It is!

People have been parroting this nonsense for a long time. No one ever thought they did hit back, neither do punching bags, hand mitts, shooting targets, weapon pells, or any other “training” target. We spar hard with all our arts plus BJJ, Muay Thai, and Boxing… we use targets in all these arts too….

Tyson and Mayweather are boxers. The reason head movement like that works well in boxing is because they only punch with no grappling or kicks. These students are training in arts that’s have kicks, knees, grappling, weapons etc. There is a reason boxing head movement is not used in Muay Thai, combative training, grappling, or weapons training. It doesn’t work the same and you’ll get knees to the face, taken down etc. Students at ICA do train with a boxing coach and a Muay Thai coach as a secondary study, but that’s not what’s being shown here. This is a important exercise that keeps students on the line under lots of pressure using the rear hand to develop it as a part of real combat training.

Good question, being the person doing the throws, these can all be done safely on concrete. However being the one who is thrown hard to the ground, whether in combat or by other means such as falling on the ice or some other thing, good practice with break-falls, rolls, and body conditioning is crucial. Especially with hazards like curbs, chairs, stairs, to fall into. Our advanced practitioners have been thrown thousands of times in all manner of ways and can handle hard falls much better than most people, and while fighting back.