Umm sorry but was just wondering. I was skimming through wikipedia on karate and i cant help but notice there were two branches? one was just karate, the other was full contact karate. is there any difference? is it because one allows full contact in a competition one doesn't or is it because there's a difference in techniques perhaps or how they are applied? if there is any difference could you point out? just curious.
That's pretty much it. In general "full contact karate" usually means a derivative of kyokushin karate, where competitions allow full power strikes to the body and legs and kicks but no punches to the head, while other types usually use a variation on shobu ippon kumite, where techniques are scored for good timing and target but are expected to be pulled on contact for safety. The only major exception would be that I believe in the USA, full contact karate can mean a kickboxing type event in a ring with boxing gloves etc.
Like Moosey said, There is also Kudo which is mentioned in another recent thread, which is full contact always grappling and wear Bogu type masks to allow face contact... It is also dependant on the instructor as well as the style, you can find Goju guys who regularly fight full contact as well as the usual Kyokushin, Enshin guys ect... Cheers Dan
Anybody who trains full contact care to share their experiance in how long it takes to 'toughen up' ? I'm used to taking a few good hits to the body, but I'm concerned about those low - mid height round house kicks with the shin! Honestly through the pad I was feeling it, one unprotected hit would buckle a wuss like me and smash my ribs, how do they do it? And go to work the next day?
They are a vicious bunch in there, I don't think I'd be brave enough to venture in that part of MAP, it's like a dark and foreboding forest with god knows what laying in wait, waiting to kidnap your first born child.
Because not everyone is an expert and there is nothing wrong with asking for some help. I've been doing my job for years, but every now and again I'll ask one of the guys in the office to take a look at something really simple. Every now and again someone in the office will say something like, "is wield spelt ie or ei". Really simple, but at that time they need some help, just like someone in the dojo who didn't get the technique when the rest of the class do. We don't ask why they don't get the technique, we help them.
Firstly, in sparring you're moving in a dynamic, fluid situation, not hitting a pad held still specifically for that technique. As a result kicks will often not land as hard, because the kicker won't be perfectly set and the kickee will be moving out of the way. Secondly, you're tougher than you think. Thirdly, people often don't spar full contact. You want to come back and train again later that week, not wait for each other's ribs to heal. My Enshin sensei used to say, "Power on pads, placement on people." I got bruised and bumped there, and frequently dumped on my backside, but never really injured. Part of the measure of good instruction should be the safety of the participants within mutually accepted boundaries of risk. Mitch
Which is where the term originated in the early 70s and was the common term for years.To this day my mind will autotranslate the term as a type of kickboxing with no elbow strikes or kicks below the waist. The designation "full contact" was never applied to Oyama's boys or anyone else,or even to describe training methods until after it became a popular term for the above type kickboxing. BTW Moosey,if they're available you might wish too see the early televised matches from things like ABC's Wide World of Sports.No ring,they fought on wrestling mats,and wore Jhoon Rhee's foam dipped gloves.Much carnage!
Does this count as full contact? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA9vj13qUkM"]Seiki Juku Karate Black Belt Grading - Male Adults - Hampton April 2011 - Part 2 - YouTube[/ame]
That was a Dan Grading in Seiki Juku karate - an offshoot of Koyukushinkai. The Dan gradings are brutal, I haven't trained in Seiki Juku since the mid-80's and if memory serves, regular training is tough but not like that...
Yes, that was three 4th Dans testing whether three 1st Kyus who had had maybe 10 back-to-back fights already still had the heart to be black belts. They did! (For the second part of the formal grading next day, the 1st Kyus had to do the entire kihon syllabus starting from white belt, which is fun when you are aching from head to toe.)
I can only relate to some earlier years in my training when I occasionally experienced some full contact training. A group of Black Belt level students at the school use to have a private session on Monday nights after all the other classes were done and the dojang was empty (didn't want to give younger or inexperienced students any misplaced ideas). We put on some minimal gear (headgear and gloves only) and sparred one-on-one with what I would call decent contact but not full out balls to walls hits. We were training and learning to take some decent hits but we were not trying to cripple each other (at least not on purpose). After a few months, a few bloody noses, a split lip and some major aches and pains I figured I had a pretty good idea what it like to take some good hits and learned I could still hit back and still keep fighting. Once I had a taste of that experience I didn't feel the need to continue with that kind of punishment. While I am happy to have had the experience, I can't say that I ever enjoyed it. I do think that many students would benefit from a few rounds of contact fighting to learn what it feels like to really get hit. Unfortunately our Grandmaster finally had to put a stop to it because a few guys took it too far and someone was seriously injured with a few broken ribs and a trip to the hospital with serious breathing problems . I myself had stopped after a few months when I attempted to block a side kick with by raising my right knee and taking a brutal shot that knocked me on my ass. Last year I had to have my knee operated on from the prolonged damage that have always attributed to that one kick. When it comes to real full contact be careful what you ask for, you may get it.
I wasn't impressed by the sportsmanship of the large guy closest the camera. Particularly that he dropped a heel on the first guy who was already down and out and then he kicked the second guy in the knee when he was on the floor.
