head contact

[Alan Armstrong]

The question why to train a certain way needs to be asked.

Hobby type MA isn't going to work for those in the military.

As military MA training is too harsh for hobbist.

I believe there is a place for everything and everything has its place, just needs to be open and honest about this aspect.

I'm personally not interested in teaching MMA for UFC or any MA sport point methods neither Tai Chi for seniors.

All martial arts are connected one way or the other from being brutally savage to intellectually beautiful, there is a happy medium that doesn't include killing ourselves or becoming overly complexed with theories of how martial arts is connected to the cosmos.

Looking beyond the fads...

Martial arts at the moment, being in my senior years is turned towards preserving health and not abusing it for whatever reason.

Had my fair share of head shots, the human body can only take so much abuse, till it can't take any more, as it will crack or swell or cease to function properly.

Intelligent people want to stay clear thinking for their entire lifetime, having a pastime that can cause serious health issues is not rational.

There is a reason why nature provided us all with a thick skull; to protect the thing inside it.

[hammer]

I think there has to be a balance in training. If you go full power with sparring partners all the time, you'll quickly run out of sparring partners. To minimize this, its important to also do focus mitt work, bag work, and things like that.

In the kyokushin dojo I train at, we do light contact 99% of the time. Makes sense to train that way for a few reasons:

• Minimizes risk of injuries
   
  Allows one to experiment without the concern (fear?) of getting hurt
  

Kicks to the head are OK and light head contact is also OK. Just enough to remind one to keep the hands up.

Had a session outside the dojo a few months ago that included kumite with folks from various dojos. Despite being told to keep it light, some either forgot or couldn't do it properly. Unfortunately I'm still recovering from a bruised/broken rib as a result of a well executed but full contact hiza mawashi geri.

When sparring out of the dojo and the rules and respect go out the widow; consider it as if walking out in to the real world.

Self Defense rule 101: Protect yourself %100, %100 of the time, even more so when the word "friendly" is used to entice you in to a fight.

You just have no idea what is going on in your opponent's head, perhaps he accidentally run over his favorite hunting dog, while in a rush to have a friendly bout with you!

This was not a tournament or real life situation...it was a structured activity with fellow Kyokushin karateka from different dojos. Should I have avoided the hit? Sure, but in a LEARNING environment is it really appropriate to clock your opponent with a full contact hit?

[MatsuShinshii]

I think there has to be a balance in training. If you go full power with sparring partners all the time, you'll quickly run out of sparring partners. To minimize this, its important to also do focus mitt work, bag work, and things like that.

In the kyokushin dojo I train at, we do light contact 99% of the time. Makes sense to train that way for a few reasons:

• Minimizes risk of injuries
   
  Allows one to experiment without the concern (fear?) of getting hurt
  

Kicks to the head are OK and light head contact is also OK. Just enough to remind one to keep the hands up.

Had a session outside the dojo a few months ago that included kumite with folks from various dojos. Despite being told to keep it light, some either forgot or couldn't do it properly. Unfortunately I'm still recovering from a bruised/broken rib as a result of a well executed but full contact hiza mawashi geri.

When sparring out of the dojo and the rules and respect go out the widow; consider it as if walking out in to the real world.

Self Defense rule 101: Protect yourself %100, %100 of the time, even more so when the word "friendly" is used to entice you in to a fight.

You just have no idea what is going on in your opponent's head, perhaps he accidentally run over his favorite hunting dog, while in a rush to have a friendly bout with you!

This was not a tournament or real life situation...it was a structured activity with fellow Kyokushin karateka from different dojos. Should I have avoided the hit? Sure, but in a LEARNING environment is it really appropriate to clock your opponent with a full contact hit?

Depends on grade and skill level. If it is a friendly exchange or practice and it was stated that contact would be light then no it would not be appropriate. Having said that we are studying a combative art and should defend ourselves at all times. Accidents happen. Misunderstandings happen.

He could have thought that he telegraphed his strike and that you would be able to dodge it. He may not have thought that he put that much power into the strike. Etc. etc.

Now if he gloated afterwards and understand his true intentions then yes it is inappropriate and you may even be justified in being a little inappropriate yourself. Some students will attempt to hurt to establish a sort of pecking order of dominance. If you turn this around you often find the problem takes care of itself and they loose the macho attitude and are more amenable to training with you instead of trying to dominate you.

Either way defend yourself at all times because you can not know the intentions of a new opponent until you have mixed it up with them.

[Alan Armstrong]

Light contact as in sparring and half speed has its interpretations.

As light contact could feel like hard to other students and half speed to one person could feel like full speed to another.

Regarding, having responsible and respectful sparring practice, with care due and attention, might be more productive for everyone.

There are some that don't or cannot show or practice self control, where as their sparring on switch is always near full on at full speed; what makes this worse is that (from my experience) the CI doesn't intercept this behavior.