Tim,

Do you find it beneficial to do push hands with gloves, mouthpiece, and helmet on? Rules would alllow striking with open/closed fists, possible kicking, throwing, locking. Is this a good method of sparring? I do a variation of this without gear on and it limits how hard you can hit so I was wondering if this was better to develop more realistic skills.

Also, do you advocate this be done somewhat controlled or is it better to allow the people to go all out as long as they do so from a spinning hands starting position?

When we practice free "pushing hands," it is virtually the same as stand up wrestling, with pushes and joint locks allowed. You can also practice push hands with controlled strikes to keep the techniques more realistic.

When we spar full contact with gear on, we just spar full contact, I don't see the benefit from starting from any kind of artificial position or restricted pattern of hand movement.