I don't see how throwing real punches and being 'hurt' every week has any benefit. I spent my time at a wado-ryu club, and we never had full contact bouts. If we wanted that we went to competition.
If you are hurt, you are injured.... if you are injured - you are not at peak fitness. Being 'hurt' from blows every training session is doing you more harm than good, and will be detrimental to you when you do come up against an aggressor, and more importantly you will also suffer when you are older - and will constantly have weak areas that can be used as target points for an opponant to find.
An Ideal balance is a club which sends you to competitions every few months, but allows you to improve fitness, speed and agility through light sparing in every training session, so you learn what your moves are like in real situations.