To cup or not to cup?

[GouRonin]

I was just thinking about this...when I work in American Kenpo I wear a cup. When I work in submission fighting, or Judo, I don't wear a cup, when I work in Systema I don't wear a cup. In boxing I wear a no-foul protector.

Sometimes I wear one and sometimes I don't. What guidelines do you use when deciding to wear one or not?

[Damian Mavis]

I wear mine to the mall. And that's all I wear. Well except for my boots. I'm sexah!

Anyway, since we are talking about cups let me tell you a little story about the last time I didn't wear my cup to train martial arts. I was sparring with my brother in law who's been a student of mine for about 2 years now and still has really bad technique but insane power. He's wild but when he connects it's like a truck. So... we are sparring and I'm just going kind of easy trying to get him to learn some things and feel his groove when he decides to throw a full powered turning sidekick at me.... but because of his bad technique his knee is bent down and his foot aimed up so instead of kicking me in the gut he pounds right up into my groin.... full power, no holding back. So there's a little bit of good news, he missed my scrotum! Lucky me, instead he CRUSHED MY BIRDIE BETWEEN HIS HEEL AND MY PELVIC BONE. I thought I was going to barf and then I thought I was going to pass out, I lay on the floor shaking like a frightened child for about 10 minutes.

I got myself checked out and I was fine but the doctor told me I was lucky because some people have had to have reconstructive surgery from injuries like that because the tube gets ruptured. It was purple for a month though.... and unusable for almost as long.

This is the "scared straight" method of getting people to wear cups.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[c2kenpo]

To cup or not to cup that is the question?

I propose no question at all. The wee willy doesn't require a lot of bumping around to cause that lovely gastric convulsive feeling in all men.
One of my instructors was working finger set with a student and demonstrated the finger whip to the softies and oooops student not wearing a cup and went down for the ten count.

My experience from MA to soccer, to football, to lacrosse, and just about any activity that could place a small to large object in an area that I dont want there, intentionally or non-intentionally

CUP IT Shakespere!

JMHO
Dave "C2"

[GouRonin]

Some say however that the cup gives a false sense of security because you don'r wear one every day. Well, most of us don't. Some arts require that you don't because it can be dangerous. Even in regular sparring arts I know of injurious actions that caused damage because of wearing a jock.

I think that it's good to practice with one to allow strikes etc but it's also good to practice without them as well.

[KennethKu]

Originally posted by Damian Mavis

I wear mine to the mall. And that's all I wear. Well except for my boots. I'm sexah!
........, instead he CRUSHED MY BIRDIE BETWEEN HIS HEEL AND MY PELVIC BONE. I thought I was going to barf and then I thought I was going to pass out, I lay on the floor shaking like a frightened child for about 10 minutes. ...... I got myself checked out and I was fine ........ It was purple for a month though.... and unusable for almost as long......


ROFL!! :D :D
I was in a bad mood this morning, but your post made me LMAO! :D

It is literrally "putting your pecker on ice" there! LOL

[Brother John]

If I MIGHT get hit
or probably will...
I put one in.

If not, I get what I get.
:rolleyes:
Your Brother (natural baritone, and staying that way)
John

[jkn75]

I always wear a cup when I spar, especially against kids. Kids have the knack for hitting the groin.:erg:

For other techniques generally not. Comfort is important and as Gou pointed out,
Some say however that the cup gives a false sense of security because you don'r wear one every day. Well, most of us don't.

[Blindside]

Well, most of us don't. Some arts require that you don't because it can be dangerous. Even in regular sparring arts I know of injurious actions that caused damage because of wearing a jock.

Ok, I've only been doing martial arts for about 7 years now, but I've never seen an accident where wearing the cup exacerbated the situation. On the other hand, I have seen lots (more than 5) incidents where the cup protected from serious harm (most recently last tuesday).

Not wearing a seatbelt saved the life of a friend of mine, when he wrapped his car around a telephone pole. That being said, I always wear a seatbelt, because the odds are that its going to save my life are much higher than it taking it.

When I did BJJ, Judo, and escrima I didn't wear a cup. I do for kajukenbo and kenpo.

Lamont

[Dronak]

I don't wear one right now because almost everything we're doing is solo. If we were doing sparring or something, I'd probably go get one and wear it. But for now the chance of getting hit is practically non-existant, so there's no reason for me to wear a cup.

[Brother John]

Hey James-
90% of my work is solo as well, but then I find that when I work with others.... OR go test in Las Vegas, that the cup that I MUST wear feels 'out of place' or strange...and tends to be a distraction.
So now I wear it much more... even when alone.
Besides, if you don't wear one for a long time and then you must for a day.. it can chafe.

:angry:
Your Brother
John

[Damian Mavis]

"Some say however that the cup gives a false sense of security because you don'r wear one every day"

What are you going to do? Condition your testicles for street defence??!!??!!


Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Damian Mavis

"Some say however that the cup gives a false sense of security because you don'r wear one every day"

What are you going to do? Condition your testicles for street defence??!!??!!


Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

ROFL! :rofl: :rofl: Good Ol' Iron Balls Mahoney :D

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by Blindside

Ok, I've only been doing martial arts for about 7 years now, but I've never seen an accident where wearing the cup exacerbated the situation. On the other hand, I have seen lots (more than 5) incidents where the cup protected from serious harm (most recently last tuesday).

Not wearing a seatbelt saved the life of a friend of mine, when he wrapped his car around a telephone pole. That being said, I always wear a seatbelt, because the odds are that its going to save my life are much higher than it taking it.

Lamont

True, but I've been to auto accidents where people were burned alive because they couldn't get out of theri seatbelt too. Saying that, I don't think anyone is going to catch their cup on fire, so that may be moot. Well, that would be a cool trick !

I have seen incidents where wearing a cup has created more of an issue for someone, but they are few and far between. Also, we tend to think, oh man that cup broke and really injured that guy, but we don't think about how bad the injury would have been had the cup (broken or not) been there at all! WOW

7sm

[GouRonin]

Originally posted by Blindside
Ok, I've only been doing martial arts for about 7 years now, but I've never seen an accident where wearing the cup exacerbated the situation. On the other hand, I have seen lots (more than 5) incidents where the cup protected from serious harm (most recently last tuesday).

The guy I am thinking about was wearing a cup and a close shot shifted the cup causing it to shift and crush and destroy one of his testicles.

[Blindside]

Hi Gou,

Yeah, I've hear the same example, or the guy who's cup splits, and somehow the guy gets caught between the pieces.

My point is I think these accidents are by far the exception.

Lamont

[Shinzu]

i tend to wear a cup during sparring. i'm really not in the mood to get my "boys" crushed. i have seen too many accidents.

[D.Cobb]

Originally posted by GouRonin

The guy I am thinking about was wearing a cup and a close shot shifted the cup causing it to shift and crush and destroy one of his testicles.

You could always wear the external cup. That is to say, the kind that you wear outside of your uniform. I have one made by Adidas, and having worn the kind you "slip in" and the external one, I can vouch for added comfort. You don't chafe, and nutty contact is minimal. The only real problem I've seen/ felt, is that they cover quite a fair way back and taper to a bit of a point. If your partner/ opponent executes one of those nasty Kenpo type scoop kicks, you can end up with the problem, commonly referred to in Australia as, getting your freckle puckered.

Makes you walk funny too!
--Dave

[MartialArtist]

I'd rather have some protection when someone kicks you. I've had a cup broken before and broken cups myself and wonder what it would've been if we weren't wearing cups.

For grappling, cups really aren't necessary. Even when someone does a high-crotch.

[Hollywood1340]

I've seen some pretty nasty accidents in Judo, and we're not allowed to wear cups.

[kenposcum]

One of my instructor's favorite "attitude adjustments" was to pull the cup away and snap it on the "jewels." It hurt.
Another time I got kicked so hard in the cup that I was left with a bruise outlining my crotch.
Yeah, these incidents were painful. But how much worse would they have been cupless?
:asian:

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by D.Cobb

you can end up with the problem, commonly referred to in Australia as, getting your freckle puckered.

Makes you walk funny too!
--Dave

I think I want to move to Australia just for the awesome sayings!!
Thats hillarious!

7sm

[c2kenpo]

Our most recent belt test this Friday made me think of this thread.

6th Jr BlackBelt
2nd Jr Black Belt
Green Belt Adult
Blue Belt Adult
Two Yellow Belt Adults

and about 30 kids Testing

I was the primary PB (Punching Bag) for the group especially the adults and the black belts. it was a really great test night for the group the kids did great and the adults were crisp.
But had it not been for the Original Bannana Cup I wold be crushed and I really did take some hits to the groin. The worst of it was that on those shots the strike directed at the groin would slide left or right and strike me on the external groin muscle. Hurt like crazy but better then my cookies on the mat.

Just another reason I say the cup is a godsend, but designed for training where you "have to" let someone hit thier targets. Out on the street I'm not about to let someone get that close.

Train intelligently, Fight realisticly

Dave "C2" Gunzburg

[cdhall]

Originally posted by GouRonin

Sometimes I wear one and sometimes I don't. What guidelines do you use when deciding to wear one or not?

When I signed up initially I thought I was told to wear a cup as part of the sparring gear so I interpreted that to mean we did not need it on non-sparring nights.

One night during techniques I got nailed and the instructor then took a survey and reminded everyone that the cup was part of your uniform. Wear it. All the time. Especially in Kenpo.

So now I wear it all the time and on occasion I remind students "It's insurance, not a Target." :)

:asian:

[cali_tkdbruin]

All of this talk about cupping and not cupping, and taking shots to the Nads is giving me the HEE BEE-GEE BEES, ouchy!!!
Just the taught of this makes a guy wanna puke his nuts out :barf:
I most definitely always make it a point to wear a cup whenever full contact sparring is involved. Now, after reading some of these painful posts I think I should CUP UP even when doing non-contact sparring. Ya just never know when some uncoordinated lower belt might let a kick slip and catch you in the cooters :waah:
Come to think about it, I should be wearing a cup 24-7...

[Elfan]

I wear it whenever I'm practicing with other people. I consider it part of the uniform.

[brianhunter]

Originally posted by kenposcum

One of my instructor's favorite "attitude adjustments" was to pull the cup away and snap it on the "jewels." It hurt.
Another time I got kicked so hard in the cup that I was left with a bruise outlining my crotch.
Yeah, these incidents were painful. But how much worse would they have been cupless?
:asian:


Man they used to kick guys out of school for snapping bras but we liked girls! Man i still cant think of a good reason to mess with someones junk especially when elastic is envolved!


:rofl:

[D.Cobb]

Originally posted by brianhunter

Man they used to kick guys out of school for snapping bras but we liked girls! Man i still cant think of a good reason to mess with someones junk especially when elastic is envolved!


:rofl:

This can be a common occurrence if you have an EPAK instructor with a penchant(sp?) for the scoop kick.:mad:

--Dave

:asian:

[bdparsons]

Do you have life insurance sometimes and sometimes not... or auto insurance sometimes and sometimes not? It's about what you are willing to risk on any given day.

You pays your money, you takes your chances.

Bill Parsons

[cali_tkdbruin]

When it comes to my Nads, yup I'm insured...

[KumaSan]

You know, this is wearing scars to the most of the rest of the world.
Originally posted by Damian Mavis

I wear mine to the mall. And that's all I wear. Well except for my boots. I'm sexah!

Anyway, since we are talking about cups let me tell you a little story about the last time I didn't wear my cup to train martial arts. I was sparring with my brother in law who's been a student of mine for about 2 years now and still has really bad technique but insane power. He's wild but when he connects it's like a truck. So... we are sparring and I'm just going kind of easy trying to get him to learn some things and feel his groove when he decides to throw a full powered turning sidekick at me.... but because of his bad technique his knee is bent down and his foot aimed up so instead of kicking me in the gut he pounds right up into my groin.... full power, no holding back. So there's a little bit of good news, he missed my scrotum! Lucky me, instead he CRUSHED MY BIRDIE BETWEEN HIS HEEL AND MY PELVIC BONE. I thought I was going to barf and then I thought I was going to pass out, I lay on the floor shaking like a frightened child for about 10 minutes.

I got myself checked out and I was fine but the doctor told me I was lucky because some people have had to have reconstructive surgery from injuries like that because the tube gets ruptured. It was purple for a month though.... and unusable for almost as long.

This is the "scared straight" method of getting people to wear cups.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Spud]

We don't have established sparring nights, so people have gotten in the habit of not wearing a cup and either running into the locker room for quick install or going with out. Last night, one of the students decided to go without. He took a kick dead on, dropped hard and stayed curled up crying for 5 minutes (he's a tough 17-year old) it was another 5 minutes before he was walking. I've seen plenty of guys get hit without protection, but never like that. I hope he's o.k.

For me, it is part of the uniform, I don't bow in cupless. (XO athletic in a supporter, fairly comfy from karatedepot.com)

[SMP]

I dont wear a cup on the street so I dont wear one when I am in class. And will usually not wear a cup unless required at a tournament. My instructor once crushed another mans testicle in a tourney down in SanFran, he recomends students wear them but we do not avoid contact if some one is not protected.

[8253]

not to cup=alot of pain. No thank you.

[YouAgain]

I wear one when ever we full contact spar, but not for grappeling.

[tsunami]

A good shot to the groin is not only painfull, but can also be expensive and or cause long term damage. I know, by how nervous I am when I forget my cup. There is no false sense of security. Cups allow you train hard with out injury. I think that Bike makes the best ones. It is just not worth the risk.

George

[bignick]

man...doing ukemi during judo and jujutsu would hurt a lot more with a cup...i never wear one for those arts....

and the only time i wear it for tkd is when i know i'm going to be full contact sparring...

i've managed to escape groin shot free so far....but every dog as its day...as the saying goes

[kempojack]

I always wear my cup you just never know. On the other hand the other night I didn't were my mouth gaurd and took a pretty good roundhouse kick to the face and all the bonding on one of my front teeth came off.

[bluenosekenpo]

man...doing ukemi during judo and jujutsu would hurt a lot more with a cup...i never wear one for those arts....

and the only time i wear it for tkd is when i know i'm going to be full contact sparring...

i've managed to escape groin shot free so far....but every dog as its day...as the saying goes

just wondering why folks don't wear them during judo or grappling? i wear mine all the time when sparring or grappling. case in point, i was grappling with a blackbelt and performed ouchi gari, as he fell he drew his shins up parallel to the floor. i landed directly on a knee so hard it lifted my feet straight up off the mat. we both looked at each other and laughingly said, wow, that would have hurt. it did hurt, the cup pressed on the inguinal ligaments(recently had hernia surgery) but i don't want to think of what would have happened if i didn't have it on. ultimately, it's up to you, me? i will always wear it. :asian:

[ppko]

I do not wear a cup for one reason only and that is that things happen and you have to know how to fight through the pain on the street

[Sin]

if ya got it then use it...protect those nuts lol. Seriously right now i am not using one cause i broke the strap...lol really...and i just havn't gotten a new one yet. theres nothing worng with proper precausions

[Maltair]

I don't put my bottoms on till the cup goes on. I picked up a tuckunder type cup. Lot more comfortable. And if you sit just right, you do get your taint tickled :uhyeah:

[Patrick Skerry]

I wear the padded jock-strap. I feel a cup is too dangerous for martial arts use.

[Phoenix44]

No cup. I just drink from the bottle.

[Shade Silverwing]

We do no-contact sparring, so I guess my answer is "no".

[OnlyAnEgg]

cup? always. period.

[chinto01]

I have gone to not wearing the cup at all. You need to learn how to protect your essentials some how. A cup is a false sense of security.

[OUMoose]

Never worn one. Course, I've also learned how to take a shot to the bits once in a while in that too. hehe.

[hardheadjarhead]

I have gone to not wearing the cup at all. You need to learn how to protect your essentials some how. A cup is a false sense of security.

I disagree.

People wear mouthpieces and headgear when sparring all the time. That doesn't give them a false sense of security insofar as protecting their heads. Would we suggest that pro boxers are being unwise in wearing that gear during their training sessions?

This is probably the third time I've posted this in the year or so I've been here, but as a person who has suffered a crushed testicle from sparring, I fully endorse wearing a cup.

We're not talking just a light shot to the 'nads here, guys. It can render you sterile, ruin about a month of your life, and even kill you. It almost killed me.

Wear the cup. When you get nailed there it still hurts--the difference is the degree of injury. You still learn to protect yourself when wearing it. It doesn't make you Superman and you become keenly aware of that rather quickly. You also reflect afterwards how bad it would have been without the cup.

Ditch the antiquated notions about it giving you a false sense of security and shell out the ten bucks or so for a good cup. Wearing one doesn't kill the reflex to protect your little loved ones.



Regards,



Steve

[still learning]

Hello, The first time I spar, got hit without the cup. "Boy" did I go down, quit right after that, 30 years ago. Did go back a few times, today I always wear a cup, foolish not too. Saw a ad for a bullet proof cup once, heard steel cups can crack. Today we use the baseball type cups. .....Aloha

Always keep your cup full.....? Got Pepsi

[TigerWoman]

From one who has done my share of hitting guys in the jewels, I would prefer they wear the cup and I'm sure they did. In fact, one would-be father was wearing one, one night when I hit him with a cup on and he was out pretty much the rest of the night. He now has two kids which is the point of this. We call the cup the lifesaver because why risk something as precious as that? TW