IS IT TRUE THAT BRUCE LEE INVENTED THE IDEA TO USE GLOVES AND SPARRING PADS AND EQUIPMENT?
Although Bruce Lee is a Martial Art’s icon, he can not be credited with coming up with the idea to use gloves and equipment for sparring. Safety equipment is an age old precaution when it comes to fighting as this following quote will illustrate. “The use of hand protection in fighting contests undertaken for sport has been known since at least Ancient Greece. In the 2nd Century, Clement of Alexandria credited the mythological Amycus, son of Poseidon and King of the Bebryces in Anatolia, with having invented boxing gloves. However, both the gloves and the sport itself were very different from modern boxing. In Ancient Greece, it was common practice to tie strips of leather round the hands for protection. In Roman times, this developed into the gladiatorial cestus, with metal added to the gloves to inflict greater damage. The use of the cestus was banned c. 50BC, and ‘boxing’ was banned under Arcadius in 393AD.” Honestly it’s always hard to pin down who started different trends in safet
