Martial Arts and Glasses

[Thomas]

It all depends on how you train, KungLE, but in my oppinion glasses and grappling arts don't mix - at least not during sparring. Sooner or later your glasses will be crushed beyond recognition under you and your opponent. Furthermore - if you train full contact using head gear you need to have a special helmet that allows you to wear glasses.

In regard to your question if you are in trouble if you get your glasses knocked off during a real fight - I know I am. I have a really poor eyesight and many times I have tried sparring without any glasses or contact lenses. I have noticed that I am in really big trouble when fighting from the distance (even against people with very little martial arts experience). I have noticed that I get hyper sensitive because everything is just a blur. If my opponent fakes a blow or kick I always fall for it. I don't have any feel for the distance between me and my opponent(s) and I can't time my attacks or my defense. My only chance is to close the distance and get within "hugging-distance" - that way I stand a better chance of protecting myself as well as striking back using fists, elbows or knees or to take the fight to the ground. The problem is of course that I risk being hit on the way in because I can't see properly. Something I have noticed is that when in in-fight I have a hard time using head butts when I'm not wearing glasses. We always use helmets so there is no risk of injury but my brain often refuses because my eye sight is so poor. Very annoying.

So - if you plan to take up a martial art that involved grappling or full contact sparring then I would advice you to get some contacts. Never the less - No matter what martial art you practise I advice you to try to fight without your glasses numerous times. At least until you get a feeling for what kind of problems you might have.

Best regards
Thomas

 

[rabbit]

I would hope you wear you glasses/contacts while out on the street so you can see the enemy approaching you and you can run.


By enemy i mean the guy whose girlfriend you stole or some drunk guy that wants to beat you up

 

[Sanchin-J]

A nice alternative that I've used in the past are prescription sports goggles, assuming your not completely blind without your glasses, you can usually get a pair for a fair price. In the event that you don't want to use goggles, there are several companies that make a flex type frame for glasses so they won't be damaged easily and you could always use a glasses strap to keep them on your head while training.

 

[K Williams]

Has anyone here tried Rec Specs? I've had my glasses fly off many times while training. I've been considering buying a pair of Rec Specs sport glasses.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.clearlylenz.com/

http://www.clearlylenz.com/search/Prescription.Sports.Goggles/Prescription.Sports.Goggles_219/

I've had 'em for a year now, they work great. All I needed was my eyeglass prescription and my PD (pupillary distance), which you can measure yourself or get from your eye doctor. They work great. Don't fog up, I spar in 'em and no problem when I get smacked wearing them. I recommend 100%.

 

[Blade96]

i train without mine

 

[WC_lun]

I have pretty bad vision and wear glasses as well. I have worn soft contacts, and that worked out very well.

Now I take off my glasses when anything other than light contact is going to happen. I do this for two reason. First, even though the glasses are made to resist contact with special lens and flexable frames, the little screws in the corners are not. Replacing them isn't expensive, but it is a pain when one breaks. Second, in a fight, I may not be able to keep my glasses on my face. I need to be able to work without them. I have found that for me, it is actually easier to fight without my glasses. Not sure why that is. My instructor says that sometimes seeing is a hindrance, rather than a help. Of course, his instructor was almost completly blind, so that was probably impressed upon him in a rather painful way

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I wear glasses when I spar because I need them to see. I've been told that I need to 'learn to get along without them because you may not have them in a real self-defense situation' and I totally get that. But their eyes are not my eyes. I wear them when I spar because I need them to see AT ALL.

SO I wear the Raquetteball glasses I linked to; they work fine. I'm not sure why people who have 'bad eyes' but not MY bad eyes think they know what I can see and what I can't.

 

[Yoshin9]

Train without them, if you get into a fight you can not guarantee that your glasses won't get knocked off. Learn how to fight without glasses now or pay for it when you really need to use your skills minus glasses.

 

[RoninGirl82]

It's a scientific fact that when one sense is impaired the other senses become much more keen. Ya know Radar from MASH? Bad eyes, so his hearing took up the slack. That is a well-documented phenomenon.

Knowing that my glasses will be the first thing destroyed or lost during a street encounter, I SPAR without them, but train techniques with them on, just because its VERY hard to see without them. I've found that by fighting so long without my specs, judging distances and reach without them comes naturally. Also, I can "sense" when something is going to happen and react in time (unless I'm fighting my brother; there IS no moving out of the way in time with him, even when you know exactly what's coming!). I've trained to NOT rely on my eyesight during a fight, but to read other cues such as smell, hearing, touch, and even just noticing small movements.

Its taken years of training, but I am just as comfortable fighting without my glasses as I am wearing them when I'm not fighting. And yes, my eyesight is VERY bad...colors, shapes, outlines, and blobs are all I see past 3 feet.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Train without them, if you get into a fight you can not guarantee that your glasses won't get knocked off. Learn how to fight without glasses now or pay for it when you really need to use your skills minus glasses.

Yes, I know if I get into a fight 'for real' my glasses will get knocked off. However, if I cannot see without my glasses, I cannot spar, so I cannot learn. Duh. First I must learn to spar and defend myself. If I take my glasses off, I cannot see a fist coming at me, so I can't learn to block it.

People who can see without their glasses always give this advice. It's wrong, IMHO. First learn to defend yourself, including wearing sparring glasses if that's what you need to be able to see. Then worry about learning to fight without being able to see clearly.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

It's a scientific fact that when one sense is impaired the other senses become much more keen. Ya know Radar from MASH? Bad eyes, so his hearing took up the slack. That is a well-documented phenomenon.

Knowing that my glasses will be the first thing destroyed or lost during a street encounter, I SPAR without them, but train techniques with them on, just because its VERY hard to see without them. I've found that by fighting so long without my specs, judging distances and reach without them comes naturally. Also, I can "sense" when something is going to happen and react in time (unless I'm fighting my brother; there IS no moving out of the way in time with him, even when you know exactly what's coming!). I've trained to NOT rely on my eyesight during a fight, but to read other cues such as smell, hearing, touch, and even just noticing small movements.

Its taken years of training, but I am just as comfortable fighting without my glasses as I am wearing them when I'm not fighting. And yes, my eyesight is VERY bad...colors, shapes, outlines, and blobs are all I see past 3 feet.

My eyes are bad like yours. It always angers me a bit when people who have normal vision or only slightly impaired offer advice on what people like you and I should do. Walk a mile in our moccasins, amigo, I suggest to them.

I train and spar with my prescription racquetball glasses. They are cheap and they work. They don't fog up and they don't get broken; I've been smacked in them many times now. I saved money by not getting the bifocal portion since I don't need to read in the dojo, and I went without the fancy coatings and so on. Don't need them indoors.

I think it is important to be able to see clearly when sparring too. Yes, I agree with the naysayers that if you ever have to defend yourself for real, you'll get your glasses knocked off. True. However, if you've never learned how to properly see punches coming and block them, etc, you won't have good training. This ain't a Kung Fu TV episode. Use the tools that are available. That's my advice.

 

[Aikikitty]

I wore glasses most of my life and just so happened to get soft contact lenses a few months before starting Aikido. I definitely recommend contacts and I always wear them during the majority of my day. The few times I had to wear glasses in class, they kept falling off from sweat or rolling around. My sensei used a sport band to hold his on and that worked pretty well. Another student has been using prescription sport goggles for years (same or similar Bill recommended) and those work very well for him with what we do.

I'm very, very near-sighted and training without contacts or glasses for me is laughable. If I can't even see what sensei is doing... By the way, my depth perception changes going from contacts to glasses, not a lot, but it makes a difference, especially driving at night. If you get contacts, I suggest keeping a spare set or a pair of glasses in your car or bag in case you get hit in the head and lose a contact.

Robyn

 

[jks9199]

My eyes are bad like yours. It always angers me a bit when people who have normal vision or only slightly impaired offer advice on what people like you and I should do. Walk a mile in our moccasins, amigo, I suggest to them.

I train and spar with my prescription racquetball glasses. They are cheap and they work. They don't fog up and they don't get broken; I've been smacked in them many times now. I saved money by not getting the bifocal portion since I don't need to read in the dojo, and I went without the fancy coatings and so on. Don't need them indoors.

I think it is important to be able to see clearly when sparring too. Yes, I agree with the naysayers that if you ever have to defend yourself for real, you'll get your glasses knocked off. True. However, if you've never learned how to properly see punches coming and block them, etc, you won't have good training. This ain't a Kung Fu TV episode. Use the tools that are available. That's my advice.

I don't know. I'm blessed with good to excellent vision, so far. I've always told my students to TRY without their glasses, and encouraged sport glasses and/or contacts if they felt they couldn't train without them.

That said -- I'd still encourage y'all to do one-steps and other similar exercises without your glasses to understand what things look like if you HAVE to fight without them.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

That said -- I'd still encourage y'all to do one-steps and other similar exercises without your glasses to understand what things look like if you HAVE to fight without them.

Your point is well-made. However, bear in mind that when I started training and didn't yet have these glasses, I could not even see what Sensei was demonstrating in front of the class. If I wore my street glasses, they got bashed. If I didn't, I was not able to see what was wrong with my feet, hand position, etc, etc. I really need to be able to see to be able to train. I think there is a vague suspicion on the part of many normal-sighted people that if we just 'tried harder' we could see better without our glasses. Like getting mad at deaf people, as if they're doing it on purpose.

 

[Sukerkin]

I can only re-iterate what I said back in post#7 of this thread.

 

[jks9199]

Your point is well-made. However, bear in mind that when I started training and didn't yet have these glasses, I could not even see what Sensei was demonstrating in front of the class. If I wore my street glasses, they got bashed. If I didn't, I was not able to see what was wrong with my feet, hand position, etc, etc. I really need to be able to see to be able to train. I think there is a vague suspicion on the part of many normal-sighted people that if we just 'tried harder' we could see better without our glasses. Like getting mad at deaf people, as if they're doing it on purpose.

Sorry; I wasn't as clear as I thought I was. Absolutely, I think you should wear your glasses to train as a general rule. But, occasionally, you should train without them. Free sparring is not a good exercise for this; that's why I said one-steps or similar controlled extercises.

In the same vein, most of your training will be in the dojo or a similar environment, wearing a uniform and with a good warm up. Occasionally... move out of that comfort. Wear old, "normal" clothes. Train outside. Skip the warm up and see what happens.... Of course, if all your after is some fun or a sport to do, you can skip this stuff, since it's only really relevant to self defense.

 

[seasoned]

I wore glasses most of my life and just so happened to get soft contact lenses a few months before starting Aikido. I definitely recommend contacts and I always wear them during the majority of my day. The few times I had to wear glasses in class, they kept falling off from sweat or rolling around. My sensei used a sport band to hold his on and that worked pretty well. Another student has been using prescription sport goggles for years (same or similar Bill recommended) and those work very well for him with what we do.

I'm very, very near-sighted and training without contacts or glasses for me is laughable. If I can't even see what sensei is doing... By the way, my depth perception changes going from contacts to glasses, not a lot, but it makes a difference, especially driving at night. If you get contacts, I suggest keeping a spare set or a pair of glasses in your car or bag in case you get hit in the head and lose a contact.

Robyn

I started wearing soft contact lenses about a year ago. It took months to get use to putting them in. Even though I have my glasses for back up, I will never give up my contacts.

 

[Sukerkin]

Just don't ride a motorbike without a full-face visor . The first time I did that in contacts I ended up having to pull over to the curb in short-order and try to firk the lenses out the corners of my eyes where the air-pressure had slid them :lol:.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I started wearing soft contact lenses about a year ago. It took months to get use to putting them in. Even though I have my glasses for back up, I will never give up my contacts.

Unfortunately, not everyone is a candidate. I'm not. I could - maybe - wear hard contacts with the 'weighted bottoms' for my astigmatism, but I tried a long time ago, and no, ever again. I wear glasses, I'm OK with glasses, and I train with glasses built to take abuse. I don't see it as an issue.