Does training and sparring semi contact teach bad habits for self defence?

RodUpward;1578324 said:

I never got a belt. The way I learned as a young bloke was someone either 'punched my lights out' or they didn't

Attitude is Everything:
Later on, when I trained in China I had a mix of soft full contact, combined with hard full contact training. However, equally important, the training I did with my teachers included a type of etiquette which seems to be missing in many schools these days. (I met a nice young bloke recently who had a black belt and yet he was hopeless unprepared to deal with some animal that wanted to attack him on the street for egoistic reasons or simply to vent his spleen.) Perhaps it is because these days there is a 'McDonald mentality' towards all types of boxing or martial arts that is prevalent. However, in my experience, the best teachers build the attitude, in their students, that even in full, (hard or soft), contact training with each other - there is a degree of control and respect - for the other person - that constrains them from seriously injuring each other. With such teachers ego was never as important as learning and in fact 'investing in loss' was fundamental to progressing and gaining the teachers respect. (I suppose the logic of this was that if a student was not able to give up their ego then s/he was not someone who deserved to learn the 'real juice'. Now, soft full contact training is far easier to handle than hard full contact training, particularly when you are just starting out in your boxing or martial arts training. So, as well as a whole set of complimentary skills it is simply easier for someone to handle. This is particularly relevant for a whole bunch of students who want to learn self defense but are not too excited about walking away with a cut lip or black eye!

Not "semi vs full contact" Rather Soft & Hard Full Contact:
I don't like the term, "semi contact" because it implies not contacting your training partner and that is simply setting up a person for bad habits in fighting, boxing and self defense more generally. I believe that the question should relate to soft and hard full contact training because they both have different contributions to your overall skills as a boxer or martial artist. It is surprising to me that many good teachers are not aware of this distinction. Why?

Full Contact Soft & Hard Training = Superior Outcomes:
The best training I have had has always included full contact hard training, however, the best teacher I studied with only included full contact soft training, although his information was profoundly superior ... Life is full of contradictions and paradoxes. I learned boxing mostly from people in China and Australia who were 'old school' so I was mostly stung often and hurt occasionally. Most of the training was bare knuckle training so it was over relatively quickly, albeit generally with clear evidence of some form of injury.

These days, my main fear now relates to how the inevitable hits to my head that I have had could impact on my ability to cognate as I grow older. If you research recent information about the link between some rather nasty ailments such as early onset Parkinson's, and other forms of dementia, and re-occuring mild concussions you will understand this statement. Consider the remarkable Mohammed Ali, (a great human being and a great boxer), and you will see an example of someone who it is likely in my opinion, suffers from a tragic disability, most likely because of the persistent small concussions he sustained due to punches to the head. Consider the quality of some of the boxers the great man had to fight and you can appreciate why I say this. (And to be fair, back in those days, there was simply not the level of information related to sports medicine etc that there is today.) I should also note that the great man himself has rejected this proposition, although the evidence seems pretty overwhelming in my mind.

The seemingly voyeuristic fascination for boxers in our modern world is often not reflected in the reality that a boxer lives, notwithstanding that these noble arts some times provide an individual with a range of insights and unexpected positive experiences too. It is perhaps wise for most boxers / martial artists to consider that we don't live to train or fight, rather that we train or fight to live. Perhaps this is why their is a seeming machismo obsession with just hard full contact training and a greater general ignorance of the value of soft full contact training in these noble arts. I find that ironical. I also don't know the answer to this issue, however, if you teach consider this. How much of your full contact training includes soft training that drills students in the manner that the real Push Hands or Chi Sao does? (I partly describe why this should happen below.)

Also;

It Depends on the Student:
Not everyone wants to learn how to fight or focus on martial arts for the sake of self defense so the issue of or sparring becomes less relevant. Arguably, the 'bread & butter' of many schools are the people who come along because they want to maintain a level of health and fitness and get a couple of ideas about how to protect themselves. This is as true for Western boxing gyms as it is for any martial arts school. (Consider the plethora of 'box fit' type courses.) I don't think a good teacher or school has to compromise on the pragmatic reality of making $s to simply maintain the 'so called' purity of the system. A good teacher of any system can teach all types of motivations and ages so they all benefit. It is really a matter of responding to your students needs and that is fundamental to teaching anything ...

There are a whole range of motives for anyone wanting to study any type of boxing or martial art and if a teacher does not respond to them there is less chance that s/he will be able to continue teaching. This is simply the way it is.

For Boxers/Martial Artists:
The problem with not doing soft and/or hard full contact training - particularly as a beginning martial artist - is that you learn to pull punches and/or miss the target. Simply put, it is not real.

Okay. I know that this might be controversial for some readers. All I can say is that I believe the following paragraph to be generally true ... not always though.

These days, if I was going to start out learning how to fight again, I would probably sign up to a good Western boxing trainer first, because not that many traditional martial arts schools teach their students how to punch or train key fighting skills properly - based on the most recent research and best practice models. It is not the fault of the system, but rather the teacher. That being said, if you consider the Chi Sao of Wing Chun or the Push Hands of Tai Chi Chuan the point is to slow things down, not worry about being hit, and therefore give your mind the time to focus on useful skills like control, distancing, positioning, protecting, countering, rhythm and so on ... The other point I would make is that a good Western boxing teacher deploys the latest information on physiology and anatomy as well as sports psychology combined with the latest information on developing an elite athlete. Often, traditional systems simply don't avail themselves of this information.

The Benefit of Soft Full Contact Training / Drilling:
At the end of the day, understanding your body mechanics is key to understanding any type of boxing or martial art, however, the 'rubber hits the road' only when a martial artist or boxer is in a full contact situation. The point is that there is a balance between full and soft contact training even for a budding martial artist.

One of the things I really liked about the Push Hands training of the Tai Chi Chuan is that fixed step, (ding bu), push hands trains you how to stick, follow, protect and neutralise, from the distance of your finger tips to your torso. Movable step (hwor bu), push hands trains you how to do the above, but also to move in and out from your training partner from around three to five metres away. This is great for learning how to position and engage with someone over these types of distances as well as drilling appropriate distancing.

The main problem with full contact San Shou, (free fighting vital point or pressure point strikes), in the Tai Chi Chuan and other systems is as someone said about pressure point or vital point strikes by accident, "it strikes sensitive points of the body." Much of this can be addressed with appropriate body armour, however, some of it cannot. Nevertheless, any vital point or pressure point training can be effectively trained with soft full contact training or against a dummy etcetera.

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