Full contact?

[Smoke]

I believe there is a difference between full contact and bare knuckle.

Full contact is kind of a misnomer. Full meaning 100% or full force would suggest you're trained to attack 100% most of the time, or at least practice that way a lot.

I believe bare knuckle fighting doesn't mean you fight full contact.

I know many boxers and grapplers that fight more "full contact" than us Kyokushin fighters.

[bushido_man96]

I think at times, instead of using the term "full-contact," what I think of is more like "full-body targets." Not necessarily fighitng hard all the time, but using as many targets on the body as possible.

That could just be me, though.

[shikantaza]

I only did full contact when I later moved on to boxing. And even then, it was really semi-contact. In other words, you hit the other guy just hard enough so that the both of you know what it could feel like.

Apparantly, this is how people train in boxing gyms. And I heard that this is how they train in MT gyms too. People don't go 100% full contact unless they're being paid money.

I think that the biggest challenge is controlling one's own fears about getting hit. But in reality, it's not all that bad. It's more about the fear factor than pain factor.

I believe that this is also the training under Kyokushin. It's not full 100% full contact that one sees in tournaments. After all, it is a difficult thing to actually try to harm one's friends in the same class.

excellent observation.

even during MMA sparring, I wear muay Thai headgear, shin-instep pads, and make "honest" contact, not blasting away as hard I I can hit (well, pretty close, but with some control and being mindful of gauaging the damage), least so these amatueur UFC "fighters" will not fully crush me.

a.k.a. Havamal

[Nevinyrral]

We only do a light /medium contact as our target is to hit with a good clean technique. Of course we add some force, but watch not to KO someone.

[evergrey]

Yes, in my dojo (which I've been at for a while now) we tend to go medium. Certain pairs of people will go at it a lot harder than others, and there can be a lot of bruising and some minor injuries from this, but the key is to learn, not to harm. It's no good actually badly injuring your dojo-mates. Plus, they might remember it and return the favor if you're a real jerk about it... there are certainly people who are happy to go to the level of energy you go to during kumite.

I do have to say that my favorite sparring partners are the ones who DO hit me hard. Hard enough, sometimes, to give me pause. Hard enough to knock the breath out of me if I am foolish enough to not tighten my muscles when they strike, or to run straight into their kick. I WANT to get hit hard enough to bruise, because it teaches me how to process the blow, how to overcome the pain (and my pain threshold slowly rises) and it stops me from "cheating" or doing foolish things as much, because pain is a great teacher. You fight how you train. Okay, on the street it's different and you are going to go even harder, and use the nasty tricks that injure and disable if the situation is bad enough... but with extremely light contact, the response and processing isn't really "honest," if that makes sense. It isn't realistic enough, and it doesn't, I think, teach as much.

It IS, however, important to develop fine control. To know EXACTLY where your fist is. And to, at will, strike a tiny space away from the body, strike so lightly that it feels like a feather, strike with a half inch of penetration, strike with two inches of penetration, or more. Control and technique are very important.

I would also say that, even more than the people who don't take me seriously enough to actually strike me with any force at all, I dislike the people who have no control, and can ONLY hit hard, and do things that can and do cause injury and harm. This is careless and thoughtless and has no place in the dojo. It is disrespectful of the other students, it is dangerous, and it is thuggish. Luckily, that sort of behavior is not tolerated here.

One problem in a full contact or hard style is that occasionally someone will be a bully to the kohai, who will not speak up because they believe that it is normal, or they don't want to be seen as not tough enough for hard training.

OSU!

[Soheir]

but with extremely light contact, the response and processing isn't really "honest," if that makes sense. It isn't realistic enough, and it doesn't, I think, teach as much.

Light contact, however, is very important particularly in full contact styles.

[Wastelander]

In my dojo we have two types of sparring--regular sparring and tournament sparring. In tournaments sparring we are working with USKA point fighting rules, but our tournament sparring classes are generally all kids and young teenagers except for those of us who help by sparring them. Our regular sparring allows you to target the whole body and we go about 50% but sometimes ramp up as we fight, and sweeping, throwing, submissions and groundwork are all allowed so if the fight goes to the ground you just keep going. We don't really throw elbows because we would rather not gash each other up or rupture an eye by accident during sparring, but it isn't prohibited, and kicks to the groin are generally done lighter just to be nice. Overall, I think what we have is a good mix and when we ramp up to full-contact things get pretty interesting. I think that as long as each partner can agree on the level of contact then you have the chance to learn a lot, and there is a place for light, medium and full contact sparring if you know what to look for from them.

[Kuma]

To me, sparring is different than fighting in a competition so the most I usually go in class is light to moderate. Depending on my partner sometimes we may bang it out a lot harder than usual, and the occasional high kick does get through that clocks you a good one, but fighting in class is always different than fighting in a competition.

Your partner dictates how hard you will go. I do agree with what was said earlier though: it's bad news to go full contact all the time, every time, as it'll eventually wear you down. You can train hard, you just need to train smart as well.

[Kuma]

full contact to the torso (minus lethal spots)

What do they mean by "lethal spots"?

[honoluludesktop]

Kidney, spine, arm pit, etc. Ideally the opponents should be similar in size as a weight advantage can cause damage to the smaller person.