mixing it up

[punchdrunk]

i know most wc people dont spar or train with other stylists. i think most do not even know how to do it safely. it can be dangerous and if you are not truly used to contact, even scary. but i think it is a good way to better your skills and get a taste of reality. in my first 3- 4 yrs i regularly played with karate, tkd, judo, boxing, aikido,wrestling and even white crane people. no 2 situations were the same. it was a college campus i trained at and different people would pop by all the time.
i remember a few occasions when the partner would try to show me up by injuring me, one was an arm lock, and another was a leg kick. but most people were more honest in their intent.
i am not good at giving advice, but maybe other people here could tell us how they have trained outside their clubs? how they met the partners and what rules they followed in training together? i hope this can help wc get out there and get new experience!

[k gledhill]

I used to , back when i started in '84 we would fight after every class 3-4 times a week and weekends...one would do whatever and the other guy VT...we wore head gear , ufc type gloves and body armour , no shin guards or forearm guards....getting hit full in the face has its own lessons :D beware the spinning back fist ;) I would play with friends who Thai boxed , Judo, bowing..etc... after a while you realise your fighting mechanics, timing etc.. not styles ..simply using directness and 'personal' 'who knows what' to play....i always got more injuries playing than real fights ....one obvious glaring thing that happened from sparring to real fights was that NOBODY knew what I was going to do...so regardless of who they where I would hide my MA ability and try to draw them in ...moving back abit to get them to come after me ...:D then all the heavy bag training came into its own and I ht them with my 'big right' ala VT and down they went ....sparring also taught me to value open hand strikes to the top of head down charges, punches being useless...I could land a full force strike to the back of the head ...worked...simple ... you never know the skill levels of who you fight on the street ...many also train MA , you can tell kickboxers etc... facing off ...Vt is an attack method , going into and maintaining your assault , something most styles bar BJJ, dont do. more hit and back hit and back ...fghitng that kind of attack is easy because it lets you breath, it isnt trained to deliver an unbroken line of force , rather spurts of energy while grabbing my wrists, so you could feel when to deliver a counter in real time...;)

Primarily I hit heavy bags , kick wall bags etc... have friends hold pads and move hitting with angles etc...basic parries work, rarely used though, mostly just hitting and keep hitting and chasing them to keep hitting kicking ....

[AmanuJRY]

I mix it up.

I spar at a local mma gym, which is predominantly a kajukenbo school. I have sparred with boxers, grapplers and good kickers as well, some of them being local mma fighters and title holders.

I don't use WC, traditionally. I mix it with Escrima, freestyle grappling and savate. In sparring, I don't 'try' to 'do' WC, or look like a WC practitioner, but I feel and see when my WC experience is working for me.

[sihing]

I mix it up.

I spar at a local mma gym, which is predominantly a kajukenbo school. I have sparred with boxers, grapplers and good kickers as well, some of them being local mma fighters and title holders.

I don't use WC, traditionally. I mix it with Escrima, freestyle grappling and savate. In sparring, I don't 'try' to 'do' WC, or look like a WC practitioner, but I feel and see when my WC experience is working for me.

Your last sentence is spot on if you ask me Justin:) WC is not about shapes or techniques, and is something that probably won't be seen when using it, but you can feel the effect it has on you when it does express itself in combat. To bad a couple of people on this forum will never realize that.

Good post:)

James