Approved Sparring Gear

When someone questions you about approved sparring gear, you have to ask, "Approved by whom?" Different martial arts require different kinds of safety equipment to keep sparring safe. In most cases, the gear protects the same parts of your body, but the style and structure of the gear is tailored to the specifics of the particular sportt.

Karate Gear

Karate sparring is linear and fast, but rarely permits full-contact strikes. Standard sparring gear for competition consists of foam rubber dipped in vinyl, usually 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Participants must wear gloves, boots and a helmet in most competitions, as well as a mouth guard and groin cup.

Mixed Martial Arts Gear

Mixed martial arts sparring allows harder contact than karate, and permits grappling. In competition, participants wear padded half-gloves that resemble weight lifting gloves with 1/4 to 1/2 inch of padding over the knuckles and backs of the hands. Some amateur competitions require head gear, but professional fighters use only a mouth guard.

Boxing and Kickboxing Gear

Boxers and kickboxers fight wearing heavy boxing gloves and a highly padded helmet colloqually known as a "brain bucket." The helmet is optional in professional competition. Kickboxers may also wear shin guards or instep guards. Some fighters in this kind of sparring also wear a groin cup, though it's not required. All wear mouth guards.

Tae Kwon Do Gear

Tae kwon do sparring allows for full-contact kicks to the body, and the protective gear for this sport reflects this rule. Participants wear hand, foot and head gear similar to that worn in karate sparring, as well as a mouth guard. They also wear a 1/2-in to 1-in torso guard that resembles a catcher's apron. Groin kicks aren't allowed in regulation tae kwon do sparring, so groin cups aren't as common.

Other Martial Arts

Many other martial arts use the hand, foot and head gear combination from karate. Others, especially weapon arts, will use specialized gear such as the basket helmet for fencing. In most cases, the equipment is selected to provide maximum protection for the head, and to cover the striking tools used by an attacker.

Variations

No centralized authority governs sparring conventions for any given martial art. Instead, individual schools, organizations and tournaments approve or disapprove sparring equipment according to their own judgment. While there are general conventions in the martial arts industry, always defer to the conventions in your particular school or event.