... all you want. When working hard on techniques, you always have some people who don't, won't, or can't simulate the appropriate reaction. I also find you have some "beginners", who want you to "prove" what you are doing works ... some of these "beginners" are 230 lbs of pure meat, gristle, and attitude ... not to mention already having black belts in other systems.
Something that was jokingly said to me a couple of decades ago has stuck with me, when I did not react for a high ranking belt, and in fact resisted strongly. He laughingly said, "Don't worry, I won't let you make me look bad" THUMP.
I went from a light sparring with one of my guys, to being severely grappled with. While he was going for the ankle, I had one hand behind his cup, my other hand had fingers in his eyes, while I was kicking him in the kidneys with the heel of the other foot. He never got the ankle lock, and in fact, ended up stacking me. But somehow I proved I could stand up to the abuse, and in his words "I could not beat him, but I could have killed him." An interesting lesson for me and him. I am big enough to never be seriously manhandled, but not nearly as big as him. At 6'4" with less than 8% body fat, and guns as big as my thighs, he was not intimidated by how I moved or my size. For him it was "feeling is believing."
Great fun! I learned, he learned, and then he kept on coming back for several years, convinced that Kenpo had things to teach that his other systems did not.
