Mouthguards

[Aaron Gustaveson]

I can name a handful of people at the school that can effectively control my head long enough to be uncomfortable, for the most part I avoid having my head controlled at all costs, its bad for you...

sounds like you're just way better than me. even when they cant control my head for long, i still have to fight to get out and thats when the lips can get smashed up without a mouth guard.

[Aaron Gustaveson]

We only roll for an hour. Most of it is spent standing around while they show us the moves. Worse thing that has happened to me so far: Open hand slap to the top of the head. It was a headlock defense and my partner had much longer arms. Even blocking it, I still took the shot.

an open hand shot on the back of the head can make your legs go out. Our coach was just showing us this for setting up the standing guillotine.

[ScottRay]

i guess i believe you as far as your technique will improve but ill get taped every single time unless other people roll softer? When someone is aggressively pursuing dominate positions and going as hard and fast as they can in scrambles I cant really handle it without picking it up myself, unless they are new or a lot lighter than me.

So what about the lightest/weakest person in the gym? How do they deal with the "pace"?? That's jiujitsu bro.

So what you just said is that your willing hinder your progress to get some "classroom taps"?

[Joseph Hachey]

Use them

Ouch! Whoever did that to you must've been a real jerk!

[ScottRay]

Keep us posted kurzy, doc stitched ya up yet?

[Isaac Atley]

i wear a cup but no mouth guard. my clinch is so amazing they never have a chance at seeing my face really.........

i didnt wear a cup for the first two years then finally invested and im not going back, if you get good ones then they shouldnt annoy people too much, i use shock doctor. i think half the problem people have with cups is that there are douches that use them to do things like armbars and getting in back mount etc. they same kind of guys that will do a douchebag to get an armbar while n training. with mouthguards, i dunno i cant stand having them in my mouth, maybe i should invest in a fancy one but ive never ahd a problem, im usually pretty careful with my head.

and Aaron, the guys at my gym are all physical freaks that go at 200% aswell, and i beat them down with a good clinch and technique. there are lots of moves that use strength against people usually because powering through can leave holes for us to use. im not saying lie there like a dead jellyfish but rolling softer 5 times a week will be a lot better for than than rolling hard 1 time every fortnight becuase you have little injuries.

and t-rexing helps with protecting your head cos there is such a small distance to make to cover up.

[Kyle Spalla]

Benefits of wearing a mouth guard by Rocky Balboa. Every punch Rocky has ever taken, EVER.

[Peterm]

I am obviously in a minority here but I find the use of if not insistence on mouth guards and cups entirely peculiar.

There is no culture of using mouth guards and cups in judo and wrestling and I am not aware following years of participation in both sports of injury to mouth or genitals being a particular problem even taking into account the aggressive encounters and frequent high impact collisions that occur.

As for making a mouth piece a mandatory requirement to roll, I find this totally bizarre. I am not aware of any such requirement in any BJJ school in Brazil or indeed any of the better BJJ schools I have visited in the US including Renzo's and Marcelo's.

Is there some strange aspect or feature of submission grappling which I am missing or is this simply an indication of a risk shy
modern society?

I may be old school but I think that most of you are going totally overboard in exaggerating the risks to your well being.

[Aaron Gustaveson]

i wear a cup but no mouth guard. my clinch is so amazing they never have a chance at seeing my face really.........

rolling softer 5 times a week will be a lot better for than than rolling hard 1 time every fortnight becuase you have little injuries.

if little injuries stop you from rolling every night.

[VictorV]

an open hand shot on the back of the head can make your legs go out. Our coach was just showing us this for setting up the standing guillotine.

It was a headlock escape from the bottom. I had my left hand cupping his arm by his shoulder and the right hand was cupped to block. Supposed to block his arm near the elbow. Which is what I did. Unfortunately, he still had the reach. I'm 5'6" and the guy I was rolling with was 6'4". Thankfully it wasn't full speed or all that hard. Just annoyed me because I did the technique right and still got clocked. I'll have to modify it.