I don’t wear a cup in BJJ

Did you know that most Jiujitsu competitions don’t allow you to wear a cup? For long time I did know that. I figured that since it is a martial art and you could get popped in the jewels, that a cup was just standard fare.

I remember one of my buddies and I were talking, and I was telling him about the cup being uncomfortable and restricting my movement. He then tells me that he stopped wearing a cup very early on for that same reason and that I should do the same. This thought had never occurred to me before, again, protect the jewels, standard fare.

I decided to give it a try for one class. I didn’t wear the cup and I felt a much greater range of mobility and comfort. I’m already a pretty tight and inflexible individual, so I don’t need any further restrictions to my already limited movement. If ditching the cup makes me more mobile, then so be it.

After that first day I decided to give it another shot, then another shot and here we are now. I don’t remember the last time I wore a cup. To my surprise, except for maybe one time by accident, I have not been hit in the nuts at all. Truth to be told, even when I was wearing a cup for years, except for again, maybe one time by accident, I never got hit down there.

I wasn’t really planning on competing, but since I can’t wear a cup anyway, I figured I’d start getting used to training without it. Furthermore, on the street you don’t have a cup on, so you should train the way you’d actually fight. Also, the mobility improvements have been great.

Finally, you have to consider that it kind of helps you when performing some submissions. I remember trying to use it as a point of leverage when doing an armbar. It kind of helps you with that aspect and in turn you end up doing and learning the techniques in a wrong way.

Do you wear a cup? Share your thoughts in the comments.