If you are training in Krav Maga or a variety of other martial arts, there’s a good chance you will find yourself sparring at some time. There is no better way to refine your techniques than through practice and sparring is a great way to practice. Since you will be punching and kicking someone else and having the same done to you, safety gear is important. Today, we’ll look at a very important bit of gear, your headgear. We all need to protect the part of our body that runs all the other part and for me, I rely on the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear.
Overview
The Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is just the thing to keep your head safe from the abuse of punching and kicks. It provide good cheek protection while still letting you see the attacks coming at you. It’s easy and quick to put on and stays put as you are sparring. If you are looking for a good quality piece of equipment, the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is a great choice.
Pros
- Made from durable leather
- Padded cheek protection
- Fully adjustable for just the right fit
Cons
- Feels like it gets tighter the longer you wear it
Ready to get your own Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear?
If you are looking for more details, continue reading for a full review…
Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear – Full Review
Sparring in Krav Maga can be extremely challenging, great fun, and at times, dangerous. We wear safety gear, such as 16oz boxing gloves, shin pads, mouth pieces, and headgear. There are many options for headgear in the market but the one I decided on was the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear. For more specifics about this headgear, head over to Amazon or check out the Title MMA/Title Boxing website.
If you have ever researched sparring gear, you will know how many options are available. You can spend a little or a lot, get synthetic or real leather, gel padding, face bars, and more and more. Getting the right tool for the right job is important so decisions have to be made. Unfortunately, I could not find a list of important features that headgear needed for Krav Maga.
Since our sparring looked a lot like Muay Thai and I could see what other people have bought for their Krav Maga gear, I had a starting point. Here are some important points that I considered before purchasing the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear:
- High cheek protection
- Chin protection
- Good visibility
- Durability
- Price
Protection
The Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is a good compromise of these points. First, let’s talk about protection and padding. This headgear has good, high cheek protection to help avoid black eyes and other injuries. Sure, we wear big padded gloves and don’t punch 100% but getting hit in the head and face hurts, no matter what. Take a look at these headgear:
Check out the Fighting Sports Tri-Tech Full Training Headgear to the right. Pay attention to the shape of the opening for your eyes. The cheek of this headgear is high compared to other headgear. Also, your ears are a little more protected with a strip of material going across the middle of the ear opening.
Now, compare the cheeks of the Fighting Sports headgear to the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear. You can see the cheeks are a different shape, giving the Title more of an opening for your eyes.
Looking at the ear opening, you can see that there is quite a bit of padding (very similar to the Fighting Sports headgear) but no material across the middle of the ear.
Last but not least, let’s look at the Hayabusa Official MMA Kanpeki Elite 2.0 Headgear. The cheeks are even smaller, resulting in less protection for your nose and face. When sparring, we use big 16 oz gloves but personally, I still want as much protection as possible to prevent broken and bloody noses and black eyes.
Looking at the other two headgear, your ears appear to be very well protected with only small openings. If you are grappling or someone is grabbing at your head, this headgear would keep any stray fingers out of your ears.
Comparing all three headgear, you have a wide range of visibility and protection to choose from, and these are just three of the options. For me, I wanted good protection since I expected to get punched in the face, but I wanted to see the kicks before I feel them. That’s why I chose the Title headgear.
For those uppercuts, you will need some good chin protection. Some headgear opens at the chin and some opens at the back. The Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear opens at the back, as do the other two headgear we just compared. This feature offers good protection for your chin but if your head is a little small, the lack of adjustments at the chin can cause it to slide around. You can fix this by securing the headgear a little tight but then your headgear is a little tight and a bit uncomfortable. I’ve ended up with a pretty massive headache after 10 minutes or so of sparring as a result of tight headgear. Snug is good and the soft leather of the Title headgear really helps hold it in place.
There is also good padding in the back. Looking at the inside of the Title headgear, you can see the big block of padding (on the right side) that can be adjusted to one side or the other. This helps to put the padding in the middle of your head, no matter how big your head.
Hopefully, you won’t be getting hit in the back of the head but just in case, this headgear has got you covered.
Visibility
Protective gear is only effective if it keeps you safe and let’s you function close to normal. If you didn’t want to get hit, you could wear a football helmet or spar in a bubble but for most people, there is a trade off between protection and being able to see the attacks coming your way.
The shape and amount of padding can also affect your visibility with different head gear. If the cheek protection is too high, you will have trouble seeing kicks coming without dropping your gaze. If you drop your gaze, you run the risk of getting caught in the face or head with a punch. If the opening for your eyes is too small, you won’t have very good peripheral vision; hooks and kicks from the outside will be the bane of your existence.
Durability
Good products last longer. Sure, you might be able to save money now but you end up replacing them sooner and more frequently. Nobody wants to deal with ratty, torn up gear. The Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is made of good quality leather inside and out. The leather on the outside is durable and helps resist wear and tears from normal use (being thrown around in the gym, being tossed in a bag, being whacked with gloves, etc). The leather on the inside is softer and helps keep the headgear in place while you spar and sweat (and sweat, and sweat….. and sweat some more). It’s the leather on the inside that does such a great job keeping things in place without having to put on the headgear uncomfortably tight.
The crown of the headgear is made from several pieces of elastic strap sewn together. Compared to other headgear, this is a potential weak point that can be ravaged by time and the environment. We’ve all had elastic that loses it’s elasticity and gets droopy. The elastic on the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear looks to be high quality and works well but nothing lasts forever. My guess is the elastic will be the second thing to tear up on this headgear.
The weakest point with most gear, in my experience, is the hook and loop fastener. Often generalized as Velcro (one brand name), the hook and loop fastener is an amazing invention. Even if it’s not the Velcro brand, most people call it Velcro. Most hand wraps, sparring gloves, knuckle gloves, shin guards, head gear, etc use hook and loop fastener to make it easier and quicker to put on and take off. Good hook and loop fasteners will last a while while low quality tend to break down quickly. Eventually, everything breaks, wears down, or just wears out.
With that in mind, the hook and loop fasteners on the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is about 4 inches tall and about 5 inches wide. This wide base provides great holding power and more surface area that can fail and still hold the headgear in place.
Price
Money, money, money….. Let’s face it, the gear we want costs money. Some gear is crazy expensive and some is surprisingly cheap. More money doesn’t always mean higher quality but often, that is the case. With headgear, you want a good amount of quality but for me (and chances are good you fit this as well), I just don’t need professional quality gear. If I were to fight Mike Tyson (besides having my head examined before stepping in the ring….) I would have better protection but for Krav Maga sparring with people I know, good quality amateur gear is all that is needed.
My budget for headgear was about $50-$75. After looking at head gear by Hayabusa, Fairtex, and Title among others, the decision was made to buy the Title headgear. At $49.99, this headgear comes in great for my budget. Looking at some of the other similarly priced headgears, the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear is one of the few that is made with real leather, one of the features that I was looking for.
Bringing it all together
When I began looking for headgear, my starting point was the Premier Headgear by Revgear. Through the years, I have learned the importance of buying the best quality stuff you can afford. That search lead me to the Title Pro Full Face Training Headgear for my Krav Maga sparring needs. It has good cheek and chin protection but doesn’t obscure your vision too much so you can see when spar. It is made from good quality leather inside and out which should last longer than other products with lower quality or cheaper materials. Compared to other options, this headgear is priced low enough not to break the bank but high enough to ensure quality of materials.
With about 6 months of sparring under my belt, this headgear has held up very well with no signs of wear. After learning that it did not have to be put on tight to stay put, sparring became much more comfortable. Overall, I would consider this purchase a big success.
If you want some headgear like this for yourself, you can buy it on Amazon or directly from the Title MMA/Title Boxing website. If you decide to purchase the headgear, I’d like to hear what you think of it. If you decided on another headgear, I’d like to know what helped you decide on your purchase.
Want more options?
There are tons of headgear options available in the market. Here are a few on Amazon to consider:
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