Kumite Tips #1/Kumite Tips #2/Kumite Tips #3/Kumite Tips #4/Kumite Tips #5/Kumite Tips #6/Kumite Tips #7/Kumite Tips #8/Kumite Tips #9
Tylenol... isn't it a wonderful drug, especially after you've been sparring non-stop for an hour?...
...trading punches, kicks, throws and sweeps, tends to involve every muscle imaginable.
Anyway, last night at Kumite I managed to avoid breaking all my toes from a front kick to my partners very hard knee which he threw up for protection.
It's a natural reflex action when someone is kicking at you to protect yourself...
...Fortunately for me, I actually kicked the way I've been trained to kick, that being with the ball of the foot and to keep the toes up and back.
So, its important in Kumite to spar the way you train and the way your Sensei tells you to punch and kick...
...even when kicking your bag at home, try using the ball of the foot on your roundhouse kick and not the top of the foot.
I got to spar with my Sensei, which is a scary proposition as he doesn't hold back just because I'm a brown belt...he doesn't follow through with his punches to the head and pulls his punches when I expose my vital organs to him...which is why I am still able to write this blog...
He mentioned that my Kumite experience is at a place, head wise, where I am taking punishment but not dishing it out...
...and I have to get into a head space where I can make the transition from defense and retaliation to offence and the instigator.
So, here's the tip that really isn't a tip at all...
...become very, very good at one or two punching and kicking techniques.
Spend more hours training in those couple of techniques than others...
...make them your most devasting attack or counter-attacks.
Everybody is built differently, so find the technique that suits your style and perfect it.
Once your able to deliver your favorite perfected techniques when given an opportunity, you will garner a lot of respect from your Kumite partner.
If its a perfected technique that doesn't get overused during Kumite, it will be literally unstoppable, even if your partner knows your going to use it a some point.
My Sensei has mastered his back kick, amongst other techniques...
...by the time I realize that it's coming it's too late and usually end up on the floor or falling backwards at warp speed.
Bruce Lee, would say that, "...your opponent should feel your technique before he see's it"...
...and that only comes from spending hours perfecting one or two solid techniques.
Happy sparring...
RJF
