As I used to be a TKD player I needed the bag mostly for kicks. But I'm thinking about getting one for my basement and then doing much more punching training, I could really need it. Btw sorry that I did not yet reply to the OP really
Never thought about that ... But how about punching then? Or do you recommend seperate bags, one for punching and kicking combinations and one for kicking only?
hmmmmm I want to buy one anyway so I could give it a try, but I have never heard of it before so I am a little sceptic whether it really fits me. Don't think anybody I know has a bad like that so I can not go for a testing round or something. edit: Just thinking about that I do not even know why you recommend rubber chippings, is it for the weight, the substance or the way the bag responds? Or am I mistaken and it is about something completely different?
You wount not many people do but it makes it a harder bag if you ask me and its all mine are filled with, a local muay thai (lol) coach put me onto it
QFT. I have a greta deal of respect for Karate, but its true that Karateka often don't use the space around them very well - unless trained to do so. Last summer in TaiChi sparring and applications, I came up against a Karateka much, much bigger and stronger than me. He was trained in evasion and angular attacks and defences and was pretty good out of water (so to speak). I dealt with his punches ok, but 1 of his deep kicks nearly got me i.e. I had to time my attacks and counters really well to avoid being a picture plastered on the wall. Another area that Katrateka may want to look at is feints and setup strikes i.e. where the 1st attack is a decoy for the 2nd one which is the killer. I did catch the dude out a few times in this area, but I dont know if this is common to Karate. You can practise this with pads, where the pad holder tries to catch you out by presenting 1 pad, but catching you ( a friendly tap is enough) with the other - when you strike the 1st one None of this is intended as negative comment on Karate. Karate strikes are exceptionally fast and powerfull - hence I get the f**k out of the road against you guys!
Funnily enough it is pretty common. We learn to hit fast, hit hard and not to just leave it at one strike (ikken hissatsu), we learn to unbalance our opponent, get them off line and out of stance (hence the importance of understanding that stances are transitional and not singular things). So because of that (at least in my club) we will fake a lot, look away from our intended target, focus on somewhere and hit somewhere else (or double bluff), simply stare in to middle distance to not give anything away, remove emotion, and of course move our guard around like a mentalist to confuse the other guy. Good fun! EDIT: if you spar again, look out for jab, reverse punch, roundhouse kick, or variations thereof. Also leg sweep double punch etc. After the first technique, expect an explosive movement forwards. I can't speak for other karate-ka, but when I explode forwards I've mentally committed myself and accept to take the odd punch, so don't necessarily think a defensive jab will put the other guy off
Unfortunately I don't get much training (max 1 in every 2 weeks) in anything at this moment as Im working in Paris and studying (MAP Interrupts my studies - but thats not training.) The reverse punch (yaka tsuki?) is a hallmark of Kareteka and is very difficult to defend against. Essentially the danger that I see of Karetekas is you guys speed, accuracy and explosion. When I read that Im up against 1 of you guys I don't go in for the kill so quickly, Im much happier to keep moving around, keep distance only closing for short periods. Its a real pity that you didnt get to train with koyo, because he understood very well cross-training from MA like Aikido/TaiChi - based around evasion, and in particular with Katetekas.
Just let me know and you can come to a class or, probably the better option, we'll just go find some of that green grassy stuff and do whatever (you'll probably also find, to my shame, I don't always practice what I preach! )
I can tell you that every word koyo 'preached' - he most definately did practise. I only trained with him 1 time (although we knew some common friends as far back as the the 1980s). Koyo's strikes had a lot of Karate in them, and were astonishingly accurate and explosive. One of koyo's great points on crosstraining was to find out one's weaknesses - you easily find this out when trying against folk who do stuff in a different way to what youre used to. One thing I have had to come to accept is that my balance is taken away very easily - which is hardly surprising given how skinny I am.
Osu, Man, that put a smile on my face and I started day dreaming about sparring with the TaiJiQuan guys... (I do TaiJi too...) I think I'd just walk into whatever he throws at me, grab him (no sense running after him, is there?) & smash him... No disrespect meant, it is just that the guys I train with are, well, ...er.... not very prepared for kumite... Osu!
I try to never undrerestimate anyone or any art. It is true, that a lot of TaiChi folk are as martial as marshmallows - but not everyone.
I discovered this very quickly when I started to cross train and spar with different arts, once I started to correct my footing my guard (left hand in particular) slipped all over the place
Essentially the problem lies within oneself and not in your primary art i.e. in my case my centre is too easy to uproot at close contact, in doug's case footwork changes upsets guard alignment. This is why crosstraining is great - not to become some multistyle superstar, but to learn about yourself. If you only train with folk you know how to deal with - what do you ever get really exposed to?
I got friends who teach in other art forms so I'm lucky to attend (not as much anymore mind) sparring classes not to stroke my ego lol but to learn what I've got in my tool kit to date and how to adjust. I found when I spar with friends its very stop start as we keep pointing stuff out instead of just sparring for a few min then work on any flaws we both spotted
