Kumite / Sparring - How much is too much?

[kreza]

How hard do you guys hit the people you are training with? How much is enough? Obviously you don't want to actually injure your partner, but often I find myself deliberately missing with attacks because I don't really want to hit someone in the face.

I'm only 7th kyu, so maybe this is something that comes with more practice?

Would appreciate your thoughts.

[AikiGuy]

Kreza,

Don't worry about hitting anyone in the face as long as your dojo allows this. Believe me you will take your share of shots to the face too so it all evens out for everyone. Be very aware of the level of contact used at your school. Every place is different.

My school practices "touch" sparring so hitting too hard gets you a penalty. Advanced ranks have the option of also doing some full contact sparring but it's all voluntary and we wear headgear. We are not allowed to strike any unprotected part of the head or face but some "agree" not to enforce this limitation for the sake of realism. For kyu levels, it all depends on your sensei's rules.

Educate yourself on the rules. If you do only touch/point sparring, practice on the bag or in the air doing fast strikes that are pulled at the end. Practice block/strike combos and evade/strike combos trying to avoid tensing up. That will help put you in the correct habit. If you are concerned with this, you are already approaching the issue correctly.

[Ryokeen]

We're a competition team, in real competition if you try to not hurt someone to an extent they'll notice and try to make you second guess yourself. Trust me I got hit in the face A LOT until my 2 friend started training with me and I got more comfortable with hitting people.

I've done a spinning roundhouse kick to my friends open head. It was open, I'm not going to go easy on him because he's a smaller kid (13 maybe 5 feet if he's lucky 5'2). He needs to toughen up and he needs to get hit as a reminder that in competiton if it's open, it's going to get hit...

In essence you're helping them, while helping yourself. It works out prety well. Hit them hard enough they feel it but not where they get any severe bruises. If they're in martial arts expecting to not get bruised up then they need to rethink the situation.

I have this close friend, since the 1st grade, and we don't ease up on eachother. I try to keep it toned down so I don't really hurt him, but we do hit eachother like we would if we were in a real fight or sparring in competition. He won't hold back and niether will I. He's knocked me sensless a few times, and I've knocked the wind out of him on several occasions. Don't worry as I said you're helping eachother.

Best of luck!

-Aaron

[karatekid1975]

I agree with AikiGuy. It depends on your schools rules. Try to find out what they are.

As far as contact, I spar the way my partner spars. If they go hard, I will, too. If they perfer light contact, I'll go light. I perfer hard contact, but not everyone does, so it depends on the other guy/gal.

[Gen_Tora]

There is never enough, I teach the rule of hit as hard as you wonna be hit. And only kick someone in the groin if you wonna be kicked in the groin.

Martial Arts are like strong liquer, if you water it down it takes longer to be effective. If you take too much as one time you can get sick or worst.

So try to get "drunk" just don't get "too drunk" (thought I was gonna be all zen master for a while didn't you? lol)

[srv]

It depends on your schools rules. We are technically non contact. However at higher rank level, you can go as hard as your partner agrees to. We wher hand and feet/shin pads and mouthgaurds, but no ther protection. I personally love going hard with sparring but not everyone feels that way. If you have the control to land a punch 1mm from your opponents body, then you are certainly are testing them, just demonstrtaing excellent control. Just see what feels right for you, and don't go harder than you want to.

[Blitz]

The short and simple answer is. If your the higher belt you let the lower rank set the pace. If your the lower rank you srt the pace.

[srv]

I agree with that totally. A higher rank is there to help you and teach you so you go at your own pace. They will test you out a bit, but should not be out there to try and prove how good they are and beat up lower ranks. If this happens in your school - get out. Otherwise go as hard as you want to, and your partner agrees to, within the rules of your dojo. Oh and don't throw punches to miss, by that I mean don't throw them 20cm on either side of their body/head. Throw them directly at your opponent, but if your school does not allow contact, just pull them back slightly so they are close enough to still test out your partner. They will not learn if they don't even have to do some kind of block to avoid the punch. At a lower rank you will not have the control of someone who has trained for a long time so give yourself more room until your control improves.

[kreza]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will definitely hit straight every time now, and try to judge how hard to hit depending on my partner and what levels we are each at.

Thanks again,

Kreza

[June1]

I've heard that the most dangerous people to spar are the ones that just started, as they have no control yet. Ah... I remember my first sparring session... that was hellish. I had absolutely no control and kicked my opponent in the kidneys. Rough stuff. :S