which is beter full contack sparing or no contact?

[hong kong fooey]

I was wondering which kind of sparring is better full contact or no contact my old class praticed no contact and my new class has full contact

[Loki]

Disclaimer: Not a TKDer's opinion.

I'd go with full contact. No contact has advantages, like allowing you to gain better control over your movements since you have to stop before impact, but full contact is a better real-situation simulator. You get used to dealing with pain, pressure and more agression. This is of course assuming you're into reality-based fighting.

[Gemini]

Though contact is necessary at some point, I'll assume you mean the rule, not the exception. As a rule, we do no contact. I already know what it's like to break a bone, get knocked silly, take a hit and stay focused, etc. etc. etc. It gets me nothing to do it week in and week out except injured. And even no contact with the newer practitioners hardly means no contact anyway. We found early on that constant contact sparring never taught practitioners control. Something you can never get too good at. Always room for improvement.

[INDYFIGHTER]

At my school we have two sparring sessons a week. The level of contact is left mostly up to the individuals. I might ask a guy with a big wieght advantage over me to spar but I make sure he understands we're only going go 50% not full contact. There is always a instructor watching what's going on and I've had nights when I was going with someone larger than I ( I'm not very big) and they've come over and asked the other guy to lighten up even though I thought things were going well. I might spar with someone and go full contact for one round than turn around and work real light contact the next with the same guy rather than just sitting out a round to catch our breaths. I think you get more out of it because if I'm dropping my guard I'm going to know about it. After taking the same shot a few times I be like "Ok STOP! What am I doing wrong that you keep hitting me there?" However if you go full contact than be ready to nurse your bumps and bruises.:)

[INDYFIGHTER]

I should add that I my self only spar while boxing. Our sparring nights are open to boxers as well as kick boxers since our school trains both. The kickboxers even spar the boxers they just remember not to kick!

[AdrenalineJunky]

Non TKD opinion: Both. I'll explain if you like.

[Jade Tigress]

Non TKD opinion: Both. I'll explain if you like.

I'd be interested in hearing your explaination. And I do agree. I think you need both. Let's hear more on your opinion AD.

[Solidman82]

Non-contact sparring is essential but not ultimate. it taught me a nast habit of stopping before I hit a face in sparring which unfortunately brings forth only annoyance and disrespect in a boxing ring.

[Solidman82]

Non-contact sparring is essential but not ultimate. it taught me a nasty habit of stopping before I hit a face in sparring which unfortunately brings forth only annoyance and disrespect in a boxing ring.

[AdrenalineJunky]

I'd be interested in hearing your explaination. And I do agree. I think you need both. Let's hear more on your opinion AD.

Shadow sparring involves little or no contact, so it gives you the freedom to explore things, to see how they would work without really getting hurt as a result of attempting something that might not work. It keeps people trying new things. New strategies, new combinations, strikes they don't normally use, etc., whereas they would not do that in full contact sparring. Without full contact sparring, one never gets to experience being hit. For example, nobody really wants their bell-rung, but in a fight, if you get your bell-rung and have no experience with the disruption of vision and disorientation that occurs as a result, you will not know how to fight through it. This is what I tell the guys I train:

first, you must realize that, if you want to fight, you are going to get hit
once you've come to grips with the fact that you are going to get hit, you mitigate that damage by conditioning your body to block/evade/take those hits without interrupting your offensive strategy
then you can learn to counterWe do a series of pad drills and sparring drills, which are pre-designed combinations used in a sparring-type scenario, to ease into this, of course. I've been working with a couple of guys for a few months and they've got the strikes and the basic combinations down, and we're just starting fight strategy. Most people, once they get hit, realize that the fear of getting hit is much worse than getting hit. . .well, sometimes, anyway. ;)

[Makalakumu]

I think that one needs to do both. With no contact, one can focus on targets that would truly take out your opponent. With contact sparring what can get a feeling for taking and giving a hit. With all sparring, its important to be safe no matter what one does.

[Jade Tigress]

first, you must realize that, if you want to fight, you are going to get hit
once you've come to grips with the fact that you are going to get hit, you mitigate that damage by conditioning your body to block/evade/take those hits without interrupting your offensive strategy
then you can learn to counterMost people, once they get hit, realize that the fear of getting hit is much worse than getting hit. . .well, sometimes, anyway. ;)
I feel the same way regarding sparring. There can be different levels of "contact" from light to heavy but at some point there has to be some sort of contact. As far as "no contact", I would rather use slow sparring to train finding and creating openings and developing strategy, than sparring at speed and pulling strikes. When I think of no contact I tend to think of slow sparring, but I don't think that's what hong kong fooey meant by no contact.

[AdrenalineJunky]

I feel the same way regarding sparring. There can be different levels of "contact" from light to heavy but at some point there has to be some sort of contact. As far as "no contact", I would rather use slow sparring to train finding and creating openings and developing strategy, than sparring at speed and pulling strikes. When I think of no contact I tend to think of slow sparring, but I don't think that's what hong kong fooey meant by no contact.

Shadow sparring, we usually start out slow. The only problem is that Muay Thai is rarely, no, scratch that, never slow. Fast striking, fast reactions, short windows of opportunity. We basically spar full speed, in shadow sparring, we just make very light contact. This is useful to keep people mindful of where and how they open themselves up when they strike, so they can pay more attention it in a few minutes, when we do the real thing. :)

[tshadowchaser]

I'd go with moderate contact. full contact to the head leads to problems, many times, later in life. No contact leads to pulling your techniques many times

[Touch Of Death]

I think all types of contact lead to both negative and positive results. Full contact negates learning in that it puts you in a win lose situation and you are not so much improving but surviving. No contact can lead to a lot of mislead Martial Masters and and five year old black belts. I think the solution is to limit contact to a martial artist level of training. As they develop control and conditioning turn it up, by all means. White belts shouldn't be the meat your upperbelts practice having no control with. They are your schools bread and butter. I wouldn't spend them so cheaply.
Sean

[Laborn]

You fight how you train, so my dojang trains us in full contact. In my eyes full contact is better then no contact.

[Makalakumu]

You fight how you train, so my dojang trains us in full contact. In my eyes full contact is better then no contact.

How does one train a full contact strike to the eyes, throat, groin and/or knees? Going for these targest requires safety equipment and control and it requires low to no contact. The sparring that one would do would still help with instinctual response.

[Gemini]

I think all types of contact lead to both negative and positive results. Full contact negates learning in that it puts you in a win lose situation and you are not so much improving but surviving. No contact can lead to a lot of mislead Martial Masters and and five year old black belts. I think the solution is to limit contact to a martial artist level of training. As they develop control and conditioning turn it up, by all means. White belts shouldn't be the meat your upperbelts practice having no control with. They are your schools bread and butter. I wouldn't spend them so cheaply.
Sean
Though I would agree that each way, as everything else, has positives and negatives. That's why either one in and of itself will leave you wanting. And I would agree that contact should be limited based on skill level, but for exactly the opposite reasons you mentioned. As I've said before, I experience considerably more contact from the earlier belts than I do from the more senior belts simply due to their lack of control. Not the other way around. My contact to them is usually light at best. When I spar with the other senior students or the sabumnim, contact is considered failure for lack of control. Much harder to achieve than wacking away at each other. Maybe there's a difference in what is meant by no contact. No contact is still full speed, full power, but the stop point is an inch or two away from the target as apposed to in the target.

[terryl965]

Well you have to have both in my personal opinion, one cannot exsist without the other.
Terry

[Jade Tigress]

Shadow sparring, we usually start out slow. The only problem is that Muay Thai is rarely, no, scratch that, never slow. Fast striking, fast reactions, short windows of opportunity. We basically spar full speed, in shadow sparring, we just make very light contact. This is useful to keep people mindful of where and how they open themselves up when they strike, so they can pay more attention it in a few minutes, when we do the real thing. :)

Yes, that makes sense. Definitely have to take into account the style as there are so many variables.

[Miles]

I think all types of contact lead to both negative and positive results.

Agreed. The proper technique for the proper target, the proper level of contact in the proper circumstances.


Full contact negates learning in that it puts you in a win lose situation and you are not so much improving but surviving.

I disagree that full contact negates learning-for example, I think it teaches the attacker what the reaction force of her techniques feels like. Along the same lines, it teaches the defender how to absorb a full contact shot. Both are improved by the experience. In the street, survival is winning.


I think the solution is to limit contact to a martial artist level of training. As they develop control and conditioning turn it up, by all means. White belts shouldn't be the meat your upperbelts practice having no control with. They are your schools bread and butter. I wouldn't spend them so cheaply.

Exactly-I think that one needs to teach/learn full contact progressively and there are times, even for experienced martial artists to practice both full and no contact. White belts are both the easiest and the hardest group to spar with-they have no control but they don't know they have no control. They leave themselves open and rarely follow-up. As such, they are probably the best example of who you will meet on the street (in my opinion). No one should be fodder for the upper ranked cannons....

Miles

[FearlessFreep]

I once joked with my teacher that I appreciated that he wold spar with me because I realized that it put him in a more dangerous position because as in-experienced as I was, I was more liable to do things with little control or things that were just plain stupid. So I guess I was good for practicing dealing with someone unskilled and random, but within the context of a olympic-rules match, he had to deal with the fact that I was much less skilled and therefore more likely to do something both stupid and dangerous

[TigerWoman]

Which is better, black or white? Full contact teaches you respect, what it feels like to get hit. No contact is good for learning how to respond and move, mostly for beginners. Each have its value. But full contact has risk of injury. No contact is insufficient training. We mostly do light-med contact so we have some bruises but nothing broken-torn, usually. TW

[Rick Wade]

Feeling is believing.

with full contact you get to see your opponents reaction.

V/R

Rick

[bobster_ice]

No contact or light contact.

[ashkin]

No contact helps with technique and accuracy, full contact is all about kicking someones ass, so I would say no-contact.

[Laborn]

Lol in my school, every friday we try new things, even tho we're hitting as hard as we can, it's the best way to find out WHAT works, for instance. i use to go to a school where there was no contact, we could never decide weather we hit one another or not. In full contact you KNOW you hit them, and you KNOW you got hit. Me personally i like fighting as hard as i can, trying new things while going hard, i can find out what works in a full contact situation.

[Laborn]

PLUS like i said, you fight as you train. If you train and are use to not hitting your opponent, will you remember in a rteal life situation to go as hard as possible? in full contact sparring, your already use to going as hard as you can, so it will be something familiar.

My school does tho no contact sparring at times, when we're in class we just play around with things. But for sparring we get out gear and go at it hehe.

[AdrenalineJunky]

One thing that nobody, that I saw, mentioned was the fact that a strike is useless if interrupted. Full-contact sparring teaches you, if nothing else, that when you do: A, your leaving: B open. If someone hits you in B, while you're doing A, then A will be ineffective. You do not learn that in light or medium-contact sparring, as it is still possible to get the shot off. Again, I'm talking Muay Thai; the ultimate purpose of which is to fight full-contact in the ring. . .so that might be the difference.

[Miles]

Yes, depending on the opponent's timing, you are either "interrupted" as AdrenalineJunky mentioned, or "countered." TKD teaches both-an example of "interruption" technique would be a push kick, an example of a counter would be open stance back kick to opponent's back leg round kick. Good point!

[Hwoarang_tkd26]

I as well feel that both should be trained in, but there is an appropriate time in a student's progression in which one of these should be used.
For instance, I feel that a beginer student should train with little or no contact, but with high emphasis on control, acuracy, and great technique.
Those three things right there are the most basic things that make the foundation of a great martial artist.

As this beginer student becomes more and more advanced, then he/she should be slowly introduced to full contact sparring, and with the right kind of training this student can generate more devastating power, speed, and can link techniques together to creat combinations.
Oposed to the student that has been trained in full contact ever since the begining of their training, they do understand what it is like to be knocked out and how to take a hit, but they seem to lack a certain cairity in their movements, and dont seem to generate as much power,speed, and acuracy due to the lack of training in the three things that I have stated above.

-Hwoarang_tkd26

[green meanie]

This coming from a non-TKD perspective but I'm more in favor of full-contact than non- or light-contact.