What bad habbits do you have to break

[reiperx]

I am a complete newbie to lightsaber sparring, primarily because I can't find anyone to actually spar with in the area, but I'm working on it.

As far as formal martial arts, other than my Marine Corps training I don't have anything formal. I do however have a lot of experience sparring with people of various martial arts hand to hand, with kendo sticks, and bokken. I have by far the most experience against Akido (ex girlfriend was a blackbelt and we sparred almost on a daily basis). And one thing I've learned from sparring and learning some of each type I fight against is you pick up all kinds of nasty habbits that cross over.

I know I'm going to have some bad habbits, like grabbing my opponents weapon to pull myself in for a thrust attack, and my saber is a whole lot lighter than my other weapons, and tapping the end of my weapon to the ground a lot (was a timing thing), but I was wondering what some other bad habbits I may have that I may want to look out for (or for that matter, what bad habbits, if any did you have when you started dueling with lightsabers).

And if you have any funny stories about those bad habbits, would love to hear them.

[Master Lucien Kane]

Try not to think of them as bad habits, as much as you think about it as a different language that need translation. Grabbing the blade on a lightsaber is a no go... but grabbing the hilt is perfectly fine. We all have our own bad habits that we pick up over the years, we can either break them, or figure out how to make them work for us.

Also... Semper Fidelis... from Marine to Marine.

Thank you for your service.

[reiperx]

Try not to think of them as bad habits, as much as you think about it as a different language that need translation. Grabbing the blade on a lightsaber is a no go... but grabbing the hilt is perfectly fine. We all have our own bad habits that we pick up over the years, we can either break them, or figure out how to make them work for us.

Also... Semper Fidelis... from Marine to Marine.

Thank you for your service.

Semper Fi to you too. And happy birthday in a month.

I call them bad habbits because I had to break myself of one when I was in the Marines. Doing the, at the time, new martial arts combat they were doing we had to do the counter to the punch, move, block, strike. Well after five years with the ex (wasn't always dating, just sparring) my counter to a punch is taking them to the ground with an armbar. So getting my grey belt, I literally had to keep doing it for 15 minutes of being  told "no do it again" each time I'd counter my sparring partner's punch. And finally when I realized what I did wrong, I kept going. Unfortunately for him, I tore some of the ligaments in his shoulder. But it was fun doing that in the mud.

[Master Lucien Kane]

Semper Fi to you too. And happy birthday in a month.

I call them bad habbits because I had to break myself of one when I was in the Marines. Doing the, at the time, new martial arts combat they were doing we had to do the counter to the punch, move, block, strike. Well after five years with the ex (wasn't always dating, just sparring) my counter to a punch is taking them to the ground with an armbar. So getting my grey belt, I literally had to keep doing it for 15 minutes of being  told "no do it again" each time I'd counter my sparring partner's punch. And finally when I realized what I did wrong, I kept going. Unfortunately for him, I tore some of the ligaments in his shoulder. But it was fun doing that in the mud.

Lol definitely! I feel you on that... in Boot Camp I did a different technique for the bear hug... It was a more advanced technique, and the DI saw it... He just looked at me slack jawed and said "I don't know what the hell that was, but don't do it again." LOL... So I feel your pain.

[reiperx]

Lol definitely! I feel you on that... in Boot Camp I did a different technique for the bear hug... It was a more advanced technique, and the DI saw it... He just looked at me slack jawed and said "I don't know what the hell that was, but don't do it again." LOL... So I feel your pain.

I would have loved to have seen that.

My DI's loved and hated some of my pugil stick matches.

1st round, guy was tall and lanky, but about my weight (130ish) so as he came at me I just dropped to my knees and got him on the side of his knee and knocked him on his butt, my DI loved it.
2nd guy I was able to get both pugil sticks tangled up, and was able to do a hip throw.
3rd guy just came at me hard, and I pulled one of my hands off of my pugil stick to grab his pugil stick, I missed, and ended up getting hit in the head a couple of times, and my DI ran the crap out of me for letting go of my weapon.

But bootcamp was fun now that I think about it. Especially the crucible.

[Darth Vrenen]

First I would like to say, these are some pretty interesting stories and thank you both for your service. On another note, I, being a teenager with no previous martial arts experience (except getting thrown into couches by my elderly cousins after their lessons) have all sorts of messy habits I'm picking up. Mainly these are from learning choreo first and then realizing the swordsmanship side of the saber world is sooo much better. I have been reviewing TPLA videos however and these are really helpful to learn some more proficient ways to swing one's saber about!

[Master Bluespike74]

The one tell that I have prior to a strike is that I hold my breath for an instant.  Anyone who has sparred me in hand to hand or with weapons has picked up on that and know to brace themselves.  I have learned to keep them guessing my not making the same moves in any particular order but they will run when I take that momentary breath hold as they know something is coming.  Makes it really hard to close the distance.  Been doing it for 5 years and I cannot figure how to break myself. 

[Darth Nonymous]

The one tell that I have prior to a strike is that I hold my breath for an instant.  Anyone who has sparred me in hand to hand or with weapons has picked up on that and know to brace themselves.  I have learned to keep them guessing my not making the same moves in any particular order but they will run when I take that momentary breath hold as they know something is coming.  Makes it really hard to close the distance.  Been doing it for 5 years and I cannot figure how to break myself. 

This is THE most common problem people have is sparring! I cannot tell you how much time is spent dealing with this issue.

The reason for it is bio-mechanics. When you produce force, you body has to create intra abdominal pressure to stabilize your spine (core activation). When you inhale and hold it forcefully you create a brace around the lower back giving you stability and allowing force to be transferred from the feet to the hands. Just think about when you have to push something heavy. The first thing you do before you push is take a big breath in and clench, grunt, etc.

In Gongfu we have a great many strategies for hiding your breath in a fight. Because if you can pick up on the opponents breathing patterns, you can disrupt them and get them to "gas" almost immediately.

The third installment of our Ataru series is going to go into force production and that starts out with breathing patterns. Maybe we can get you some techniques that will fool you opponents and allow you to turn the tables. In the meantime, her what yo can try. Shout (Kiai-KIup-or whatever) with each strike. Even if it is not loud. This will start to pattern the breath with the movements which will help abate the holding.

[Master Bluespike74]

I think I will give that a try tonight.  Thanks for the advice. 

[Master Nero Attoru]

I'm not sure about my habits in terms of lightsaber combat, as I haven't done that seriously in a little while.  I'm sure I have quite a few, and I'll be happy to post them here when I duel next.

As for fencing though... last night was the first time I geared up and fenced with my students, and there were all kinds of bad habits I was pulling out of the woodwork... although in my defense, much of it was due to the rustiness after many months of not fencing.  Reaction time, sense of distance, and point control are all things that suffer greatly when you don't practice for an extended period of time, so naturally I found myself missing and/or running into my opponent's blade more often than I'd like.

Of course, it was still a TON of fun, so I can't complain

[Manroon]

My great bad habit has always been fear of getting hit. lol It seems silly, but I'm sure all the Masters know what I'm talking about and have had to deal with it in at least a few students. I used to always be shying away from incoming attacks for fear of getting hurt, a natural enough reaction. Problem is that means I wasn't attacking, which means I lost ground, kept shying back, and lost nearly every duel. Granted, it's been some time since I dueled seriously, but as of my last fight I was doing significantly better with this. It was more to the point of doing it here or there, not every single time. It's not gone, but it's just something I have to be aware of and then it's usually not a real problem anymore.

I think the three best things that helped me start to break that habit were regular Karate sparring for awhile, focusing on landing hits and footwork rather than blocking (when I'm not in the way, I can't be hit, and in turn, move to the side instead of all out running away), and lastly... using an initiate blade helped immensely after the other two things. The only way to attack with one is to get in CLOSE, and then it's a lot harder for them to hit you, and much easier for you to hit them.

[reiperx]

I shy away from getting hit too, but its primarily just my face.

Never had issues getting hit in other areas, almsot to a fault with sparring because I would take a light hit in order to get a good strike in, whether its hand to hand or with weapons.

[Master Lucien Kane]

It's a natural reaction we must all deal with. My worst sparring comes on days when I'm just off... I'm thinking about it too much... It's cold and I know that first finger smash is going to be the death of me.

My best dueling occurs when I realize that, accept it, and just don't think about it. It's an active choice.

[Manroon]

Indeed it is Master, indeed it is. I have been there many times myself. lol

Rei, I totally get the face thing. One of the more interesting fighting techniques I've copied from an anime or movie: there's a scene in some episode of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple where Kenichi is taught to feint a punch at his opponent's face. Well, throw it, actually. Then while the opponent instinctively blocks his face, you throw a fast hit into the body. It works remarkably well, because everyone is gonna try and block a face shot. I mean, heck, even if the guy doesn't fall for the trick... unless he can manage a double block, he's gonna get hit someplace.

Now if I could just figure out how to turn that into a saber technique....

[reiperx]

Indeed it is Master, indeed it is. I have been there many times myself. lol

Rei, I totally get the face thing. One of the more interesting fighting techniques I've copied from an anime or movie: there's a scene in some episode of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple where Kenichi is taught to feint a punch at his opponent's face. Well, throw it, actually. Then while the opponent instinctively blocks his face, you throw a fast hit into the body. It works remarkably well, because everyone is gonna try and block a face shot. I mean, heck, even if the guy doesn't fall for the trick... unless he can manage a double block, he's gonna get hit someplace.

Now if I could just figure out how to turn that into a saber technique....

That's actually one of the tactics that I do use a lot in my sparring and even in my writing.

As much as I hate duel wielding, I was most effective when using a nice long bladed weapon (technically it was bokken, and not a real blade) and a dagger in the offhand, nobody watches the dagger so I'd attack from high and then swing up from low with the dagger to the stomach/gut.

In my writing, I often have my character's do something similar (lots of flourishing to catch the eye, and then gutshot from the hidden blade).

Even used it in the RP combat I did on the forums, although I stole that attack from one of the Star Wars books I think. Corren Horn (sp) came in with a strong attack, and as the opponnent went up to block it he turned off the saber carried through and was able to reignite it under his opponents defense. Was only a sparring match, but always stuck out with me.