Pros and cons - sharp or flat surface of shin?

[Fungus]

I am sometimes tempted to think that developing speed, is perhaps the wrong path for me. I might have the wrong body type for speed.

But I want to give it a try and see if I can make something work. I try to improve speed for striking as well. I currently put alot more upper body weight behind most of my punches strong ground rooting (I like heel down most of the time) as compared to most sparring partners that rely on more snap.

I am leaning towards the conclusion that using feints and stick to the slower more powerful attacks is by far the easiest path, than to aspired to become fastest in the dojo. It seems that once they go for the feints, I really don't have to be superquick, it can work anyway, if you compensate with thinking more moves ahead of things. Although that takes experience, which i dont have, focusing on one or two nice combos and do then well may be a good start. Especially if they are complementary and dont overlap, so if they expect one, they are maximally off for the other one.

So I think my lesson is that strategy over pure physical performance is the way to go, with age and issues. That also harmonise better with energy conservation philosophy.

 

[Badhabits]

I think you're mostly right on this. Speed is great and we should strive for it, but everyone hits a point where they just can't get any faster with the movement itself. Genetic limitations. Besides, people with superior timing seem super fast to the person they're sparring/fighting. Then you watch that person spar someone else, you can see they're maybe not all that fast. But boy it sure seemed like they were when you were the one getting hit! People with really good timing are like magicians.