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I had a particularly bad night of sparring yesterday..we did this drill where everyone in the class lines up on the wall. One person is in the middle of the room, and each person in line goes, in order, to fight the guy in the center one-on-one for 30 seconds or so. Sounds easy..except when there are 10 people in the room, and since every new attacker has been resting, they come at you alot better than you can defend against them (in my case anyway). I got slugged about 5 times in the stomach by the first guy, so I had to finish the round not being able to breathe, and I barely made it. Towards the end it was everything I could do to keep the room from spinning enough and protect my head. Keep in mind having asthma and a weak stomach doesn’t help either. I was told afterward that my main problem was that I’m tense. More than one person said that they could see my muscles twinging under my shirt even when I wasn’t striking, and I know myself just how tired I felt afterward. Also, I get so damn frustrated at missing opportunities to strike and defend, when I know better. I get all caught up in trying to think about what’s going on that I’m sitting there getting pummelled.
I’m level 2 and have been sparring almost weekly since probably August or so. I do well when I can (somehow) stop thinking and just let things flow, although this never happens consciously- meaning I can’t replicate it on demand, it just kinda happens. The days when I get nervous or tense up or start thinking of strategy while fighting usually don’t turn out too well, but I can’t help it. I have trouble maintaining the mindset and being aware and counterattacking without thinking. I forget moves that I practice with ease in class. And apparently, I’m tense.
How did you guys get over this hurdle..or is it a constant battle? The more I do it, the more I realize that sparring is such a mental game. I can handle the physical part just fine, it’s getting my brain (usually oxygen-starved) to react the right way and tell the body to do what it already knows.
Sounds to me like you are thinking too much and then getting on yourself for missed opportunities.
I would start by first focusing my techniques during training until it was all muscle memory. Although there is much more thought in fighting than most people realize there is also a large part of it where your body just has to instinctively know what to do when. When your body can act or react without concious thought of punch now or block this one that will free your mind later to think of a strategy.
If you start out with a strategy that just doesn’t work against that particular opponent then you should shift quickly. Even if you have to shift to a pure defensive aspect until you get your footing back.
When doing your bag drills or any other tech drills, consciously tell yourself to relax your body. Muscle memory will take over from there and you will find yourself becoming more physically relaxed in stressful situations.As for getting on yourself for missed opportunities, easiest way I can explain that one is with competitive shooting. The single most important shot of any match is the one that you are on right then and there. Anything that you missed before from bad position or incorrect windage call NO LONGER MATTERS. That shot has already been missed and there is nothing that you can do about it. 3 shots from now is still 3 shots from now, can’t worry about that or your gonna miss the one that you are presently on.
If you feel you didn’t perform to your potential then worry about it after the match. Just get in there and do what you need to do during practice so that on game day it comes together for you.If your having issues outside of this activity then you might want to find a way to deal with them before walking into a situation where you need your head clear.
This is probably a common problem. Thinking too much can be a trap. You get hit by one punch and while you are thinking about it and are mad at yourself for missing the defense, you are not concentrating on the continuing fight, so you won’t see the next punch, get hit again and so on.
Just as prekarious said, try to forget the past and concentrate on the remainder of the fight. Or back off sometimes, just focus on defending. Sometimes, if your mind is set on attacking, your vision suffers and you may not notice your opponent’s counter. Also make sure that you keep looking at your opponent’s chest to see every attack. Especially if you are tired, it can easily happen that you start looking away from your opponent, or toward the floor, and thus you won’t be able to see the punches.
Practice your vision. If you can see your opponent’s attacks early, then you will be more relaxed. You can do that with a partner, have him attack in different ways and just defend. Or you can do it by yourself, get in an opposite stance in front of the mirror and slowly throw attacks, concentrating on seeing the motion as early as possible and then imagining how you would block and counter.
The drill you described is meant to make it very hard and there is no shame in getting tired and losing form, in fact that is probably one of the goals of the exercise, make you tired and have you fight through it anyway.
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GiantkillerRe: How to relax while sparring?
Sounds like Bert got y’all doing something new in fight class.
Look my good man, relax about the relaxing…if you’ve got fresh bodies on you every 30 seconds, there ain’t no way to relax. Just be happy that you’re not on the ground after all that, gasping for air while you’re upchucking, as you’re trying to steady your head from spinning. Sounds like that’s what the drill is designed for, anyways.
As for relaxing while sparring thru rounds, I’ve grown to question all that point sparring nonsense in ‘reality’ based self defense, anyways. I used to spar with Gary (is he still there?), would land everything I’d throw at him only to be bum-rushed by the mofo and slammed against the wall (he outweighs me by a hundred # or so). A year of being slammed against a wall while I’m chill like phil. I look back on that and dunno if it added much to preparing me for an attack in a dim parking lot.
One of the most simple things that we often forget to do when in a stressful situation… remember to breath!! You’ll find yourself getting less tired at the end of the round too.
Yes, breathing is very important! Check yourself sometimes during sparring and see if you might be holding your breath a lot, fearful of getting hit. Then force yourself to breathe as normally as possible during the round. Also take some deep breaths during the break in between each round.
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GiantkillerP1, great response. Ireally hope you keep hanging out, I learn a ton everytime you type 🙂
I’m really relaxed after I get knocked out 😯
I teach something that is real stressful and requires relaxation. I think people don’t really understand what relax means in the context of performance. There needs to be a certain amount of tension in everything we do. Making a fist creates tension in many parts of the body. Its necessary. The worst direction I can give you is to tell you to relax as it puts you more in your head. It may help you to think of moving with a feeling of ease. Practice your fundamentals with the idea of moving with a feeling of ease. Great fighters movements seem effortless but powerful. Once stress is added you’ll move better.
Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Our movements become tenser, we’re sucking wind to survive. Isn’t that the lesson of the drill your describing? Making you push through under extreme stress. Creating chaos, fear and panic. Chaos by its very nature isn’t relaxing, neither is being attacked. I’ve never been in combat, kill or be killed kind of thing and hopefully never will. But I find it hard to imagine relaxing during it. I think the best you can do is try to keep your head in the game, not panicing and rely on your training. Thats what your working on in class. Don’t be so critical of yourself trust the krav process.
The more I read on the drills of krav , the more i think its way ahead of the curve and the more i wished i trained in it
mike
Sometimes wishes can become reality. Just sign them papers and off you go! 😀
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GiantkillerRe: How to relax while sparring?
quote \”G.V.\:Sounds like Bert got y’all doing something new in fight class.As for relaxing while sparring thru rounds, I’ve grown to question all that point sparring nonsense in ‘reality’ based self defense, anyways. I used to spar with Gary (is he still there?), would land everything I’d throw at him only to be bum-rushed by the mofo and slammed against the wall (he outweighs me by a hundred # or so). A year of being slammed against a wall while I’m chill like phil. I look back on that and dunno if it added much to preparing me for an attack in a dim parking lot.
I think it was Eric’s idea this time!
Gary is still there, and yes he still does rush at you. I just move to the side, just like I do with the rest of the big guys. They don’t bother me as much as the tall guys do. I just don’t have the reach to get them from afar (while they are hitting me), nor the speed to get inside without taking a few.
I’d like to test up to L3, but this had made me re-think my entire philosophy. As much as I’m getting tired of the same L2 stuff, I’m fearful that if I don’t get sparring down, that I won’t be prepared for the next level. If Bert thinks I can do it, I’ll do it- I’d trust his judgement over mine any day.As for relaxing, I tried to give it another shot Saturday. 50 minutes straight, 2 minute rounds 30s rest in between. We had some people sitting out after a few rounds so I took a round off because of the odd number, and noticed I wasn’t breathing nearly as hard as usual. Hell, I shadowboxed for most of that round instead of standing there doing nothing. The only other break I took was because I took a bad shot right in the solar plexus- the worst part was that I even saw it coming, but I just wasn’t fast enough and it was too late by then. I tried, after every \”engagement\” to take a step back and re-assess what was going on and what just happened..but quickly forget about it and un-tense my muscles. It’s bad enough I still have to consciously think sometimes to move my head, or to stay on the balls of my feet or whatever, but relaxing helped A LOT. Meaning, at the end of class when I’m usually lucky to be able to see straight, if I haven’t already sat 2-3 rounds out already…this time I was lightly winded and watching everyone else gasp for breath. Now THAT was a good feeling! I noticed my hands didn’t feel as heavy, and I could wait my opponent out a lot easier, than some of my previous attempts at going \”all in\” at first, then tiring too early before the round was over.
Yes, relaxation is key. I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered it, but at least I’ve seen how it helps. Thanks for the advice! Anything else I should know?
You can also think of one combination or counter punch to attempt. Just one, so you don’t have too much to think about. For example, you could think about defending the jab, then countering. Or doing a combination afterward. Then, try to do this a few times when he attacks, see how it works for you. Then think about it afterwards, visualize what worked and what didn’t and try to come up with a way to improve your combinations and try those out next time. This should help you to gradually get better.
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GiantkillerYour first reaction to my response will probably be anger 🙂 swallow that thought for a second and you may have an ephiny either that or you’ll still wanna kick my butt. Did I mention I’m a Packer fan 😛 Okay Ready……LIGHTEN THE HECK UP! 😆
You seem to be so hard on yourself. Put 2 UFC guys on ONe UFC guy and he’s in trouble. Superman’s fictiion. UFC guys who train 3 times a day have trouble with this kind of training. Thats the reason for it. To teach you not to quit. That starts with all the crap thats going on in your head, thats the only place your failing badly now. I have a code that helps me, maybe it will help you. Its simple….I will never, ever turn against myself….Maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. Hope it helps. We learn only thru doing, We learn thru expiriences. When your in process suspend judgement cause your body is learning and its a hell of a lot smarter than you. Keep showing up, thats 99% of the solution
mikeNono, you’re precisely right. It’s just that saying it and thinking it are entirely different than actually DOING it. If I haven’t quit yet, I won’t be quitting. The last time I thought about quitting was the 2nd class I ever took in L1. I’ve stuck it out, advanced, and improved since then, there’s no reason to think I can’t get past it- it’s just frustrating. I have some really good days, and some really shitty days..I’m just trying to figure out what I do different between the two so I can tip the odds in my favor. I’ve learned alot about myself along the way, but sometimes I just get stuck. Thanks for the advice!
I know it will sound elementary (and easier said than done) but … Don’t get hit!!! Obviously, (or I hope it’s obvious) that translates directly to WORK ON YOUR DEFENSE. This was something that Jeff Jimmo really stressed at Winter Camp in Colorado.
It is impossible to spar with someone and not get tagged a few times, but if your defense and movement is good, you can minimize the number of shots you’re taking, while learning to set up your counters and work angles – That means less fatigue, less frustration and happier days!
I have a lot of the same problems that you describe, but I’ve learned that if you can defened / move, you (or at least I) am more comfortable, more relaxed, and the fight just seems to \”flow\” better …
Now, if I could just do that everytime I spar instead of occasionally … 😕
$0.02
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