I personally feel sparring should be done day one.
Because its not the physical aspect that most people get wrong. Its the mental aspect. You need to be comfortable in that environment. You need to learn your opponent’s timing, identify your own bad habits, learn how to read people.
we introduce sparring, and contact drills on day one, albiet in a limited sense.
We teach samjien kuen, impact drills,(pressure testing-leg kicks, body strikes,etc) and then “samjien sparring,” which is bare knuckle strikes and kicks to the legs and body. This is in my eyes, more for mental/physical conditioning, rather than fighting ability.
We also have one class per week that is dedicated to bare knuckle sparring. We try to keep all strikes to the head open handed. I agree that this is a lot about mental/psychological conditioning, as it is very intense. But, I do think it promotes a lot of actual good habits for fighting. It forces you to move properly and avoid taking any blows. Even minimal padding can coax one into absorbing a shot to the ribs in order to get off a good counter strike. However, if that shot the ribs is a phoenix eye fist then you clearly move your body. It seriously feels like getting shanked when one of those strikes makes contact. I also have never experienced such a hyper aware concentration as during those bare knuckle bouts. Although, it’s a little intimidating I think it’s an important part of training. At least it always has been in Bak Mei.
The guy I used to train with, prior to joining the Army, had us sparring ALL THE TIME, many times with him. He’d reinforce techniques and validate their usefulness this way. He was big on improvisation, and a firm believer in being able to use whatever is around you as a weapon. Often, he’d hand me some weird object he just found, and ordered me to use it against him as a weapon. After the dust cleared, he’d pick me up, and explain to me how I could’ve better used the object.
Now I do distance learning… no sparring… nada… 
If you start sparring from day one, what techniques do you use? And how do you perform them? You start sparring day one in Jujitsu and you will end up with a ruptured spine. There are preperations to be made before one can spar with any sort of real ability. You would do best to just start windmilling at one another and be done. Learn what you need to know before you start wanting to spar. 2 man drills work for most useful training and sparring should come after a man or woman has learned how to do the techniques they plan on using during sparring.
Training in 2 MA at the same time will take away from each one. The time you would spend on a second MA could be spent on one. 2 hours a week will not be enough. It could be if you did it right. Learn all you can in the 2 hours in training, making sure your sifu has shown you the right way to do what you learn and then practice it daily until the following week. And do all your stretching and physical training at home.
My MA training started on my 10th birthday. I would get up in the morning and train for an hour, which included some stretching and exercising. Then another 2 hours in the afternoon. On Saturdays we did 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoons or evenings. Sunday we did what we wanted to do. My sifu was my father and older brothers. I did that until I was 21 years old. I went into the military service at 21 and never did return home in the same way. I was out of the nest and on my own.
It was almost 2 years before I was allowed to spar with even my brothers. But by then I was practiced enough to spar with conviction and with great skill. I might also suggest that for another MA you consider Japanese jujitsu rather than BJJ. Bjj compares to jap jujitsu like Judo compares to Jujitsu. Judo is a sport that consists of certain sweeps and throws taken from the jap system. It is in no way complete. The same applies to BJJ. It is a sport taken from the jap system and it is in no way complete.
Do you think you could manage to stop using the term “jap” please?
[QUOTE=Lee Chiang Po;923547]If you start sparring from day one, what techniques do you use? And how do you perform them? You start sparring day one in Jujitsu and you will end up with a ruptured spine. There are preperations to be made before one can spar with any sort of real ability. You would do best to just start windmilling at one another and be done. Learn what you need to know before you start wanting to spar. 2 man drills work for most useful training and sparring should come after a man or woman has learned how to do the techniques they plan on using during sparring.
Training in 2 MA at the same time will take away from each one. The time you would spend on a second MA could be spent on one. 2 hours a week will not be enough. It could be if you did it right. Learn all you can in the 2 hours in training, making sure your sifu has shown you the right way to do what you learn and then practice it daily until the following week. And do all your stretching and physical training at home.
My MA training started on my 10th birthday. I would get up in the morning and train for an hour, which included some stretching and exercising. Then another 2 hours in the afternoon. On Saturdays we did 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoons or evenings. Sunday we did what we wanted to do. My sifu was my father and older brothers. I did that until I was 21 years old. I went into the military service at 21 and never did return home in the same way. I was out of the nest and on my own.
It was almost 2 years before I was allowed to spar with even my brothers. But by then I was practiced enough to spar with conviction and with great skill. I might also suggest that for another MA you consider Japanese jujitsu rather than BJJ. Bjj compares to jap jujitsu like Judo compares to Jujitsu. Judo is a sport that consists of certain sweeps and throws taken from the jap system. It is in no way complete. The same applies to BJJ. It is a sport taken from the jap system and it is in no way complete.[/QUOTE]
This post is full of fail.
[QUOTE=David Jamieson;923189]lol.
you could have just told them to get out.[/QUOTE]
No fun in that.
[QUOTE=Kansuke;923550]Do you think you could manage to stop using the term “jap” please?[/QUOTE]
I grew up in a Jap neighborhood on Long Island.
Except in our area, Jap stands for Jewish American Princess.
jap is not acceptable to use if you are referring to anything Japanese.
Lacerto,
About eight months into martial art training, and you have preliminary sparring exercises like two-men drills, that is not too slow in training pace. I would speculate that five more months, you would be arranged to have sparring exercise with a live partner. If it happens, it probably would not be all-out and comprehensive at first.
As with you being torn with the dilenma, I understand but not agree with it. The reason lies in what I said above. Please be patient is the answer. Sure you can ask your instructor when you will be taught sparring. Sparring exercise and martial art training in general are not things that can be self-learned. IMOH, until a student is qualified to train sparring by himself, he can start sparring in other styles with other stylists. That is one way for one to master sparring skill.
Regards,
KC
Hong Kong