I switched from point fighting to full-contact Karate, going from black to white. Here are my initial impressions.

[TenHands]

I have been studying various point-based Karate and Taekwondo styles for about 9 years. For the past month, I have been doing Kyokushin. Here are my initial thoughts on full-contact fighting:


-Full-contact styles have more adults than point fighting styles. This is a good thing.

-Full-contact is more useful than point fighting. Real fights are close-range slug matches, not long-range games of tag.

-Full-contact is easier than point fighting. The former feels like real fighting and instinct takes over easily. The latter is just so jittery and weird that it becomes an awkward, overly-challenging game of tag.

-Full-contact (at least in the dojo) feels more safe than point fighting. I was getting injuries in point fighting anyway so I didn't see the point of no contact. Besides, in full-contact, everything moves slower so it's easier to place your techniques in the correct target area without missing and hitting a knee or groin. It's almost like point fighting is just a less effective, more dangerous, more difficult version of fighting that doesn't actually prepare you for self defense.

-Every martial artist needs to know what impact feels like. Being hit isn't just pain to the impact area, but a shockwave which rattles that entire area of the body. Being unfamiliar with this feeling will make real self defense impossible.

-Leg kicks hurt a lot. I'll take a hundred liver shots before a single thigh kick. Likewise, I'd much rather kick low than waste energy kicking high, as the success rate of low kicks seems much higher than body and head kicks.

-On that note, everyone needs to know how to leg check. It is a lifesaver (legsaver?).

-Punches to the body aren't that bad. Yeah sure if you relax your abdominals they might suck but just tighten up and you're fine.

-Kata is actually useful. But out of the hundreds of kata, this only applies to a few of them. I find that the applications from more "simple" kata (Seisan, Suparinpei, Sochin, Enpi, etc) is more worthwhile for full-contact fighting than more sophisticated "bunkai bro" kata (Gojushiho, Kushanku, Nipaipo, Chinte, etc). More time must be spent on the "easy" kata than the others.

-I have come to realise the importance of strength training, not just cardio.

-Sanchin is helpful.


Yeah switch to full contact. It's safer, easier, and more practical. Point fighting can go in the bin.

 

[Buka]

I have been studying various point-based Karate and Taekwondo styles for about 9 years. For the past month, I have been doing Kyokushin. Here are my initial thoughts on full-contact fighting:


-Full-contact styles have more adults than point fighting styles. This is a good thing.

-Full-contact is more useful than point fighting. Real fights are close-range slug matches, not long-range games of tag.

-Full-contact is easier than point fighting. The former feels like real fighting and instinct takes over easily. The latter is just so jittery and weird that it becomes an awkward, overly-challenging game of tag.

-Full-contact (at least in the dojo) feels more safe than point fighting. I was getting injuries in point fighting anyway so I didn't see the point of no contact. Besides, in full-contact, everything moves slower so it's easier to place your techniques in the correct target area without missing and hitting a knee or groin. It's almost like point fighting is just a less effective, more dangerous, more difficult version of fighting that doesn't actually prepare you for self defense.

-Every martial artist needs to know what impact feels like. Being hit isn't just pain to the impact area, but a shockwave which rattles that entire area of the body. Being unfamiliar with this feeling will make real self defense impossible.

-Leg kicks hurt a lot. I'll take a hundred liver shots before a single thigh kick. Likewise, I'd much rather kick low than waste energy kicking high, as the success rate of low kicks seems much higher than body and head kicks.

-On that note, everyone needs to know how to leg check. It is a lifesaver (legsaver?).

-Punches to the body aren't that bad. Yeah sure if you relax your abdominals they might suck but just tighten up and you're fine.

-Kata is actually useful. But out of the hundreds of kata, this only applies to a few of them. I find that the applications from more "simple" kata (Seisan, Suparinpei, Sochin, Enpi, etc) is more worthwhile for full-contact fighting than more sophisticated "bunkai bro" kata (Gojushiho, Kushanku, Nipaipo, Chinte, etc). More time must be spent on the "easy" kata than the others.

-I have come to realise the importance of strength training, not just cardio.

-Sanchin is helpful.


Yeah switch to full contact. It's safer, easier, and more practical. Point fighting can go in the bin.

A hundred liver shots before a single thigh kick makes your family design a headstone.

That ain’t right.

 

[TenHands]

A hundred liver shots before a single thigh kick makes your family design a headstone.

That ain’t right.

Haha I knew someone would say this.
What i mean is id rather writhe in pain for an extended period than not be able to walk.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

A hundred liver shots before a single thigh kick makes your family design a headstone.

That ain’t right.

This, and "punches to the body aren't that bad". Yeah the first few aren't, but if you're in a fight over a few rounds those can really add up.

 

[TenHands]

This, and "punches to the body aren't that bad". Yeah the first few aren't, but if you're in a fight over a few rounds those can really add up.

Eh maybe. But I find the amount of body shots to really get to me is far greater than the amount of leg kicks.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Eh maybe. But I find the amount of body shots to really get to me is far greater than the amount of leg kicks.

I'd agree on that. But over time it'll get easier to avoid leg kicks then it is now. And if you treat body shots as something you can just soak up, you're going to be in for a very bad surprise one day.

 

[skribs]

There may be more bumps and bruises in point sparring, but there are far, far less head injuries. I'll take that trade any day of the week.

 

[marvin8]

I have been studying various point-based Karate and Taekwondo styles for about 9 years. For the past month, I have been doing Kyokushin. Here are my initial thoughts on full-contact fighting:


-Full-contact styles have more adults than point fighting styles. This is a good thing.

-Full-contact is more useful than point fighting. Real fights are close-range slug matches, not long-range games of tag.

Some "real fights" have enough space to control the distance. Martial arts should teach one to fight with an advantage (e.g., positional) rather than trade punches. Kyokushin competition rules can be restrictive.

-But out of the hundreds of kata, this only applies to a few of them. I find that the applications from more "simple" kata (Seisan, Suparinpei, Sochin, Enpi, etc) is more worthwhile for full-contact fighting than more sophisticated "bunkai bro" kata (Gojushiho, Kushanku, Nipaipo, Chinte, etc). More time must be spent on the "easy" kata than the others.

-I have come to realise the importance of strength training, not just cardio.

-Sanchin is helpful.


Yeah switch to full contact. It's safer, easier, and more practical. Point fighting can go in the bin.

At 5:44, "Kata has helped me a lot in transitioning to Karate Combat... My favorite [Shotokan kata] is Nijushiho and Unsu..."

 

[TenHands]

Some "real fights" have enough space to control the distance. Martial arts should teach one to fight with an advantage (e.g., positional) rather than trade punches. Kyokushin competition rules can be restrictive.


At 5:44, "Kata has helped me a lot in transitioning to Karate Combat... My favorite [Shotokan kata] is Nijushiho and Unsu..."

The way I see it, shotokan is good for that initial long distance, but after the distance is closed, kyokushin is where the close-range pounding comes in.

There may be more bumps and bruises in point sparring, but there are far, far less head injuries. I'll take that trade any day of the week.

Actually, in the dojo, head contact is rare, and when it happens, we pull our kicks for obvious reasons. In shotokan, I felt that hard head contact was more common.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I don't disagree.

But I would add a couple things. One, full contact sparring is a young man's game. If I have to go to work with a black eye or a broken hand (and I've done it) from a tournament, it kind of sucks. When I have to take time off to heal up, it's a problem. And at my age, that's a real possibility. I don't have anything to prove any more.

Second, even full contact sparring isn't 'real life' in the sense of self-defense. Sure, it's closer. But self-defense isn't (usually) a "slugfest." It's a couple sloppy looping punches, some slipping, some grabbing and pulling, some clothes ripping, lots of grunting and swearing, and some falling down and rolling around aimlessly. If I have to engage in self-defense, I'm going to do all the dirty illegal things I can manage that would not be permitted in a full-contact sparring match. I'll be eye gouging, groin grabbing, stomping, trying to hyperextend or break joints, using any available weapons, and so on. I get someone down, I'll hammer fist their eye socket until their orbital ridge collapses. I'll stomp and restomp the groin until Master Ken would be proud. It won't look like a sparring match at all. Either that or I'll be dead, but I'm going to try to avoid that if I can. There certainly will not be an extended slug fest unless I'm doing something very wrong.

I've never seen a good way to safely practice attempting to permanently and savagely injure another person to the point where they are incapable of continuing to pose a threat.

 

[Fungus]

Haha I knew someone would say this.
What i mean is id rather writhe in pain for an extended period than not be able to walk.

If you only did kyokushin for only a month, did you find the way to align your leg and tense up to take a low kick the best way? (when you can't leg block or avoid it that is)

The more upright you are (common habit in TKD and point fighting, as they are more fluid, while kyokushin tend to be more rooted) - and the more light on your feet you are, the more does it hurt. Too muche side stance, also a habit from point fighting also also hurts more.

 

[Fungus]

rather than trade punches. Kyokushin competition rules can be restrictive.

I have an issue with this as well. Even if we do not "compete" in dojo kumite, this ruleset are in the heads of many partners (some of them even DO compete as well).

This is they part I haven't come to peace with yet. the punching trade is a very good way to condition yourself, but it is indeed not how a real fight would play out.

This is why I personally prefer a little more distance in kumite, but often you get a partner which trains also for competitions, and they just push in close range and punch, and my problem is that I am pretty strong and tough, and I feel that if I really go all in and punch back HARD, my partner would not appreciated it, so it feels a bit "silly", beucase I am not sure "what we are training"...

so my view so far on the trading punches in kumite when it happens, is like a conditioning excercise! It is actually good, because the same tensing up is needed also when you fail to avoid a body kicks like side kics or teeps. You need the same kind of tensing up to not let them get you.

 

[Buka]

This, and "punches to the body aren't that bad". Yeah the first few aren't, but if you're in a fight over a few rounds those can really add up.

Brutal body punchers are a dying breed in boxing and fighting arts in general. What used to be taught was “Kill the body the head will die.”

Good body punchers be scary.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Brutal body punchers are a dying breed in boxing and fighting arts in general. What used to be taught was “Kill the body the head will die.”

Good body punchers be scary.

My strongest punch I think is a tight right hook to the body. At least it makes the loudest noise on the heavy bag or hand-held pad. Feels great to land it.

 

[Buka]

My strongest punch I think is a tight right hook to the body. At least it makes the loudest noise on the heavy bag or hand-held pad. Feels great to land it.

I’m with you, brother. My best shots are still right and left hooks to the body.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

My strongest punch I think is a tight right hook to the body. At least it makes the loudest noise on the heavy bag or hand-held pad. Feels great to land it.

My favorite combo is a looping right to the head that I drop once they raise their guard, and move into a tight right hook to the body. It's quick, half the motions already there, and it's power somewhere they're not defending.