Striking martial arts (karate, kempo, kung-fu, etc.) — non-contact vs. knock-down (popularly called “full-contact”)
I just read an article — “The Night I Met Bruce Lee” by Chuck Sullivan in Blitz, October 1999 (vol. 13, no. 10, p. 38) — reporting an argument between Chuck Sullivan (9th dan Kenpo) and Ed Parker (Grandmaster of American Kenpo Karate, 10th dan) about what a person would do when struck with a forearm across midsection. I found it hilarious that two people with sky-high ranks argue about something anyone can just check during sparring.
This argument shows the ridiculousness of patronizing other than knock-down systems of striking arts. In a knock-down system students know what happens to a hit person because they hit and are being hit.
It is not easy to find a knock-down (popularly called full-contact) martial art school. I visited Edmonton, Alberta, this summer, and in this city of 800,000 people there are only two knock-down schools, although every school asked over the phone claimed they do full-contact sparring.
To find knock-down schools visit our links page: real-self-defense.com/links-sd/.
Self-defense tip from Thomas Kurz, co-author of Basic Instincts of Self-Defense and author of Science of Sports Training, Stretching Scientifically, and Flexibility Express.
Self-Defense Moves
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Defend Against Weapons
To learn how the typical street weapons (club, knife, razor) are used by an experienced streetfighter and how to practice with them, see the video Self-Defense: Tools of Attack — Club, Hatchet, Blackjack, Knife, Straight Razor.
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