Light Continuous : whats your views?

Light continuous is a very controversial subject within kickboxing and also within freestyle martial arts.
Some ppl see it as a pre cursor to fighting under FC rules , others see it as an outlet for those who will never fight FC but still want to have a go at competing.
In the semi comunity its seen as a "brawl" or the chance for semi fighters to have a scrap or test their stamina (i.e. its FC for semi fighters )

Others slate and sla off this system when in fact thsoe same ppl who slate it quite often dont fight or havent fought in anythign or even seen L-con!

Lets hear what ppl have to say

 

I see it as a outlet for those who will never fight Full cont and maybe as a stepping stone for some that do. I dont have a problem with it. Some people just do MA for fun, and dont want to risk the health for no real reason/profit. The only problem i have is when some semi contact fighter wins a few medals, and then thinks he can take on the world.

 

L-con can be a number of things:
•A pre-cursor to FC
•A bit of fun
•For people who are too scared of FC
•A system for people who want to do it for what it is!
•A serious competitive style

Some l-con matces are damned good. Others are utter crap. This, however, is the same with every system within kickboxing. You get good fights and you get crap ones. The only people who annoy me are the ones who say "it's crap cos it isn't full contact". Try going to some of the major tournaments (WAKOs come to mind) and telling people it's "for wimps", "they're not the real deal" etc. It won't go down well.

Wether it's full contact or not is irrelevant. Just because they don't fight with heavy contact does not make them any less of athletes. Okay - they're not fighters, but neither are rugby players, tiddly winks players or swimmers. We don't moan at them. MMA incorporates striking, clinching and groundwork. Does that make kickboxing crap? NO. Love it or hate it, l-con is here to stay. Check some of the l-con tournaments out - they're pretty big.!

 

Both Hiroji and JCH made some brilliant posts
i agree with them both 100%

Hiroji , see you at the interuni l-con tournament in feb!

JCH: you are correct i think that a lot of FC fighters would get their arses handed to them in l-con and i dont just mean outskilled

i mean some would get bruised , bloodied and battered pretty badly in l-con at the top level.

Example:

How would Dale Wood(for example) do if he were to step onto the mat and fight the lieks of Sean Viera/adrian bedlow,...etc?
Maybe im a bit out of the scene of l-con so maybe these 2 old names arent around anymore?
or are they?
JCH should know

 

L-con is great for people that want to do it, be it that they don't feel ready to go FC or they just enjoy it - it's much better than point sparring and will get you in shape if nothing else, and it can be lots of fun. I've seen some really entertaining l-con matches. My preference is for full contact though

 

Don't think they are still around.

The thing people seem to miss about l-con is that it isn't just "full contact without hitting the guy as hard"...

The principles of light continuous (at least as far as WAKO & PKA judging scorecards) are to land more shots to your opponent, show that you are in better physical condition and also show that your hand AND foot techniques are up to par. The scoring system takes into account who landed the most shots, who had the cleanest style, who used most/least kicks and who appeared to be the most fit. FC scoring evolves around who landed the most shots and were there any KDs. You also get TKOs in l-con, too.

 

i see it as a training ground where you can pracice new techniques and strategies in the comfort that it wont kill you if it dosent work

 

hmmm tough call...

the MT fighter in me wants to scream... a large part of me thinks that self-defense is a major component in MA. I believe you fight like you train. Seems dangerous to me to fight pulling punches and kicks. it seems dangerous to me to eliminate knee strikes, elbows, and clinching...
In this respect it is totally fake fighting...

If the student realizes this, and trains for street and only occasionally fights LC, then I think at least they are reacting (albiet under phone constraints) at full speed. Also, if the student views this as a sport with about as much self-defense application as say, kendo.. then I think it is great.

The wrestler/BJJ guy in me wants to laugh at all stand-up even though I fight in it.. so I am not trying to be hypocritical anymore than I alreay am in my own training..... When I teach Chinese boxing... we spare at half speed of 75% with a full range of techniques... so I am not sure how different that is from LC in terms of the danger in "you fight like you train"

I suppose in the end.. all contact is good contact, some is just better than others.... I am for any event people can train for theat tests them including LC, marathons, and bodybuilding.. [but not sumo ]

 

Thats the thing though, i dont really train in kickboxing for the ultimate in self defence, so thats not as important to me. Im smart enough to know that this style of martial art isnt the best for SD, and if i wanted purley self defence i would do BJJ or RBSD.

 

if your kickboxing isnt the best "stand up" for self defense
then i suggest you find a club that DOES teach good stand up for self defense
No offense just what i feel personally

A good system for self defense would be Kickboxing (a good kickboxing system, if you dont believe in it then BIN IT) and a grappling style.

Back on topic:
Light continuous is an excellent precursor to FC for the simple reason its liek an acid test, i.e lets you know that you are ready without you beign in at the deep end.

 

Over the years I've seen some good light continuous and some AWEFUL light continuous.

The only problem with light continuous would be when the person you're striking doesn't acknowledge that you've "hit them" and continue with whatever they're doing. These people start to believe that their "rushing" actually works when in reality they could have been a victim to a good cross several times. Trust me, I've been there. Also, getting in close and flailing your arms to your opponents head and body looks really silly.

As an anology, good light continuous sparring is like playing with toy guns ("BAM YOU'RE DEAD!" says my little cousin): You get the very fundamental concept, but that particular type of training leaves you without a sense of kickback from the gun, having to load it, **** it, hold onto the gun without hurting yourself, proper aiming, etc.

 

not everyone is in it for self defense. and if they are, i have to agree- you can find it in better places than a sport revolving around just kicking and punching.

as far as light continuous, its alright for some i guess. seems like playing touch instead of rugby though- no matter what excuse you make, really you are just a bit of a softy

 

Being blind in one eye I would not be allowed to compeate full contact even though I train and teach it in my Light Contact class. if it wasn't for the LC I would be unable to compeate.

 

Light Continuous (Lcon) is increasingly becoming an excuse for people to warm up for Full contact, often to the detriment of those fighter who want to fight in that style specifically.

The last Lcon event fighters from my gym visited (to watch not compete) not one fight went the distance, in fact all but one fight ended in the first round due to referee stoppage/KO.

So whilst I agree with Ikken in principle, in practise more and more Lcon events are becoming Fcon.

 

L-con usually involves head gear,torso protectors,14-16oz gloves,and shin pads.
I dont see anything different from f-con or L-con except that one uses padded saftey equipment and the other doesnt.

In a group of ten students 7 can compete in L-con, out of those 7, 4 will comptete for the fun of it.

In the end only 3 will look at light contact as a stepping stone to another level, kinda like a boxer going through the amature ranks b4 going pro,it just makes sense.

I fight in L-con mt bouts. No matter what the punches and kicks still hurt maybe even more because the gear gives the other fighter a false sense of protection.

In the end you can still be winded or badly knocked out.
Without L-con their would be no f-con,simply because fighters need to take steps and progress at different levels.

 

Not with the WKA

Junior grades i.e 16years and below 10oz under the WKA not sure about other groups but the FSK's it's up to 12oz normally

 

That was one of the best posts I've read for a while.

 

LC provides a good grounding for Full Contact etc and at least it's better than that semi contact PKA toss

 

actually gammacron
the PKA do fight LCon BUT thats the ones who actually spar

No really tho yeah the PKA do enter Lcon, it seems to be the best of their association that actually do it even so most of them stick to their own PKA nationals.

sadly tho about most lcon bouts ending in stoppae is largely due to the poor conditioning of the fihters

 

I have actually asked about PKA comps closser to Manchester but it appears they don't do open comps which is a shame as I would love my lot to get more experience on the comp circuit.

My lot are limited to the FSK's and the WKA's as all the other comps are points :bang: :bang: