"Testing" your training is the stupidest thing ever!

[SensibleManiac]

I wouldn't agree at all.
Judo isn't live action role playing, it's for real, although limited in what is involved but you really are throwing each other and resisting.
Same with BJJ and Boxing and Muay Thai and MMA , etc,...
Are these live action role playing ?
No. Are they real fights? Not even.
But there is limited reality involved in them.
Just becuase they aren't involved in a REAL fight doesn't mean they aren't really fighting. It's just not a complete street fight.
And NO testing your training isn't stupid, it is just that, a test.

I can test mysellf to better improve my driving skills without actually driving but it doesn't mean it won't really improve my driving.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I am not condoning going out and getting in a fight to test your stuff. Nor am I condoning that you stop pulling punches or go at it full tilt, risking a KO, risk some broken bones, spit Chiclets, and bleed, although The Last Legionary does have a point. And I will spar all my droning on about training in the old days as compared to today (basically I think we got hurt more, good or bad, I don’t know, although I never spit Chiclets). And as far a pressure testing goes I agree with Archangel M said

I believe that "pressure testing" is more about testing yourself than it is your training.

But when I look around at the training of various styles I have to say a style that trains more like Systema stands a better chance based on reality. Not that it is a better MA than any other style because it isn’t. And to say that a fighter from a sports style stands a better chance than a non-sport MA doesn’t hold up either, although I would say they are less likely (due to pressure testing) to freeze up when hit due to shock than the average MA guy today, that is all and it still does not mean it is better. They still train under controlled conditions to some extent and psychologically there is a world of difference between facing off against a guy that you want to defeat so you can get a title or check your apps and facing off against a guy that you NEED to defeat to survive.

However there is a world of difference between training, or sparing, in a climate controlled room on perfectly flat, or padded, floors with some sort of person standing there to break it up if things go bad or the rules are broken than a fight outside of these controlled conditions in the real world. Hell do a form outside on uneven ground if you have never done it before and you will notice a major difference. Systema tends to train in unconventional areas and Sports MAs do a hell of a lot of pressure testing. However I know a few traditionally trained MA guys that I frankly would not want to go up against and I “pity the fool” that does. But training Systema (or similar arts) or MMA, Muay Thai, Sanshou (or similar arts) does not guarantee a win either. All this, or any, training does is give you a better chance (hopefully) to survive a “fight” should you have the misfortune to actually find yourself in one out in the real world that is all.

Bottomline, you walk away, you won.

 

[Bruno@MT]

I've never heard of a cop asking his buddy to empty a clip into his body armor, or a soldier intentionally running his humvee over a mine field to test the reinforcement. Who in their right mind would step out on to the street and pick a fight with a couple of hoods to see if they can handle it?
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Long time ago I did read the biography of an SAS guy whose buddy insisted on being shot in the chest while wearing a bulletproof vest. He lived.

 

[Balrog]

Want a real test? Stop pulling punches, faking reactions and go at it full tilt, 100%. Risk a ko, risk some broken bones or spitting chicklets, and bleed a bit. Anything else is play acting.

Disagree? Fire away baby!

For limited definitions of test, that might work.

I've got a better test. Go an entire day without getting into a violent encounter. Control your environment, curb your temper, show courtesy and respect to everyone you meet. Every day that you don't do that, you fail.

 

[BloodMoney]

I believe that "pressure testing" is more about testing yourself than it is your training.

Can you ever really "See" what combat is like without actually being in combat? No. But you can (and if that's your goal probably SHOULD) get as close to it as realistically possible.

In a nutshell