I'm a Martial Artist... please don't hit me!

[AngelaG]

Some people start a martial art and expect never to get a bruise, other people want to go in full contact and don't mind fractures or blood.

What sort of contact do posters on here use? What do you think about no contact V full contact? Does one make you a more effective fighter than the other?

[shotopants]

I've met a lot of the "please don't hit me...." brigade.

None of them can fight sleep.

As a general rule of thumb, unless you can hit and take a hit you may as well take a duvet out with you

[Aefibird]

Well, personally I like contact.

If I end a kumite lesson without feeling like I've gone 10 rounds with Tyson and then been run over by a steam roller, I feel cheated! ;D lol

But, it's different for different people - some may not want to or be able to spar full-contact.

However, I do think that adults should be exposed to some sort of contact in their training, especially if they're taking a martial art for self-defence reasons rather than just health and physical benefit reasons, for example.

Bein able to take a hit is a useful skill, especially if you ever need to use your MA training in a real-life defence situation.

[AngelaG]

Ok.

Now I've had a couple of answers I'll give my view.

I do a Martial Art. When looking around for something to fill my time I could have just as easily chosen yoga, or aerobics or gone back to my old football club. I chose karate for a few reasons:

a)Fitness / Weight loss
b)Get me out the house
c)Sounded cool
d)Meet new people
e)Self Defence

Taking reason 'e' into account I think that I would be foolish learning something for self-defence and yet never feeling what it feels like to get hit. Growing up with two brothers and two sisters I was used to the odd dead arm, dead leg etc. but had never actually had anyone really take a proper swing for me. The first time I missed parrying a punch and I got tapped on the nose I just stood shocked for several seconds.... the punch was't even that hard! I would much prefer to feel that moment of indecision in the dojo than out on the street where I might really need to react fast for my life. Once you know what it feels like to get hit you can start training yourself to deal with the shock.

Also I need to train my own strikes, so I need other people that are willing to let me go in on them. Otherwise how will I ever know how effective the skills I spend several hours a week training up are?

I have to strike a balance. I work in a job where it would not be appropriate for me to keep going in with black eyes and bloody noses. I also have to commute in every day and need to be fit to drive. So I have to be careful about that, while not compromising my training either. Then again, the best way to do that is to learn to get out of the way. ;D