STRIKING THREAD PART 2: Tips for avoiding permaneant brain damage?

Studies have shown that wearing head gear in training can be bad in the long term. Amature boxers don't wear head gear anymore when competing. In American football there's concerns about helmets.
So people who pad up to the max in training could be doing more damage than no headgear. Especially if they are just letting themselves be hit.

Wearing head gear can interfere with defence making someone less likely to tighten up and really defend well instead using headgear as a blanket. Wearing headgear can effect vision for defence. It can mean more shots being taken in a spar that would ,with no headgear, make you stop and maybe admit it's too much or put a hand up to the opponent and stop for a minute. It can make an opponent think it's ok to just keep smacking another.

 

Most people will have a concussion or 2 in their lives.

Combat sport athletes are more likely than others to have a repeated exposure.

Most of the evidence says the repeated trauma is the big issue.

If you get knocked around the head so hard that you cant remember what happened before or after, you've been concussed. If you fall asleep, you've been concussed. If you can still feel the headache the next day...it's not a good sign. If your neck etc. is sore the next day then you need a break.

From full concussion 90 days plus without any injury to the head is recommended. Many combat sports forbid competing within this time frame.

There is a growing discussion within professional sports about the impact of concussion and they are just starting to study it. In the next 12 months I am hoping to start a study looking at the impact of neurofeedback as a protective strategy to mitigate the risk of brain injury from concussion or multiple-subconcussive impacts.

The reality is. You need to know that when you get yourself into combat sports you know you're at risk of injury, the same as any other dangerous activity (e.g. motorcycle riding). the real balance is maintaining your trianing load in a club like the ones mentioned above if you do sustain a head injury because overwhelmingly coaches have no awareness of TBI, concussion, and sub-concussive effects on their athlete's development, health, wellbeing and what not.

Go out, have fun, spar hard, wear your headgear, guard your noggin, and rest if you cop too many headshots.

 

Honesty Icefield...the research...such as it is...seems to be suggesting that it's accumulation of blows, over the long run, that is the danger.
I mean obviously any blows to the head can cause problems but I could be that brain trauma is nearer to a fighting game health bar than we'd like to admit.
Getting hit hard once will cause 75 damage points in one hit. Getting hit softer more times might cause 10x10=100 damage points.
And of course getting hit hard once might put you out and end the fight/session while lots of smaller blows will mean things carry on.

Although I think in general terms if you're a hobby martial artist training a couple of times a week, testing yourself in harder sessions from time to time to stay honest and maybe competing full contact a few times CTE is generally not going to be an issue. It may be. But more than likely you'll succumb to some other issue (heart, lungs, diabetes, etc) before CTE causes problems.
If you're a pro-fighter or training like a pro-fighter and having gym wars often then you may want to look into the risk reward a bit more.

 

It's more along the line of around 200 fights by that age for many. Manachai has just turned 20 and has had near 300 fights if not more.

There is no need to spar hard. Sparring hard increases the risk of injury and does nothing more than give you the comfort that you can take a hit. If you want to hit hard or be hit hard just take a fight, if you're going to put your body under duress why do it for nothing more than a spar or a non decision bout? Otherwise spar light and learn how to control your striking and perfect your technique.

Just because us "Farang" don't fight as often that doesn't mean we need to torture our bodies more to try and catch up. All we do is give our bodies a shorter lifespan. Train smarter, not harder. At least where physical contact is concerned.

 

They will generally tell u if it is hard or light sparring right off the bat. However, it is best if you start with a veteran or an instructor. These young and inexperienced fools like myself get to much into it and think it's fight club. When that happens you have to hit them hard or they hit you hard to show them that this is unacceptable.

 

I realuze how important hard sparring is. However is there anyway to get used to the pain?

 

I realize that I screwed up and I had no hard feelings when the other dude slammed me hard in the face with a roundhouse. I deserved it.

 

Sorry about that.

 

By sparring.

Spar more is the answer to basically everything.

How do I get better? By sparring

How do I manage to hit the other guy? By sparring

How do I avoid injury? By sparring

How do I get injured? By sparring


Ok. The above is pretty tongue in cheek. New to sparring people do 1 of 2 things. Go way to light, or go way too hard.
Time and practice is everything. Invest in the time and you can actually spar hard without hurting anyone. I've take head kicks and went.
"Whoa!" But actually not injured because my sparring partner knows just how much to throw with intent but lessen the power just enough.

Right now, you should be essentially tapping your partner. Speak to your partner, touch gloves and agree on a contact level.

"If you break your toys today, you have nothing to play with tomorrow"

 

You know instead of sparring I could take an additional class on Friday night in Muay Thai. Do you think I am just not reading for sparring yet?

 

As someone who wants to compete as a pro, this thread terrifies me.

 

This is why I don't attend Friday night sparring class. The veterans are really chill but some of the young guys have something to prove. This is why I avoid Friday night sparring like the plague for now. I think it could turn into a disaster.

 

No. Sign a one month contract. One class will tell you nothing. The class was easy until I got to sparring. That was the game changer

 

One class could tell me "I absolutely don't want to do Muay Thai regularly. (At least at this place.)"

My plan is to go to the class and, if I don't dislike it, sign up for 1 month (and suspend my JJJ membership indefinitely).
If I still like it after the month, I'll go to a 3-month and save a few bucks.
The cheapest is year at a time (25% cheaper than the month-by-month rate), but until I've stuck with it for a while I will stay with shorter contracts. (They offer month-by-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1 year.)

If I end up not sticking with the Muay Thai, I'll reinstate my JJJ membership and keep doing that.

 

Floyd Mayweather is an undefeated boxer known for his defensive skills who often goes by the mantra "getting hit isn't cool." A lot of people think his fights are boring but it's mostly because they don't see the defensive skill he has. He's also known for his use of the Philly Shell style of boxing. He's worth Youtubing.

Not getting hit is an excellent way to not get brain damage : P

Being properly hydrated and having creatine in your system (creatine as a supplement has a week or two loading phase to have access to it) have also been shown to minimize brain damage.

 

Well what Arcadia said yesterday terrified me. It would be a year or more out but I was considering competing in amateur fights one day. Right now my focus is mostly on Muay Thai but I also do some bjj. This newfound info is making me want to focus more on bjj and do MT on the side and just compete in bjj competitions.

 

Why is hard sparring so important?

I've never understood this logic, unless you mean to compete professionally.

Isn't it like saying, 'I will learn some skills to avoid getting beaten up, and to make sure I don't get beaten up, I will make sure I do get beaten up'?

 

Thats actually reassuring