Guard Sparring

When you spar, how hard should you and your partner hit?

The short answer is - as hard as you want.

If you're preparing for a full contact match, then at least part of

your training will need to be full contact. Most martial artist don't

compete regularly in full contact though, and many of them don't

compete at all. For them, sparring full contact probably isn't what

they want to do . . . but then they miss the benefits of full contact

training.

And what are those benefits? Well, hitting and kicking full power

requires better conditioning, better set ups, more exact use of

leverage, footwork and rotation and it conditions you to not freak out

when you get hit.

On the other hand, you're going to have injuries - jammed fingers and

toes top my list. Also, getting hit hard in the head is sort of like

getting x-rays: you should only get so many in a lifetime.

So how hard should you spar?

Here's how I like to spar in my school. We wear head gear with a face

guard, and a sturdy rib and chest protector. The rules are: VERY light

contact with punches to the head (anything more than that seems to

escalate), light kicks to the head. For some reason, they're easier to

control than punches, probably because the person is farther away and

you don't feel the pressure to back them off with power. Full contact

punches and kicks to the body wherever it's covered by the chest and

rib protector - again, I use the most solid ones I can find. Full

power (or close to it) leg kicks. They sting, but I've yet to see an

injury from a thigh kick. Take downs are allowed, and the fight

continues if it goes to the ground.

Following these rules, we've been able to have good matches, get a

great workout, and improve timing, power, combinations, and both stand

up and ground fighting.

Doesn't all the gear get in the way? Of course it does. The face

guard blocks vision, the chest guard is bulky and makes it difficult to

do some moves.

You don't have protective gear on the street, so why wear it in the

School?

Huh?

Who said anything about the street? It's a sport. If you want to get

completely "realistic" in your training, why not just go at it with

baseball bats, or guns? A sport is a sport. It has advantages and

disadvantages when you try to apply it to anything other than the sport

itself.

So, if you haven't sparred the way I've just described, you might want

to give it a try. I recommend that you only use a chest and rib

protector that is so strong you can let your partner side kick you full

power in the chest and you get knocked down but not injured or even

bruised in the least.

Being able to hit that hard is fun. Knowing that nobody is going to

get hurt keeps it fun.

Until next time, train like you mean it.

Rob LaPointe

P.S. In a few hours I'm heading into Washington, D.C. to teach a Tai

Chi workshop at a hospital's annual staff retreat. It's 45 minutes

long and they're paying my $675.00. I've got two other seminars in the

pipeline. If you're not getting bookings and paychecks like that, I

strongly suggest you check out my site http://indyinstructor.com/

Sparring and Pushing Hands Gold Medalist Rob LaPointe has been practicing martial arts since 1973. He holds black belts in Kenpo Karate and Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu.

In addition to teaching martial arts and presenting workshops to members of all the Armed Services, including special forces members, as well as CIA, DEA, FBI, Department of State Foreign Service Officers, U.S. Customs Officers, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Exxon-Mobile Corporation, Rob has presented demonstrations and workshops to Washington, D.C. area businesses and agencies, including Georgetown University Hospital, Northern Virginia Hospital Center, Alexandria Hospital, Arlington Public Schools, USA Today, and Intelsat.

In 1999 he received an invitation from the American Physical Therapy Association, and was a featured speaker at their Annual Convention, which took place that year in Washington, D.C.

Rob's main websites are http://kungfufightingtips.com/ and http://indyinstructor.com/

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Sparring $97.19 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Sparring is a form of training common to many martial arts. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively freeform fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to make injuries unlikely, by extension, argumentative debate is sometimes called verbal sparring. The physical nature of sparring naturally varies with the nature of the skills it is intended to develop; sparring in a striking art such as Chun Kuk Do will normally begin with the players at opposite sides of the ring and will be given a point for striking the appropriate area and will be given a foul for striking an inappropriate area or stepping out of the ring. Sparring in a grappling art such as judo might begin with the partners holding one another and end if they separate. The organization of sparring matches also varies, if the participants know each other well and are friendly, it may be sufficient for them to simply play, without rules, referee, or timer. Author: Miller, Frederic P./ Vandome, Agnes F./ McBrewster, John Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: 2011/01/20 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.30 inches

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