Where do you look?

[RDsynMBZ]

i look at the eyes or the chest area at my karate place we are told to look eyes but ive heard from tai boxers that they look at the collar bone so i guess its just wherever u can see all w/o lookin to focused on them its hard though i just look eyes, like mr miyagi said "eyes alwasy look eyes" lol ya

[markusan]

two tips from the book of five rings, perception is strong sight is weak, and see close things as if they are far away and far away things as if they're close.

To me this means do not focus tightly on any one thing. Keep your vision soft and central. It's simple geometry. if you want to see from their head to their knees with your peripheral vision you look mid torso. The giveaways are shoulders, hips, knees, hands. Eyes give away nothing if your opponent is competent.

Do a quick test. Get your partner to stand dead straight and still. Look at their eyes and move towards them. Stop when you lose clear sight of their knees. Now shift your sight to about the sternum and notice how much more you can see.

This is most important if you want to avoid a kick from your opponent's front foot.

If I notice my opponent staring at my eyes I do a snapping front kick off the front foot. They invariably pick it up too late.

[MartialArthur]

markusan is right, the eyes do not give away anything. In fact they work against you. If I am lucky enough to spar someone who is looking at my eyes, I will intentionally mislead him.

[y2_sub]

elbows and knees--

Lol... I thought @ first that you were addressing Elbows_and_knees (KF member )

[TAZ]

I would definitely have to agree that the eyes should be towards the center. But not focusing on the center so much that your peripheral vision is not being used.

[unknownstyle]

make everything blend in to gether, you will process their movements twice as fast. think of it like when a sniper is looking for a target, he doesnt look in a specific area but in a wide view that way he notices the movemnet

[Sensei Rick]

eyes decieve and hips reveal. I LOOK at everything but the eyes. profesionals never look at the eyes either, this is a big handicap IMO. Hips are a great indicator of body motion. try both and see if you can tell a difference. let me know.

[BJJShotoshe]

depends on the person i am fighting. if i am fighting a person i am familiar with i look where their tell sign is (the body movement that tells me when they are going to strike) because it is always constant.

if i am fighting a person i have not yet fought, then i look straight into their eyes. it tells me what they are all about. after all, a fighting match is just like a conversation, just a little more violent.

[Dont call me Sir]

One of the first physical effects of adrenaline is 'tunnel vision', could someone explain to me how you would use 'peripheral vision' when under the influence of adrenaline?

DCMS.

[TAZ]

The original question was 'where do you look when you fight'. So assuming that everyone that has responded thus far is not talking about a sparring situation, then yes I would agree that it would be more tunnel vision as a result of adrenaline being activated. But I know that personally when I am sparring my adrenaline does not kick in to the point of tunnel vision. Therefore, IMHO, if I am focused on the center of the person I am sparring, because the torso tells all, I would then rely on peripheral to see strikes coming.