Don't want brain damage from boxing or sparring?

In answer to a questions about looking for a striking gym where you won't run the risk of getting any lasting head injuries.

[kpjlflsknflksnflknsa]

Good advice. Sparring is not worth the cost. Only worth sparring if you plan on being a fighter. If you're a white collar boxer, you'd be a fool to spar regularly and risk losing your main money making asset : your brain.

[jeffreyvanco]

Plenty of boneheads leaving comments on this video. I especially love the "No sparring means no boxing" posts. Train with a good coach, learn the fundamentals, train heavy bag, and find a good group for light tag sparring, and you can enjoy boxing for a lifetime. Yes you will learn how to fight. Yes you will avoid getting hurt. Leave that to the fools with ego problems. Gym wars are not recommended, even for competitive boxers

[cesaralvesdemoraes]

Usually it works just to tell the sparring partner "hey lets go light"

[eldenboi]

"no one wants to get brain damage" lol right

[kirbi]

probably going to get hammered for this, but there should be a period at least 3-6 months where you are sparring not hard but i would say at 70-80%, because in my opinion you need to know how chaotic a fight really is, or how to recover from a hard shot, taking and giving shots. Getting hurt and still coming back the next day, don't get me wrong, after that period i would say just spar light, but the experience helps a lot. Light sparring doesn't replicate a real fight, but light sparring over hard sparring everyday of the week.

[RHasan-yyfb]

me and my brother were sparring...both had headguards...we were going very light...but somehow i managed to get hit in the back of my head...my bro is like 190 lbs, had 12oz gloves...he threw that left hook with probably 20% of his real power...and i had headaches, i was seeing blurry, couldnt focus or anything for 2 weeks...yeah and after that i stopped sparring ...i hit the heavy bag, focus mitt, jump rope, striking sticks but just not them punches to the head...sometimes we do bodyshot sparring thats it...i am not trynna be professional fighter..its strictly for self defence...not worth dying or becoming a vegetable at 20 years old

[jamietherooster]

MMA hasn't correlated positively with brain damage YET. It simply has not been around as long as boxing and football, but it will eventually be shown to be just as bad.

[gagi]

I used to train MMA and now boxing, but I never spar. I am an architect and my whole life depends on my brain working well, so I just don't want to risk that, even though sparing is very fun. Keep your priorities in check

[ethanshepherd]

As far as sparring and CTE there is an option to do sparring drills as well and I'm sure if you're coach is skill oriented which is vital for development. I'm sure not a whole lot of people want to have headaches and trouble getting to work the next day as well.

[handler]

In my experience, I'm lucky to have found a gym that lets their fighters spar lightly with me. I made it clear since day 1 that I'm just there for the fitness aspect of it so during sparring sessions, their home fighters wouldnt go ape shit on me.

[HagakureJunkie]

One thing you can do is NOT go to a weekend warrior gym full of assholes who never compete but are only there to beat someone up because they hate their job or their wife won’t fuck them anymore. Instead, go to a gym where the students compete regularly. They are in it for the long-term and won’t be willing to get damage for nothing.

[josephbedwell]

Word of advice from a famous fighter named Piccolo:

[Azami]

Hi I'm the guy that Chris is referring to :).

I'm glad that this video is getting popular. I sometimes watch this video on occasion and glad to see there are other people here that are just as passionate as I am in martial arts but still dont want to risk that fine line between serious head injury or living long enough to remember our children's names.

As far as I know, there are two ways to do martial arts without serious head injury:

1. Find a martial art/ school that doesnt spar. This includes fitness/ conditioning boxing, kickboxing, Kung Fu schools like Wushu, etc.

2. Find a martial art that spars but is KNOWN to be RELATIVELY safe. This includes:
-Olympic Style Fencing (Very safe),
-Escrima/ Arnis/ Kali (body spar/ technical spar)
- BJJ (possible to get hit in the head but not as common.)
- Aikido (not necessarily sparring but you do get flipped on the mat.)
- Kendo (You do get hit in the head but it's not a full force swing. More like snapping motions. From what I heard you dont feel the hit but i still be wary.)

Like this comment to spread the word. I think everyone deserves to do martial arts the way they want to. I'm currently doing a martial art called Escrima and I only body spar in the art in request to my instructor. Theres a video on my channel if you want to see :).

The only problem is that not every person that does escrima do this kind of spar but it's not uncommon to say the least.

[maxrey]

I decided for private lessons. I only spar with my coach and his most advanced students who know how to pull punches and haver zero to prove sparring with a person like me.

[danielhiggins]

More brain injuries in soccer than in amateur boxing competition. Training is another story. When my sons decided to compete, I actually started my own club. I knew the local club would try to injure my kids, because of a long standing grudge they had against me. Yes, there really are evil people in sport. Some of them make that coach in the Karate Kid movie look like a saint. Be very cautious if your kids want to compete. If a gym has a rule that parents aren’t allowed to watch the training, avoid it. If your kid had headaches after training, stop training. Brain damage usually happens early in your career, but takes years to show up. If a coach compliments you on how tough you are, you’re going down a dark path.

[TooFreshproductions]

You don't see brain damage in mma as much because it is a new sport.

[TrafalgarLaw]

Master Rosi had brain damage, and Goku too, both act like idiots, also Vegeta has anger all day. The proof !

[TrafalgarLaw]

Also you can set the policy with you current sparring partner.
"We go light, with focus on technique ? " or "we go medium force with technique ? "

[sjesterline]

Also should work on defense so you can control damage defense can save you

[Mraymankarate]

I don't know why people go hard to the head no need for that during sparring.