Amateur full contact

[rishimetawala]

its been a month since my training in karate and jujitsu began, last night i was asked for a full contact sparring, the idea was to let ourselves understand where we stand

i had a few doubts, while sparring, i dont know maybe due to my inexperience i am not able to block the reverse punches properly, how do i go about it, like hand eye co-ordination? whats a good stance? how do we attack when the opponent is fully guarded, how do i improve my reflexes?

[JusticeZero]

Better form (someone who can actually see how you move would be of more help), whatever helps you carry out your tactics best, there is no such thing as "fully guarded", by sparring more.

[Ueshirokarate]

I have very mixed feelings about sparring. Most sparring I have seen is nothing more than kickboxing and has little to do with Karate as I know and understand it. The founder of Matsubayashi though sparring did more harm than good and I can understand his point. That said, I also see value in sparring on different levels. However, I can't see why anyone would be asked to spar after training for a month, that seems ridiculous. I don't think one should spar before san kyu level.

[Wastelander]

its been a month since my training in karate and jujitsu began, last night i was asked for a full contact sparring, the idea was to let ourselves understand where we stand

i had a few doubts, while sparring, i dont know maybe due to my inexperience i am not able to block the reverse punches properly, how do i go about it, like hand eye co-ordination? whats a good stance? how do we attack when the opponent is fully guarded, how do i improve my reflexes?

You've only been training for a month. I understand that this isn't going to be what you want to hear, but you aren't going to be good at sparring after a month of training. You just need more time and practice! We don't normally have anybody start sparring until they have been training for about 4 months, and even then it takes time to get a feel for really hitting someone and really getting hit. You'll find that deflecting and blocking incoming strikes is a lot less about specific technique and a lot more about muscle memory--I find myself moving to block and deflect without even thinking about it and I can't even remember what technique I used after I've done it. You'll get that with practice, so don't worry about being "good" at sparring because you won't be for a while. The more you do it, the better you'll get, though. Just keep your hands up wherever your sensei tells you to keep them (I keep mine about shoulder height until I get into punching range and then I pull them up high and tight to protect my head) and practice drills for moving/attacking and moving/defending and, of course, spar every now and then.

[JusticeZero]

Yep. I had a jogo that was several minutes long last seminar, for which I had people coming to admire how amazingly both I and the other fellow I was in the circle with were moving. I can't remember more than one or two highlights of the whole match.

Just keep self-evaluating and building up the tools that best work into the tactics and doctrine that works best for you.

And read my sig for goshsakes. It's really important to understand here, and I have to tell it to students all the time.

[MasterPain]

I hope a month in they don't mean full contact as meaning all-out. A month in, you have no business doing over about 50%, and that's only if you're naturally tough.

[rishimetawala]

thank you everyone for their prompt replies.

me and 3 others(except one,who was a kickboxer with 8 months of training) were all beginners, my sensei threw us in to experience what it was like.

i would agree with wastelander, its more like muscle memory, i wasn't particularly defending well, and my punches weren't going through as well.

i let this kickboxing guy have a go at me, i wanted to get him tired and when he was, it was my turn, he hit me quite a bit. in the end, the sparring ended up with him forfeiting as i threw in a real good defense to his punch which ultimately ended up spraining his arm.

i even let my guard down and took all the punches onto my chest to lower his confidence, i guess that was a bad choice?

@masterpain yes full contact=all out, except fr the groin and the face, no protection

[ShoriKid]

I have very mixed feelings about sparring. Most sparring I have seen is nothing more than kickboxing and has little to do with Karate as I know and understand it. The founder of Matsubayashi though sparring did more harm than good and I can understand his point. That said, I also see value in sparring on different levels. However, I can't see why anyone would be asked to spar after training for a month, that seems ridiculous. I don't think one should spar before san kyu level.

Much of the benefit of sparring comes from learning to apply techniques in a living, breathing situation, under stress. While most sparring won't replicate, or even try to, the violence of a real confrontation. However, one major benefit I see is the ability to see your plan fail and carry on. As in, you catch a shot in the running lights and learn to keep moving, it has a benefit psychologically.

I'll compound that with saying there are very different types of sparring. Mostly the depend on the rules/safety framework you put in place and the goals. Motobu had no troubles with sparring, as he knew it, once the student was well trained.

Ueshiro, I do see your point though and in some ways agree. Building the skill so that you can use what you've learned as to come from somewhere. And remember, almost all of the first generation of kick boxers, especially the great champs, were traditional karate guys looking for a full contact outlet for their training.

Rishimentawala, listen to Wastelander. At a month in you have no business doing full contact sparring and shouldn't have any expectation to be any good at it. It takes months to put together basic skills, many more to get anything other than the basic and learn to put it together. Relax, listen to your sensei and work on developing your basic techniques. They are the foundation of anything you do. If you don't put them together correctly, no amount of secondary drilling etc will be of any real benefit when it comes to sparring, or self defense or any other type of employment of your martial skill.

[JusticeZero]

Each hit degrades your ability to act. If you have the ability to harden your chest in some way so that the strikes aren't particularly effective, then it can be thought of as a "block".

Still, you shouldn't get into the mindset of thinking that you are going to intentionally "tank" like a computer game warrior. "I'll let him stab me with his knife a few times until he's worn out, then.."

First priority is probably to keep a solid defense and stay calm under fire, try to slip a few clean attacks through without losing form if you can. Teaching your brain that having someone swinging at you isn't the end of the world, and that you can relax into it, is important. Then you can start building up ways of responding.

Can't speak to how early the sparring is, because schools and styles vary. I'm pretty sure Evergrey's school's idea of what a new student should be experiencing is a lot different than someone from a forms-centric school for instance.

[MasterPain]

thank you everyone for their prompt replies.

me and 3 others(except one,who was a kickboxer with 8 months of training) were all beginners, my sensei threw us in to experience what it was like.

i would agree with wastelander, its more like muscle memory, i wasn't particularly defending well, and my punches weren't going through as well.

i let this kickboxing guy have a go at me, i wanted to get him tired and when he was, it was my turn, he hit me quite a bit. in the end, the sparring ended up with him forfeiting as i threw in a real good defense to his punch which ultimately ended up spraining his arm.

i even let my guard down and took all the punches onto my chest to lower his confidence, i guess that was a bad choice?

@masterpain yes full contact=all out, except fr the groin and the face, no protection

I have some major issues here. I said you guys have no business going all out, and you just proved it. Someone was injured, injuries in the dojo hurt everyone, not just the injured person. You now have 1 less person to help you grow. Any good teacher would not allow this.

Second, don't disrespect your training partners like that. Dropping your guard and taking hits to hurt someone's confidence is terribly disrespectful, Besides, the chest is not a good target, he should have hit you in the liver.

I would find somewhere to train that will not get you hurt, and I would be more respectful to my training partners.