Questions on karate specifically knockdown karate?

[JonJones]

1. How come most kyokushin schools don't spar bare-knuckled? In the 3 schools that I've checked, they use shinpads and gloves, how can you condition the body for hits if you use protection!??

2. Do you enjoy or dread the thought and time of kumite?
I live in Europe. The shocking thing is Ninjutsu practice here produces more injuries than karate. Two of my friends suffer broken bones recently due to sweeping. The first one, a guy, got swept the instructor, fell on the wooden floor elbow first, which made his elbow swollen for 2 months. The second, a lady, evaded the attacks during grading, but got swept as well, fell on the floor and broke her elbow and pelvic bone, but NO LAWSUIT.

In BJJ, no lawsuit as well when majority of injuries happen?????

[chucknorris]

1. Because their instructor was a product of a MCdojo school.
2. I enjoy getting beat up, it feels good getting hit and bruised up, I don't know why, sometimes I hit myself to toughen up.

[Shienaran]

If you live in the U.S. then I've only got one word for you: "Lawsuit". Most schools there are afraid of possible lawsuits from injured students, so they need to use safety equipment or they won't get insurance coverage. Besides, there are many alternative training methods to conditioning your body for hits.

[pugpaws2]

Shienara is correct. most of the Kyokushinkai classes I attended in the 1970's and have seen in person use little or no sparring equipment. Their sparring was brutal. Lawsuits and insurance requirements have handicapped many martial arts schools no matter what style or how hard they used to spar a few decades ago. Heck some martial arts classes are so afraid of a lawsuit, insurance loss, or just scaring away the kiddies, that they suit up with so much equipment that they can hardly move or see to spar. Even then many have little or no contact allowed. It is really silly to see two students run forward and throw a technique while the opponent backs away in fear that they might get hit. Then the attacked student runs at the other guy doing basically the same thing. It is like a weird game of tag where one student is scared of being hit and the other glad of it. There is nothing wrong with the martial arts, it is the way it is being prostituted for money and the society of people that want no discomfort, easy promotions, and a black belt all without even having to actually test their skills. Yet, with this being the norm we see in the U.S.A. and other countries, in Asia there are still a large number of no nonsense martial arts schools where training itself is risky, but real skills and real martial arts can be found. But then there are a few martial arts instructors that refuse to sell out for profit, or bow down to the possibility of being sued. There will always be a few such instructors out there. I'm proud to be one of them.

As for the second part of your question, what we do would not be called sparring by most people. Simply because we don't trade blows and techniques for a set time or with set rules. I and my student prefer to attack or defend against whatever comes, ending it in only 3 to 5 techniques. Then we stop. we sometime hit hard. If I as you say spar, I don't have to knock someone teeth out of knock them out to show them and myself that my skills are sufficient. If you launch an attack and I intercept it, and either lock you up so that you can;t fight, or tap you in a vital area with enough force to make you realize that you would not be able to continue, I have proven my point. Some student or visitors don't seem to get it that when I defeat their attack and lock them up, or strike them lightly when it would have been easy to KO them of injure them they have lost. To those it may be necessary to use a little more the next time to show them the error of their ways. Rarely have i ever felt it necessary to have a knock down sparring session. A few have come in with the attitude that they were going to stomp me. Two or three attacks or hods that they try unsuccessfully, is usually all that is required to show them differently. Many come in with the attitude that they can fight well. Then go out with a confused look on their face. They can't understand why their techniques don't work well on me. bnut then most martial artists train and train in a strict mindset of things. Then suddenly when confronted with things they have never dealt with before they are easily defeated before they even know what has happened. This starts with many martial artists fighting from to far away. They are not used to their attacks being attacked, or redirected so that their attack become an easy way to control their balance and what options they can now do. People are expecting us to block or move out of range. We don;t block, we redirect and control the attacking arm, or leg. We often counter attack while redirecting or evading. It allows us to short circuit their second move before it even begins. People simply don't train that way. Yet most all martial arts teach that if the student ever gets their skill level high enough to learn how and why to do it. It is not that I'm so good or that my style is. It is that I was retrained by Ron Cherry to think and use what I know differently and more efficiently. I occasionally don't win, but Most people that come to train leave saying that they learned a lot.

Sorry for the long answer, but i fell that to answer you question requires a good bit of explanation. hope my comments are helpful to someone.


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[TheMadBaron]

Bare knuckle sparring results in lots of thumb and knuckle injuries. When I was involved with kyokushin karate we did a fair amount of "body hardening" drills at the end and sometimes beginning of the workout. You know, basically standing there letting the other guy tenderize you. The clashing of shins, forearms, and ...well...everything was part of daily practice.

If you have yet to punch an elbow bare-knuckled, at full power, you have yet to experience something that truly sucks.