Not wanting to derail a thread I started this one as a separate topic. What are your thoughts on Bogu. In another thread some thoughts were that it was for kids and not a good training idea. Personaly I think bogu does have its place at all levels of training, I know we use it often and I believe we benefit from it. The one thing that needs to be remembered regarding any training tool is what is it designed for, inappropriate use is only going to harm the outcome. Our bogu is designed by our Hombu and it is fairly unique in allowing you to receive very strong hits with some measure of safety. In all seriousness they are the best that I have seen and used. Our Do’s allow for good movement and are thin enough that the distancing is still good. Where they are of benefit is when you are doing pair form practice and you want to confirm your technique. The Do allows the defender to counter attack with strong power and not injure the attacker. The attacker can attack with strong power and actually try to hit the defender. When you get the chance to hit something with power you have immediate feedback regarding your technique. You can feel if you are balanced properly, if your distance was good, how accurate you were and if you actually have any power in the strike. Were they don’t work so well is in randori or sparring. Social and insurance pressures are making their use in this area more common. We are under a lot of pressure to not injure each other. My thoughts regarding their use here is that they change the way people behave in the exercise. Because they know that they are not going to get hurt they take risks they would not normally take or the will receive a strong attack and behave like it has not happened. This of course takes out any reality to the simulation and can inhibited needed skills like how to set up combinations.
I've found that sufficienty hard blows penetrate them easily. Consequetly they either confer a false sense of protection or encourage soft shots so that they continue to act as safety equipment. Think of the way boxing uses protection. You see it used in sparring to take the edge off of hard shots used in casual practice, not for really heavy contact. Same kind of thing. But for most of us, competotion isn't around the corner and heavy contact pressure testing happens *in* the class. Thus, the counterintuitive (but in my view, correct) solution is to only use the padding when the contact is less that full power. The exceptions are protection for the head and points of striking contact. But bogu don't really protect you much. The body is either able to take the shot or isn't.
When I was sparring with a Nippon Kempo club, we used bogu where the do was like kendo armor- completely hard. It was all but impossible to get a strike throiugh with any real power- everything to the body turned into a push to set up a strike to the head or a throw. I didn't care for that, because it discouraged punches to the body, which I happen to love. Like any tool, bogu have their time and place.
Just to clarify, when Colin says bogu he is referring to the face protection, and the do is the chest and torso padding. Colin, do you have any pics to link to?
These are sold by our headquarters, I don't think they are available anywhere else, even Ozaki doesn't sell them. The official line is that they are not meant for full contact, but having used them I can state that you can use fairly hard contact. I don't like headgear much, but If I have to wear them these are quite good. These are the chest protectors, the new types are the double skin ones (the two on the right), and the others are older types. All these are good, but the new double skin ones are very good at absorbing very strong kicks. They work on the same principle as the new headgear and groin protector. They use a double shield to dissipate shock. The biggest negative with these are the costs, they are over $200 US each. As has been said, they are a tool to be used or abused. In some areas I believe they work very well. Using the groin protectors to practice kicks to the groin in dynamic situations can be very good, I would hate to try it without them.
