Newbie needs advice...

[Beelzebubba]

I am new to this type of fighting and I am really loving it...so different than than anything I've taken before! One problem I have is that so many of the things I'm learning cant be practiced when sparring. I cant poke someones eyes or go for their throat, stomp the top of their foot, etc...All I know is that when I was in BJJ or Boxing I had to repeat what I had learned over and over again against someone giving full resistance before I really felt comfortable with it and made it my own.

So how do you guys who have been doing this for a long time practice the more violent aspects of what you learn? How do you become good at it when you can only fake it?

[Beelzebubba]

Actually I was kind of being a little immature in my previous posts so I thought I would just start with a clean slate. I wasn't trying to pull a fast one on anyone.

and my question was sincere.

Jerkoff

[Beelzebubba]

So I so dont like Americans who watch Fox News, big deal! Who cares? If someone posts something political logic should tell them that there will be people who disagree. I stand by my comments, the rest of the world does hate the US because the majority of decent, forward thinking, intelligent Americans are overshadowed by the loud, abrasive, ill-informed, ignorant, racist, homophobic, gun toting rednecks...

I would apologize for offending you but I'm not sorry. I take every opportunity I can, be it face to face or online, to offend any American I talk to. You people need to be offended...you need to be slapped out of the apathetic state you're in. Your government commits atrocities all over the world and then tells you that the reason terrorists attack you is because they "hate your freedom". They send your brothers and sisters to kill innocent men, women and children and to die in unnecessary, economic wars and then tell you that these kids are heroes and that they're "Keeping America Free"...what a fucking joke. Ask any soldier coming back from Iraq if he feels like a "hero".

Not even your own constitution is safe anymore, your phones can be tapped without a warrant. Laws are passed and George Bush changes them after the fact. People who publicly oppose the government are the target of vicious, career ending smear campaigns, for Christ sake your vice president leaked the name of a CIA operative because her husband gave an interview to a newspaper that was critical of the war in Iraq! That was someone working undercover trying to keep your country from getting fucking bombed again and they exposed her! If they would do that what do you think you're little life is worth?

Face it Mr. Brewer, you're hollywood summer blockbusters have been telling you all lies, you're not heroes. And since your country was brought to it's knees by a dozen men with box cutters and your mighty military cant seem to defeat a bunch rag tag of sandal wearing insurgents running around the dessert making McGuyver bombs out of barbecue parts I wouldn't go thumping my chest about being all that powerful either. Your own military generals have stated that the US is "over-extended by 2 military conflicts"...dont believe me? Well look at Katrina...why do you think it took so long to get help to those people.

Open your eyes and your minds.

[szorn]

I am new to this type of fighting and I am really loving it...so different than than anything I've taken before! One problem I have is that so many of the things I'm learning cant be practiced when sparring. I cant poke someones eyes or go for their throat, stomp the top of their foot, etc...All I know is that when I was in BJJ or Boxing I had to repeat what I had learned over and over again against someone giving full resistance before I really felt comfortable with it and made it my own.

So how do you guys who have been doing this for a long time practice the more violent aspects of what you learn? How do you become good at it when you can only fake it?

As Mike pointed out, we use a progressive training method which gradually exposes the practitioners to the stressors of real fighting. As for not being able to practice those techniques, that's actually incorrect. All of the techniques you mentioned can be practiced in a moderate to full-force fashion with some added protective gear and good role-playing. Examples- a good pair of racketball goggles will protect the eyes nicely while allowing solid finger jabs and gouges, a throat protector can be used to practice throat strikes and grabs, and lastly the use of solid plastic instep protectors or even steel-toe boots can be used for thr practice of foot stomps (if I was an advocate of foot stomps). Obviously with the use of the protective gear it means that your partner will need to be a fairly good role-player in order to simulate the actions of a real attacker. This is easily accomplished by the study of human movement and the their physiological response to getting hit in the vital areas. While everyone does not respond exactly the same, we do know that there are some basic primal responses common to most people when getting hit in the eye, groin, throat, instep, etc. Also, the partner needs to be a good judge of a technique so they don't just drop to the ground and play dead everytime someone makes a little contact and so they don't continue to fight when they would have most likely been put out of commission.

Also, on a side note- sparring is a limited drill for self-defense practice. Most self-defense situations happen so fast that there is little time to assume a "fighting stance" and go into sparring mode. Also, in self-defense we don't want to play "tag" with an attacker, we want to nuetralize them and exit the situation as quickly as possible. Self-defense practice should emphasize realistic scenario simulations that include verbal self-defense and pre-emptive tactics (think stun & run), not sparring.

Steve Zorn, ICPS