Guard

[cross]

What type of guard(hand position in sparring/fighting) does everyone use?

I practise karate and use a kickboxing type guard.

But i guess you could say its a karate guard because i have never really seen a set type of guard be taught in a karate class.

So what do you use?

[n2shotokai]

It depends on what you are training for. If you are going for competition the most guys keep both hands up like kickboxing.

If you are interested in self-defense, keep both hands up like kick boxing so when you get kicked in the goodies you can easily grab your head with both hands as you go down and avoid any head injuries when you hit the ground. :D

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Depends heavily. I don't think that I do have any fixed handposition for anything. Maybe it's a "bare knuckle boxer-ish" position most often.

[George Kohler]

Cross,

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[cross]

If you are interested in self-defense, keep both hands up like kick boxing so when you get kicked in the goodies you can easily grab your head with both hands as you go down and avoid any head injuries when you hit the ground.

So your assuming every attacker you meet is going to attack your groin??

Also its possible to move your hands down to block a groin kick. Which brings me to the question.. would you rather protect your groin and give them free shots at your face? I hope not.

[tsurashi shondo]

I think you would have to be prepared to deal with attacks to any portion of your body, your guard position should remain centralized and fluid enough to counter smoothly with control.
A truly proficient fighter will always have some weaknesses, but the really "bad-!!!" players are the ones who do not project those weaknesses to the opponent. I have sparred with senior instructors that I swear "psyched" me into opening up my centerline, but in fact I'm sure it was their superb command of stance/kiai/body language that just outclassed me.
Untill we reach that kind of understanding, and if we are facing adept opposition, we will probably have to resign ourselves to the occasional !!! kicking.

[n2shotokai]

Originally posted by cross
So your assuming every attacker you meet is going to attack your groin??

Also its possible to move your hands down to block a groin kick. Which brings me to the question.. would you rather protect your groin and give them free shots at your face? I hope not. Eli, do I assume you don't have a pair? Why yes, I do assume every attacker will hit me in the groin, and the face, ribs, kidney, spine, skull, leg, arm ....................

[RobertoK]

Can't you also block the low kicks with the leg by raising the knee Muay-Thai style? If the guy wants to follow-up and sweep the back leg while your knee is raised then you got the hands to punch his face in, right?
Im nothing near as good as you guys in the striking department but Ive noticed in my few stand-up incursions that a high guard like boxing to protect the face and using the legs to block low kicks works best for an aggressive-type game. If I want to attack and knockout my opponent the aformentioned guard seems to work best, if Im in full defense mode then open hands, arms somewhat outstretched at chin level like classic muay thai seems very good in my opion. What do you guys think?

[Goju Man]

I like my hands up higher. I can either lock the groin strike with my leg or shift my lowr body ninety degrees (sabaki) to avoid the shot.

[kibby]

During self defense training I put up a boxers guard and received a nice backside whoopin from sensei and a lecture on not standing around with my guard up. He's a strong believer in pre-emptive action for anything outside the dojo.

[Shikiyanaka]

Hi all,


But i guess you could say its a karate guard because i have never really seen a set type of guard be taught in a karate class.

This rises the question why Kamae (fighting postures according to circumstances like distance etc.) are usually not taught in Karate, at least not classified just like in Kihon or such.

The Kamae would involve a kind of guard, some kind of tactical preparation and is also dependend on what I have to expect (tournament rules, for example) or what I want to do (sen no sen, etc).

I guess there are many Kamae to be found in Kata, only to be used more freely than in their exact kata posture.

For example, Goju's typical kata starting "Double-outward-middle-block-posture (lets call it Morote-uchi-uke no Kamae) - done in a more free way - perfectly fits the guard used in different martial arts to protect the side and front of the body and the face...

Matsubayashi's Shutô-uke (knive-hand-block) supplies you with a good Kamae also - one hand in front ready to block or attack and one hand covering the body -, which can easily be used as Kamae for lets say Goshin-jutsu-like (self defense-like) western Jûjutsu systems.

As Kamae has an essential tactical function, it really seems a good idea to think about it. Right now I do not recall many special mentioning of Kamae in Karate. There is Kamae in Jiyu-Kumite (free fight) and similar methods, and of course the Migi/Hidari Kamae assumed to start Kihon-ido (basic techniques in motion). There is Yôi no Kamae (posture of attention) at the beginning of Kata...

?!?!?