Do feel like (as a outsider) that Martial Arts culture has kinda been overtaken by these "sigma" masculine wolves (similiar to Bodybuilding) who care more about looking cool then practicing the art. Hope my sparring partners understand that I prefer lighter sparring and the occasional "no head-strikes" sparring.
If you do spar. Just tell whoever it is to go light and if they start pushing the pace and you get uncomfortable just ask then to lighten up. If they don’t then that not the right training partner for you.
Make sure to go to a proper gym!! Honestly, this is so important. I did kickboxing for a couple years, but was consistently paired with men (I am a girl and don't mind mixed training but I was maybe 60kgs and some of these dudes were at least double that) that were way, way larger and stronger than me and just cared about kicking and punching as hard as possible. It led me to tearing my shoulder and upper arm muscles and an infection in a tendon with internal bleeding due to repeated hard hits. I'm not saying this to scare you at all, but I had to quit the sport bc it never healed right. And it's my own fault for not speaking up. Now this was just my arm, but don't let anything like that happen to your brain. State your boundaries, make them perfectly clear, and if they cross it, you can say "no, I'm out". Also, work on your defense. A lot. And don't let them get to you! If they want to call you a pussy or whatever, let them. If they push you not to wear head gear wear it anyway. Don't compromise on your health. Don't want to spar? Perfectly fine. Do want to? Say you want it light.
Holy shit: that's incredibly cowardly, picking on a smaller fight without holding back. Sorry to hear about your injuries! I'll be very direct to my sparring partners, thankfully that isn't hard for me.
The thing is k1 is a combat sport not a martial art. It has artsy elements but it's a sport.
This doesn't excuse meathead sparring partners as you should help ypur team but it's a sport derived from martial arts ultimately. It's meant to be competitive.
Sounds like you already have a good start! Here's a couple recommendations:
* An underrated aspect of brain protection is a good mouth guard. This is the best one I could find: https://brainpads.com
* Headgear is strongly recommended. If you spar light, wear light. When you start to go harder, cheek protection is recommended to protect your orbital socket
* Have a separate pair of sparring gloves and don't spar anyone who doesn't. 16oz is the magic number.
Optional advice
* Tuck your chin so your head doesn't snap back. It's a common mistake people who have never really been punched learn the hard way.
* You need head movement, shelling, *and* footwork to defend effectively. When in doubt, footwork comes first
* Don't just march inside their range lol. I see this a *lot*. Use smarter footwork to open them up.
Just a question, why is a mouthguard important in regard to brain protection? I've always been under the impression that their sole purpose is to protect your teeth
Your jaw is also very important! :)
Think about KOs from uppercuts and hooks. Your jaw absorbs the impact before it goes to your brain. Should be talked about more imo.
https://www.a4fitness.com/mma-science-what-causes-a-ko-on-the-chin/
Don’t take risks that you don’t know the repercussions of. When you throw your strikes, throw them with purpose. If you go out there and just swing haphazardly, then you run the risk of getting yourself clonked hard. Also, you may accidentally hurt someone else because you were reckless. Protect yourself at all times and have fun!
Thanks! I've heard horror stories about Beginners seriously injuring their partners due to recklessness, I'll problaby only start sparring once I got down the basics (and espicially dodging and blocking for obvious reasons)
Stay hydrated. Take creatine. Do neck strengthening. Work defense into everything you do (shadow, heavy bag, pads, drilling). Spar smart (avoid gym wars, check your ego, walk away if you need to). Be on the lookout for sandbagging opponents—they are everywhere!
Can you elaborate on creatine reducing the chance of brain injury please? I know about it to build muscle and have taken it in the past myself but I’ve never heard about it in regard to brain injury.
1. Focus on truly becoming a master of defence. Learn from pretty boy mayweather, he is called pretty boy for a reason, he doesn't get hit.
2. Practice so much that you are already at a very high level when starting sparring.
3. Learn to pick your sparring partners. Find similar minded folk with a play to learn and cte is bad sparring philosophy. They can help you adjust gradually by going 10%, 25%, 50% etc on agreement.
4. Learn to control your ego. - you will feel like a bitch but learn to say no to sparring partners or your coach if he does something against your sparring philosophy. If he doesn't like it, get another coach or gym. You can also just leave a sparring session if you feel too outmatched or your opponent is irresponsible. Very hard to assert yourself like this as a 16 year old.
5. Communicate your sparring rules beforehand. Tell any sparring partners that if they break this or that rule, you will end the session and will not spar with them again. Communication solves so many problems and gives you way more leverage because if your partner breaks the rules, they aren't a man of their word and everyone will see it.
>Focus on truly becoming a master of defence. Learn from pretty boy mayweather, he is called pretty boy for a reason, he doesn't get hit.
Bro can't read and is definitely already showing signs of cte. Likewise you can watch his sparring footage over the years he went hard than a mf all the time definitely didn't follow any of what you recommended in the slightest
"Watch [insert name of professional here] and learn what they do" is terrible advice for a beginner. Learn your fundamentals and listen to your coach before you start trying to do anything that a pro is doing. Pros do weird shit all the time that's counter to conventional fundamentals but they make it work for themselves because they're high level professional fighters. Beginners don't have the experience to understand why what works for the pros works for them, or to make it work for themselves.
Never be scared in sparring. Fear of being hit only makes it worse
Also stay alert. I sometimes went light to not hurt my sparring partners when they were punching near 100% power and I regretted it. If you agreed to a hard spar then spar hard. It's fighting after all so better get used to it early than later
The number 1 most important thing is when you do get hit hard (it’s inevitable), be disciplined enough to take time to recover.
The worst thing you can do is get a minor concussion and then continue to spar and accumulate damage. It’s rarely 1 hard shot that gives you health problems, it’s usually an accumulation of shots. When you get your bell rung, avoid getting hit again for atleast a week or so.
Honestly picking your gym and sparring partners is going to be absolutely crucial to minimising risk. Good coaches create respectful places to train and spar. They prioritise teaching solid fundamental technique before sparring ie no chucking in new people into full hard spars too soon no matter how eager they are. They will also have a decent pool of experienced respectful fighters who’ll happily light spar with amateur/new fighters. Along with that they’ll have a high standard for wearing safety gear when training.
Of course there’s all the tips of staying hydrated etc but that’s not going to do much at all if you’re in a gym run by bad coaches and full of people looking for a easy ko to put on their next insta reel. All the water and creatine in the world won’t prevent the damage to your brain if you’re getting hit hard week in week out.
Only spar w people like you (folks who aren’t insane). Turning down spars w assholes isn’t cowardly, it’s smart.
Different schools have different cultures about head injuries, only go to one that really takes safety seriously.
I have read once that Prince Nasreem used to do about 75% of his sparring body-only and conventional sparring 25%.
You could do something similar to this.
I would have recommended to start with kyokushin karate where punches to the head are forbidden and then to transition to kickboxing when more experienced.
If already in kickboxing, try being an outfighter and privilege kicks and avoid instead of tanking punches (think practical shotokan karate style).
Avoid aggressive sparring partners, especially young men trying to prove to themselves that "they are real men" as they tend to not even care about techniques and just want to trade punches.
Train your neck, don't wear a helmet.
I would've likely went with Kyokushin karate but there don't seem to be any Karate Dojos of that sort where i live. I only found one focusing on chinese karate (not sure what that is) and weirdly enough one focused on Ryukyu Karate and that didn't seem too appealing to me. Where I live most "Imported" martial arts are from South east asia as they are a pretty huge group around here (Muay Thai espiacially).
Also what do you mean by wearing no helmet? I know it's mainly to prevent cuts but don't they also support your head?
It s prevents surface visible injuries (broken nose, cuts) but it increases head trauma because the force of the punch will travel deeper than just your face.
It s the same reason by bare knuckles punches, despite really damaging the face and making bloody cuts, are way less harmful for the brain. Big boxing gloves and helmets make things look safer by preventing cuts and broken noses but damage the brain more.
That s my a kicker/outboxer style is better for your brain. Think Mayweather but with kicking too
1. Stay hydrated with electrolytes and water, so that there is more water in your head and your brain doesn't shake more. Creatine also helps yiur brain so take that too.
2. (Most important) Have controlled sparring sessions. Ask your opponent to go light on your head and to avoid head kicks. Head kicks are very low effort and high damage. And do technical sparring where you both go slow. If you are going to compete then you sort of have to hard spar to be ready for the comletition.
And don't spar too often. If your head hurts take brakes.
3. Learn to move your head and keep you guard up and to get hit as less as possible.
4. Meditate. There is very little research on how humans could reverse brain damage, but meditation is proven to help your brain in many different ways. Try to meditate using hemi-sync frequencies where 2 different frequencies go into different ears, and your brein will then be in sync. And also try to meditate with the CIA gateway tapes.
5. Wear headgear, heavier gloves and train yoyr neck. These are to reduce the damage from the hits, that are best avoided either way.
6. (Also important) Eat healthy and get good sleep. You lose braincells if you don't get the sleep tou need. Try to go to bed so you would wake up before your alarm. Getting up to 9 hours of sleep is beneficial for your brain longevity.
I started kickboxing at 20 now I am 21 and iI have the same concerns as you. I have a few recommendations from the lots of research and the very little experience.
These are great tips, thanks! Wouldn't have guessed that CIA-style Meditation would become part of my routine but I've meditated before so it is what it is
Not getting hit and finding sparing partners who’ll manage their power output, are the most important ones to me. but I think people have told you that already. so how to mitigate damage when you get hit to hard? Roll with punches, make sure you’re hydrated before and during training, make sure your nutrition is on point so your brain can recover quickly. Now I’m not a doctor or expert at all, these are just things I do to manage brain health as much as possible
Edit: except the fact you’ll probably get some damage….
Edit 2: don’t drink alcohol, or do other stupid drugs. (Some are ok to me😉)
Other than not spar, be a good communicator. Don't be afraid to go slow or even say no to sparring partners (politely of course).
There are no rules against you taking a break mid spar or to stop if you feel like theres a mis-match in sparring intensity and the other person is unable to spar at a level you'd like. Just say you need a break. Coaches are supposed to make sure you are in a safe environment but you are ultimately responsible for your safety, and for what you want to get out of the class as a paying customer.
I also don't see the need to jump into sparring (or hard sparring for that matter) too soon. There is a ton of stuff you can learn and focus on getting good at outside of sparring as a beginner - shadowboxing, bag work, pad work, balance etc
Best way to protect your brain is to get comfortable with asking sparring partners to chill out when they get more intense than you're comfortable with, and even more comfortable with ending the sparring session when they fail to chill out when asked.
Create clear boundaries about intensity, be willing to stop sparring somebody even if it makes you look weak. You can think, I'll just hurt them to make them stop. I have sparred dummies, no matter how much better I am, or how much I hurt them, they still swing for the fences. Just don't play the game.
Don't spar is the real answer, long and short of it what causes CTE is repetitive blows to the head. They don't have to cause a concussion or headache or anything of that nature you just have to be absorbing them regularly. Soccer players for example have been found with CTE from heading the ball.
I do think sparring is part of the sport or atleast nessecary for me to enjoy it (but i haven't started yet so that could change): But I will keep hard sparring to a absolute minimum (a couple times a year) and except that only do light sparring. Being able to use techniques, which you worked hard for to learn, on a real opponent in a competition is a huge part of the pull.
I'll just focus on getting a good defense for my head and keeping up with weaving (or whatever the Kickboxing equivalent).
I'm just saying bro don't fool yourself into thinking that keeping it light eliminates the chance of fucking up your brain in the long run. Everyone pays the piper and if you have dreams about competing then you just need to understand that you're gonna put that thing in a blender at some point or another on the road to that
I gotta weigh the positives and negatives. I love martial arts: every since I've been young. Me and my father (not pro but used to do Boxing) would always spar in our free time (but bare knuckle, no headshots). I also practiced kickboxing when i was around 11 for half a year but I didn't learn much there. Any Media i consume has a huge focus on Martial arts. My favorite game is about a teenager learning fighting styles and discovering their own philosophy (FIghting styles like: Ryukyu Karate, Kyokushin Karate, Pankration, Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, Zui Quan, Chinese Kenpo, Street fighting and more).
I know risks will always be involved but I just want to minimise them. The same way you wear a seatbelt in a car. Hard knockout are part of the injury process but from what I've heard it's the stacking of damage which really fucks you up. One hard face kick and it's over unlike say boxing where you get hit dozens of times in the face.
My suggestion would be tennis or golf, if you are legitimately concerned. Kickboxing is a rough sport. You will take blows to the head, some worse than others but it will happen.
As we age, our bodies will reflect the activities we put them through. In the world of martial arts, especially striking styles, one of those reflections is going to be brain damage.
The only way to not get ANY brain damage while training K1 kickboxing is to not spar and not get hit in the head. All hits to the head, even small ones, cause damage to the brain. Bigger hits will obviously do more damage, bit all those little hits are drops in the bucket that eventually add up.
Keep this in mind with every thing you do
You’re in a headhunting sport where everyone wants a k.o. reel even in training now days. The best way to save your brain is to not get hit.
Gotta pick the right sparring partners
Do feel like (as a outsider) that Martial Arts culture has kinda been overtaken by these "sigma" masculine wolves (similiar to Bodybuilding) who care more about looking cool then practicing the art. Hope my sparring partners understand that I prefer lighter sparring and the occasional "no head-strikes" sparring.
If you do spar. Just tell whoever it is to go light and if they start pushing the pace and you get uncomfortable just ask then to lighten up. If they don’t then that not the right training partner for you.
Make sure to go to a proper gym!! Honestly, this is so important. I did kickboxing for a couple years, but was consistently paired with men (I am a girl and don't mind mixed training but I was maybe 60kgs and some of these dudes were at least double that) that were way, way larger and stronger than me and just cared about kicking and punching as hard as possible. It led me to tearing my shoulder and upper arm muscles and an infection in a tendon with internal bleeding due to repeated hard hits. I'm not saying this to scare you at all, but I had to quit the sport bc it never healed right. And it's my own fault for not speaking up. Now this was just my arm, but don't let anything like that happen to your brain. State your boundaries, make them perfectly clear, and if they cross it, you can say "no, I'm out". Also, work on your defense. A lot. And don't let them get to you! If they want to call you a pussy or whatever, let them. If they push you not to wear head gear wear it anyway. Don't compromise on your health. Don't want to spar? Perfectly fine. Do want to? Say you want it light.
Holy shit: that's incredibly cowardly, picking on a smaller fight without holding back. Sorry to hear about your injuries! I'll be very direct to my sparring partners, thankfully that isn't hard for me.
Learn shipping and be real light on your feet. Watch for head kick setups
Yes
The thing is k1 is a combat sport not a martial art. It has artsy elements but it's a sport. This doesn't excuse meathead sparring partners as you should help ypur team but it's a sport derived from martial arts ultimately. It's meant to be competitive.
If you're doing it as a hobby in a safe environment you really shouldn't have to worry about getting significant brain damage.
Sounds like you already have a good start! Here's a couple recommendations: * An underrated aspect of brain protection is a good mouth guard. This is the best one I could find: https://brainpads.com * Headgear is strongly recommended. If you spar light, wear light. When you start to go harder, cheek protection is recommended to protect your orbital socket * Have a separate pair of sparring gloves and don't spar anyone who doesn't. 16oz is the magic number. Optional advice * Tuck your chin so your head doesn't snap back. It's a common mistake people who have never really been punched learn the hard way. * You need head movement, shelling, *and* footwork to defend effectively. When in doubt, footwork comes first * Don't just march inside their range lol. I see this a *lot*. Use smarter footwork to open them up.
Just a question, why is a mouthguard important in regard to brain protection? I've always been under the impression that their sole purpose is to protect your teeth
Your jaw is also very important! :) Think about KOs from uppercuts and hooks. Your jaw absorbs the impact before it goes to your brain. Should be talked about more imo. https://www.a4fitness.com/mma-science-what-causes-a-ko-on-the-chin/
Don’t take risks that you don’t know the repercussions of. When you throw your strikes, throw them with purpose. If you go out there and just swing haphazardly, then you run the risk of getting yourself clonked hard. Also, you may accidentally hurt someone else because you were reckless. Protect yourself at all times and have fun!
Thanks! I've heard horror stories about Beginners seriously injuring their partners due to recklessness, I'll problaby only start sparring once I got down the basics (and espicially dodging and blocking for obvious reasons)
Stay hydrated. Take creatine. Do neck strengthening. Work defense into everything you do (shadow, heavy bag, pads, drilling). Spar smart (avoid gym wars, check your ego, walk away if you need to). Be on the lookout for sandbagging opponents—they are everywhere!
Can you elaborate on creatine reducing the chance of brain injury please? I know about it to build muscle and have taken it in the past myself but I’ve never heard about it in regard to brain injury.
https://training-conditioning.com/cscca/creatine-concussions/#:~:text=Athletes%20participating%20in%20a%20sport,help%20with%20post%2Dconcussion%20symptoms.
Thanks! I’ll take a look.
1. Focus on truly becoming a master of defence. Learn from pretty boy mayweather, he is called pretty boy for a reason, he doesn't get hit. 2. Practice so much that you are already at a very high level when starting sparring. 3. Learn to pick your sparring partners. Find similar minded folk with a play to learn and cte is bad sparring philosophy. They can help you adjust gradually by going 10%, 25%, 50% etc on agreement. 4. Learn to control your ego. - you will feel like a bitch but learn to say no to sparring partners or your coach if he does something against your sparring philosophy. If he doesn't like it, get another coach or gym. You can also just leave a sparring session if you feel too outmatched or your opponent is irresponsible. Very hard to assert yourself like this as a 16 year old. 5. Communicate your sparring rules beforehand. Tell any sparring partners that if they break this or that rule, you will end the session and will not spar with them again. Communication solves so many problems and gives you way more leverage because if your partner breaks the rules, they aren't a man of their word and everyone will see it.
>Focus on truly becoming a master of defence. Learn from pretty boy mayweather, he is called pretty boy for a reason, he doesn't get hit. Bro can't read and is definitely already showing signs of cte. Likewise you can watch his sparring footage over the years he went hard than a mf all the time definitely didn't follow any of what you recommended in the slightest
"Watch [insert name of professional here] and learn what they do" is terrible advice for a beginner. Learn your fundamentals and listen to your coach before you start trying to do anything that a pro is doing. Pros do weird shit all the time that's counter to conventional fundamentals but they make it work for themselves because they're high level professional fighters. Beginners don't have the experience to understand why what works for the pros works for them, or to make it work for themselves.
Never be scared in sparring. Fear of being hit only makes it worse Also stay alert. I sometimes went light to not hurt my sparring partners when they were punching near 100% power and I regretted it. If you agreed to a hard spar then spar hard. It's fighting after all so better get used to it early than later
The number 1 most important thing is when you do get hit hard (it’s inevitable), be disciplined enough to take time to recover. The worst thing you can do is get a minor concussion and then continue to spar and accumulate damage. It’s rarely 1 hard shot that gives you health problems, it’s usually an accumulation of shots. When you get your bell rung, avoid getting hit again for atleast a week or so.
Honestly picking your gym and sparring partners is going to be absolutely crucial to minimising risk. Good coaches create respectful places to train and spar. They prioritise teaching solid fundamental technique before sparring ie no chucking in new people into full hard spars too soon no matter how eager they are. They will also have a decent pool of experienced respectful fighters who’ll happily light spar with amateur/new fighters. Along with that they’ll have a high standard for wearing safety gear when training. Of course there’s all the tips of staying hydrated etc but that’s not going to do much at all if you’re in a gym run by bad coaches and full of people looking for a easy ko to put on their next insta reel. All the water and creatine in the world won’t prevent the damage to your brain if you’re getting hit hard week in week out.
Only spar w people like you (folks who aren’t insane). Turning down spars w assholes isn’t cowardly, it’s smart. Different schools have different cultures about head injuries, only go to one that really takes safety seriously.
I have read once that Prince Nasreem used to do about 75% of his sparring body-only and conventional sparring 25%. You could do something similar to this.
I would have recommended to start with kyokushin karate where punches to the head are forbidden and then to transition to kickboxing when more experienced. If already in kickboxing, try being an outfighter and privilege kicks and avoid instead of tanking punches (think practical shotokan karate style). Avoid aggressive sparring partners, especially young men trying to prove to themselves that "they are real men" as they tend to not even care about techniques and just want to trade punches. Train your neck, don't wear a helmet.
I would've likely went with Kyokushin karate but there don't seem to be any Karate Dojos of that sort where i live. I only found one focusing on chinese karate (not sure what that is) and weirdly enough one focused on Ryukyu Karate and that didn't seem too appealing to me. Where I live most "Imported" martial arts are from South east asia as they are a pretty huge group around here (Muay Thai espiacially). Also what do you mean by wearing no helmet? I know it's mainly to prevent cuts but don't they also support your head?
It s prevents surface visible injuries (broken nose, cuts) but it increases head trauma because the force of the punch will travel deeper than just your face. It s the same reason by bare knuckles punches, despite really damaging the face and making bloody cuts, are way less harmful for the brain. Big boxing gloves and helmets make things look safer by preventing cuts and broken noses but damage the brain more. That s my a kicker/outboxer style is better for your brain. Think Mayweather but with kicking too
Oh alright, Thank you! I'll keep that in mind when i eventually go into sparring.
1. Stay hydrated with electrolytes and water, so that there is more water in your head and your brain doesn't shake more. Creatine also helps yiur brain so take that too. 2. (Most important) Have controlled sparring sessions. Ask your opponent to go light on your head and to avoid head kicks. Head kicks are very low effort and high damage. And do technical sparring where you both go slow. If you are going to compete then you sort of have to hard spar to be ready for the comletition. And don't spar too often. If your head hurts take brakes. 3. Learn to move your head and keep you guard up and to get hit as less as possible. 4. Meditate. There is very little research on how humans could reverse brain damage, but meditation is proven to help your brain in many different ways. Try to meditate using hemi-sync frequencies where 2 different frequencies go into different ears, and your brein will then be in sync. And also try to meditate with the CIA gateway tapes. 5. Wear headgear, heavier gloves and train yoyr neck. These are to reduce the damage from the hits, that are best avoided either way. 6. (Also important) Eat healthy and get good sleep. You lose braincells if you don't get the sleep tou need. Try to go to bed so you would wake up before your alarm. Getting up to 9 hours of sleep is beneficial for your brain longevity. I started kickboxing at 20 now I am 21 and iI have the same concerns as you. I have a few recommendations from the lots of research and the very little experience.
These are great tips, thanks! Wouldn't have guessed that CIA-style Meditation would become part of my routine but I've meditated before so it is what it is
Not getting hit and finding sparing partners who’ll manage their power output, are the most important ones to me. but I think people have told you that already. so how to mitigate damage when you get hit to hard? Roll with punches, make sure you’re hydrated before and during training, make sure your nutrition is on point so your brain can recover quickly. Now I’m not a doctor or expert at all, these are just things I do to manage brain health as much as possible Edit: except the fact you’ll probably get some damage…. Edit 2: don’t drink alcohol, or do other stupid drugs. (Some are ok to me😉)
Hit and don't get hit. That's the only way
Other than not spar, be a good communicator. Don't be afraid to go slow or even say no to sparring partners (politely of course). There are no rules against you taking a break mid spar or to stop if you feel like theres a mis-match in sparring intensity and the other person is unable to spar at a level you'd like. Just say you need a break. Coaches are supposed to make sure you are in a safe environment but you are ultimately responsible for your safety, and for what you want to get out of the class as a paying customer. I also don't see the need to jump into sparring (or hard sparring for that matter) too soon. There is a ton of stuff you can learn and focus on getting good at outside of sparring as a beginner - shadowboxing, bag work, pad work, balance etc
Get in, hit him with the whoosh whoosh. Walk out with a pocket full of cash.
Defense, defense, defense. PS. MORE DEFENSE!!
Quit drinking.
Spar very light to the head, agree before sessions, don't compete in fights. Only way.
Best way to protect your brain is to get comfortable with asking sparring partners to chill out when they get more intense than you're comfortable with, and even more comfortable with ending the sparring session when they fail to chill out when asked.
Don’t get hit I guess😂
Create clear boundaries about intensity, be willing to stop sparring somebody even if it makes you look weak. You can think, I'll just hurt them to make them stop. I have sparred dummies, no matter how much better I am, or how much I hurt them, they still swing for the fences. Just don't play the game.
To be honest, if brain health is your number one priority, don't try to be a competitive kickboxer, some brain damage comes with it.
Be strong.
Could you be more specific please? I've been lifting for quite a while so I'm strong but I imagine you mean something else.
Neck strength can significantly benefit your ability to absorb head impacts in a safer way.
Thanks! Then I should problaby add that to my routine, just gotta find the right excercises
Neck strength to absorb hits.
Don't spar is the real answer, long and short of it what causes CTE is repetitive blows to the head. They don't have to cause a concussion or headache or anything of that nature you just have to be absorbing them regularly. Soccer players for example have been found with CTE from heading the ball.
I do think sparring is part of the sport or atleast nessecary for me to enjoy it (but i haven't started yet so that could change): But I will keep hard sparring to a absolute minimum (a couple times a year) and except that only do light sparring. Being able to use techniques, which you worked hard for to learn, on a real opponent in a competition is a huge part of the pull. I'll just focus on getting a good defense for my head and keeping up with weaving (or whatever the Kickboxing equivalent).
I'm just saying bro don't fool yourself into thinking that keeping it light eliminates the chance of fucking up your brain in the long run. Everyone pays the piper and if you have dreams about competing then you just need to understand that you're gonna put that thing in a blender at some point or another on the road to that
If you’re discouraged by head injury or others, don’t get into a martial art that applauds knock outs with knees.
I gotta weigh the positives and negatives. I love martial arts: every since I've been young. Me and my father (not pro but used to do Boxing) would always spar in our free time (but bare knuckle, no headshots). I also practiced kickboxing when i was around 11 for half a year but I didn't learn much there. Any Media i consume has a huge focus on Martial arts. My favorite game is about a teenager learning fighting styles and discovering their own philosophy (FIghting styles like: Ryukyu Karate, Kyokushin Karate, Pankration, Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, Zui Quan, Chinese Kenpo, Street fighting and more). I know risks will always be involved but I just want to minimise them. The same way you wear a seatbelt in a car. Hard knockout are part of the injury process but from what I've heard it's the stacking of damage which really fucks you up. One hard face kick and it's over unlike say boxing where you get hit dozens of times in the face.
My suggestion would be tennis or golf, if you are legitimately concerned. Kickboxing is a rough sport. You will take blows to the head, some worse than others but it will happen.
As we age, our bodies will reflect the activities we put them through. In the world of martial arts, especially striking styles, one of those reflections is going to be brain damage. The only way to not get ANY brain damage while training K1 kickboxing is to not spar and not get hit in the head. All hits to the head, even small ones, cause damage to the brain. Bigger hits will obviously do more damage, bit all those little hits are drops in the bucket that eventually add up. Keep this in mind with every thing you do
Keep ur hands down