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| Punching & Blocking Instruction |
Many martial arts studios encourage trainees to wear protective
gear when sparring. It seems to make sense, surround your chest, hands and feet
with padding, and then a punch or kick won’t hurt so much. But a better way to
prevent injury is to learn how to control your techniques and learn distance
and accuracy while training. In my training sessions, pads are never worn. It’s
not a new concept. Traditional martial arts styles rarely use pads, and there
are two important reasons why this is the case.
First, pads compromise the effectiveness of the techniques
being taught. If a person trains with pads, they become unaccustomed to what it
feels like to be in good form when blocking punches and kicks. Pads make it difficult
to hold a tight fist, plant the foot correctly and execute good technique.
Second, when martial arts techniques are preformed
correctly, pads don’t work. Solid technique will not be deflected by the flimsy
body shields and gloves designed for martial arts practice. To illustrate,
let’s use a professional boxer as an example. Think about how powerful a professional
boxer’s punch can be. The way they punch is similar to how most martial artists
punch. Boxers wear gloves that are far bigger and more heavily padded than martial
arts gloves, and boxers still knock-out their opponents and inflict serious
damage.
I know students who trained in martial arts using protective
gear, and they still suffered significant injuries that range from broken noses
to cracked ribs. I have never seen these kinds of injuries in any dojo where
protective padding is not used. The illusion of safety offered by using pads minimizes
the need to learn how to measure distance, and more importantly, makes refining
actual techniques nearly impossible.
Since most people turn to martial arts schools to learn
effective self-defense, it’s important to teach in a way that prepares people
for real life situations. A good martial artist can knock out an opponent with
one hit, whether or not they are wearing padding. Inferior martial arts instruction
will promote the use of protective padding, and encourage wild attacks in an
attempt to make any kind of contact. This methodology also makes inflicting an
injury on a training partner a measure of success when, in fact, injuring your
training partner is the exact opposite of the desired goal in karate.
In karate, it is not acceptable to harm anyone you
are sparing with while training. The importance of learning to judge the
distance between you and your training partner, and the focus required for
every move, makes the use of pads superfluous. Knowing that your sparring
partner will push you to the edge, so you can develop a swift defensive
response and not be injured in the exchange, elevates sparing to a
collaborative art. In karate, acquiring solid self-defense proficiency is the goal,
and students need to understand the complexities and obligations of the powers they
are learning to harness.
