Taking a hit

Taking a hit. . .

Taking a blow to the head in actual combat, without the protection of gloves, body armour, head guards, shin pads and a mouth guard, is probably not what you're looking forward to. It is never pleasant to get hit, even if you are an advanced practitioner, although you are more used to it. Sparring without hitting each other is the other extreme and as such you don't prepare yourself for a real confrontation with an opponent. Punches are usually made to the head because that's where you're most vulnerable.

By sparring you learn to deal with being hit. In training, punches are controlled and measured. It is not a competition, although the element of competition between practitioners can never be completely ruled out. As a result, there is no question of winning or losing. Of course you would like to be the one that 'hit's and your training partner to be the one who 'gets hit'. Unfortunately, that is not the reality. Coming out of a fight on the street completely unscathed is a utopia. That is why it is important to learn to switch quickly during training and to assume in advance that you will also be hit yourself. Then you are already ahead of an opponent who does not do this.

You take a punch not only physically, but also mentally. Can you deal with that and carry on? Or do you block and give your opponent even more advantage? During our classes, sparring is always supervised under the close supervision of a trainer. This is a safe way of training. Emotions can certainly arise when sparring, especially if you are still inexperienced. Learning to control that is also an important learning process of your total development.

It can be frustrating to accept this, but it's a fair way to train. When you never do sparring and only exercises where everything goes according to plan, you can compare it to making swimming movements in the sand with the ocean next to you. As Bruce Lee would s
ay, you're practicing dry land swimming! In order to make the strongest possible development, we have a large selection of drills in JKD that varies from individual training such as footwork drills, mirror exercises equipment training, but also many partner exercises and eventually also sparring with contact.

The link to absorbing setbacks that come your way in daily life is easily made. Learning to take it physically also makes you stronger mentally. The first goal during sparring is to remain calm and not get angry. After that, the goal is to apply the concepts you learn JKD during sparring. This is not so easy, also because your training partners are getting better at it. As a result, the training will continue to challenge you. Remember to always stay humble, stay open to learning and continue improving!

Walk On!