How do people that compete in striking arts hold down a job?

I've gone to work stitched up on more than one occasion.

When someone asks what happened I tell them I did it sparring, then joke you should see the other guy, not a mark on him.

Before long it'll be a case of what has Vinny been up to now.

If I have a meeting or visit coming up I do take it a little easier.

 

This doesn't always work.

I recall once teaching a class on a Sunday morning. In the afternoon I had an instructors session with GM Danny Guba.

During the morning class I was sparring and upped the intensity.

I bobbed and weaved one way, my training partner went the other and there was a massive clash of heads.

He had a tiny cut on the top of his head and I had a massive gash just below the eyebrow.

Quick detour to my instructor's house as he was also in the afternoon session and got patched up by his wife.

I looked a right mess with a black eye and butterfly stiches.

 

I think one has to take into consideration their job and family obligations when choosing what sort of sparring one does.

My school's sparring rules do not allow head contact. And the instructors will be the first to tell you it can cause limitations. But that it is done so with our safety in mind. We are allowed to go close to the head, and we are supposed to block to simulate we blocked it, but it isn't the same.

How do I know this? Besides it being obvious? We have a core group of people in our Saturday sparring class, and our Sifu has been loosening up the rules under extra control. It still isn't full power, but all the students realize what a game changer it is.

I love that Sifu trusts this core group and his own skills in supervision enough to do this and I enjoy it, but I would not go to a tournament that allowed full power head contact. Because I have to work and I live alone and there is no easy way for another to care for me.

But the compromise is made because we are not a professional fighting organization, and most of us cannot and are unwilling to risk concussions. We have jobs and families. I don't want to risk permanent head injury, even if I didn't have to work.

Now some of our instructors just went to an outside tournament with full head contact. And they did very well. At least one got gold. Instructors and some students used to test themselves with looser rules in Pankration tournaments, before that organization was forced to move or fold from this area.

I think I will ask the instructors from the recent tournament how adapting from our rules to the more open rules worked for them. How difficult was it to change?

 

I think this is a very important consideration. Part of me wants to add a striking art to my training, cuts and bruised from sparring don't bother me, but I do not want to suffer the potential long-term problems that are associated with blows to the head. So, for the time being, I will content myself with BJJ, shadow boxing and heavy bag work. I would add capoeira, but the class times aren't great and the cost is more than I want to pay per class.

I think when choosing any sport you have to consider how it will impact your life. This could include the time commitment needed to do that sport (travelling to training etc), any other training you might want/need to do and the potential effects of injury on your lifestyle.

Head injuries are not the only consideration, for example if you are a surgeon, can you risk being out of action because of a finger injury? These can be quite common in grappling sports like Judo.