Posted: December 7th, 2006, 6:45 pm
Hi Mike,
Long time no talk/see. How's Max doing?
To the topic at hand, I also have been thinking about this subject recently and I think the answer depends on what one is trying to learn.
I think that sparring teaches you a great deal; timing, distance and range, effective counters, and reactions to your movements by your opponent. I'm sure there's more learned from it that I'm missing but you get the point.
What sparring "removes" from the practitioner is the killer instinct. In other words, I'll hit you several times and relent and then you'll respond to me several times and we'll go back and forth for a while. Niether one finishing the job so to speak.
If the goal is to be a killer, I think that sparring is a bad thing. So, if I was training military personnel, I would not allow sparring at all. Or, if the practitioner is only interested in being deadly, maybe sparring isn't for them.
However, after saying all that, I believe that if one spars often enough, working on all ranges, far, close, clinch and ground, they can elevate their game to such a lofty height, that most that challenge them in the street will be no match and will be overpowered easily.
I think the best approach (and I find this to be true with a lot of things martial arts related) is to train both in "static" or "controlled" scenarios to work technique most of the time and then every so often spar. Even then I would almost never spar all out. It's always with about 35-50% power. This removes fear of injury but also is enough to know if someone could have "gotten" you or vice-versa.
Just my two cents. Anyone else?
Peace, Jerry
Long time no talk/see. How's Max doing?
To the topic at hand, I also have been thinking about this subject recently and I think the answer depends on what one is trying to learn.
I think that sparring teaches you a great deal; timing, distance and range, effective counters, and reactions to your movements by your opponent. I'm sure there's more learned from it that I'm missing but you get the point.
What sparring "removes" from the practitioner is the killer instinct. In other words, I'll hit you several times and relent and then you'll respond to me several times and we'll go back and forth for a while. Niether one finishing the job so to speak.
If the goal is to be a killer, I think that sparring is a bad thing. So, if I was training military personnel, I would not allow sparring at all. Or, if the practitioner is only interested in being deadly, maybe sparring isn't for them.
However, after saying all that, I believe that if one spars often enough, working on all ranges, far, close, clinch and ground, they can elevate their game to such a lofty height, that most that challenge them in the street will be no match and will be overpowered easily.
I think the best approach (and I find this to be true with a lot of things martial arts related) is to train both in "static" or "controlled" scenarios to work technique most of the time and then every so often spar. Even then I would almost never spar all out. It's always with about 35-50% power. This removes fear of injury but also is enough to know if someone could have "gotten" you or vice-versa.
Just my two cents. Anyone else?
Peace, Jerry