With out sounding too personal, do you use a sports bra or other protective equipment for you chest?
I am a martial arts teacher, and recently have taken on a number of young women as students.
Should I advise them to wear protective equipment or for them to need a more supportive bra?
thanks in advance for your help
regards,
wild child
If your school teaches any kind of sparring or two person drills, the answer is a resounding yes, for two reasons:
Seriously. I cannot tell you how much training time I’ve wasted because the fella I’m sparring with is afraid to accidentally touch my breasts. I finally just made it a point to always wear the small plastic bra inserts as a matter of course, and whenever I feel the guy holding back, audibly thump the inserts and say with a big smile, “don’t worry, I have tits of steel”. Works every time. 
For serious full-on sparring, I wear a polyethylene molded shield that protects the abdomen and sternum area as well.
Here’s a really great woman-owned MA supply store, they have all kinds of female-specific gear: http://hometown.aol.com/chajonshim/women.html
Tits of steel!
…I’m sure the guy is not shy anymore after a line like that! 
You’d never catch me saying “I have balls of steel” to my female training partners. Heh!
Hi –
I wear a sports bra even in regular class. Keeps everything in place and minimizes distractions.
Sparring class is usually light contact, so I don’t worry about wearing more “armor.” However, I have been popped in the chest a couple times by unintentionally hard jabs, and believe me, it hurts (probably not as much as a groin shot to a guy hurts). If they’re doing full-contact sparring then definitely some chest padding is warranted.
Haven’t tried the “chest of steel” line yet, though!
Definitely a sports bra. I don’t do a lot of sparring lately, but any that is done is the light contact variety and so don’t worry about additional protection.
Well you know my story about grappling with that girl in my BJJ class… To this day I think she did it on purpose in order to beat me.
Ryu
I have a similar question for you ladies
i was thinking about this a while back. We have only a few women in our class at teh moment. We had a seminar not too long agao and the guy giving it, pretty much only demonstrated on men. I noticed later that he had a tendancy to punch or smack the chest. I asked him about it and he said he doesnt have a problem at his school but because of the unfamiliarity of people at seminars he doesnt normally demo on women because of this.
Now, my thought was, when I get hit by my sifu, or someone demonstrating something, it goes a long way towards my understanding it. This would be a disadvantage if you were a woman. What would you ladies recommend to a guy who was teaching a class about approaching this subject?
As a future instructor, I dont want any body to be at a disadvantage but I also dont want someone to feel uncomfortable!