chefkicker Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 I think the main reason semi/no-contact used to be more popular than full-contact, is that, in those days, full-contact didn't exist in tournaments. Teachers of many traditional martial arts perpetuated the view that the techniques of those arts were 'too deadly' to be used in competition. In the 60's/70's there was a genuine widespread belief that, if a karate expert were to compete against, say, a boxer, that the boxer would be easily overcome by the karate mans kicks and stronger punching techniques, as, whereas boxing is a mere sport, karate is about prectical self-defence. That myth was shattered when a few karate people did compete against boxers and got knocked out in seconds And since then we had the rise of full-contact, then kick-boxing & Muay Thai, and then, UFC etc. So, these days there are multiple options for a variety of full-contact martial arts, which simply did not exist back then- so it's inevitable that semi-contact is going to be less popular than it was it the days when it was the only option. Plus, there's a general perception that training in full contact will transfer over to usable self-defence situations far better than semi/no contact, and, for many, the self-defense aspect is a key motivation for training in martial arts. Nice one dave!!! This has to be the best reply that I have had on this forum so far!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadrev Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I think the main reason semi/no-contact used to be more popular than full-contact, is that, in those days, full-contact didn't exist in tournaments. Teachers of many traditional martial arts perpetuated the view that the techniques of those arts were 'too deadly' to be used in competition. In the 60's/70's there was a genuine widespread belief that, if a karate expert were to compete against, say, a boxer, that the boxer would be easily overcome by the karate mans kicks and stronger punching techniques, as, whereas boxing is a mere sport, karate is about prectical self-defence. That myth was shattered when a few karate people did compete against boxers and got knocked out in seconds And since then we had the rise of full-contact, then kick-boxing & Muay Thai, and then, UFC etc. So, these days there are multiple options for a variety of full-contact martial arts, which simply did not exist back then- so it's inevitable that semi-contact is going to be less popular than it was it the days when it was the only option. Plus, there's a general perception that training in full contact will transfer over to usable self-defence situations far better than semi/no contact, and, for many, the self-defense aspect is a key motivation for training in martial arts. Then the boxers got submitted by the grapplers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefkicker Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Sparring is for learning and practice, you do neither if your sparring full out, we never do this at our gym, we spar hard but never trying to knock the other person out... semi contact is ok. suppose its each to their own... That makes sense as well Craig. I can relate to that. This is the big paradox. When you spar at a Full contact based gym such as Craig's Kapap gym or my own AFK gym, Sparring is actually very controlled. As Craig said earlier , "sparring is for learning and practise" if you are getting knocked about/beaten up then you are neither learning nor progressing/practising much apart from how to take a punch but even with that there is only so much of taking getting beaten up you can do realisticially speaking! Sparring at professionally run Full Contact gyms is controlled while in the semi contact gyms they actually are more competitive and act as if they are actually trying to beat you! In a semi contact club, if they land a few shots on you they then go round talking as if they "beat" you in sparring LOL. They also tend to spar at full pace (which for most semi contact fighters doesnt matter as most of them dont know how to kick anyway ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tog3 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 In this modern day and age, everyone seems to be crazy about the UFC or about the big fights in Boxing. Everyone also seems to train in either BJJ, Boxing , Muay Thai or Kickboxing. Fighters are cutting weight and getting their stamina up to scratch as they endeavour to compete over 3x2 mins of kickboxing, 5x1.5 minutes of Muay Thai , 2x5 mins (or 3x3 mins) of MMA to step into a ring or a cage against an opponent who has been pre matched on experience and weight. Fighters sell tickets to their friends and family and enjoy a percentage of said ticket sales and travelling expenses or sometimes even a set Fight Purse dependant on experience. The days when you turned up to a sports centre , pay something like £10 or even more to compete and just step onto the scales and then have your name put into an envelope and take pot luck which Weight division (sometimes with a 5kg or 10 kg spread LOL) you will take part in seem to be a thing of the past. Back in the 1990's and early part of this century , people would pay £10 or £12to enter a competition and fight often over a single round of 2 minutes or even 90 seconds (yes really!!!). The rules were not often clear and sometimes the rules on contact levels would vary as to which club you came from. I have met many competitive martial artists from many different disciplines. You still seem to get the odd Tae-Kwon-Do competitor who fights either Full Contact under WTF Olympic rules or the Semi Contact Continuous as done by the T.A.G.B, but these days stand up martial artists seem to want to fight K-1 rules while those who have a Grappling background are happy to "go the whole hog" and do MMA. Could this be a sign that Martial arts are going back to the source so to speak? I.E. Competitive Martial Arts returning to their roots of Pankration as the Ancient Greeks and many other ancient civilisations did before us? No, they're just getting the chop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstuch Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Sparring is for learning and practice, you do neither if your sparring full out, we never do this at our gym, we spar hard but never trying to knock the other person out... semi contact is ok. suppose its each to their own... Thing is you can't go too soft in sparring specialy if you are fighting its just not realist enough for a fight but I do agree you do have to start slow and light learn the technical side of it then put it in to practice I say but you don't have to no one is pushed at afk nor kapap Craig is a little bold man naturally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefkicker Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thing is you can't go too soft in sparring specialy if you are fighting its just not realist enough for a fight but I do agree you do have to start slow and light learn the technical side of it then put it in to practice I say but you don't have to no one is pushed at afk nor kapap Craig is a little bold man naturally Superstuch, the main reasons for not sparring too hard are the cracked ribs inflicted in sparring!!! I wonder whose body kicks/knees are responsible for those eh ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotar Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Little bald man... cheeky **** LOL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superstuch Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Superstuch, the main reasons for not sparring too hard are the cracked ribs inflicted in sparring!!! I wonder whose body kicks/knees are responsible for those eh ? Well yeah there is that im sick of my ribs being broken ha I dont hit hard enough to brake ribs hit like a girl sorry Craig had to get that one in about being a baldy naturally too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carcass Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I like the Thai approach - spar light and technical, fight hard like a b*stard. Works for them. The concept of light sparring doesn't exist for semi-contact people because, for them, the full on competition fight would be classed as 'light sparring' by the real fighters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimewave Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 As long as most of the sparring sessions r supervised in some way, its all good n safe. I've never met an instructor who would encourage pple to hit harder (as in HARD!!) during a sparring session. And no I wasnt having a dig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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