I thought I would do my part and try to dispel some misconceptions some people have about non-contact sparring.
Misconception #1 -
Non-contact means there is no physical contact at all.
This is simply not true, in sparring people are in constant motion, you aim for the person but the person is constantly blocking, dodging and deflecting and will thus not be there to receive the contact. When a strike or kick comes at you and you choose to block it has to physically blocked. You also occasionally jam kicks to get in close and every now and then you can make contact with a kick or a strike in a controlled manner without injuring your sparring partner.
Misconception #2 -
Punches and kicks are pulled.
Also not true, during correct non-contact sparring all techniques are fully extended and controlled with power. You just focus your strike just short of the vital areas. The difference between contact and non-contact sparring is only distance, if you punch to the jaw and stop the punch 1 or 2cm in front and your opponent then they are fine, but step in slightly closer instead and your opponent is injured. When black belts are sparring with each other the distance between the strike and the target gets quite close but when adults are sparring children, black belts are sparring junior belts or when beginners are sparring with each other the space between them is increased for added safety. Non-contact sparring where the practitioners pull strikes does not allow the technique to be applied properly; it is easier to adjust your distance than it is to adjust your technique.
Misconception #3-
If you only train non-contact you won't be able to deal with pain or take a hit.
Also not true, being able to withstand a blow is a result of conditioning both mental and physical as well as the state of mind. In full contact competitions, when a fighter gets kicked in the groin, they usually have to stop sparring or take a rest period. Outside in the street if you get kicked in the groin or poked in the eye you have to keep going no matter what or you will get hurt or killed, you don't get a 5 minute rest period. I have seen others get punched in the head accidentally without slowing them down and once a young lady going for her junior black belt broke her ankle half way through and still went on to spar the black belts a few minutes later. So if you are doing non-contact sparring and get accidentally hit you can still keep going - you just have to think about it as a free massage and toughening exercise. There sometimes is a tendency to freeze when hit but in all my years of experience I have not seen any evidence to suggest that this reaction is any more prevalent with non-contact sparring than with full contact sparring, at least not in the art I study. The hit either hurts enough to make you react or it doesnĀt, there is no special freezing reaction for non-contact sparring that does not exist for full contact sparring.
Misconception #4 Ā
With full contact you can condition yourself to take a hit.
This true, but only to a certain extent. Full contact fighters (MMA fighters for example) do toughen themselves up quite a bit and can sometimes seem almost invulnerable but they still get knocked down/out with one good shot. They condition their bodies to be able to take hits but only in certain areas but how do you condition yourself to take a hit to the groin, the throat or the knee? Ā You canĀt, not without damaging something. I once saw a UFC fight where the fighter were getting hit often in the head and body but when one of the fighters was hit in the solar plexus the fight ended immediately. While it is true that with full contact sparring you can learn to handle getting hit more than you would if you only did non-contact sparring it does not mean that it is the only way.
Misconception #5 Ā
We donĀt train full contact because it would be too dangerous.
This is either true or false, depending on what you mean when you say it. Some instructors from some schools would say this in order to brag and prop themselves up. Any art, whether it be a purely self defence art or a sport, will be too dangerous for full contact sparring if they use their full range of techniques. A full power front kick to the groin, side kick to the side of the knee or knife hand chop to the throat would certainly not be safe, thatĀs why martial arts competitions have rules.
In order to do full contact sparring and make it safe you have to sacrifice something Ā either you have to limit your targets (i.e. no punching to the head, striking to the neck, groin kicks), or you have to use protective equipment. Limiting your targets can make your art less effective for self defence because you often have to train yourself out of the instincts you need. Instead of kicking to the groin you kick to the inner thigh (less effective) and when you accidentally kick to the groin you are reluctant to kick low in case you get disqualified. Training in this manner can give you a false sense of security as you may sometimes intentionally take hits in order to get one in yourself. In self defence you canĀt afford to get hit even once (many people have died from a single punch when they hit their head on the ground). Wearing protective gear can also give you a false sense of security Ā getting hit bone on bone is a far cry from getting hit with a glove on your protective gear. Martial artists who only spar with protective gear sometimes get hit in those spots and believe that that they can take a hit there. ItĀs not the same, getting hit bone on bone hurts a lot more and has a higher shock value.
Some martial arts only do non-contact sparring because they refuse to modify their techniques to make them safe for full contact sparring. They choose to use the techniques the way they would in self defence but with the distance modified to make it safe instead of the other 2 methods. They want to remain in top, uninjured, condition at all times so that when they are attacked they can have the best chance to defend themselves at any time. I donĀt know about anyone else but I joined a martial art so that people WOULDNĀT punch me in the head. What is the point of learning self defence if you just get beaten up in class? Also when a full contact fighter gets hurt in the ring or the cage and then gets attacked on their way home then how can they defend themselves properly?
Misconception #6 Ā I
f you only train non-contact then you will instinctively not make contact in a real fight
This is usually stated by full contact martial artists, sometimes you will hear that if you train non-contact then you are
training to miss. This is simply not true, you use focus mitts, kicking shields and punching bags to practice making contact with your techniques. In contact sparring you do this on an opponent (which is probably more dynamic than just on the pads) and you have to learn correct distancing. When you spar non-contact you still have to learn correct distancing, it just has a slight translational (mathematical term) spatial arrangement. There have been a few instances where instructors and students from my, non-contact, style have gotten, through no fault of their own, into physical altercations and were able to dispatch their attacker(s) with no problems connecting with strikes. On 2 separate occasions our black belts (1 male, 1 female) were attacked by 5 people and not only did they defeat them all but they did so very quickly. So their instincts that they learned through non-contact sparring served them very well.
Misconception #7 Ā
Non-contact martial artists do not do any conditioning
The conditioning usually done by the non-contact martial artists is centered on the forearms and hands. The wrists are conditioned by never using gloves or hand wraps when doing pad work and lots of pushups. The fists are conditioned by knuckle pushups on wooden floors and occasionally concrete and bitumen. There are jumping knuckle pushups and twisting knuckle pushups and walking on your knuckles in pushup position on the wooden floor is also good. Punching hard but flexible objects is good too. Breaking boards (no spacers) and tiles is also a great way to condition the fists. The forearms are conditioned through blocking and certain forearm toughening exercises with a partner or hitting yourself with a hard flexible object, such as a piece of doweling, on the shins and forearms to deaden the nerves.
The body is conditioned by strengthening the muscles; many different types of sit-ups are not only good for strengthening the stomach area but it also helps to support the back. Holding the bridge position is good for strengthening the core. Learning to tense the body at the right time can help you to absorb some blows to the body (this is one of the reasons for the kihap). When performing a strike or kick the whole body is tensed at the moment of impact, not just the arm or leg. Getting hit accidentally in sparring or hurting yourself during breaking techniques can provide additional conditioning
Although the level of conditioning in a non-contact martial art will never approach that of a full contact style (except for fist and forearm conditioning) there are many things a non-contact martial artist can do to condition themselves for the rigors of self defence.
Misconception #8 Ā
Full contact martial arts are the only way to learn how to hit targets well
Hitting the target is all about accuracy, precision, timing, speed and power Ā this comes from technique and practice. My schools philosophy, which I share, rates the importance of the qualities required for a successful strike, kick or block as:
1 Ā Technique Ā This is something that is sadly lacking in many schools nowadays, both with contact sports and non-contact martial arts even at the higher levels. I have seen 3[SUP]rd[/SUP], 4[SUP]th[/SUP] and 5[SUP]th[/SUP] dans on YouTube with very poor technique, no power or snap in their strikes. I once trained with a child who was a certified black belt who was barely at yellow belt standard. He was a good student who did very well in class and picked things up quickly though. Many of the combat arts who only do Ā
alive trainingĀ, who criticize the static training techniques and patterns often have poor technique and often resort to wild swings and do not look where they punch. It is better to only have to hit an attacker once than to have to hit them 20 times (I once saw a UFC bout where one guy hit the other guy over 200 times and still required a judgeĀs decision to win).
2 Ā Accuracy and precision Āis next in importance, it is no good having the best technique in the world if you cannot hit the target. Due to the lack of static exercises in some of the combat sports the accuracy and precision is often limited. When you have the option to win on points, referee stoppage or judgeĀs decision you can afford to take your time a bit. You can study your opponent, develop a strategy and pick at them. For self defence you have to be deadly accurate because you may only get one chance to finish the attacker. You have to size up your attacker instantly as well as watch out for his friends. Being accurate and precise does not help as much if your technique is no good.
3 Ā Speed and power Ā After developing technique, accuracy and precision then you can develop speed and power, without good technique this is a lot more difficult. If you can hit your target every time with good technique then that will not do you any good if you do not have good speed and power.
One advantage of full contact sparring is that you have instant feedback on whether your kick or strike has the desired effect; with non-contact sparring it is a bit more theoretical. When you do a kick in a full contact it is often stopped before it is fully extended and this can lead to improper distancing. For sidekicks and back kicks if your leg is not straight at the end then you will get some recoil and some of the power will not be transferred to your target. Sometimes when hitting the target students often lean into the strike too much; this happens to non-contact martial artists during pad work but rarely during sparring. Often when full contact fighters go to hit the target and miss they just about fall over. So with non-contact sparring you learn better balance and distancing, so long as you do not make any significant errors.
Conclusions Ā
Advantages and disadvantages of non-contact sparring- may not be a complete list
The disadvantages of non-contact sparring;
- Lower level of body conditioning and toughening.
- More difficult to gain confidence in your effectiveness.
- More difficult to adjust your strikes according to your opponents reaction to getting hit (i.e. Kick makes contact to floating ribs doubles over opponentĀs body and changes orientation of chest and head).
The advantages of non-contact sparring;
- No need for protective gear.
- No need to ban techniques or limit targets.
- Lower incidence of injury therefore safer for children and families.
- Allows for better balance and distancing (if done properly).
- Adults and children can spar together.
- Higher degree of control.
The only way to really know how effective a martial art is and what will work in a real life situation is to go out and get in to real fights on a daily basis and to use your skills to actually try to hurt other people. However, unless someone invents the Holodeck (ala Star Trek), this is highly immoral and logistically impossible as you would soon run out of students. There are 2 basic ways martial arts try to approximate real life situations in their sparring; contact sparring and non-contact sparring. All martial arts that use sparring are compromise between these 2 extremes in order to learn and to remain safe. Contact martial arts choose to keep the contact elements but need to either limit the techniques that can be used, the targets that can be struck or use protective equipment. Non-contact martial arts choose to keep all of the techniques and, not limit the targets but take out most of the contact elements. Many school, choose to train non-contact because they believe that the benefits of non-contact sparring outweigh its shortcomings.
There are more contact martial arts around than non-contact martial arts and some of the less enlightened full contact fighters and martial artists seem to think, and have in fact stated, that non-contact sparring is useless. People often dismiss what they do not understand so I hope I have been able to shed some light on the subject of non-contact sparring and its application for self defence. I have never trained in competition sparring or full contact martial arts/combat sports so there is an element of bias involved, as there is with anyoneĀs point of view so always remember that there are 3 sides to every story, YOURS, MINE AND THE TRUTH.
