Getting Past the Fear of Hitting and Being Hit

[Joel]

Hello! I am a senior student at a gym and have been running classes for new students while the head instructor is away. I am having difficulty getting some of the students over the natural inclination to not hit or be hit during basic defensive drills. All of the drills are done at low speed and minimal power. The issue presents by the students not standing close enough to come in contact with each other even if, for example, the punch is not parried/slipped/blocked. 

The head instructor said to give it time. However, I feel like this is more based in my inability to communicate to the students why it is important to make light contact or at least present the possibilty of contact. 

I am hoping to get some additional insights and or exercises that can help people get over this initial hurdle.

Thanks

Joel

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

2 hours ago, Joel said:

The head instructor said to give it time. However, I feel like this is more based in my inability to communicate to the students why it is important to make light contact or at least present the possibilty of contact. 

I suspect that this isn't a conceptual thing, a failure of communication, but rather a feeling thing. It takes time to feel comfortable with contact. An idea might be to create more acclimation friendly experiences to start out with? You can explain to them why closer is better, but until they feel it it won't be real. You can for instance modify the drills to include light punches on the arms, instead of the head, where the point is to actually feel (and give) the contact. Just developing a touch, touch, touch experience might open the door to more comfort.

[Joel]

I'll give this a go at the next class. I hadn't thought of the touch portion as a primary focus (even though it was the primary problem), but framing it like that makes a lot of sense.  Thanks!

[Matty]

On 10/27/2021 at 12:07 AM, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

You can for instance modify the drills to include light punches on the arms, instead of the head, where the point is to actually feel (and give) the contact.

This reminds me - sometimes my instructor would have the class play shoulder tag.  Stand in your fighting stance and try to tap each other's shoulders.  The hand should come out the same way a jab or cross would.  Eventually, the game would progress to tags to body and legs (using hands only).  It gives us a chance to figure out how close we have to be to touch our partner's shoulder, and practice deflecting the other person reaching for your shoulder.  And it takes "getting hit" of the table (though, you could get slapped on the shoulder pretty hard, but students don't seem worried).

You'd also have to remind ppl to not to poke each other in the eye. 

[iiaks]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:02 AM, Matty said:

This reminds me - sometimes my instructor would have the class play shoulder tag.  Stand in your fighting stance and try to tap each other's shoulders.  The hand should come out the same way a jab or cross would.  Eventually, the game would progress to tags to body and legs (using hands only).  It gives us a chance to figure out how close we have to be to touch our partner's shoulder, and practice deflecting the other person reaching for your shoulder.  And it takes "getting hit" of the table (though, you could get slapped on the shoulder pretty hard, but students don't seem worried).

You'd also have to remind ppl to not to poke each other in the eye. 

Our trainers do this as warmup every now and then. It's fun, too!