Sparring with your significant other.

[Shaolinwind]

To those of you who study with your wife/husband, do you spar with them, and why or why not?

 

[karatekid1975]

Yes, we spar each other. Why (other than the fact that we have to in class)? We have fun. I can honestly say that he is not affraid to hit me (there are men at my dojang that don't like to hit women), which is good. I like the conditioning. He gives me a run for my money. He he loads of fun to spar.

 

[Gemini]

My wife and I practice Kendo together and we both love it! It's a little out of the norm when your partner says something like "I just had my nails done and if you break one, you DIE!

 

[FearlessFreep]

My wife is not in TKD yet, but I do spar with my kids (12yo boy and 11 yo girl)

 

[bdparsons]

Bad idea on so many different levels, all having nothing to do with the martial arts. :erg:

Respects,
Bill Parsons
Triangle Kenpo Institute

 

[rupton]

My wife is not in TKD yet, but I do spar with my kids (12yo boy and 11 yo girl)

That's funny my kids and I love sparring around too. Not only is it good fun and bonding, but it gives them the opportunity to try out their techniques on bigger people

 

[jkdhit]

my girlfriend isnt into martial arts. ive tried so many times to get her into taking various martial arts with me such as tkd, san da, and kickboxing but she's afraid to embarrass herself in front of me because i'm a black belt even though i've told her time and time again that i'd help her and there's lot of new people joining all the time.

sometimes she wants me to play spar with her to see how fast i am but then we have to stop because i'm moving too fast and it makes her want to go to the bathroom lol


but i spar with various people at my college. i've even sparred with one professor i had who was in the marines

 

[OULobo]

When I was engaged, my fiance and I trained at the same school. We chose not to work out with eachother at all, because it was hard to take criticism or guidance from eachother, not to mention it was easy to get angry about injuries and damage. I have a couple of friends that are together and train together and they find it a great bonding experience to train together.

 

[terryl965]

Yes me and my wife sparr against each other it does get heavy at time but for the most part we just have good clean fun and leave it at the dojaang.

 

[Shaolinwind]

Bad idea on so many different levels, all having nothing to do with the martial arts. :erg:

Total agreement here. Esspecially now since I am still so inexperienced. One good slip up and I can ruin her modeling career.

Plus she's so much better and faster than me, once she realizes that she can put me in a body cast I'll be getting kicks to the face every time I forget to put the lid down.

 

[theletch1]

Aikido-ka don't really "spar" but we do have randori and that's pretty close. As for the question of why Erica and I do randori...it's a blast. We have a comfort level with one another that allows for more experimentation with the techniques and a desire to push each other as hard as safely possible. I've truly learned that aikido technique can be very effective for someone smaller against a larger opponent by working with (and being tapped out by) her.

 

[Shu2jack]

My gf and I both study TKD and while we will give each other advice and help each other along in technique, forms, sparring, etc., I don't like to spar her, though when we work on sparring combinations and movements we will go slowly at sparring. We do great otherwise and apprciate each other advice.
I'm just waiting for someone to ask her where she got those bruises and she replys, "My boyfriend" while forgetting to mention that we train together. I'm just glad her father was in TKD and completely understands!

 

[rupton]

I'm just waiting for someone to ask her where she got those bruises and she replys, "My boyfriend" while forgetting to mention that we train together. I'm just glad her father was in TKD and completely understands!

Now that's funny. My wife and I occassionally give each other little play punches and such. I remember when she bought my heavy bag she told the salesman she was buying it so I could start hitting that instead of her. She said this of course without any context, I can only imagine the bewilderment/shock/horror on the guys face.

 

[searcher]

My wife has been training with me since 1997 and we sparred quite a bit in the early years(before we started dating). She became my asst. instructor and then we started dating. At that time the sparring became more intense between us, since she was being prepared for her BB test. Now we spar every chance we get and it is great. She gets to go full-out and I get to work on my defensive skills. We never allow one to hurt the other or anybody els for that matter. I love sparring with her because nobody will push her or help her more than I can. If I don't push her some day she might need to call on her training and if she is not ready it will be MY fault. I will not allow that to happen. Coming up through the ranks at our mutual instructor's school was very hard for her. She became the first female BB in the school's 32 year history. In her training she had many adult males try to inflict harm on her to keep her from reaching BB, they failed. After she reached Sho-dan they were even harder on her. I took it upon myself to train her to be able to deal with these guys. In that training she reached new levels she would not gone to if I had not helped her. I gained an understanding that I was the only one that could and would help her.

So to answer your question plainly. Yes, I spar with my wife and I would not trade it for the world.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

In her training she had many adult males try to inflict harm on her to keep her from reaching BB, they failed. After she reached Sho-dan they were even harder on her. I took it upon myself to train her to be able to deal with these guys. In that training she reached new levels she would not gone to if I had not helped her. I gained an understanding that I was the only one that could and would help her.

So to answer your question plainly. Yes, I spar with my wife and I would not trade it for the world.

F them! I mean it. If they wanted to torpedoe her advancement, then they are thugs and not true Martial Artists. When I taught, the moment I saw that type of behavior - that student was GONE. Martial arts instruction is not for bullies.

Good for you. If your relationship is sound, then sparring is a bonding experience. If not, then...

I guess the question ultimately depends both upon the spouses relationship AND their personal competitive levels. If either or both cannot allow themselves to lose than sparring is best to be avoided. Take up a non-competitive pastime that you can do together.

 

[jkdhit]

ah thats really cr@ppy.. for myself, i havent seen anything like that happen. ocassionally you get people joking around about something but immediately after, they're helping the person they were joking around with

 

[searcher]

F them! I mean it. If they wanted to torpedoe her advancement, then they are thugs and not true Martial Artists. When I taught, the moment I saw that type of behavior - that student was GONE. Martial arts instruction is not for bullies.

Good for you. If your relationship is sound, then sparring is a bonding experience. If not, then...

I guess the question ultimately depends both upon the spouses relationship AND their personal competitive levels. If either or both cannot allow themselves to lose than sparring is best to be avoided. Take up a non-competitive pastime that you can do together.

I know what you are saying about screw them. I was teaching at the school, but not the classes she was in. The ones that really wanted her stopped were a little group of true jerks. They would blast her and she would hold her ground with them, this only lead to them going even harder. I always offered to "fix" the problem, but she didn't want me to have any more problems with the head instructor than I already had. In the long run she knocked three of them out cold and the others have not had a chance since. Shortly after she received her sho-dan we left to train in other styels and to teach on our own. Now if we go to that school to spar the going hard is left to them trying it on me. Fat chance that they will ever get anywhere with me except disappointed.

 

[kenpochad]

my wife trains with me but we haven't sparred yet , i dont have a problem with it we just havent been able to get her gear. but there are a few guys in my class that have control problums, and if they hurt her we might have problums
so that is something i need to work out befor she starts to spar so i dont snap
on fellow student for hitting my wife to hard

 

[Adept]

I sparred with my fiance once.

After a week of her truthfully telling people I gave her a split lip, without further clarifying, I resolved never to do that again.

 

[Shaolinwind]

my wife trains with me but we haven't sparred yet , i dont have a problem with it we just havent been able to get her gear. but there are a few guys in my class that have control problums, and if they hurt her we might have problums
so that is something i need to work out befor she starts to spar so i dont snap
on fellow student for hitting my wife to hard

Dude, I would probably still be in TSD were it not for guys with control problems.