How to avoid CTE in Martial Arts?

[Spiritualist Human]

I am competing in kickboxing I had one amateur ring fight and I do that sport for 1,5 years. Even, we do sparring once a week and our gym is very old school style. I mean, it is a gym in the neighbourhood and not so professional. We do hard sparrings, I mean:

I got bleeding nose in sparring for 5 times in that 1,5 year.
I got meniscus injury 2 times,
I got a lot of times busted lips (not severe)
I got headaches after sparrings
I got knockdown in sparring for 3 times due to punch/kick to the head
I got dropped in sparring due to blunt force to the liver/solar plexus for 3 times and felt extremely pain
I broke my friend's tooth

etc etc.


So, I don't get annoyed due to pain anymore in sparring/fight.

But I am afraid of CTE, how can I avoid it?

I try to keep sparring light but when I am sparring with coach, he is 20 kilogram (44lbs) heavier than me and attacks me like his all power. Maybe not his all power but when sparring finishes, he is breathing in/out so quickly he is becoming tired because of he attacks me like pitbull. But when I wasn't competing he keeps sparring light, when I started competing he started hard sparring with me. He spoke with people who competes including me: "I am not satisfying my ego, I got championships in competitions already. I only push hard to you to make you more successful athletes".

So, what I have to do to avoid that CTE Stuff? Meditations help for brain health?

 

[WoadWarrior]

If you arent planning on becoming a combat sports professional then there is no need to compete and thus no need to spar hard, your coach is likely just trying to prepare you for the realities of pro competition if you have started competing as thats literally his job, but make no mistake you will get brain damage if you choose to become a kickboxer, no questions about it, and it will likely be very severe, I am also into combat sports but I only do BJJ now to avoid concussions for that exact reason.

You cannot avoid CTE if you want a career getting punched in the head, unless you have insane levels of power, I mean I can regenerate much better than the average person broken bones, torn ligaments and cartlidge, no problem 3 weeks tops, but even I know not to put my brain at risk, as a Satanist there are much better paths for you than being a pro fighter, if you love the sport then awesome but you dont need to spar hard ever unless you plan to compete and you should never compete unless you want to go pro.

I also warn you from my experience your coach is not wrong the guys at the top level are animals, genuine monsters they hit harder than you can believe and they will laugh off broken bones, it really isnt worth it, you dont want to let these people hit you in the head magick or no these guys are built for fighting in a way most humans just arent.

The only way to avoid it is to stop sparring hard and thus stop competing, your likely young and thus feel a desire to be good at fighting, I did the same and did some boxing and muay thai, but its pointless unless you plan to go pro and let me tell you the pay is dogshit, and fighters live awful lives after retirement and if you dont want to go pro then there is literally no need to ever spar hard.

Although hard body sparring is fine imo, toughens you up and is really fun.

 

[Spiritualist Human]

If you arent planning on becoming a combat sports professional then there is no need to compete and thus no need to spar hard, your coach is likely just trying to prepare you for the realities of pro competition if you have started competing as thats literally his job, but make no mistake you will get brain damage if you choose to become a kickboxer, no questions about it, and it will likely be very severe, I am also into combat sports but I only do BJJ now to avoid concussions for that exact reason.

You cannot avoid CTE if you want a career getting punched in the head, unless you have insane levels of power, I mean I can regenerate much better than the average person broken bones, torn ligaments and cartlidge, no problem 3 weeks tops, but even I know not to put my brain at risk, as a Satanist there are much better paths for you than being a pro fighter, if you love the sport then awesome but you dont need to spar hard ever unless you plan to compete and you should never compete unless you want to go pro.

I also warn you from my experience your coach is not wrong the guys at the top level are animals, genuine monsters they hit harder than you can believe and they will laugh off broken bones, it really isnt worth it, you dont want to let these people hit you in the head magick or no these guys are built for fighting in a way most humans just arent.

The only way to avoid it is to stop sparring hard and thus stop competing, your likely young and thus feel a desire to be good at fighting, I did the same and did some boxing and muay thai, but its pointless unless you plan to go pro and let me tell you the pay is dogshit, and fighters live awful lives after retirement and if you dont want to go pro then there is literally no need to ever spar hard.

Although hard body sparring is fine imo, toughens you up and is really fun.

I am planning to go pro in the future of course, but pro boxers even spar light. I think hard sparring should be done before competitions, after sparring, athlete recover from sparring and go to tournament/competition. But,

If there is no competition, the athlete must spar light, but I won't be able to spar light. Because most of people are really tough due to they believe hard sparring is fine. But if I say light sparring, there are people too for light sparring. I will spar with them and when it is time to spar with others, I will spar hard. But as I said, I will keep hard sparring at minimum level.

To be honest, If I never had sparred hard, I wouldn't be at the level who can fight in competitions.

First 1 year in a striking martial art, must be tough actually. But when that guy decides to continue after that year, (I wanted to stop doing that sport and felt very bad after sparring) he has to stop sparring hard because already he is tough enough. But before competition, to get a strong mental in competition he has to spar hard once a time again I think.

I wouldn't want that idioticity/CTE after boxing career of course, because I plan a different career I don't want to be boxer only. I thought about leaving kickboxing because I got really bad loss, I didn't win that amateur match. But, I really enjoy training, I enjoy hurting somebody, I enjoy competing one on one, if I stop doing it I wouldn't look at the mirror and say I gave up. The reason I started doing that sport is being afraid of fighting in the street, I wanted to be able to beat anybody in the street fight, I wanted to be strongest human being in the world. I haven't to stop doing kickboxing I think that.

 

[ModernMage]

40 lbs heavier are you serious? There's a reason there's weight classes in fighting. Your coach might be conditioning you but you can become an excellent fighter without someone with a huge weight advantage literally beating the shit out of you.

I would take the advice of WoadWarrior and train as a hobby instead.

 

[WoadWarrior]

I am planning to go pro in the future of course, but pro boxers even spar light. I think hard sparring should be done before competitions, after sparring, athlete recover from sparring and go to tournament/competition. But,

If there is no competition, the athlete must spar light, but I won't be able to spar light. Because most of people are really tough due to they believe hard sparring is fine. But if I say light sparring, there are people too for light sparring. I will spar with them and when it is time to spar with others, I will spar hard. But as I said, I will keep hard sparring at minimum level.

To be honest, If I never had sparred hard, I wouldn't be at the level who can fight in competitions.

First 1 year in a striking martial art, must be tough actually. But when that guy decides to continue after that year, (I wanted to stop doing that sport and felt very bad after sparring) he has to stop sparring hard because already he is tough enough. But before competition, to get a strong mental in competition he has to spar hard once a time again I think.

I wouldn't want that idioticity/CTE after boxing career of course, because I plan a different career I don't want to be boxer only. I thought about leaving kickboxing because I got really bad loss, I didn't win that amateur match. But, I really enjoy training, I enjoy hurting somebody, I enjoy competing one on one, if I stop doing it I wouldn't look at the mirror and say I gave up. The reason I started doing that sport is being afraid of fighting in the street, I wanted to be able to beat anybody in the street fight, I wanted to be strongest human being in the world. I haven't to stop doing kickboxing I think that.

Nah man training as a hobby is all the things you want minus all the things you don't, as I said hard body sparring gives the satisfaction of hurting people and fighting without the risk of brain damage, and when it comes to street fighting I assure you even basic competency at kickboxing will allow to you batter 99% of the the population the remaining 1% you should never fight in the first place.

Competing 1 on 1 can be done with without full blown fights, make friends in the combat sports scene, set your boundaries and develop your skills without causing brain trauma, I have trained with guys who love to go all out every time, I just tell them I only go light to the head hard to the body, if they respect those boundaries I gain a new long term training partner, it dosen't matter how other people want to train IMO if they want to spar with me, its done by my rules, I am more than happy to do so solo drills if they cant respect that.

I also think your massively underestimating the brain damage pro fighters experience I have seen older guys who literally cannot speak intelligibly and they barely had a career, because some people are far more vulnerable to CTE than others and there is no way to know beforehand until its too late, there is nothing wrong with sparring hard every so often, and it has made you tougher, but is this really what you want out of life? Being a punching bag? Most pro fighters go broke, even champs go broke, your manager, the orgs, every dodgy criminal in your area will all expect a cut of your pay and it aint much to begin with.

Life is to be enjoyed my friend, you love fighting than do so, but learn to do so in a way that maximises your happiness, IMO that would mean 90% technical sparring very light and 9% hard sparring to the body 1% hard sparring for when you really get that itch, but just because you enjoy something dosent mean you need to make a career out of it, all the guys I know who love combat sports the most all do it as a hobby and trust me its better to be a dentist that can kick ass and then go home with a nice pension, with his brain in perfect health to a happy family than to be some drooling ex champ in a wheelchair who used to be a big deal.

Dont let fear drive you to make poor decisions be above that, you fear street fighting, so you overcame that fear through training dont let it become an obsession and fear of street fighting is healthy you never know who your up against they may have a knife or fun, and even if you win what if they are a criminal and decide to get a group afterwards to get revenge and kill you it is sensible to be afraid of such a risk.

Maybe try wrestling, its a brutal sport utterly rigorous all about competing to your maximum ability, dominating and defeating your opponent and make no mistake its an instant win in a street fight if the other guy cant wrestle and it has very low risk of brain injury same with BJJ, google Alexander Kraelin he had no brain damage as he was a wrestler and there isnt a person alive who would want to fight him in the street., he would kill 99% of UFC fighters, that should be your goal if you want to be the strongest, striking arts arent about strength they are about speed, wrestling is strength.

 

[Spiritualist Human]

40 lbs heavier are you serious? There's a reason there's weight classes in fighting. Your coach might be conditioning you but you can become an excellent fighter without someone with a huge weight advantage literally beating the shit out of you.

I would take the advice of WoadWarrior and train as a hobby instead.

It is not only he hits me, I hit him too.
I never feel pain when my weight class athlete punches or kicks me.
So, I don't think that is too bad.

Nah man training as a hobby is all the things you want minus all the things you don't, as I said hard body sparring gives the satisfaction of hurting people and fighting without the risk of brain damage, and when it comes to street fighting I assure you even basic competency at kickboxing will allow to you batter 99% of the the population the remaining 1% you should never fight in the first place.

Competing 1 on 1 can be done with without full blown fights, make friends in the combat sports scene, set your boundaries and develop your skills without causing brain trauma, I have trained with guys who love to go all out every time, I just tell them I only go light to the head hard to the body, if they respect those boundaries I gain a new long term training partner, it dosen't matter how other people want to train IMO if they want to spar with me, its done by my rules, I am more than happy to do so solo drills if they cant respect that.

I also think your massively underestimating the brain damage pro fighters experience I have seen older guys who literally cannot speak intelligibly and they barely had a career, because some people are far more vulnerable to CTE than others and there is no way to know beforehand until its too late, there is nothing wrong with sparring hard every so often, and it has made you tougher, but is this really what you want out of life? Being a punching bag? Most pro fighters go broke, even champs go broke, your manager, the orgs, every dodgy criminal in your area will all expect a cut of your pay and it aint much to begin with.

Life is to be enjoyed my friend, you love fighting than do so, but learn to do so in a way that maximises your happiness, IMO that would mean 90% technical sparring very light and 9% hard sparring to the body 1% hard sparring for when you really get that itch, but just because you enjoy something dosent mean you need to make a career out of it, all the guys I know who love combat sports the most all do it as a hobby and trust me its better to be a dentist that can kick ass and then go home with a nice pension, with his brain in perfect health to a happy family than to be some drooling ex champ in a wheelchair who used to be a big deal.

Dont let fear drive you to make poor decisions be above that, you fear street fighting, so you overcame that fear through training dont let it become an obsession and fear of street fighting is healthy you never know who your up against they may have a knife or fun, and even if you win what if they are a criminal and decide to get a group afterwards to get revenge and kill you it is sensible to be afraid of such a risk.

Maybe try wrestling, its a brutal sport utterly rigorous all about competing to your maximum ability, dominating and defeating your opponent and make no mistake its an instant win in a street fight if the other guy cant wrestle and it has very low risk of brain injury same with BJJ, google Alexander Kraelin he had no brain damage as he was a wrestler and there isnt a person alive who would want to fight him in the street., he would kill 99% of UFC fighters, that should be your goal if you want to be the strongest, striking arts arent about strength they are about speed, wrestling is strength.

I love wrestling, I love Brazilian Ji-Jutsu, I love Judo. But there isn't a gym for it in my neighbourhood. I don't want to CTE but I want to keep doing boxing I just never know what to do.

I love boxing too. But even I was so scared in the match, even I wasn't able to think how to win the fight, I was thinking just surviving. I thought I am gonna die here. Boxing is just a stressful thing for me, I don't enjoy competing I just do it because I think that is a thing/job I have to do. I think I have to do it to be a strong guy/honorable guy in the world.

If I was able to go wrestling matches, I would enjoy so much. But again I don't know what to do, I just want to keep going in boxing. I would enjoy BJJ because I can do a professional career in it (like one championship), but there is no gym at my area.

I want to think I won't be in CTE Situation but even the legend Muhammed Ali got the CTE so this is a great possibility to get CTE right?

When I ask to my coach about brain damage, he said: No, it won't happen LOL

I don't know about keep going or giving up.

I saw somebody asked to Tristan Tate (I know he is not a good guy, he is brother of Andrew Tate, but he is MMA/Kickboxing Fighter) about CTE in Internet and Tristan told: "Yes, it is risky but a man should know how to fight no matter what risks are."

By the way, my boxing coach's style that is taught to us is a type of CTE

The style is: "We don't use dodging punches so much (you can use but our coach doesnt teach it well), we usually take them to our gloves and that gloves pushes the damage to our head of course."

The problem is not about style. My coach takes us to national competition and only one person got championship. I and others lost the first match in tournament. I don't think our coach see our mistakes while fighting. He never spoke about my mistakes after I lost. He only told: "You weren't yourself in the match, you were better at sparring match." I never fixed my mistakes after competition and that coach asked to me to compete in a professional organization (a K-1 Kickboxing night for young kickboxers) after 1 month . I didn't fix my mistakes and I don't know how to throw knee and spinning backfist (K-1 is including knee and spinning backfists but we don't practice them in sparring due to they are so powerful strikings). So, I told to my coach I am not ready and I didn't compete.

Even I live in Turkey, I don't think Turkey is good in sports. I have to go USA, Russia, Thailand, etc.

And, what do you think about things I wrote?

I searched about Alexander Karelin, he is so strong but MMA Fighters like Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, Francis Ngannou would beat him.

I am thinking about to go Russia to study after 3 years by the way. I can do any sport I want at Russia.

Thanks to you by the way because your answers are important to me.