Can you get to aggresive?

[MissKarate]

Hello,

Just out of interest can you get to aggresive, as i have been told on my last grading i was to aggresive, but is that down to over confidence, or am i just naturally aggresive, this is a bit of a weird question.

Thankyou

[Moi]

You have to control your aggression. You're not trying to hurt anyone in a grading.

[Llamageddon]

In a nutshel: yes and no. It depends on context.

In a grading, as you're there to demonstrate skill, awareness, control etc it is possible to become too agressive. However, this is again down to personal judgement. For example, my old chief instructor told me I was too aggressive in my black belt grading, albeit using much ruder words (I don't like him, and at the end he told me to use my strength to my advantage...), where I felt I was being sensible. THe guy I was fighting was much bigger and a little stronger I felt, so I stayed in close and attacked attacked attacked. Not a very shotokanny thing to do (well, constant attacking is).

So I, and people I showed the vid to, thought I wasn't being too aggressive. But to be honest, as long as you're not sacrificing technique or taking hits because you're being so aggressive you're not also focusing on defense, I don't think you can be 'too' aggressive. It's when the aggression becomes the primary factor that it causes problems. You should never aim to do someone damage in grading, or in competition (unless perhaps you're competing in full contact).

Now if you're in a self defence situation, there's no such thing as being too aggressive - as long as you're being smart about it. As long as you're not putting yourself in needless danger. This could mean not defending yourself intelligently, right up to starting the fight yourself when you really didn't need to.

Hope this helps

[MissKarate]

Yes, i can control aggression, but it is natural in me that i am a bit aggressive, in grading i respect everyone just like i do in class, but i have been told i am aggressive sometimes.

[MissKarate]

Yes, thanks that has helped Llama, as i do like have a bit of aggression especially in my fighting at the end of class we do sparring and i like having a challege with higher belts but because they have got more technique as they know more i get more aggressive. Sounds abit confusing.

[Spinmaster]

i do like have a bit of aggression especially in my fighting at the end of class we do sparring and i like having a challege with higher belts but because they have got more technique as they know more i get more aggressive.

I think you should work your technique more, to be honest. Attempting to compensate for lack of technique with aggressiveness is not the best strategy in a learning situation. Your goal when sparring with the higher belts isn't necessarily to "win", but to learn from them. Think about what would happen if a higher belt decided to up the aggressiveness against you; given his superior technique, he'd likely beat you pretty easily, yes? And neither of you would learn anything.
In the same way, you don't really learn anything if you get really aggressive and sacrifice technique, because you're trying to win.

Note that I'm not saying aggressiveness in and of itself is bad; being an offensive fighter with intent[1] is awesome. What I'm saying is, don't be so worried about winning that you sacrifice technique - remember that the main goal is to learn, and you don't learn anything by going wild.

[1] If you aren't familiar with the term in this context, it means having an "I'm here to win" attitude. Committing to the fight, not standing back worrying "well, that looks a bit painful".

[Moosey]

Generally if someone says you're being too aggressive, what they mean is that your aggression is making your techniques sloppy. There's no problem with throwing good techniques with shed-loads of aggressions, but if you're so intent on leathering the other person that all your learning goes out of the window, that could be the problem.

[koyo]

Aggression without malice equals good martial art.

Aggression without control equals bad martial arts.

[Frodocious]

As others have pointed out, if your aggression leads to sloppy technique then it is bad. As a woman, you need to get your technique as perfect as possible, because in a self defense situation against a man you will generally have to rely on technique over strength. Good technique backed up with aggression is fine, mistaking aggressive fighting for good technique is not fine.

[MissKarate]

Well, they said on my grading that i was too aggresive but my technique was strong and very good, and i just needed to ease down abit on the aggression, so i am abit confused here :s

Any other comments?

[righty]

Without seeing your performance it's really hard to tell. It's best if you ask your instructor for more clarification.

It's still is possible to be overly aggressive and still have good technique. It depends on what you are trying to demonstrate. If you are demonstrating aggression, demonstrate aggression. If you are demonstrating control, then demonstrate control. It becomes much harder when you have to demonstrate both these attributes at the same time.

For example, when sparring my kicks can have perfect technique and be strong but break someone's knee (not good).

[Urban_Samurai]

Aggression is important in martial arts, for without it techniques just look lifeless and ineffective, but as everyone is saying here, it has to be controlled. You may find it easier to think in terms of intent, rather than aggression. Ask yourself what your intention is when doing a technique. Do you wish to totally control and dominate an opponent? You can still do this without getting overly aggressive, although aggression is used to deliver your intent. Intent is a difficult concept to communicate, so I hope I've made sense here. Just focus on the technique more, rather than your aggression. Eventually your aggression will level out and you should be able to amp it up or tone it down at will.

[MissKarate]

Thanks for the advice Urban, very helpful and detailed.
I will take that into account.
Thanks again :)

[Urban_Samurai]

Glad to be of help. If you'd like further details on the subject of intent then you can check out this article I wrote on my blog:

Intent in the Martial Arts (http://urbansamurai.org.uk/martial-thought/intent-martial-arts/)

[bcullen]

Well, they said on my grading that i was too aggresive but my technique was strong and very good, and i just needed to ease down abit on the aggression, so i am abit confused here :s

Any other comments?

Which grader did you punch? :)

[MissKarate]

Urban i will take a look at the article....thanks very much.
I punched a brown belt :)

[Patrick Smith]

Urban i will take a look at the article....thanks very much.
I punched a brown belt :)

Haha! As long as you didn't hit below the brown belt I don't think it should be a problem! :D

In a nutshel: yes and no. It depends on context.

In a grading, as you're there to demonstrate skill, awareness, control etc it is possible to become too agressive. However, this is again down to personal judgement. For example, my old chief instructor told me I was too aggressive in my black belt grading, albeit using much ruder words (I don't like him, and at the end he told me to use my strength to my advantage...), where I felt I was being sensible. THe guy I was fighting was much bigger and a little stronger I felt, so I stayed in close and attacked attacked attacked. Not a very shotokanny thing to do (well, constant attacking is).

So I, and people I showed the vid to, thought I wasn't being too aggressive. But to be honest, as long as you're not sacrificing technique or taking hits because you're being so aggressive you're not also focusing on defense, I don't think you can be 'too' aggressive. It's when the aggression becomes the primary factor that it causes problems. You should never aim to do someone damage in grading, or in competition (unless perhaps you're competing in full contact).

Now if you're in a self defence situation, there's no such thing as being too aggressive - as long as you're being smart about it. As long as you're not putting yourself in needless danger. This could mean not defending yourself intelligently, right up to starting the fight yourself when you really didn't need to.

Hope this helps

QFE

[MissKarate]

O.. No i didn't to the brown belt...
but i did oncee Haha. he fell on the ground :/

[Blade96]

O.. No i didn't to the brown belt...
but i did oncee Haha. he fell on the ground :/

thats funny, glad he was ok, btw when i did 2 months of Kenpo was paired up with this black belt and I kicked him right in the family jewels, he was ok though =]

btw i learned when practicing my Kata heian shodan that it is possible to get too agressive. when you do Kata its done with a certain rythmn, and if you get too eager to punch your imaginary opponent's lights out you can break that rythmn and that would cost me points in my tournament or when i test for my yellow belt (ex I might wind up doing my heian shodan too fast for example)