Everything you ever needed to know about sparring SON!

How much can you really know about yourself…if you’ve never been in a fight?…Aaahhh the legendary FIGHT CLUB…lol.  As a veteran of 10+ years of professional fighting, I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel the world, having some 20+ different countries stamped in my passport.  With all of that experience has come the opportunity to train and spar with many different philosophies on training and fighting.

While punching and kicking each other brings a smile to every gladiators face, its important to maximize the time and get the most benefit from each sparring session.  In order to do this, there are a couple of things to think about;

Once you decide to spar in practice, it is important to recognize what has motivated you to ‘’glove up’’.  Are you a professional fighter programing technical skills?  Are you preparing for a World Championship fight?  Are you and your training buddies just fooling around in the ring after training?—are you a complete beginner looking to see what its like to get hit?

Once you know why you are sparring, it is important to evaluate your partners motivation.  Knowing what you and your partner are wanting to get out of the  sparring session will ensure that niether of you are taken by surprise.  If your just looking to get some recreational sparring in, while your partner is preparing for a Professional bout…you may need to go about sparring differently.  Making sure you both understand what your looking to get out of the sparring session will ensure neither one of you are caught of guard or disappointed with the training.

How do I not become…’’That Guy’’

Setting the tempo

The fastest way to escalate a sparring session into an all out fight is to start a little too aggressive.  Every time you spar with a new partner (even if you have trained with them during a previous training session)—it is important to start slow.  This becomes especially difficult when you’ve already been sparring a few rounds with someone and you’ve been swinging for the fences…lol…but…its a new partner, and its important to set the tempo gradually.

Start slow, gradually picking the pace up as you get use to sparring with one another.  A lot of times when guys have trained together before,they  jump right into heavy sparring however.  It’s always a better idea to warm up to one another, each sparring session. Once the two of you have had an opportunity to ‘’feel each other out’’ if your partner is comfortable with upping the tempo, then continue to spar at whatever intensity you both feel comfortable with.  Jumping right into a sparring session at 100% is the easiest way to become ‘’That Guy’’…lol

Along the same lines, if you are working with someone you know is in fight camp, you may need to put a little bit of ‘’elbow grease’’ behind your strikes.  If you know someone is looking to get some work in during their sparring session, either step up the effort or jump aside and let someone else use the ring time.  Everyone has limited time they are able to train, so its no fun to have your time wasted by someone that only wants to slow motion- play fight, while you’re looking to push the intensity.

The Super Cool Bruce Lee Move

The Spinning Back Axe Kick is probably one of the fastest ways to get ‘’Green lit’’ at a new gym.  If it is the first time you have sparred with someone, do yourself a favor and keep those tricks in your tool bag for another day.  The easiest way to turn someone who would have been a ‘’friend’’ into a raging lunatic is to use some retarded move you and your buddies thought up while playing Street Fighter.  While the ‘’HHHAAADUUUKEEEN”  moves can be effective, sometimes they are difficult to use execute with full control of power.  When sparring someone you just met, keep it simple, this will help you establish a good working relationship with the person.  Once you guys have had an opportunity to train with one another all the time, you can begin to use some of these ‘’Super Cool Bruce Lee Moves’’—chances are by that time he has already decided whether or not he wants to be friends with you…LOL  If your getting ready for an actual fight, and the sparring is fight prep specific, then by all means utilize the tools your going to use in your bout.

Own the gear

Most people own two sets of gloves. If you are hitting the pads and bags, it is polite to have another set of gloves that you only use while sparring.  This helps cut down on the amount of bacteria and fungus spread from training equipment.  Most gym’s require sparring partners to wear 16oz gloves, and if you are doing kicks, shin pads are expected.  A mouth guard is essential and head gear/ athletic cup is recommended.  If you do not have the proper size gloves to spar, don’t  ask if its okay to go ‘’light’’, what you consider light might not be light to another person.  Same rule goes for sparring without a mouth guard. Safety first! Protect your hands, mouth, and brain…as they are the only ones god gave ya!

Where are you on the totum pole?

Is this guy technically better than me?—That is usually the first question that runs through my head when I meet a new sparring partner.—and I’m sure it is in the back of their head as we are putting on our gloves and shin pads.  Even if this is a light sparring session, I’m wanting to display proper technique and a range of skills, while comparing it with their abilities.

If it is the first time I have ever sparred anyone, I am going to do the best that I can.  I want to let the other person know exactly how good I am by demonstrating control and technical skills.  While I say doing the best that I can—I don’t mean punishing unsuspecting sparring partners who are looking for a nice feel-ya-out kind of round.

What I am talking about is demonstrating good technical skills.  Not letting them hit me just because they don’t have any punching power. Not being lazy and only countering with teeps and jabs because they are too slow to attack.  When sparring I always try to demonstrate the best technical ability I can, which is what a good sparring match is all about.  In Thailand, I use to see Thai’s intentionally spar in an effort to ‘’Make it look easy’’—or ‘’cool’’ by barely trying to fight back.  A majority of these training sessions were a waste of time, because the proper respect wasn’t shown during sparring.

But She’s a girl!

When a girl signs up for sparring, she is agreeing to it all.  She understands that she is going to hit, and that she is going to be hit.  When sparring with a girl it’s important to approach the training with the same mindset as you would if it was a guy of similar weight.  Your not doing the girl any favors by only punching her in the body, and if you only work your defense your creating an unrealistic sparring scenario.  Lots of women who are new to sparring struggle with the actual concept of ‘’punching’’ someone.  The realization that being hit in context to the sparring isn’t such a bad idea, will often help girls understand the training.  The truth is, some women may not be cut out for sparring.

When you do get an opportunity to train with a girl who is obviously experienced, it is important to recognize that they are there for competitive sparring and expect you to be professional as well.  To say this nicely, (Claire Haigh, Miriam Nakamoto, Veronika Lundemo) I have seen several girls who are more then capable of beating a guy.

As with all sparring, it is important to realize the effectiveness of your strikes.  REGARDLESS OF GENDER, if you stagger your partner of knock them down, you need to lighten things up.  In regards to apologies for hard strikes, unless you blatantly lose control, stop apologizing…after all the goal of sparring is to hit the other person.

Keep yo’ Stank off me SON!

Seriously.  While we are all natural savages during the day, its important that we keep up on our daily commitments such as sowering, clean clothes, trimming our nails, brushing our teeth…hell I’ll even through wearing deodorant into this check list.  Having someone smell like a fresh onion while they peel the skin off the back of my neck with their finger nails in the Thai clench is the easiest way to accidentally get thrown out of the ring…lol.

Keep the jewelry in your gym bag, and any small ‘’friendship bracelet’’ type jewelry that can not be removed, should have a piece of athletic tape placed around it.

Never train with open sores.  If you have roadrash, or a blister, or some other open cut, make sure it is covered by athletic tape.  While extreme I always tell people ‘’if a person had hepatitis or AIDS and touched your –clawed off mosquito bite’’—would you feel safe with that decision? If the answer is no, make sure you cover the area with some athletic tape.

Clean Shirts are a must!  Bring extra cotton shirts to practice.  If you get covered in sweat, change your shirt.  I always joke with people that my clean shirt isn’t to keep my sweat of you, it is to keep your FUNK OFF ME.  The cotton t-shirt is one more barrier between your body and mine, whenever it gets soaking wet, I’ll take it off and replace it with a new one.

Cleaning your equipment is mandatory.  Your gloves, Shin Pads, Hand Wraps, Headgear should be cleaned daily.  You don’t want bacteria spreading, and after investing in good equipment it is important to make it last.  Cleaning your training gear will help the gym cut down on the spread of fungus and bacteria.

I am David you are Goliath

Royce Gracie. I blame him for this one…lol.  It never fails that people in the martial arts community want to test their techniques and see how well they will work against an opponent bigger and stronger in size.  Generally speaking, these training sessions are better avoided when possible.  The larger person isn’t really getting the benefit from the work, as it doesn’t take a lot of effort to pick apart a smaller opponent, unless they are superiorly skilled, and the smaller partner is really only getting the opportunity to train in the art of frustration as they struggle to overcome the size difference.  Typically speaking, it is better to find a sparring partner around the same size as you.

BIG DAWGS

Anyone who trains long enough, with the right trainers will eventually reach a point where they have become the ‘’big dawg’’ in their gym.  It’s important that as we continue to improve, we continue our search for sparring partners that can push us.  If a person is head and shoulders above everyone else in the group, and there is no one able to push them into bad situations in sparring, then it is important to talk to other coaches, visit other gyms, bring in other partners, who are able to help facilitate the growth needed from sparring.

Often to achieve this goal, you will have to vary your training.  If I am a good kickboxer, I may need to find a boxing gym that will force me to focus on the exclusivity of my hands for striking.  Finding new styles of effective striking is always good, as it continues the evolution of fighting.  It wasn’t very long ago that Karate was considered ineffective in the UFC, and then Machida came along to KO Randy Couture.  Being able to cross train at various gym with different skill sets, while focusing on various technical differences will prevent you from ever becoming ‘’The TOP DAWG’.

What type of sparring?

Technical

This is where beginners should focus all of their attention, and unless your in fight camp, should make up a majority of your training while sparring.  The main focus of these sessions should be to practice your techniques during real life application.  The goal is to learn the techniques during drill and padwork effectively enough that you can utilize your timing and and display the skill during an actual simulation of a fight.  In order to use our toys ‘’learning’’ needs to be a mindset that is the focus throughout the entire training session.

In order to keep the focus of the training on learning, the tempo should be slow with a level of competitiveness to match.  Remaining calm, composed, and relaxed is the goal.  If your partner is punching so hard that you are afraid to utilize a sip to get inside the pocket, then the power needs to be brought down.  Your goals can change depending on the sparring session, however it is important that you select other goals rather than simply ‘’winning’’ each time, or you will never progress as a fighter.
The goal of technical sparring is to perfect your timing and confidence in all aspects of fighting.  That is easier said then done, and often is one of the last things to come with ring experience.  While doing technical sparring focus on your balance, posture, hand position, foot work, ring movement, etc.

Pitbull

This is one of the most important sparring scenarios for developing athleticism, killer instinct, timing, distance, and most importantly determination to win.  For someone wanting to fight, this COULD BE considered themost important kind of sparring, because the ability to get into the fight and be a pitbull is sometimes for crucial to wining the fight than technique, however due to the wear and tear on the body, it is focused on a lot less during typical sparring.
When showcasing the Pitbull sparring you have a completely different mindset than the person sparring for technical skill.  The more time you spend developing the Pitbull mindset, the harder time you are gong to have developing your technical side.  A lot of ‘’born fighters’’ will have a harder time developing technique because of their athleticism and aggressiveness overwhelming opponents without the need for them to develop proper technique.
Pitbull sparring is fast and aggressive.  It is important to defend and aggressively attack more effectively than your sparring partner.  In this type of sparring session you will need to set the tempo of the match by starting and ending all exchanges and controlling the ring.  When you are sparring during these sessions you should have a strategy in mind for controlling the ring, utilizing the center of the fighting area to push your opponent into the corner utilizing strategies you have been working on.  This type of sparring will help you perfect your fight time strategy while giving you a true gauge of your athletic shape. While you maybe sparring with heavy power, this is not a fight.  You do not want to allow these sparring sessions to turn into wild brawls, as you should be doing your best to effectively set up potentially damaging attacks in combination, setting up or countering your opponents next move.  It is important to never go into a 100% defensive mode during this type of sparring because it will allow your partner to go 100% offensive.  Stay cool under pressure is the key to this type of sparring, and you should be considering every single movement and how it is going to help you land your next combination.

Competition Prep

This is when you have to be conscious of the fight  Sparring serves a completely different purpose.  Prior to fight preperations we were worried about learning techniques, developing new skills, however now the priority is focused on putting that all into battle mode.

When in fight camp, Sparring needs to be like all other aspects of training and at its highest level of intensity.  No one in the middle of peaking for a fight should be sparring with a casual training partner, or a newbie wanting to try their first few rounds of being punched.  Sparring is intense to the point that it should be getting the person geared up for the actual intesnity and ferocity of the fight.  When you are getting ready for a fight, the farthest thing from your mind should be being the nice guy, and you should be focusing on exactly what you are gong to need to do to defeat your opponent.  It should be your coaches responsibility to control the power during sparring.  As your coach will be corning you, it is important that you use this sparring as an opportunity to develop their ‘’voice’’—since they will be your eyes and ears during the match.

When you fight, your brain is reduced to a pretty minimal set of functions, so you will have to totally rely on your coach for tactics and strategy so it is very important that you’ve honed the ability to listen and do what they say.

Fight camp preparation is always beneficial to bring in outside camps for sparring, because you get the feel of going against a stranger, which is one thing that is impossible to duplicate during practice.  When you are paired against a stranger you will typically be more competitively minded than you are with your regular teammates, which allows you to get closer to that ‘’fight simulation’’

I got the guideline from this from a forum post from about 3 or 4 years ago, rewrote a few of the ideas, but if you would like to check out the original posting click here