LordBucket Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I agree, sounds like you have a very cool father. Be sure to let him know. Sounds like he's also saving you from having to learn a lot of lessons first hand. Never underestimate an older fighter...training is one thing...experience is another. And, to quote Baron Harkonen: 'Youth and vigor will always sucuumb to age and treachery.' I've taken a few sucker punches in my life, and unfortunately it often only takes one to end a fight. The first one. Bucket Man --------------------------------------------- http://www.freewebs.com/ocmartialarts ---------------------------------------------http://www.freewebs.com/ocmartialartsOrange County Martial Arts Social Club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granmasterchen Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 very good read, it is something that you will encounter as long as you train, you will start to think you know it all and such and then find out something that makes you think it all over again, it is good to reach the level where you know you are good and that you know alot yet you also know that you are still a child in the big picture of the arts, it takes a life time and many at young levels in training forget this, we must be humbled to fully learn our true potential, everyone has something to offer, no matter age or style and we can all better ourselves by listening to others. That which does not destroy me will only make me stronger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart the Lover Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 A very interesting post, Cheeky. You're very lucky to have a father that is willing to share his experiences and knowledge with you. I agree with Kirves. Take advantage of the opportunity. The people we are nervous of sparring with should be the ones we seek out. Challenge yourself. You don't say how you spar at your club. Do you use light, semi, or full contact? A mixture? How big is your club? I ask this because if your club is fairly small you won't be exposed to a variety of approaches, and it becomes even more important that you spar with your dad. Some people are much more aggressive than others. he told me to defend myself against him in a sort of sparring match, and I just couldn't keep up at all. I was far too scared of getting hit (as I know my dad wouldn't pull his punches, not because he wants to hurt me, but just because he doesn't really have the precision to pull them). In a real situation, I think someone small (I'm small, too) should avoid getting into a punch-up type situation. In sparring, there's a back and forth to the action. But if you were confronted for real, you woudn't stop to let your opponent respond. Ideally, as soon as you saw the first punch come in, you would respond with a barrage of punches, kicks, knees, elbows, or whatever you know. Remember that if you're small, you can still kick your opponent (in the knees, say) at a distance they will be thinking of using their hands only.I was hitting "through" the pad. You know, giving it the whole swing of my arm and knocking the pad backwards, instead of focusing my punch on the pad. I hadn't even realised this until he pointed it out, and realised what a waste of energy my previous punches were (not to mention a waste of time, when I could quickly deliver the punch and then bring my hand back to my guard). I wasn't completely clear what you meant by this. Do you mean that when you made contact with the pad, your arm wasn't fully extended? You were swinging past the target?I really need to work on my aim...my kicks are not as powerful as I thought they were. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but if you want to make your kicks (or punches, or whatever) more powerful you should use the heavy bag. Bags can also be used for accuracy. Pick a spot on the bag to hit, and try to hit it. You don't have to pound away every single kick to benefit from them. Try working on diferent things on different days. Bags give good feedback--the sound you make hitting it, the way it moves. You can measure your progress this way. I hope you don't get discouraged by this. Pacificshore's point is a good one. What you would be willing to use in a real encounter is not the same as what you would be willing to use against your dad. Don't overestimate yourself, but don't underestimate yourself either. Keep training! Regards, Bart the Lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icetuete Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 kirves is right - not only that u can grow in martial arts while training with ur dad, its very comfortable, too. u can train any time u like, at home, as long as ur dad has time for u and its at no costs. i'd be happy if i had this opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorin Ryuu Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Yeah, and you can make it a bonding experience too. What more could you ask for? Martial Arts Blog:http://bujutsublogger.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheekyMusician Posted August 1, 2003 Author Share Posted August 1, 2003 I agree with Kirves. Take advantage of the opportunity. The people we are nervous of sparring with should be the ones we seek out. Challenge yourself. You don't say how you spar at your club. Do you use light, semi, or full contact? A mixture? How big is your club? I ask this because if your club is fairly small you won't be exposed to a variety of approaches, and it becomes even more important that you spar with your dad. Some people are much more aggressive than others. When we spar at our club we usually just spar as hard or as soft as we like, taking into consideration who we're sparring with. Eg. there's one woman who hates being hit, so when I spar with her I just use light contact, or no contact at all (just pulling my punches before they hit her), with most of the men I spar semi-contact, and if I'm sparring with one of the instructors I just hit them as hard as I can (although they usually take it quite easily on me. ) My club's pretty big, so I usually get a range of fighters to spar with, the think that worries me about my dad, though, is for a start he's not a trained fighter (apart from his limited experience in boxing when he was a kid) so his style of fighting is completely random, and he is totally incapable of throwing a light punch. He always hits you at full power, which is a bit scary! But yeah, sparring with him teaches me good self defence techniques. I wasn't completely clear what you meant by this. Do you mean that when you made contact with the pad, your arm wasn't fully extended? You were swinging past the target? I mean I was making contact with the pad and knocking it backwards, but not with the power of the punch. I was knocking it backwards because I was swinging everything into it, so it was really just the momentum of my body that was causing the pad to be knocked backwards, not the power of my punch. My dad pointed out that this was a bit of a waste of energy and time. He told me just to focus all my power on the pad at the moment of impact and try to get my hand back to its original position at my guard as quickly as possible after making contact. At first this made my punches weak and pathetic, but then I got the hang of it and my punches were stronger than before, and it did make sense. I wasn't wasting so much energy anymore. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but if you want to make your kicks (or punches, or whatever) more powerful you should use the heavy bag. Bags can also be used for accuracy. Pick a spot on the bag to hit, and try to hit it. You don't have to pound away every single kick to benefit from them. Try working on diferent things on different days. Bags give good feedback--the sound you make hitting it, the way it moves. You can measure your progress this way. Yeah, I've got a heavy bag, but I prefer pad work 'cause then you get the human imput. Someone who can tell you when there's even the slightest change in power or execution of a technique. I just bought an air shield today, so I can practice side thrust kicks and stuff, and I'm waiting on my dad to come home so I can try it out. Ah, my dad must've so much fun being kicked about the living room. Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrrrArg Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 A few people have picked up on the point about hitting through the pad. Following through your punches is a must. If you've ever done or seen any breaking (boards etc:) they aim to hit below the board. ---hand ----------------------board ----target This means that instead of just hitting the board you strike through it and it should break. Hitting a persons the same. If you're going for a stomach shot visualise hitting them in the spine - via the stomach A great exercise I was once taught was to get a training partner and some balloons, blow up the balloons so they are taute get your partner to hold it against his/her stomach, now try to pop the ballon with a punch. Hitting the ballon won't work, you have to hit through the ballon and make contack with your partners stomach. I suppose you could also try taping the ballons to a heavy bag for the same purpose. Hope it helps and feel free to argue with me cos I have a harder punch.. J/K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirves Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 Yes, if you hadn't heard about striking "through" the target, there's something wrong with the instruction you are getting. Just my opinion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheekyMusician Posted August 2, 2003 Author Share Posted August 2, 2003 Yes, if you hadn't heard about striking "through" the target, there's something wrong with the instruction you are getting. Just my opinion though. No, I'd heard about it, but I don't think you're all getting what I mean. I wasn't striking "through" the pad with power, I was striking "through" it with momentum and no power. Like, my dad was holding the pad and I was aiming to make the pad get pushed backwards, and I was pushing it backwards, but not by means of power, but by just swinging my arm and my body and "pushing" the pad backwards, but there was hardly any power in the punch. Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirves Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 But had you been taught to actually visualize the target a couple inches inside/behind the target? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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