Overcoming my conditioning

[scotty1]

Hey there, I've just been shown how pu$ my last years sparring has been. In the last two competitions I've been in (semi-contact) the face (front of) was not a target. So I got into the habit of feint to the face followed by a hook to the side of the head. Fine.
Except now, I've just found that the comp I'm training for allows contact to the front of the face, which is good news, except that overcoming my don't-hit-in-the-face-or-you'll-be-disqualified habit is proving to be a bit difficult. You'd have thought it would be easy, if somebody suddenly said "its cool, you can hit them in the face" then you could, but ITS NOT. Thanks to my previous pu$ training I'm pulling my punches like, an inch short, which isn't going to get me anywhere, and is, in fact, going to get me twat*ed in the face. Anyway, I know theres not much I can do about it apart from spar as much as possible trying not to pull my punches, and up my aggression level perhaps, but I just wanted to have a moan. Anybody else found this? How did you get over it? :mad:

[SevenStar]

Spar. that's the best way. Also, hit the heavy bag. Wail on it to your heart's content. hopefully you aren't sparring like this all the time though, as you can suffer a lot more damage than it's worth. I would say spar full contact once a week at most.

"Just because I joke around sometimes doesn't mean I'm serious about kung-fu.
" - nightair

[shaolinboxer]

Lower you punch 4 or 5 inches. The upper chest right below the neck is legal right?

"She ain't got no muscles in her teeth."
- Cat

[scotty1]

How does that help me stop pulling my punches? My opponents will have trained to extend and strike the face, dazing their opponent and winning points. This is what I need to do, but I seem to have some sort of psychological barrier preventing me from doing that, brought about by light sparring where a hit to the nose will get you disqualified. And another thing, people always assume that with semi contact there is no effect from contact. OK, so you're not going to lose any teeth, but after two minutes of getting punched in the nose and winded I'm not going to be fighting on top form. Semi contact, to me, means *hard* contact as long as its not *excessive* This is why I need to be able to inflict damage on my opponent, which (perversly) I have previously been trained NOT to do. I told my current Sifu about this bad habit I had due to the previous rules I fought under, and he said "well they're going to be trying their harderst to hit you in the head, and the only way you can stop them is to hit them first." So true.
I guess I'll just think of that when I'm in the ring.