We spar in class, but I haven't sparred outside of class, and I don't compete. I really enjoy it as a learning experience because I learn so much about what I, personally, need to work on. Like now I need to work on not reaching to block.

We generally spar. Sometimes just training drills, other times will have actual matches. And depending on the rank of the fighters the contact allowed adjusts. I used to go to the GSKA tournaments for sparring outside of my classmates, or any of the tournaments the Grand Master of our style would put on, but I have dropped out of that part of martial arts for a while.

In Brazilian Jiu JItsu sparring is just a part of our daily training routine. The thing about BJJ though, is that if you're doing it right you can go as 'hard' as you want, and no one ever gets hurt because the whole point of BJJ is to control the other person - not to hurt them. And in order to control your opponent, you have to first control yourself. If you hurt your opponent, it's the same thing as loosing the match because both results stem from the same cause...ie a loss of control.

Of course...there are a lot of schools that don't really see it this way too...ESPECIALLY in the midwest. If anyone ever tries to sell you on the idea of 'no-gi BJJ' just head in the other direction and dont look back. There is no such animal. Likewise, I tend to think that schools specializing in 'MMA training' are also pretty much BS. There's stand up fighting, and there's ground fighting...the art of MMA is escentially how to transition from one to the other. MMA in and of itself, is not actually an ART at all. You need to study ONE thing, and get good at it, before attempting to mix everything together. If you do that, you're just going to wind up getting hurt before you even come close to getting skilled.

Have you ever thought about taking up Judo? People tend to not think of it as being terribly practical, but seriously - a good judoka is almost unbeatable, even in MMA competitions. The throws they use are like MAGIC. And think about it...would you rather get hit by a fist....or by a thick slab of solid concrete? And hell, you can always BLOCK a punch. Blocking the ground, especially when gravity is against you, is significantly more difficult.

Good luck!

Jess

Our brown belts or higher are allowed to do some unsupervised light sparring, I personally suck at it. Every class except our BB class has partner practice, but that's just to smooth out assigned technique. Once a month, we're supposed to hold Shi-ai. It's like a sparring match, but nobody is awarded points. If a participant lands a solid strike then the match is put on hold while the 4 student judges and Sifu discuss the move, then the match is awarded a point. Once the match has reached 4 points, it's over. The Shi-ai is supposed to teach us about ourselves and how we respond during times of stress. I couldn't go to most of them, though, because it was always on a Saturday when I worked.

Now that I've moved away, I've been thinking about starting to train someplace local. I've been wondering about Aikido. I am really weak with locks and throws, as well as sparring. But I dont want to end up someplace that's really competitive, uber formal or too hard on my joints.