I made this video there were about 12 people who watched this channel.
we need more of those puppet shows
The thing with head gear is that it limits your vision and makes surface area larger making you get hit more. Also to makes your head heavier some people don’t realise that it is not your skull that braces the impact it’s your neck. Your neck is what holds your head and if you do get hit reduces the momentum, but the heavier something is the more momentum it has.
Since headgear is meant to stop superficial damage like cuts, would it be best to wear a face saver headgear when choosing to wear headgear?
All headgear reduces is the anger of parents of the kids in your club.
I don’t think this is something boxing gyms will ever understand lmaooo
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 prefer the Hayabusa T3 style. It's like a leather layer of skin to stop cuts, but I do wish it had more nose protection, like the Winning fg2900. I don't like getting broken noses, and I got 2 corneal abrasions because of gloves scraping my eye.
I never understood the even thickness all over the head, that most headgear has. Should be minimal on most parts, then thicker around the nose, and forehead.
I always feel I am at a disadvantage when I am wearing headgear and my partner is not. I will pull my punches to the head, and I will do a lot more body shots, yet they normally, think they can go full force on me.
But... I really like my nose the way it is. 6 broken noses is where I draw the line.
Rich boii
It does actually stop some force but would require a lot more foam to avoid brain damage from a strong punch.
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.
Idk bout all this smash your head against puzzle mats vs a thick wrestling mat which ones gunna hurt more ?
Very good advice on the sparring too. There are heaps of videos on TH-cam where people are 'sparring' for two or three minutes & it's more like a full on war!
No matter what protection you wear it can’t stop shock. The shockwave always goes through everything.
Very great content on your channel.
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
What about if somebody hits you in the jaw? Surely a headgear should give extra protection from breaking it? Or prevent bleeding from the mouth?
Great vid! I liked
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.
thanks so much for this
Ramsey this is an old video, but I hope you're willing to respond. I train in a boxing gym--it's not an mma gym, it is 100% boxing only. As you may know, boxing gyms just tend to have a very different culture than mma gyms. I'm not sure why--maybe it's a combination of tradition, and of the type of gym goer. MMA gyms often cost 100-150$ and attract individuals who aren't really always serious about fighting, while boxing gyms are often much cheaper and attract a lot more average gym goers who do like/want to fight). That said, one of the differences is the type of sparring. Sparring in traditional boxing gyms is hard...I've rarely seen anyone spar less than 80%+. It's not uncommon to get rattled. Would you say that CTE is a concern for someone who spars once or twice every 2-3 weeks? I've definitely be rattled before and sparred with some pretty serious guys.
If you’re sparring anywhere close to 80% power, 2 or 3 times a week, that basically the same on your brain as 100 to 150 fights in a year. Every strike to the head causes brain damage. Every last one.
@@RamseyDewey correct. Clear difference between going to an MMA gym or a boxing gyms. That’s all their is in boxing gyms. They hardly ever go light. That’s why you need headgear boxing. Big difference between boxing and martial arts.
Oooohhh I see so your telling me. Just ordered my football helmet, excited to start sparing
It will help with conclusive forces, albeit with minimal effectiveness. You are increasing the area of the surface that the impact takes place on.
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.
There’s still a huge debate in the scientific community as to whether headgear can help prevent concussions. Competition headgear at amateur boxing tournaments might honestly do more harm than good; however serious sparring headgear made my reputable companies like Winning and Cleto Reyes will make your sparring life much better, particularly for newbies because newbies will get punched and kicked in the face a lot no matter how much they work on their defense - that was and still is the case with me. I much appreciate your videos Ramsey but Praetorian? That’s crap and if sparring is something that someone wants to be a permanent part of their life you as a coach should tell them to be willing to make a serious investment. Just as a 400 dollar pair of Winning gloves is better than thousands of dollars on hand surgery, so it is with the many serious injuries that can come from being hit in the head, be willing to pay money for genuine protection.
In my own experience I boxed at gym where the trainer frowned upon headgear. I took a simple not particularly painful jab to the eye and it bruised the back of my retina which led to a bit of PVD and a subsequent eye floater. Because of that light simple sparring session, I now have a permanent tiny black dot in my vision. A headgear would have stopped this, no it’s not a concussion but I wouldn’t exactly call it a superficial injury as it will be with me till the day I die.
After that I bought a Cleto Reyes headgear with a nose guard, no more worries about eye floaters for me anymore as I will not spar without it. The other day I was sparring Muay Thai and got kicked in the head; it dazed me for about thirty seconds and then I could continue sparring. No shin pad on my opponent and no headgear on me would likely have meant a cracked cheek bone and possibly worse trauma to the head.
Regardless of the issue of concussions, as you note there are quite a number of facial injuries to worry about. Eye floaters suck. Broken noses suck. Burst ear drums suck. When hit with a hook to the jaw with headgear it may not prevent a concussion but it can help prevent a dislocation.
In my opinion people should spar with headgear, just be there to watch them and like you say, keep it controlled.
Absolutely. I think it's very common nowadays to go against using headgear. But to get a permanent eye injury during sparring training is pointless, and I've seen that happen way too often. Ill take protection against loss of vision over discomfort and tunnel vision any day.
I always hated headgear. Makes your head a bigger target, gets moved around, and limits vision. I never used it while sparring (boxing).
Headgear only makes it harder to use head movement, harder to see hooks coming and it slows you down overall.. i see the headgear with the same effect as shadowboxing with dumbells, when you take put the dumbells Down you feel very fast, the same when you take the headgear OFF, your head Can move much faster
could you do hard spars with headgear occasionally like once a month or is it too unsafe should you never have a proper fight when sparring in the gym
If you’re having a proper fight, make sure you’re getting paid. You don’t need to be getting into fights at the gym.
This is true and it doesnt help that much but, it helps. If you look at a car it has a zone which can fold so before the car stops it takes more time and this way decrease the force .This works the same with headgear. Yes it isnt so big but it takes some impact.
A good summary of everything I have heard and the reason I don't use head gear.
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.
Dead gum it. It'll be so cool to finally have something where you can go all out and others can as well. Well gotta practice control then!
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.
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.
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.
Exellent Educational Video Ramsey Dewey 👌✝🎈