Originally Posted by
LFJ
Okay. It sure seemed like that's what you were saying when I said sparring and fighting aren't the same and from that you assumed I haven't sparred, then questioned how I came to my sparring vs fighting conclusion.
I first trained other traditional styles when I took up martial arts. It was Qixing Tanglangquan and Songshan Shaolin, both of which involved a lot of heaving sparring every day, and not just sanda competition style, but hooks in the eyes, nut shots, knees, elbows and all. As brutal as it got, no one ever tried to kill me.
Later on when I became a teacher, in my first place I had both Boxing instructors and a MT instructor from Thailand teaching out of the same space. I did hard sparring with them as well. Their styles were different, but didn't make a difference in how we sparred. And we still never tried to kill each other.
I've also defended myself from people actually trying to kill me using the same skills. But it's not like sparring, no matter how hard you go. In sparring, you're trying to beat the other guy and not get hit. You know at the end of the day you might go home injured, but you're going home. In fighting, you're just trying to get out alive. The reality is worlds apart and no amount of sparring really prepares you for that. The mentality is all different.