We just received this well-thought out comment in response to an article we published a few months ago titled “Martial arts practice and the deceived mind,” by Stanley Pranin. It is a succinct description of the various categories of training for competition and their applicability in real street encounters.
Sparring is a form of training like any other form of training. Even the most brutal MMA matches are not fights. They are sparring.
As with any form of training, the questions are: What does it get you? What does it cost you?
Every kind of sparring, from light to no contact “tag” to MMA matches serves a purpose.
Tag type sparring (light to no contact)
What you get: You learn control. You learn to put your fist or foot or elbow where you want it to go.
What it costs: Very little.
The non-physical dangers: But the student has to be certain they understand this is far, far from any kind of actual fight. So don’t get cocky because you’re the school “tag” champion.
Kickboxing
What you get: You improve your stamina and strength. You learn range, speed, combinations, positioning and…you learn to take a heavy hit (or several) without stopping.
What it costs: You can expect to always get bruised up, and occasionally there will be more serious injuries.
The non-physical dangers: For safety reasons there are lots of rules with kickboxing. These limitations on what you (and your opponent) can do make this EXERCISE a very unrealistic imitation of a fight. As before, don’t get cocky because you can do this well.
Grappling & ground fighting
What you get: Practical experience and a “feel” for grappling, joint locks, throws and so on, for people of different weights and sizes.
What it costs: Like with kickboxing, expect bruises and abrasions. And, unfortunately, the occasional injury.
The non-physical dangers: Some Jujitsu consider themselves to be the toughest guys around. That doesn’t count for much if you’re ground fighting your assailant, but his friend is kicking you. As will all sparring, it’s an exercise.
With any of these exercises (and many other variations), always remember what it gets you, what it costs you and remember the non-physical danger that you might start to think that’s how fighting works.
Whether any of these is worth the risk, that depends on each practitioner, and how prepared they want to be if they’re attacked, and what risks they’re willing to take for that level of preparation.
In many cases the more dangerous kinds of sparring can be done for a while, until those particular lessons are learned, and then one can move on.
Early on, one of the most valuable things that a beginner can learn in sparring is that you CAN continue even if you have the wind knocked out of you or a charlie-horse. That is a critical lesson to learn for self defense. If you don’t learn it, should someone unexpectedly hit you hard in real life, you’ll crumple. You won’t know if you are hurt badly or not. All you’ll know is that you’re hurt more than you’ve ever had to deal with before. And when your life depends on it is NOT when you want to learn to handle that.
Once you HAVE learned that (painful) lesson, there’s no need to continue getting the stuffing beaten out of yourself.
As for sparring competition, that’s another matter. It’s not a bad thing to spar for sport. No worse than playing football or rugby. But it’s not about preparing to defend yourself. It’s just a different animal.
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The greatest benefit one gets from sparring and competition is forging the mind (seishin tanren) to face and overcome any difficulty and challenge that life puts on our path.
Great article, just wanted to add one thing. Those “non-physical dangers” can sadly become physical ones or even outright life and death in an altercation. An example of this is 15 years ago, I trained in Gracie Jiu jitsu for three years to compliment my Aikido training. During the entire time all we did was work the basic waza and roll (spar on the ground). Everyone in the class felt unbeatable if attacked on the street. After seeing Royce Gracie in action, they were sure no one could take them once on the ground.
Then it happened- one of our teenage students was at a party and an altercation started. He had previously won a similar altercation at school when a kid started a fight. He easily took the boy down and submitted him. With his confidence up from the previous victory and the fact that he could beat most of the adults in our class in competition, he was ready again to defend himself if needed, he hadn’t started the altercation, he was trying to prevent it. When the other boy attacked he did just as he had been trained, took him to the ground and went for the submition- a collar choke.
This time the outcome was different and almost deadly. As he sank in the choke, he didn’t notice the other boy reach behind his back and pull a knife. With both hands tied up in the collar applying the choke, he had no way to let go and defend himself. Fortunatly for our student, a third party happened to be standing close by and saw the knife and grabbed the other boy’s arm just as he began the stabbing motion. The boys were pulled apart and the fight was over.
One of our top student’s came within inches of being run through with an edged weapon because in Gracie Jiu Jitsu, we had never trained for, much less been taught how to defend against or watch for such danger. We had been going to 4 or 5 seminars a year under Royce and we had never been taught weapons defence, just ground position, locks, chokes and the like.
Now it is fifteen years later and that student is grown up, he and the other instructors from the original school just received their black belt from Royce Gracie (after 15 years of dedicated training). He now has his own school under Royce and is an excellent teacher of the Gracie system.
What did they learn from his near fatal experience with a knife? Apparently nothing. Fifteen years later, they still don’t teach or work weapons disarms, they do what they have always done – ground position, joint locks, chokes and the like. Those are great as long as your opponent isn’t armed.
I had a similar situation in training. I went from standard Brazilian Jiujitsu type practice at our dojo, to a knife class with another teacher. In the knife class we did some sparring on the ground. You could be applying a nice BJJ type lock and as soon as you heard the knife come out of the guys pocket and click open, it was a whole new ball-game. Changed everything. And just like in Craig C’s story, many people actually carry 1 or more knives on their body.
This is not to knock BJJ. Just to keep in mind that no martial sport equals combat, as Robert eloquently says in his article.
A Judo point of view…..
http://judoinfo.com/new/alphabetical-list/judo-competition/273-fighting-or-playing-the-martial-art-vs-sport-debate-by-neil-ohlenkamp
and a little more……
http://judoinfo.com/new/alphabetical-list/judo-competition/282-why-every-recreational-judo-player-should-compete-by-todd-brehe
From Kenji Tomiki sensei…..
http://judoinfo.com/new/alphabetical-list/judo-history/135-on-jujutsu-and-its-modernization-by-kenji-tomiki
Basic combat training is not equal to real combat. But one wouldn’t want to go to war without it. In a similar way, dojo training is not equal to a street attack, but I wouldn’t want to face an attacker with out it.