Sparring without headgear normal for Muay Thai?

[curlbroscience]

Our gym spar on a daily basis without head gear. I have asked the amateur fighters in the gym about this. They said that they wear the headgear only when they are training for a fight and usually go much harder when on.

I have heard that this is normal in Muay Thai and the opposite is true for boxing. We don't spar extremely hard on a daily basis I would say about 60% +/- some harder than others due to natural heavy hands.

Thoughts, opinions?

[powerof0ne]

I'm not a big fan of head gear myself but if you want to wear it, you should be allowed to.

I don't know if that's normal in Muay Thai because all of the gyms I trained at I only once remember seeing somebody wear head gear because he wanted to. I think his reason for doing so was because he was a business professional that wanted to avoid black eyes and such.

However, for children, head gear should be mandatory, IMHO.
Osu!

[wullie]

i've no problem with people wearing head gear as long as they don't get lazy about covering their heads. seen it a couple of times where they seem to think it's ok to let the head guard take the shot!

[powerof0ne]

It's probably not a bad idea to wear head gear in knockdown, boxing, MT, etc...just like wearing a mouth piece isn't a bad idea !

However, I prefer not to wear a mouth piece or head guard LOL...I always have worn a mouth piece for competition, though.

Which leads me to another side bar here...if you compete make sure to wear a mouth piece while training a month leading up to the competition. Breathing with a mouth piece in is a bit different and can make a huge difference. I know most of you know that but just in case...
Osu!

[MMX]

Yes. It really effects your breathing if you are not use to it.

Osu!