I have never really posted this before, but I figured I'd like to do it even though it might be kind of weird for me (having trained with Paul Vunak) to say it.
I am looking for opinions, experiences, and such on the straight blast. I used to regularly train the straight blast years ago, and constantly tried sparring with it, the use of motorcycle helmets, etc. After about 3-4 years using it, I stopped. I threw it out of my arsenal, or at least to not spend much time on it now as I do with just clinching, headbutts, boxing, and of course grappling. The reason I stopped was because I did not like the effectiveness of the blast (for myself). I was okay at entering, okay at throwing it, and had power behind it, but did not get the wonderful reactions that I was looking for when I used it. Some people simply ran backwards with their arms pinned to their chest trying to escape. This was perfect, and made it easy to throw...but I realized that NOT a lot of people do this. There is, in my opinion, a lot of people who do not run back, even after an interception, and put up their arms while trying to move forward. When this happens sometimes you tend to be "running in place" trying to blast only forearms. To me this did not seem effective, and seemed to be more "sloppy" than a good clinch with headbutt, takedown, etc. (or just boxing combination)
Remember that I actually trained this thing regularly for about 3-4 years. So I put in the flight time. However, my personal way didn't seem to like it as an effective technique for me. I cannot perform it like Vitor Belfor, obviously, though I did have the same kind of power and speed...perhaps I was just subconsciously holding back with sparring partners, but whatever the cause, I kind of threw it out of my gameplan.
Has anyone else felt this way about the technique? Or have you just had good results? I'm not saying it never worked for me, but I am saying that I wanted more from it, and didn't get it.
What are your thoughts? (this in no way claims that it is not an effective technique)
Ryu
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