No pain, no gain?

[Kirjava]

Hello,

I'm new here, and have been training for about a year now. As a female, I'm curious as to what you all think about this - when a female joins a martial art, should they expect to get beaten up? I ask because I've seen some examples of females complaining about bruises, sprains, cuts etc. As for myself, I firmly believe that I should be allowed to take just as much of a beating as the men!

Happily, my dojo is wonderful for this. I'm treated just like 'one of the guys' :)

[terryl965]

No they or anybody else should never expect to get beat up. Welcome and happy posting. Maybe you should go tp the meet and greet section and introduce yourself.

[jks9199]

Hello,

I'm new here, and have been training for about a year now. As a female, I'm curious as to what you all think about this - when a female joins a martial art, should they expect to get beaten up? I ask because I've seen some examples of females complaining about bruises, sprains, cuts etc. As for myself, I firmly believe that I should be allowed to take just as much of a beating as the men!

Happily, my dojo is wonderful for this. I'm treated just like 'one of the guys' :)
Nobody should expect to get "beaten up" in training.

However, in good training, you probably will take some beating.

There's a major difference in intent. If I'm training with you, and I block you, there's a good chance that you'll be bruised. Similarly, if I'm training and you punch me, I expect to at least be stung, if not bruised by the punch. Just like a football player should expect to feel it when he gets tackled... But, if someone's inflicting injury just to inflict injury -- that's a problem. Or if someone is causing injuries through carelessness or lack of control.

[Lynne]

I'm 8th gup and higher belts come down to my level but challenge me. Higher ranks are to teach the lower ranks in sparring in my school, otherwise the lower ranks would just get kicked around and punched and not learn much.

At my rank, I'm not allowed to hit above the neck but 3rd gups and above are. But they do not wallop me because they can.

Higher ranks are stronger, faster and have a whole repertoire of moves that I haven't learned yet, nor would I have the speed and skill. Any of the higher ranks could kick me into the next county or punch me through the window glass.

A good sparrer has control. No black belt is going to punch me with all of his/her strength. They aren't going to kick me in the head with hard contact because they can. We could be killed or seriously injured in Tang Soo Do. It doesn't take but 10 pounds of pressure to break a rib.

We are learning about technique, not how to knock the crap out of one another. We do punching drills and kicks with full on force of course. And we break boards to learn how to concentrate the greatest force in the smallest area.

I've gotten some beautiful bruises here and there.

Sprains? I haven't had any yet. I'm not sure how I would get one in sparring. Perhaps if someone punched my hand by mistake, bending it back or I slipped and my leg/foot bent the wrong way. In other words, there aren't any offensive moves in Tang Soo Do where I should sustain a sprain that I can think of - well if you get kicked in the hand or what not maybe so.

People do occasionally get hit too hard in the mouth or nose, etc. That means someone lost control or the injured person ran into someone's limb.

I think tournaments are a bit wilder and less controlled, but that depends upon the judges, too.

Oh, please don't think I'm being snarly. I realize you may be doing a grappling art or MMA where you might have more forceful contact. What kind of art do you do?

[Touch Of Death]

Hello,

I'm new here, and have been training for about a year now. As a female, I'm curious as to what you all think about this - when a female joins a martial art, should they expect to get beaten up? I ask because I've seen some examples of females complaining about bruises, sprains, cuts etc. As for myself, I firmly believe that I should be allowed to take just as much of a beating as the men!

Happily, my dojo is wonderful for this. I'm treated just like 'one of the guys' :)I think its OK to hide it from them until you convince them to set some goals. Then you slowly reveal what its going to take to get there. There no real reason to sink or swim anyone into the operation. Its really a mental battle you have to do with them to help them jump start there own personal mental battles. But, yes, by all means, beat the snot out of them.
Sean

[Touch Of Death]

And welcome to Martial talk:ultracool
Sean

[Kirjava]

Oh, please don't think I'm being snarly. I realize you may be doing a grappling art or MMA where you might have more forceful contact. What kind of art do you do?

I do Ninjutsu :)

To all of the comments so far, I definitely don't mean that I expect my partners to try to kill me or anything. What I want is good solid hits that will leave bruises, with technique used as well, of course. I've actually seen people complain about the bruises, so that's where my question came from. It just seems that, unless you're going into a martial art that is just for sport, doing martial arts and expecting not to get bruises is like swimming and expecting not to get wet.

[Kacey]

Hello,

I'm new here, and have been training for about a year now. As a female, I'm curious as to what you all think about this - when a female joins a martial art, should they expect to get beaten up? I ask because I've seen some examples of females complaining about bruises, sprains, cuts etc. As for myself, I firmly believe that I should be allowed to take just as much of a beating as the men!

Happily, my dojo is wonderful for this. I'm treated just like 'one of the guys' :)

Should women expect to get "beaten up"? No - and neither should the men. But should women - and men - expect a few training injuries? That depends on the philosophy behind what's being taught - but I certainly got (and still get) my share - and I've been in TKD for over 20 years.

[tellner]

The short answer?

No.

The longer answer?

****, no.

Contact happens in training. Injuries happen once in a while. If they're a regular occurrence your teacher is careless, stupid or vicious. If students are getting beaten up it's a combination of Door #2 and Door #3. If it's happening because you're a woman the SOB is shouldn't be allowed out without a leash and muzzle no matter how many belts he has.

That's the simple truth.

[Jade Tigress]

Nobody should expect to get "beaten up" in training.

However, in good training, you probably will take some beating.

There's a major difference in intent. If I'm training with you, and I block you, there's a good chance that you'll be bruised. Similarly, if I'm training and you punch me, I expect to at least be stung, if not bruised by the punch. Just like a football player should expect to feel it when he gets tackled... But, if someone's inflicting injury just to inflict injury -- that's a problem. Or if someone is causing injuries through carelessness or lack of control.

I couldn't agree more. If you're really going to train, you'll wind up with bumps and bruises. However, getting pounded on is a different story.

[Kirjava]

The short answer?

No.

The longer answer?

****, no.

Contact happens in training. Injuries happen once in a while. If they're a regular occurrence your teacher is careless, stupid or vicious. If students are getting beaten up it's a combination of Door #2 and Door #3. If it's happening because you're a woman the SOB is shouldn't be allowed out without a leash and muzzle no matter how many belts he has.

That's the simple truth.

As I mentioned, nobody is being beaten senseless. I'm only trying to say that I think there's nothing wrong with a few bruises here and there, and that I don't understand why somebody would expect no bruises at all.

[tellner]

Definitely. It's fighting. There will be contact.

But I've seen more than a few schools with good reputations that didn't really like having women around. It came out in slightly veiled contempt, excessive contact and a tolerance for beating up female students in ways that wouldn't quite be allowed on male students. Classic territorial sexual harassment with physical cruelty thrown in. It's less common than it was twenty years ago, but I still see it.

[Touch Of Death]

[quote=tellner;857770]Definitely. It's fighting. There will be contact.

quote]I was hoping I wasn't the only one.:soapbox:
Sean

[Lynne]

Some people have no idea there will be bumps, bruises and possibly broken bones or sprains.

My mother-in-law is one of who thinks like that. She giggles and laughs at the fact that I'm taking "karate." If she saw me or my daughter sparring, she wouldn't be laughing.

[kicksindabank]

Intresting question!

I think everyone in here has gotten their fair share of hits. They are badges of honor, but dang they hurt.

[Just4Kicks]

Bruises are a part of learning, either that you made a good block or dammit! I missed that kick. I'm proud of my bruises, and I might not seek to collect them, but I won't shy from it.

To echo the sentiments of everyone else, being battered around isn't a part of this. There is an extent that can be tolerated, but anything like broken bones etc done repeatedly by a wild and uncontrolled student is not one of them.

[boricuatkd]

Like everyone else, if you make the decision to take up a martial arts, for what ever reason - fitness, self defense, sport/competion - you have to expect that there is going to be some level pysical contact that may result in bruising or other injury.
Should a person have to deal with abusive contact when training - definitely not. But bumps and bruises are part of the package when training.
I always find it interesting when we get people at our school who ask if people are going to hit them or take them down because they don't want any physical contact but they want to learn tkd. True story - we recently had 2 women come in and inquire about classes. They were very interested in our programs. Both where looking for "aggressive" training and wanted to learn competitive sparring-but when they saw our students sparring they ask if people where going to be allowed to hit them back?:shrug:

[morph4me]

Like everyone else, if you make the decision to take up a martial arts, for what ever reason - fitness, self defense, sport/competion - you have to expect that there is going to be some level pysical contact that may result in bruising or other injury.
Should a person have to deal with abusive contact when training - definitely not. But bumps and bruises are part of the package when training.
I always find it interesting when we get people at our school who ask if people are going to hit them or take them down because they don't want any physical contact but they want to learn tkd. True story - we recently had 2 women come in and inquire about classes. They were very interested in our programs. Both where looking for "aggressive" training and wanted to learn competitive sparring-but when they saw our students sparring they ask if people where going to be allowed to hit them back?:shrug:

I'd like to hear how they define sparring :shrug:

[Christina05]

Bruises are a part of learning.

Very very true you will have your fair share of them thats for sure. But I don't think you should expect getting beat up.

[HelloKitty]

Happily, my dojo is wonderful for this. I'm treated just like 'one of the guys' :)

I think it's very natural having a couple of bruises, etc especially in contact sports like MA, or having some muscle "pain" the first weeks/months while your body is getting used to the intensity of the training, etc etc. and all this for men and women.

I was reading here in MT about someone with broken teeth, big bruises and other things and their instructors don't seem to care. I think this is too much, because you are going to train hard and learn, not to be beaten up.

As you, I'm happy in our dojang because we all are treated the same. ;)