What Mitts do you use?

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Wing Chun
1

Heya all,

I was just wondering what sort of mitts and/gloves people use for their sparring sessions?

I’ve gone through (personal experience):

Cotton split finger mitts - these were okay for a while, but I realised they didn’t really offer much protection for the other person as sparring got heavier.

Foam hand guard - I found that these tore the skin off my hands, as the plastic parts just rubbed during sparring. On top of this, it was highly difficult to pull my hand back.

Everlast Leather Speedball glove - This is the leather glove, with an open end, allowing your fingertips through. I’m still testing out this glove, and am quite happy with it. That being said, its not as ‘soft’ as, say a larger boxing glove, so it is not ideal for more full contact sparring. It does however, give a full range of hand motion.

I’ve yet to actually try out a boxing glove, as I feel that the lack of hand motion would probably drive me nuts, as well as the ability to not be able to grab.

That also being said - as my training is progressing, I am leaning more and more towards harder and harder training session. Obviously I want to minimise injuries, so the appropriate equipment is a must.

Ideally some sort of MMA mit may be the answer, however (as far as I can tell) there does not seem to be many around Australia that I have yet to find.

So, to get back to my point - what mitts/gloves do you use? How good do you find them? in what sort of training do you use them?

P.S. - if you could link to any sites in which a particularly good glove is sold, it would be much appreciated.

2

Foamed coated for your point/continous sparring

14-16 oz for our full contact bouts.

As demonstrated recently with a sparring partner getting his ribs broken, even 16oz do little to protect the body from the blows… Always good to have a chest protector for more “intense” sessions.

3

No mitts.

Joy C.

4

Mitts? Gloves? What are they for? Is this WCK you’re practicing? TN

Terence

5

Originally posted by yuanfen
[B]No mitts.

Joy C. [/B]

Same here.

Regards,

  • kj
6

For hard sparring nothing better than 16oz gloves ringside makes agood brand.Dont go cheap on head gear either because you will regret it later when your forget who you are,after getting knocked senseless.

7

Originally posted by t_niehoff
[B]Mitts? Gloves? What are they for? Is this WCK you’re practicing? TN

Terence [/B]

Yes! Didn’t anyone tell you this is Wing Chun/Tsun the FIGHTING ART where people SPAR as part of training. This has been part of traditional training since the beginning when they wore straw gloves. Time to learn real wing chun!

8

Time to learn real wing chun!

There we go again.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

9

Ultimatesheep wrote:

Yes! Didn’t anyone tell you this is Wing Chun/Tsun the FIGHTING ART where people SPAR as part of training. This has been part of traditional training since the beginning when they wore straw gloves. Time to learn real wing chun! AS

Yes, I understand WCK is a fighting method (and we fight as part of our training - not “spar”), but I still don’t see the need for gloves or mitts (which only serve as hand protectors). WCK isn’t kickboxing and with our expression of power force is released after contact, thus we don’t require hand protection (if you are throwing bombs and need to protect your hands from injury by wearing mitts I suggest shotokan might interest you). TN

Terence

10

tc media/pacific rim, century

tc media has nice gloves, the fingers go through them. i think they are grappling gloves. (this company advertises in kung fu magazine? or at least use to). century’s wrap around bag gloves (the $50 ones, with the nice padding) work well for sparring. I put a pice of elastic around the velcroe so it doesn’t come undone. (they stink as bag gloves). or century has other good selections. but yeah, point sparring plastic foam dipped ones stink.

11

Thanks for the replies fellows -

In particular to those who wear boxing gloves, how do you find that goes with trapping and pinning, chi sau, etc?

No issues? or issues?

Side note - looking at the mitts used in UFC/Pride/MMA tournaments, seem to be well padded, while offering full hand motion (grabbing, etc) any opinions on those?

12

Prefer no gloves, mitts, nits, wraps…leave those to sports.

13

I can see the value of chest protectors. So you can hit your partner hard without injuring them. But why would you want to wear gloves, except to hide your own lack of ability?

14

Boxing gloves do have their place in wing chun. for example 16oz gloves are invaluable for realistic training against basic boxing attacks - jabs, crosses, swing etc. We do not spar, and dont use gloves other than for feeding full-power attacks to defend.

15

protection

We don’t wear any gloves or protection either. I never have liked it personally. It takes away from the reality of the training. IMHO;)

16

Originally posted by t_niehoff
[B]

Yes, I understand WCK is a fighting method (and we fight as part of our training - not “spar”), but I still don’t see the need for gloves or mitts (which only serve as hand protectors). WCK isn’t kickboxing and with our expression of power force is released after contact, thus we don’t require hand protection (if you are throwing bombs and need to protect your hands from injury by wearing mitts I suggest shotokan might interest you). TN

Terence [/B]

Wow! It seems our friend here has discovered a new type of physics and law of energy transference as his ‘expression of power force’ (LOL) is released only after contact! This is truly special. I suggest you stop wasting time training wing chun and submit your discovery on how force is released after contact to the nobel research institute. They may be interested.

For the rest of the human race, punches damage the hands and knuckles slightly whenever a punch is thrown. This happens whenever contact between bone and bone is made. That is a simple mechanical fact.

Training without some protection on the hands means you are not training full out with your punches. Unless you are ‘fighting’ as you claim without any rules and without any protection (I don’t think so). Well then you are doing even more than MMA professional fighters. ‘Fighting’ full out is generally not the moto of wing chun as the aim is to get to a good standard without incurring serious injury. Hence chi sau and protection when sparring. Maybe you should try kickboxing.

Later.

17

Ultimatesheep writes:

Wow! It seems our friend here has discovered a new type of physics and law of energy transference as his ‘expression of power force’ (LOL) is released only after contact! This is truly special. I suggest you stop wasting time training wing chun and submit your discovery on how force is released after contact to the nobel research institute. They may be interested. AS

I haven’t discovered anything – this is basic WCK (unlike kickboxing with WC tools). Have you heard of short power? Why do you think we have it? Only for one-inch punch demonstrations? :wink: In WCK we don’t throw punches like boxers where the force is exerted early (even Leung Ting has said “exert force early and the force is in the arm; exert force late and it is in the fist”) and resembles shooting cannon balls; when our hand goes out we don’t know if it will be a strike or not (it may be intercepted, we may miss, etc.) so we don’t “load it up” with an early exertion of power and thus our hands don’t need protection from injury by contact (and we aren’t committed, etc.). If nothing obstructs our hand, then it hits and the power is released instantly and suddenly from the body into the target (our punch resembles a guided missle; the detonation is upon contact). The WCK punch is different in kind than the boxer-type punch; the power generation is different, the effect on the opponent is different, etc. All punches are not the same. TN

For the rest of the human race, punches damage the hands and knuckles slightly whenever a punch is thrown. This happens whenever contact between bone and bone is made. That is a simple mechanical fact. AS

Let me translate: “For the rest of the human race” means for persons who don’t know what short power is, haven’t developed it, and can’t use it. TN

Terence

18

UF, Terence,

Terence describes one option within the art of Wing Chun, practiced and and used by a number of folks in WT. This is near precisely how my si-sok describes practicing controlled hitting. KWJ and I were working on throwing together a full-contact training plan last night, using precisely the idea Terence is bringing up.

There are a number of strategies and mechanics for evolving force, the one Terence describes has it’s place, though I think in reality the model of arm goes out, feel you’re able to put force on, add the force, may give someone a bit more time to adjust than I’d care to leave, and may require changing from where your power is emitted mid-stream. Hand and force arriving together is harder to stop, but more risky, unless you’re feeling/controlling through another contact point, hence our idea of bridges.

While having some room to hit is helpful for power, very little is needed in actuality, and if you need more than a few inches to hit very hard- hard enough to give someone in your weight class pause- you are missing something.

Back on topic.

Terence- I don’t know if I buy the idea that one’s hands don’t need protection from mechanical stresses of impact due to the nature of force delivery- angle and hand alignment probably play a large role. Hand breaks (Colle’s fracture or a Boxer’s fracture), tend to occur because of shear forces across bone due to the angle and direction of punch relative to target. It’s much harder to do this with a vertical fist, and our forms of power delivery, but I’m pretty confident it can be done.

More to the point, accidents happen, especially if you’re working pretty live and with some speed. As well controlled as one can be, hand injuries can very serious and can have a long term impact on your training. I’ve seen very good people spend 1-2 years trying to train around a bad hand injury. While this is part of the game, I don’t think you get that much more out of working unprotected than working protected.

Personally, I like NHB gloves or small pillows (covering the back of the hand). A tooth in the knuckle can result some fairly nasty infectious consequences, up to partial amputation, and naked fists can open cuts on the face very easily. Moreover, if you use closed face gear 'cos you don’t want to get cut (say, you have something like a job and life), it will chew up your hands something fierce.

Later,

Andrew

19

None. Gloves I feel constrict the use of my hands. For that matter the only thing I will use is headgear. I feel I am more likely to take a shot if I am wearing protective gear, even to the head, but I prefer not to scramble my brain.

20

hand coverings eliminate alot of WC techniques. We tend to spar without coverings. You must use a strike that is appropriate for the target, ie I tend to use a fist to the chest cavity or abdomen, I try to stay away from the face and head. The head is harder than the fist and can result in fractures, and hinder your future training. The teeth are very dangerous to knuckles. Open hand techniques are most appropriate for head and face attacks. Your instructor should know these basics.

Terrence is correct in the issuance of power after contact. If you come at me with full power it can only be on the decline by the time it reaches me, because I’m not going to be there. Full power at the onset affects your sensitivity, and makes you committed to your attack. That is fine if you’re sure that you will hit your target, but most of the MA I deal with aren’t where they’re supposed to be, but I steal have alot to learn.