where "Alive" goes wrong

[MightyB]

Since everyone's talking about training with "aliveness", I have an instance where I think it fails TMA and TCMA if people aren't aware of this shortcoming...

Here's my 4 cents worth. It's very easy to fall into a bad style of kickboxing if you think sparring is just getting in there and pounding away. If you aren't being trained by a kickboxer/boxer - don't do that because you need someone to show you how to do that style effectively and you'll develop a lot of bad habits.

What's better IMO is to train your technique spontaneously. In 7* mantis, we have ou lou choi, (or choi sum sau) my spellings off, I know, but it's the only name I have for the technique. Anyway, it's a pluck, control, strike all done as a single motion as a strike counter. It's like the basis for mantis, yet I don't think there's too many people who actually train it well enough to pull it off in a fight. So, I'd advocate that a person should train that move by having someone else just attack him using whatever - the 7* guy's goal should be to find a way to set up Choi Sum Sau. After a few weeks, train a diff technique, and so on until you're reasonably able to use a hand full of "mantis" techniques in a non-choreographed pressure situation. Then spar.