FMK ADVANCED SAFE SPARRING

http://vimeo.com/111772247 

FMK Advanced Safe Sparring with medium to hard contact can be quite dangerous.  It is like lifting heavy weights.  You can injure yourself if you do not do it correctly or in the case of sparring in particular, you can injure your sparring partner.  It requires control of the body, control of the techniques, and control of your emotions.  It also requires the Artist to be in a state of meditation free from thoughts. 

You are to spar with intensity but without anger, fear, or emotions.  It is a difficult state to achieve.  One punch, one kick, one elbow, one knee strike can cause a broken tooth, a broken nose, broken ribs, broken bones, and in the worst case even death.  An advanced Artist must be very careful how to execute the combative techniques with proper control to protect his safety as well as the safety of his sparring partner. 

If he is too soft, he risks being injured himself, if he is too hard, he risks injuring his sparring partner.  It is an act of balance, like walking on tightrope.  The advanced Artist must aim to teach the student how to get better at defending himself but yet he must not cause too much damage onto the student.  The Artist must also be very careful as to not allow the student to strike him as the beginning student may lack body control, technique control, and emotional control.  The student may unconsciously execute a dangerous technique at the Artist putting the safety of the Artist in jeopardy if he does not get out of the way.  It is like having an unarmed Artist sparring against a student who is wielding a real knife, regardless of how trained the Artist may be, the student is a great danger to the Artist when he is wielding a knife. 

In unarmed Safe Sparring, the student becomes dangerous when he does not have adequate control over his technique execution.  What is supposed to be a controlled open hand attack to the face can easily turn into an uncontrolled violent fist to the face that can cause immediate serious damage.  One wrongly executed technique can result in serious physical injury as well as medical costs that will neither be in the benefit of the student or Artist.  Caution must be taken by the Artist in engaging in advanced safe sparring, it is similar to performing a stunt, if the stuntman executes the stunt properly, he does not get hurt, if he does not, he sustains serious injury. 

If the student advances and develops greater control over his body, his execution of technique, and emotional control, the engagement becomes safer for both parties, but regardless of the case, accidents can still occur.  This is a part of the Martial Arts training that can be quite dangerous, but if trained in properly, it can be safe and serve to be aid in gaining valuable learning lessons in combat survival that simply is irreplaceable.

Yes lifting heavy weights is dangerous, but if you practice proper safety measures it does not have to be dangerous, it can be safe and serve to greatly enhance your athletic development.   Advanced sparring is not for everybody, but when expressed properly, it serves to be a very beautiful expression of the Martial Arts, serious, but not too serious, deadly, but not too deadly. Bruce Lee would choreograph realistic fight scenes and display them on film.  Myself, I am attempting to display the spontaneous way of artistic combat that is realistic but yet safe.  If the body is trained properly, if the techniques are properly developed, if the emotions are properly controlled, and one is in meditation, safe sparring can become the true way of testing and demonstrating techniques of combat that are truly practical for survival on the streets.