Honest technique

While observing a round of self-defense in the dojo the other night, I thought about the concept of "being honest" when training with partner.

If a set drill has me as the attacker and you as the defender, if I purposefully aim off-target to make it easier for you, I'm not giving you a real, or "honest" technique.  Same goes for if I go slower or modify the technique to make it less effective.  It means that you're learning to take an attack that's not realistic, and in response training a technique that's not as effective.

Of course there are exceptions to this being something to avoid, like if you're with someone much less skilled than you and you don't want to punch them in the face over and over again.  You want them to have a chance at first, but in a short time you should be working up to that honest technique.

So when I'm not "honest" about a technique, it trains poor technique on my part but also has a negative effect on my partner's technique.  So I got to thinking, is there a comparable lesson to apply to taiko?


Can you think of ways where you've held back in your technique to make it easier on yourself (and not for physical/medical reasons)?

Again, there are times when you maybe should "pull your punches" so to speak, but when you're not making an honest output, what deficiencies are you creating in your technique?