Why context is important.

[drop bear]

Here are two videos of today's sparring. One is an experienced guy who always take it to me. The other had about two hours sleep and was not under any condition to be doing much.

One is at a pretty quick pace. One is slow and light.

What I can get away with in one sparring session. I can't in the other.

And it i s an important distinction because without context you create false positives.

There are different styles that work at these different levels.

For me when I say works don't work. I am generally referring to high pace competitive sparring. Because i assume that is what people want to know what works and what doesn't.

So sparring light against a tired guy and looking the buisness.

I do this in sparring and it works. (Or does it?)

Sparring against a harder guy and suddenly a bunch of stuff that works. Doesn't work.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Just an fyi, im only seeing one video here.

 

[drop bear]

Just an fyi, im only seeing one video here.

Give me a second.

Because it is on my phone it was post, close, upload video, post and so on.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Give me a second.

Because it is on my phone it was post, close, upload video, post and so on.

Yup. Both here now.

 

[Danny T]

Pressure.
The biggest difference between the two was in the second was the almost constant pressure by the opponent.

 

[skribs]

I mean...this is pretty much common sense. As you increase in difficulty, you find less things work, and you have to figure out how to make them work. Whether that difficulty is in your opponent having more knowledge, speed, pressure, resistance, stamina, pain tolerance, strength, experience, technique, or whatever the case may be.

As they get tougher, you have to adapt to it. You have to decide:

1. Which techniques to troubleshoot so they are more likely to succeed
2. How to transition from a failed technique to something that uses that failure for you
3. Which techniques to put on hold developing so you can focus on the first two
4. Which techniques to abandon entirely because you don't think you'll ever make them work

Then, when you do figure out which techniques to fix, these are things you'll probably drill slower or with less experienced partners until you can get the hang of it. For example, I try my fancier combinations on colored belts before I try them on black belts. They're my test lab.

 

[hoshin1600]

I think a lot of the difference is the intent. The first clip doesn't have much intent. It's what I've always termed half speed sparring. The person is more in their own head space. Often just throwing stuff just for the sake of moving. The second type would be more competitive and actually trying to make things work. It's more focused on the outcome of what is being thrown and not so much on just the movement of the limb.
So first clip, intent is on movement. Second clip the intent is on the outcome or the effect on the other guy.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

You seems to mix developing and testing together.

In CMA, there is no

- light sparring vs.
- hard sparring.

There is only

- developing (your opponent lets you do it) vs.
- testing (your opponent won't let you do it).

Old Chinese saying said, "A lion will attack a deer the same way as it will attack a tiger."