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My “fight” or “sparring” classes are only held at night.
It is impossible for me to get to these classes since I take classes at lunch and live 3 hrs away from where my classes are held.
Am I seriously losing out by not sparring?
Thanks!
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
Sparring, while useful, is NOT fighting. So my answer is…no.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
I’m not an instructor but I can tell you what I gain from sparring. I personally think a lot of things you would normally do in the street are not necessarily the same in a sparring session. We are not allowed to use knees, elbows, kicks to the groin etc. And I definately wouldn’t square up with someone and exchange strikes in the street.
But things that I’ve learned and practiced are blocking, movement, and punch combinations. But if I ever had to use KM in real life, it wouldn’t look anything like a sparring session.
I think if I never had sparring as part of my KM training, I’d still be able to defend myself, but knowing how it feels to hit and be hit is helpful as well.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
quote MadDogMean:I personally think a lot of things you would normally do in the street are not necessarily the same in a sparring session. We are not allowed to use knees, elbows, kicks to the groin etc. And I definately wouldn’t square up with someone and exchange strikes in the street.But things that I’ve learned and practiced are blocking, movement, and punch combinations. But if I ever had to use KM in real life, it wouldn’t look anything like a sparring session.
Agreed.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
The best thing about sparring is getting used to the stress of the attack. Its different when somebody is gunning for your head. While the drills in KM class are great and help with this, there is just something about sparring that is a little more intense. So I think it is useful, but not 100% absolutely necessary. See if you can attend it ocassionally or look for seminars on sparring and work that into your schedule. You are already getting Krav Maga, the rest is just a little extra fun stuff.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
In answer to your question, yes…
However, sparring in any art represents the application of what you have learnt and in that respect it is certainly advantageous.
In my class we tend to ‘slow fight’ in which we spar but try to implement attacks and defences associated with chokes hugs etc and normal sparring where it is an application of striking techniques and defence.
Nice thing about sparring as well is that it teaches you timing, what works and what it’s like to get hit. All points that are going to be useful in a real SD situation.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
You should definitely be sparring and I’d go as far as to say if you can’t find a way to make it to the class then it would be worth your time doing another class in thai boxing at a time you can make it just to get the experience.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
I don’t think that you are missing out on much by not sparring. I’m still in Level 1, but I’ll go so far as to say that the most important aspect of Krav (above and beyond technique) is your will to fight. If you have a good instructor, he/she should constantly be cultivating this willingness. By the same token, you should constantly be moving towards this willingness to fight. I call it the “kill switch”. We all have it, but some people are more reluctant/afraid to touch upon it.
Don’t get me wrong, technique is very important…but at the moment of truth…you must be willing to do anything and everything necessary to save your life. This means striking quickly and fighting viciously with everything you have (no matter what the odds are). If you keep this firmly in mind during every second of your training, you’ll get what Krav is trying to teach you.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
KM slow fighting & actual sparring are two different things IMO.
Slow fighting IMO has more training value to KM practitioners in terms of muscle memory & learning ‘targets’.
Sparring, in KM, IMHO seems to mainly be an exam component which measures one’s fighting spirit & tenacity.
Sparring ‘violates’ some KM principles as generally the participants will stand in place trading blows, staring at each other with tunnel vision.
Where I train KM, there’s almost never any sparring during training..
But thumbs up all the same to some of the posts here about the value of sparring benefits in KM – I can see those points..
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
[QUOTE=Chocolate Soldier;48193]
Sparring ‘violates’ some KM principles as generally the participants will stand in place trading blows, staring at each other with tunnel vision.
QUOTE]
This is exactly why I think sparring is important… people will do that in a fight. Get them used to situational awareness in a “safe” enviroment. Moving, looking, fighting, being aware of who and what is around you is very valuable.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
Thanks to Kirsten and the rest on this one – I have been approaching sparring recently with a new adjusted attitude & can see the value of the stress, sucking up blows, situational awareness & also the randomness of the sparring itself eg: the unpredictability of the ‘opponent’. Getting a lot more out of it now – thanks people!
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
quote Chocolate Soldier:Thanks to Kirsten and the rest on this one – I have been approaching sparring recently with a new adjusted attitude & can see the value of the stress, sucking up blows, situational awareness & also the randomness of the sparring itself eg: the unpredictability of the ‘opponent’. Getting a lot more out of it now – thanks people!Wow, thank you Chocolate Soldier for giving us this feedback. I am glad to hear you are doing so well!! 🙂
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
Just a thought…students I’ve trained who have gone on to defend themselves in real life (mostly law enforcement and/or military), usually had no sparring experience when they defended themselves successfully.
Re: My class has no sparring is Krav still useful?
Thanks all, I have sparred before when I was involved with other martial arts. Sparring for me is not an option. I just don’t have enough hours in the day and this is all that I can fit in or afford.
It is not a matter of making work/life adjustments. This is all the time that I have and this is as good as it gets.
Thanks again for your thoughts!
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