Keepin' It "Real"
There have been plenty of discussions over the topic of realism in FMA training, revolving around how much protective gear to wear. The model for the extreme end would be that of the Dog Brothers, who insist on wearing as little protection as possible to maximize the realism of the fight. I've posted about this before. Largely these discussions revolve around how much gear to wear in order to receive hits while also staying out of the hospital.
However, something needs to be said from the other side of the table. FMA training isn't just about defending one's self - it's also about the attacks.
During my last regular class, I brought up the idea that in order to training realistically (with respect to striking with a stick), you can't be afraid to hit your partner.
This is extremely difficult to get past, to be sure. Our training partners are our friends, and we don't want to hurt them. So naturally, if we make contact in training, and hard contact at that, we will often stop to apologize and/or check if our partner is okay. This is exactly what you don't want to do in the context of training!
The common saying is that you'll fight how you train. When training with sticks, we often pull our strikes or short-stroke them so they don't hit their target in case our partner has a brain fart. This is detrimental both to ourselves and to our partner because we are training to not hit, and they are training to receive non-strikes!
In that class I mentioned, I emphasized the idea of trying to hit the target, and hit properly without "feeding". Feeding means you show your partner what you're doing, which is an artificial construct for learning.
By contrast, I would say this sort of training involving increased realism is reserved for more advanced students who have the mechanics and know how to hit. In this context, I would also say that for this kind of training, you should wear as much gear as you want to reduce and/or eliminate your partner's reluctance to actually hit you.
It's just as important to let yourself get hit as it is to hit.
However, something needs to be said from the other side of the table. FMA training isn't just about defending one's self - it's also about the attacks.
During my last regular class, I brought up the idea that in order to training realistically (with respect to striking with a stick), you can't be afraid to hit your partner.
This is extremely difficult to get past, to be sure. Our training partners are our friends, and we don't want to hurt them. So naturally, if we make contact in training, and hard contact at that, we will often stop to apologize and/or check if our partner is okay. This is exactly what you don't want to do in the context of training!
The common saying is that you'll fight how you train. When training with sticks, we often pull our strikes or short-stroke them so they don't hit their target in case our partner has a brain fart. This is detrimental both to ourselves and to our partner because we are training to not hit, and they are training to receive non-strikes!
In that class I mentioned, I emphasized the idea of trying to hit the target, and hit properly without "feeding". Feeding means you show your partner what you're doing, which is an artificial construct for learning.
By contrast, I would say this sort of training involving increased realism is reserved for more advanced students who have the mechanics and know how to hit. In this context, I would also say that for this kind of training, you should wear as much gear as you want to reduce and/or eliminate your partner's reluctance to actually hit you.
It's just as important to let yourself get hit as it is to hit.