Headgear Showdown

I’m not sure why, but most dojo have come to use a standard set of sparring equipment. You probably know the kind I’m talking about – dipped foam in various colors. I believe it must have been a cost-to-protection ratio that caused this style to become a mainstay in most martial arts. Dipped foam gear is form fitting, cost effective, and offers decent protection to those areas that need protecting (most often head, hands, feet, shins, and sometimes chest). I’ve conducted a little experiment with different kinds of headgear and would like to share my results with you.

First of all, here is quick look at dipped foam headgear –

http://www.awma.com

This probably looks familiar. But here is a different kind of headgear I have been trying –

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com

It resembles boxing headgear and is actually intended for mixed martial arts practice. MMA is pretty far from my normal traditional style, but one thing about the old masters of karate is that they were concerned about what works best, and often met with each other to discuss techniques and teaching methods. In that vein, I try to keep an open mind to everything I see. When the time came to reinvest in some new sparring equipment, I noticed this kind of headgear and took a shot.

I have to say the quality of the MMA headgear seems to be much higher. The helmet encompasses my head in a comfortable fabric and seems to form-fit very effectively. The design of the faceplate covers some areas that are often exposed with foam dipped helmets. Of course, some of the foam dipped helmets have face shields that protrude out like this –

http://www.awma.com

I’ve found that these faceplates make for a target a bit closer to the opponent than your face would be, and therefore, get hit more often. The MMA headgear doesn’t really suffer from that, and still protects the face without hindering vision.

The most important factor I’ve noticed is that the MMA helmet takes hits better. Strikes are less jarring and the helmet has less tendency to shift.

Overall, I think this boxing-inspired MMA helmet is a nice piece of equipment and I would recommend it to anyone who isn’t satisfied with their foam dipped equipment.