Martial Art: Sparing
 

I was just wondering who does full contact sparing, except for the head and other vitals, here?

I've got a sesh on tonight and I'm vamped for it. One of the guys who's new went against my instructor last friday. He got knocked down a few times after saying that his previous martial art was the thing.. He wasn't happy about this and said it only was because he went against the instructor and said he wants to go against someone lower so I've stepped out and said 'pick me' hehe... So that'll happen tonight.

But I've just been on this high all weekend leading up to it? I've never been in a proper fight before, but since I have actually done some sparing I've noticed that my reflexes have gotten better as well :)

Oh and has anyone ever been chi punched?? I went against my instructor the other night and that happened to me.. he punched me in the upper left hand chest area. I was just standing there thinking 'What was that that didn' even hur....' then I fell over.. lol

ok all have fun :cool:

Umm.. Let me first say that I hope you are having fun doing whatever it is you are doing. It's always nice to have fun as long as you don't get hurt.
That being said, full contact fighting is nonsense. Total and complete nonsense. I never ever heard of full contact fighting where you don't hit anything vital. Isn't your body vital? Vital, as I understand it, is that which is required to survive. What part of you is not vital? Do you punch each other in the tonsils? The gall bladder? Your little toe? Sounds like limited targets.
I've been hitting objects, like people, for about 2 decades. If you hit people, they get hurt. If they don't get hurt, you're not doing it right. Free sparring can be fun and exciting. On a whole it is not often similar to a fight. When you spar your goal is to not injure your opponent. When you fight, your goal is to injure your opponent.
As far as chi punches... Please! What the heck is a chi punch? You're deluding yourself. I've met people who can hit you in your shoulder and make your whole damn body hurt. I've met people who can hit you and the ache keeps getting worse. I never met any people who can hit you and it knocks you over later.
Why are you studying whatever it is you are studying? It sounds from this post like you're studying so you can 'one up' the new guy in class. Perhaps you should rethink that. It's gonna get old soon.

O_o dude.. lol

If you felt the immense pain from the punch that I sustained then you'd prolly fall over too..

I am studing Aikido because I enjoy it, it's a peaceful martial art which suites me. I'm studing Flow boxing because it's there when I haven't got an Aikido class to attend to (both taught by the same instructor) Tis all good.

I don't know about the free sparing bit O_o I don't want to 'one up' anyone. They're the one looking to spar, I'm just issuing a challenge. He's older and has alot more training than me so I'm more the new guy than he is.... :hmm:

Sparring is a fun game - good to test your reflexes, training, and spirit.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that it will prepare you for a real fight.

Relax, and just try to extend your awareness toward your opponent. When the moment comes to strike, feel aggressive and 'savage' at the same time, and pull your techniques in a way that, should you have chosen to, you could have extended them to cause great injury in your opponent. None of those stupid ass back-fists to the top of the head things. I HATE those.

I've done tournament point sparring for 10 years, and many many harder contact sparring matches with training partners outside of tournaments. As I said, fun to do, but make sure you are not teaching yourself habits and tricks that would be useless in the street, because your body will remember what it is used to doing. Spar like it is for real, but pull your techniques so as not to destroy your opponent. In the street, use the same techniques, but don't pull them.

At my school we spar two or three times a week, depending. We're "full-contact" in that any area is a legal target, but we're required to pull our punches and kicks.

We don't spar for points.

It's a lot of fun and it really aids me in my learning.

Sparring is a sport - a mental as well as physical exercise. In no way does it prepare you for the real thing. But I suppose that isn't the point of this thread.

I'm not sure exactly what your definition of full-contact sparring is, especially in Aikido. In various other hand-to-hand martial arts, there is sparring with varying degrees of armor, from only cup and foam helmet to a full suit of chest protector, shin/forearm pads, etc. I would recommend in any free-sparring situation that you have at least a helmet and groin protector. Few people hit hard enough with sufficient accuracy to break a rib or dislocate a shoulder - and those that can are usually good enough to know when to pull their punches. Hits to the head and groin, however, are commonplace, and it doesn't take very much to cause serious injury to the head. A poorly-placed (or well-placed, depending on your view of things) elbow or knee could easily mean a trip to the hospital - preventable by just wearing a dorky-looking helmet.

In two of the three hand-to-hand martial arts I'm studying, we are told not to pull our punches and kicks, and we spar for points - a point doesn't count if your opponent's body doesn't move violently after you hit them. Tapping them with a fist doesn't cut it, nor does a weak fade-away kick. Blows to the head, below the belt, and to the back are almost always forbidden though, because the chance for serious (ie. permanent) injury is too great.

Anyone who would come into another school saying that his former art is the "thing" rightfully deserves to get taken down by the master. Being good at something requires that you understand what it means to be bad at it and the more you learn, the more you become aware of how much you don't know. Generally, you can tell if someone is a good martial artist by how humble they are.
If this fella is coming into your school acting like he's the best thing since thai pads than you owe it to him to bring him down a notch.
As for sparring, i'm not familiar with flow boxing, and i don't see how aikido sparring would even work.
Good luck though.

Aikido sparing doesn't.. lol.. I do abit of Juwaza, although I'm not black belt yet..

Flow Boxing.. We don't wear pads or anything, pull the punch and try not to hit each other where it hurts.

Kyo is right about it being a mental and physical exercise. I noticed after my first sparing sesh that my relfexes and 'ability' had risen to a new level already.. was quite interesting.

Internet cockmeasuring threads rock! Our last martial art thread was a beauty too.

:p

I find it awsome. Anyone can hit a pad and marvel at their technique. It is heaps harder when Someone is trying to hit you. It teaches you to use what you have learnt in real fighting situations. If done properly...

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What is full contact with a pulled punch or kick? Is it full contact with forearm, shin, elbow, shoulder, wrist, fingers, etc? Seriously I don't understand.

My opinion is that people learning to hit others and cause harm should be able to hit hard enough to break ribs. If they can't cause that type of damage from a strike, they should be spending a majority of their time improving their strikes.

If you teach some body to bake a cake, you'll have to break an egg. If you teach somebody to fight, there'll eventually be an injury like a broken nose.

cowlick:

Use of all striking surfaces is allowed and any area of the body is a valid target, but we don't allow full-strength blows to the face with elbows and things like that. It's legal to bruise, not legal to break.

Basically anything goes as long as it isn't going to do permanent or semi-permanent damage.

Um - you can't learn how to fight properly if you pull your punches
The only way to spar that makes any sense is to wear the protective clothing and go at it. If your bodies are properly protected, injuries are not inevitable.

BTW - why was the new guying complaining about going against the instructor? It's the best way to learn - he'll point out your weaknesses before anyone else can take advantage of them!

From my sparing last night.. Flow boxing sparing and not free style.. I've got two dead arms.. my right is bruised and sore.. hehe

But I had fun and I improved.. I also helped others to improve last night.. Just by moving around the new ones and just throwing a strike and just tapping them where they left open.. once they get abit higher we start sparing with them.. :)