crossing over from semi-contact to full-contact kickboxing

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Hey all

 

ive been doing semi-contact kickboxing for about 3 years now, and more and more i become tempted to start get involved in full contact sparring. The only problem is that i do not know where to start, or what to expect. I have the feeling that my instructor will be somewhat reluctant and opposed for me getting into something competitive as he focuses so much on street self defense, and i certainly dont blame him. Ive also been told that it is possibly something that i perhaps couldnt handle or might find too "rough". at being young and being more inexperienced than others, perhaps maybe there right. I just thought if any of you are having the same dilemma as me, or are an active full contact kickboxer, whether you could give me information on where i should start. Thnx

 

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[WhiteShark]

Just try it and see if you like it. If your instructor is holding you back, he's a tit.

[Hybrid]

Just try it and see if you like it. If your instructor is holding you back, he's a tit.

 

 

You people are trying to kill me right? Anymore laughter and I'm not sure I'll be able to breathe! Anyway, ad, yeah just try it. Be honest with him though, i.e. don't try to hid it from him or anything.

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there isnt anything wrong with my instructor. but then again im sure anybody would be annoyed knowing that all this time ive been teaching this student self defense, and now he wants to compete where everything i have taught wont matter and is forgotten

[chrismann]

To be honest, it's not really that bad (in fact, it's good!). After all, you're only sparring and not actually trying to knock each other out.

 

I would say that the most important thing is to start off with a good sparring partner. You want someone who is experienced and most importantly doesn't feel the need to beat you up to show you how experienced he is.

 

We generally avoid any "wild" swinging punches / spinning backfists etc (just in case you don't manage to block one of them), and basically, if you see the opportunity to hit someone with a good strike, just hit them softly to let them know what you could have done. Otherwise that will be the end of your sparring session.

 

If you are sparring with someone decent you can both bring the level of "hardness" to whatever point is enough for you. Generally the better fighter should fight back approximately as hard as the less experienced fighter, allowing the less experienced guy to control how far he wants the fight to go.

 

If you are just getting beaten up then you are learning nothing apart from the fact that you are sparring with a muppet.

 

I found that for the first month or so it hurts a bit (especially your toes/shins) and you get the odd hard blow, but after that your defence improves as does the general "hardness" of your body and you'll find that it doesn't hurt much at all.

 

Also, we often spar with some of the kids who are far smaller than us, but obviously you just keep it gentle and don't hurt them.

 

Full contact sparring is the only way you will become a good fighter, because part of fighting is the necessary defence that comes with the possibility that you could be hit quite hard - you will never learn that until you put yourself in that situation.