Roz
Many of those mentioned who were Guro's students have used a form of aliveness to test their skills in conjuction with the "dead" patterns or "set patterns" as Guro prefers to call them. Matt's is stressing the importance of training and testing your skills against a resisting opponent in a safe structured environment. In Matt's curriculm it comes through constant training in the gym and competition.
I believe the more gifted Guro students have done it also in the gym and in competion. Erik Paulson is a perfect example of this. Others have pushed it further. Vu has been more controversial by testing his methods and skill sby getting into frequent bar and street fights. I remember reading an article where he described waking up in a jail cell with bloody knuckles and a hangover.
I personally have been able to pull off in sparring technique I drilled with set patterns, but the point is I tested those skills with sparring against a resisting opponent. Guro in seminars has said the first series of students spent a lot of time working the patterns, isolation sparring and full sparring. IMHO sparring has taken a backseat to the set patterns due to liability and a lack of interest in hard sweaty work.
When we train the set patterns, it is hard training with resistance so if we miss it may hurt a little. If you don't miss once in a while then there is not any resistance.
Good Luck and Be Safe |