Latest sparring session

[tn94z]

I forgot to post this last Thursday, but I had the best sparring session I've had so far. My footwork has improved a lot. I'm not reaching for my punches anymore and keeping my chin more center line when I throw. Defense is coming along. I landed more shots on everyone than I ever have. My kicks were crisp and weren't telegraphed. I did get caught pretty good in my forehead at some point. I don't remember taking a shot there, but when I got home my wife said something and I looked in the mirror. It looked like a big carpet burn on my head. I had 4 sessions of 3 minutes each. 2 against a friend of mine's kid (he is 16 and has AMAZING technique along with a long reach that he knows how to use). 1 against an older karate/BJJ guy...probably twice as big as me...I won that one. And the last against a Pro MMA fighter (this is the same guy I had to roll with in BJJ...he's about 280lbs). I felt great when I left. I did catch a few body kicks for some reason. I am usually good about seeing these coming, but a few snuck in from 2 different guys. It's like each week I get caught with something different.

[chris32]

Re: Latest sparring session

definitely sounds like your having fun with it.

[jipped genes]

Re: Latest sparring session

that's great. again i wish i lived near you so we could spar. since my fight we have been working real hard on fluidity and movement. along with rhythm and speed. sounds like you are way ahead of the game doing 3 minute rounds without gassing.

if your forehead gets bruised try citrus bioflavanoids before training. i don;t bruise anymore. at least not much.

glad you are doing well. spar as much as you can. it will only make you better.

[tn94z]

Re: Latest sparring session

definitely sounds like your having fun with it.

Yes sir. I love it.

that's great. again i wish i lived near you so we could spar. since my fight we have been working real hard on fluidity and movement. along with rhythm and speed. sounds like you are way ahead of the game doing 3 minute rounds without gassing.

if your forehead gets bruised try citrus bioflavanoids before training. i don;t bruise anymore. at least not much.

glad you are doing well. spar as much as you can. it will only make you better.

I know. I wish I had someone close to train with other than the gym. I love training but it's an hour drive one way and the time and gas is killing me. But my it's where my step son does BJJ and I don't like for him to miss a class. If he's going, I might as well too...


Fluidity, rhythm, movement, and speed is what causes me to get hit so much. That and I've noticed my hands drop in certain situations. I've got to work on all that. We spar ALOT!!! So we don't have a choice there. And it's not on scheduled nights either. You may spar at the end of every session for a week. Or we may not spar for 2 weeks. It just depends on how he thinks everyone in class is doing. It's not in a ring boxing type sparring, but we partner up and spar for 3 minutes. Then we change partners and go again. And continue until he tells us class is over. He doesn't want to be one of those gyms where you do nothing but hit the bag. That's what I like about this gym. If you don't want to get hit, you need to go somewhere else.

The spot on my head wasn't really a bruise. It looked more like a punch or kick coming in and I moved and it slid across my forehead causing a carpet burn type spot. It's gone now.

We have had some new people come in the last month so now class is PACKED in boxing!! Most of those don't stay for Muay Thai....I think they are afraid of the contact with legs, knee, etc...haha! I've seen a few people come and go. That's when you really notice how much you've improved. It's hard noticing improvement as much with your training partners because they are all improving too. But when new people come in and you see how much trouble they have with good technique, then you realize how far you have come. Right now, I judge most of my progress but how many shots I land on certain guys during sparring. And of course, I can feel when my footwork has improved.

We had started the krav maga but after the first class....everyone stopped showing up..haha! They were new guys and I guess we scared them off and we didn't even do anything really. So that class fizzled until he can get some more participants. There ended up being only 2 of us and he can't afford to eat up an hour for just 2 guys when he could have a class full of boxing people or muay thai. I understood that. He is going to try to market it a lot more to see if he can spur some interest.

[tn94z]

Re: Latest sparring session

Well, went from a really good sparring session to getting the crap beat out of me. Last night only 3 of us showed up and 1 of those got hurt and left. He's a pro mma fighter with a fight in a couple of weeks. He has been battling a foot and wrist injury so it was probably good that he left. He has been hitting it HARD for a while now.

So the good thing about only 2 of us being in Muay Thai is we have the teacher's undivided attention and his focus is 100% on us. He found a few things that I was doing incorrectly (and I thought I was doing great). So we worked on those.

The bad thing is when there are only two of us, instead of sparring each other, we have to spar him. Basically all you can do is work defense because you aren't going to land much of anything on him (unless you want to take a 4 punch combo with some kicks thrown in for your efforts...haha). Needless to say, he exploited all my weaknesses in a matter of 4 minutes. He's tough man. Never lets up. Never lets you get settled. Always in your face with something. It's good for us training wise. It's bad for us pain wise. I never really got hurt though. It was mainly my conditioning. You can do conditioning ALL day long, but there is nothing like sparring with a guy that is constantly in your face and having no breaks. That's a whole new level of conditioning.

He says one of the main things he saw in my sparring (another GREAT reason I like sparring with him) is that I need to stay in there and block shots rather than trying to use my footwork so much to get out. He said my footwork is getting better but I rely on it to get out rather than just using defense in the pocket more. He said always remember that a good defense will open up your offense.

[jipped genes]

Re: Latest sparring session

oh but that is good. we have the same thing when you spar Khru it is all about defense and sticking a jab when you can. but it is good for your timing. look for tiny openings when you can strike.

next time you spar. if he is throwing the 1-2 alot. eat the jab. fade your right shoulder in and drop as you punch to the body. it will land 4 out of 5 times. if he is not real quick or throws the right so hard he falls forward you can get off a left hook too.

my fav combo is right straight to the body, left hook, right cross, pause to let them thing your done and they will come in again and jab cross. then after doing the right body shot 3-4 times and they are getting wise and bringing their elbow in throw it to the head or slip the right cross and left hook the body then head.

do you switch stances when you spar?

[tn94z]

Re: Latest sparring session

Man we worked an 18 move combo last night!!! You will appreciate this Jipped:

jab
right cross
left hook
block left body shot
block right body shot
right uppercut
left hook
right cross
shoulder roll (defense for right upper cut)
block left hook
roll under right cross
left hook
right cross
slip jab
slip jab
roll out to the right
right cross
left hook

And lucky me, I had the coach holding pads for me.....so they were coming fast.

[jipped genes]

Re: Latest sparring session

Man we worked an 18 move combo last night!!! You will appreciate this Jipped:

jab
right cross
left hook
block left body shot
block right body shot
right uppercut
left hook
right cross
shoulder roll (defense for right upper cut)
block left hook
roll under right cross
left hook
right cross
slip jab
slip jab
roll out to the right
right cross
left hook

And lucky me, I had the coach holding pads for me.....so they were coming fast.

oh yeah we are actually worklng similar techniques with the body shots and slipping. footwork really comes into play. even if a body shot lands on your arm and does not hurt if you are not heavy he can knock you off balance and you have that split second you are vulnerable. those are good drills for real fighting. do them enough and they just come out in sparring