Karate Useless?

[weehoagie]

Sparring

some of the confusion seems to revolve around free fighting (sparring) and kata. we practice them as two sides of the same coin. free fighting is used for ballistic assaults and closing distance. in the meantime our bunkai and oyo from kata show a lot of stand up grappling and throwing along with striking.

trying to interpret kata as free fighting is like trying to dance about architecture.

oh, hi everybody ...

Yea, I agree with this. Sparring is vital for learning distance, techniques,sweeps etc. However, my point was directed specifically at " competition sport karate" were just lightly touching your opponent results in being awarded a point. Some of these " champions " try their stuff in the street and get wasted. The point I was trying to make is that this gives the serious side of Karate a bad name.

Cheers

[Tai Chi Fighter]

Yes, it does. I think all Karate classes should do Full Contact Sparring. After every class I go home and spar with one of my friends from class. And he is a big guy. We spar for 3 hours. This really helps to develop your timing, distance, and technique.

[darrianation]

Where do you begin on a thread like this.

Maybe we should start with determining what attributes a street fighter (self-defense student) should have, what skills he should possess, and addressing the issues (or discrepancies) between the training environment and the reality event.

[>:)]

I'm currently looking into a few martial arts, trying to narrow down what I'd like to take. My main focus on self-defense. However, most people have been telling me that if I want REAL, effective self-defense, I should stay away from any type of karate. Part of this might be sparring style, if it's a little light on contact. But other than that, I can't figure out why so many people are against it for defense. Can anyone explain this to me?

Get yourself into a decent self defense class. If you can't, look into weaponary. If you don't want to go down that route, get to a good hardcore boxing gym and train your ass off. If you can get into all 3, the better.

If you find a karate dojo that isn't of a follow-the-herd traditionalist mentality, And employs full contact sparring, then fair enough. I Imagine it won't be an easy find but have never been to new york so..

[darrianation]

Many fights are won by what happens before the fight rather that what happens during the fight. How does this effect our training?

[treelizard]

Yes, it does. I think all Karate classes should do Full Contact Sparring. After every class I go home and spar with one of my friends from class. And he is a big guy. We spar for 3 hours. This really helps to develop your timing, distance, and technique.

You must not be sparring very seriously if you can go for three hours...

[>:)]

Many fights are won by what happens before the fight rather that what happens during the fight. How does this effect our training?

It means we have to prepare ourselves mentally and psychologically also? How would you go about doing this?

[Tai Chi Fighter]

You must not be sparring very seriously if you can go for three hours...

We do, we go as hard as we can. We can go that long because of our endurance training. And it helps push past our limits. We go and go, until we can't go anymore.

[treelizard]

We do, we go as hard as we can. We can go that long because of our endurance training. And it helps push past our limits. We go and go, until we can't go anymore.

You do full-force full-contact sparring for three hours after each class?

[Tai Chi Fighter]

You do full-force full-contact sparring for three hours after each class?

Yes.
We have class three times a week, and this helps with the training. Our classes are held on Mon. Thurs. and Sat. We only spar on those days.

[treelizard]

Yes.
We have class three times a week, and this helps with the training. Our classes are held on Mon. Thurs. and Sat. We only spar on those days.

When you say full contact sparring, do you mean with or without any protective padding? Cos three hours is an awful long Fight Club session.

[Tai Chi Fighter]

We use padded gloves, Shin guards and foot padding.

[thescottishdude]

karate is not useless for self defense. that should be common sense as it is one of the few artial arts the average personhas heard about. there's just abit more tradition to it than the other arts as it has been so popular for soo long.

[Mephariel]

If Karate is useless for self-defense, then why are the bodyguards of Russia using Karate?

[white devil]

sparring for three hours,either youre taking lots of breaks here and there..or either you have radio-active stamina.

then why are the bodyguards of Russia using Karate?

i don't know..why are they?