Safroot

Thanks for the great advice sensei8. Will try to work on the Angles & might get help from my sensei as well 👍🏻

It may be that you are trying to turtle up somewhat? Just absorbing the blows, however, is not a good idea. When you find yourself doing this, you should try to get yourself to move to a better position. I like going forward, personally. When you turn side-on, you take away the number of weapons you present to your opponent. Some folks can make this work; Bill Wallace comes to mind. But not everyone can be Bill Wallace, and he did it mainly because of an injury that didn't allow him to use one leg as well as the other. My advice would be to start training yourself to not do it. I think you should be able to keep your hands up and be able to move and defend at the very least. If you can't, then you've probably sparred past your conditioning level and need to rest a bit. Its hard to train well when you are exhausted, but at times its important to learn how to push yourself through it. Its likely that your conditioning level needs to come up. This is tricky, and everyone will approach it differently. If you are fast and can set up angles and dart in and out, it likely won't matter much if you decide to kick or punch. It also depends on your body structure. You might be shorter, but your legs could be a similar length to theirs still, in which case you would have the same reach with the legs. I'm assuming your legs are shorter than this tall opponent you have, so we won't assume the latter. The key is going to be working angles to get inside, using good footwork. If you can get to angle and line up with their centerline, then you can attack forward and they have to adjust to meet the angle you've created. If you are good defensively, then you can set the opponent up with fakes and feints and use blocking and counterattacking to get inside. A lot of this will come with time spent drilling and sparring. Thanks for the great advice Budisho_man96

I think I will try to master the basics first as much as I can then I will try to use it as a tactical component later on the journey.

Thanks Wastelander for the detailed in-depth advice as usual, much appreciated Regarding the side-facing stance, yes I do it to absorb strikes when I start to get tired and it happens invoulantry most of the times. It's not a tactical move at all, I am just stepping my very first few steps in the sparring world !

Joko Ninomiya's Sabaki Method: Karate in the Inner Circle is a great book IMO. Thanks for the recommendation JR 137

That's what I expected as well At what level do you usually start learning Tai Sabaki ?

So we have 3 states now

Welcome to the forum Ryan

I have ticked my first goal off the list as well by restarting my Kyokushin Karate training again but still the hard part of my goals which is continuing training and keeping up my enthusiasm.

Anyone has a good resource about " tai sabaki " to understand more how to use it during sparring ?! Thanks in advance

Great news

In the dojo it's full contact but knock down & punches to head are not allowed if that makes sense and for sure it's sort of light sparring to minimize risk of injuries.

Thanks so much JR 137 for the great advice and the detailed post much appreciated.

I am from Australia but not a Rugby fan at all ! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Cool bro, cricket? Nope, only soccer

I am from Australia but not a Rugby fan at all !

I am a white belt & I will ask my sensei next sessions & will try to find some youtube videos as well. Thanks again for the advice.

Thanks for the advice Dani_001 . Yesterday was the 3rd sparring session in my Karate journey & the first one in my new dojo so I am pretty sure I have a long way to go. Regarding Tai Sabaki , how do you practice that ?! sorry I am still a beginner !

I had really good sparring session last night (6 x 2min sessions) and I have 3 questions: 1- Is it normal to give your opponent your side while he/she is attacking ? I have found myself doing this couple of times invoulantry? 2- what is your strategy if you feel really exhausted & tired and can't attack your opponent or even block his/her attacks ? 3-What's the best strategy when sparring with a taller opponent ? is it only kicks as my punches didn't even reach his body & I was exposing my head trying to get a good punch ? Any advice will be much appreciated.

That's exactly what happened with me before but it took me over 2 months to decide and the funny thing I chose Kyokushin Karate as well. Good luck in your journey

Great news sensei8, so happy to hear that

That's a great discussion, really answered some of my self defense questions as well. Thanks

Gives me some hope ! I want to change my state of mind, I don't want to be an ultimate fighter & I am not planning to compete even, I just wand to have the right mind set & skills that allows me to save my beloved ones & myself in any street situation espicially with violence widespreading now everywhere in the world !

I totally agree with you and ignoring such aspects is really annoying !

Thanks nyramat911 for your recommendations, maybe the post was old but I have just restarted my training 2 weeks ago. For sure I will look into it & if I decided to go for sports glasses I will let you know

So what's the point of training MA for self defense then If all what you learn will be useless in the streets ?!!!!!!