the importance of sparring as a method of training

[BruceP]

Ba-men, no no! I was not calling you on anything you said. Someone else chimed in with their usual serving of smallness. It sounds like you have a very good understanding of the idea and how to structure the training accordingly. Good stuff. I got that impression from your first post.

What you have outlined is actually very similar to the way we organize things over here in terms of compliance situations and ambushes. We work in a designated area sometimes with chairs, boxes or other large objects placed at random to work with or against us. Transitions will bring out which postures best suit the individual according to their current abilities to move through the transitions themselves. Standing, dropping, moving/defending/evading, recovery and exit are sort of how the transitions are chained. I'm too old for that stuff anymore, though.

[JusticeZero]

I'm not especially sure where people got "drop into guard position" out of that, except maybe out of the peculiar training myopia that thinks that as soon as someone falls on the floor, a wrestling match will instantly ensue. Admittedly, only a couple of arts train floor striking in any great amount that i'm aware of, and mine is by far the least exotic of them. Still, that myopia exists, where I see that the gungfu style that I know of that does floor (dog boxing) is treated as a WRESTLING range art to compete with BJJ. This is though, a different topic entirely..
I don't know that sacrificing 'less important' bits of anatomy like the feet is a great idea; once they're damaged, you're not in a good position to escape anymore. Floor mobility is probably a plus though, since it forces the attacker to distort their posture to attack.

[BruceP]

Justice Zero wrote:

I don't know that sacrificing 'less important' bits of anatomy like the feet is a great idea; once they're damaged, you're not in a good position to escape anymore

JZ, attrition is the last and worst strategy. It's irresponsible to say anything more than that. I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of that sentiment, but one shouldn't overlook anything when they explore a specific set of circumstances.

As you've pointed out, going to the floor changes the lines of attack maybe enough that the odds of survival are upped, as Ba-men has stated. It breaks up the attackers 'impetus' a bit. It's a decision (or trained response? - gawd, I hope not) that one makes given the time, if circumstance warrants it. It's very hard to work through the cognitive issues because training the ideas can only go so far in their exploratoration before the thin semblence of reality that can be created in the training slips into fantasy. At that point one has to pull away and regain perspective.

The one saving grace to all this, I've found, is the more time one spends putting themself in the worst possible scenario, the more adaptive and creative they become. Something I'm sure you're familiar with given the origins of your art. Having a group of people who have worked their personal combat to/from failure really helps a lot. They may offer observations and feedback that can add to one's range of adaptability.

[Chris McKinley]

RE: "The one saving grace to all this, I've found, is the more time one spends putting themself in the worst possible scenario, the more adaptive and creative they become.". Absolutely golden. This concept should be "must read" for anyone who trains with any degree of intent whatsoever to apply their training to real circumstances.

[Ba-men]

Shooter wrote:
The one saving grace to all this, I've found, is the more time one spends putting themselves in the worst possible scenario, the more adaptive and creative they become. Something I'm sure you're familiar with given the origins of your art. Having a group of people who have worked their personal combat to/from failure really helps a lot. They may offer observations and feedback that can add to one's range of adaptability.

I also agree...Shooter. This is what we are all really referring to. A person becomes his worse enemy when he assumes there is a right way and a wrong way. Especially when we are talking about defending against armed assaults.

I think u may have highlighted on the only adequate way of training. Adaptability is the key to survivability.