sparring techniques

[disgruntled]

i just met up with my MA club and we worked on sparing techniques. specifically techniques that teach you how to use range to your advantage.

i will post the exersices that we did, and it would be great if you could share your training techniques to improve your sparring

we did sparing rounds working with just our legs, then arms. this got everyone use to what range you need for each of those. then one person uses legs the other arms while sparring and then you switch. (we were just working with striking) the objective is to teach people how to get in close to choke out a kick and land a punch, or get out of range of a punch and land a kick. we discussed how to work in grappling as well and how to use range to take someone down.

another good technique is to think of a sparring strategy that you want to work on and then tell your sparring partner what you plan on doing. this will teach you how to not only work in that strategy into you sparring, but also how to do it when someone is defending against it.

all these ideas ^^^ are from my Muay Thai classes.

[sirdarksol]

Thanks. This will be great. Sparring is one of the areas that I am worst at, as I prefer to simply be out of range of attacks, and my teachers always want me to get closer.

[eYoon]

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

Thanks. This will be great. Sparring is one of the areas that I am worst at, as I prefer to simply be out of range of attacks, and my teachers always want me to get closer.

haha yea same here... having been a tkd practitioner myself. but since i've started taking wing chun it's helped me with that, because they focus a lot on keeping the forward momentum going. for example... most ppl when sparring circle each other and wait for an opening. in wing chun if the other guy tries that, you move and stay on ur line to cut them off, then step forward and follow up which i found to be a great thing.

[disgruntled]

Originally Posted by eYoon

haha yea same here... having been a tkd practitioner myself. but since i've started taking wing chun it's helped me with that, because they focus a lot on keeping the forward momentum going. for example... most ppl when sparring circle each other and wait for an opening. in wing chun if the other guy tries that, you move and stay on ur line to cut them off, then step forward and follow up which i found to be a great thing.

so does wing chung have more of a straight line sparring technique?? i know that they protect the centre, but i thought they still used circling techniques with sparring.

[Hatori]

I always strive to move in close with sparring techniques. Coming from a tai-jutsu, aikido, ninjutsu background which employs lots of locks, sweeps, takedowns etc I have to get in close to utilise these attacks. Also I have quite short, stocky arms (my training partners says I have T-REX arms) so I have very little reach so I have to get in close to be effective. Whilst training in Kenpo it was high-lighted to me that a lot of sparring is LINEAR whereas you have 360 degrees of movement available and yet a lot of people just rely on moving backwards and forwards in a straight line. Aikido and Kenpo employ a lot of circles which help redirect energy and allow you to get in nice and close

[sirdarksol]

I'm the opposite of you, Hatori. I've got long arms and legs. This is part of the reason I stay too far out. The other is a general fear of getting hit.

[disgruntled]

i found that hapkido and taekwondo are fairly lineral in their sparring... (TKD more than HKD), so i have had to work really hard at using circles to my advantage.

i practice circling around an oppentent with a punching bag. you have to stay close to it, and it is constantly moving, so you can practice circling different way given its trajectory.

[eYoon]

Originally Posted by disgruntled

i found that hapkido and taekwondo are fairly lineral in their sparring... (TKD more than HKD), so i have had to work really hard at using circles to my advantage.

i practice circling around an oppentent with a punching bag. you have to stay close to it, and it is constantly moving, so you can practice circling different way given its trajectory.

yea for sure, i practice circling around my punching bag too. plus watching boxing a lot, the whole circling thing stuck in my brain. plus, hapkido sparring was A LOT of circling around.

in wing chun, they teach you to move sideways on a straight line if ur opponent tries to circle you to get in closer... so u cut them off, then step forward with ur attacks... or so i was taught so far. that to me seems like it renders the circling useless... or... not quite as useful as before, as it forces you to react rather than biding ur time, circling around ur opponent.

[disgruntled]

Originally Posted by eYoon

plus, hapkido sparring was A LOT of circling around.

i disagree. the self-defense is mostly circular, but when you watch most HKDist spar they use a much more lineral pattern. it is mostly advancing and retreating.

[eYoon]

Originally Posted by disgruntled

i disagree. the self-defense is mostly circular, but when you watch most HKDist spar they use a much more lineral pattern. it is mostly advancing and retreating.

that's not how i learned from master park... it was mostly all circling around while sparring from what i can remember. keep in mind that this is our body movements i'm talking about, and not the techniques employed... as i don't recall dancing around in a circle doing self defence, but the locks and throws and such are very circular of course.