Need Help: Dojo Sparring Practices

[bushido_man96]

Queston to all...

Are your knuckles SUPPOSE to bleed while training the makawara?

I'd say no. The idea is to toughen the knuckles up over time, and to develop the straight line power of the punches thrown on a makiwara. I think its main purpose is to provide feedback, not cause bloody knuckles.

[sensei8]

Will bleeding happen NO MATTER what one does or doesn't do??

[Hawkmoon]

...will you bleed?

In short yes....

.... excessive contact skips/grazes over the surface of what ever it is you are hitting! Will always be a possibility.

Accidents happen!

The 'conditioning' of your knuckles,, the type of pushup done when you exercise, will only reduce the possibility, the frequency of such an injury happen!

I've done pushups on my knuckles all my life (when in the dojo) the break from training allowed my knuckles to 'soften' the result being more than a few skips over the bag surface and then after 1 strike (way to much power) blood glorious blood!

As I write this post I'm looking at my knuckles and I see the 'pads' of skin on my knuckles (first two knuckles) that is not as flexible as skin over the other knuckles, or the rest of my hand...oddly I've a small smile (I can feel it) on my face as I remember past training sessions or competitions and red dots on bags or Gis....!

[brickshooter]

I actually started using the makirawa at about 11 years old. Looking back it may be too young of an age. However being 11, I certainly didn't have a thing for macho pain or bleeding. And my instructor knew it when providing instructions.

Essentially I didn't strike at full power. And I didn't corkscrew after contact. Contact was made at 80 percent of maximum extension. I also applied hand lotion ony knuckles after training so that the skin didn't dry and crack (Hey I was sensitive!).

I don't remember bleeding other than one single occassion. The only pain I recalled was in the elbows when I wasnt punching correctly. So the answer should be a no. There shouldn't be bleeding in makirawa training.

[guird]

I really would not recommend settling for anything less than semi contact. No-contact not only doesn't teach you to judge distance properly and execute techniques properly, it teaches you to MISjudge distance and execute techniques incorrectly.

Having no sparring is equally nonsensical, I can tell you this from experience having spent three years in a no-sparring dojo, followed by total embarrassment and disenchantment upon visiting another dojo. Think about his argument for a moment: in the prearranged kumite drills, do they attack each other to injure or kill? no, they avoid injuring each other same as in free sparring. even if you did develop your 'killer' technique, without sparring you wouldn't be able to hit anything with it. trust me, this is a no-go

Full-contact sparring is a myth however, if it's full contact it isn't sparring, it's a fight. medium contact is about ideal: you're not likely to injure yourself much, you do learn how to take a hit, and you do learn to execute your techniques and judge distance properly. Apart from the obvious disadvantages of semicontact over light-medium contact (the advantage being safety), it also has the disadvantage that many semicontact karate schools place a lot of restrictions on techniques in compliance with the competitive rulesets (e.g. no hook punches, often no low kicks or throws/takedowns, mandatory hikite).

one and a half years later I am still recovering from my miseducation in non-sparring (I still can't hit anyone above beginner), don't make this mistake.

[Harkon72]

I agree with you! We wear dipped foam sparring gear in our Dojo, head guards and all. The junior grades are fed more contact gradually. I'm a 4th kyu going for my pre-3rd Kyu this month. I expect that at my grading, to score and make good kumite, my technique must stop my opponents in their tracks. The idea is not to incapacitate but to break their Ki and show proper form; this includes a degree of force as safe as the sparring gear will allow.

[Hawkmoon]

I really would not recommend settling for anything less than semi contact. No-contact not only doesn't teach you to judge distance properly and execute techniques properly, it teaches you to MISjudge distance and execute techniques incorrectly.

Having no sparring is equally nonsensical.........

............

Full-contact sparring is a myth however, if it's full contact it isn't sparring, it's a fight.....

.....medium contact is about ideal: you're not likely to injure yourself much, you do learn how to take a hit, and you do learn to execute your techniques and judge distance properly......

No contact is something I've never understood as a means to learn how to fight!

As guird says!

'no contact' sparring only serves to enhance speed.....I'm told...... I'm not entirely sold it does that in all honesty!

But some do say it helps in the 'speed' department...um! ok!

Full contact (or knockdown) from the get go nope, no advantage here either. Moving through the grades in Kyokushin, 'stuff' only got serious at around 4thkyu, and then only in gradings.

Full Contact/knockdown only became the point to all that was done in the dojo at 4/3rdkyu, but even saying that we don't fight at full power every time in the dojo!

Many kyokusion dojos that I have visited and trained at light at semi/light to semi contact from one session to another!

Full power comes in when preparing for a tournament and even senior gradings.

[sensei8]

To condition or not to condition...Whose choice IS that??

[brickshooter]

To put no-contact dojos in perspective, I've a broken nose and chip tooth from a no-face contact dojo that didn't use protective gears. The theory is to pull your punches in head shots. In practice, the no-contact is extremely difficult to do. Oopsies are very common.

[sensei8]

To put no-contact dojos in perspective, I've a broken nose and chip tooth from a no-face contact dojo that didn't use protective gears. The theory is to pull your punches in head shots. In practice, the no-contact is extremely difficult to do. Oopsies are very common.

Indeed they are!!