Well, I'll admit Jason, I'm a bit confused as to how this is even possible. I don't do MMA, but to me, it'd seem like sparring is, well, pretty much a given. Unless its something you'd rather not share, I'd be interested in hearing how this is done.
Since we're talking about 2 things here, I'll address each one.
BJJ: How can you test your locks, chokes, etc, without rolling?
Boxing: I'm confused....how is it something thats ok for boxing, but not BJJ? I understand that there're limitations, but when we think about it, even training empty hand self defense techniques, we still have to adhere to a set of rules. In other words, a tech. that may require me to poke the eyes, well, obviously I can't do that, so I simulate or raise the strike slightly and hit the forehead or cheek. The same with an armlock....I'm still limited as to what i can do, otherwise, I'll injure my partners arm.
Ouch. Well, you're lucky to be walking and training.
But you still have to take height into consideration, no? My wife is 5'3. I wouldn't expect her to hit someone alot taller, in the face. I remember one Kenpo class that I was teaching. Short female, tall male were working together. She was having the hardest time reaching his face. She said, "I'm having a hard time. The strike is supposed to go to the face but I can't reach and because of that, the rest of the technique isnt working." I simply adjusted her target area. Sure, for the sake of the textbook tech., yes, the strikes have certain areas, but in reality, adjustments will need to be made. If someone moves, that movement could easuly throw off the rest of your tech, thus your need for adapting. I'm just having a hard time seeing how everything can be a 1 size fits all, for lack of better wording.
How does a student get used to contact? How are they preparing for unscripted if its never trained? I recall a time, when I was doing a technique line in class. Actually it was more of a circle. 1 student in the middle, and I'd point to one on the outter rim to attack, with an attack of my choice. One day, I had called out an attack that I knew the student didn't have a preset tech. for. They just stood there, and said that they didn't know a tech for that attack. I asked them if they knew how to block, punch, kick, and move, to which they said yes. I said, good, then do it!
I did this a few more times, but as I said earlier, because it was new to some, I slowed the pace down. The point of me doing this, was to still have a controlled setting, but random attacks were coming. I dont know Jason, maybe this is something that I'd have to see live and in person, but I'm just not seeing how training can be done without contact and non scripted work.
