yesterday I was sparring and was flinching a lot, this hasn't happend for a long time. what can I do to stop it from coming back? I hope it will go away on its own.
A very similar discussion is underway in the MT section: http://martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68108 Also Khun Kao often gives out a link to a MT 'e-textbook' (not sure he'd agree with the term but you get the idea) it has a section at the end about flinch drills. Will try and dredge up the link. Edit: He gives the link here: http://martialartsplanet.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1211313&postcount=7
An excellent drill we did @ my old school to train the flinch out of your body is that you stand in a boxing stance with your back foot against the wall & your partner feeds punches at you continually for X amount of time (I think it was usually 1 minute, in our case). You can slip & bob & weave, but not move your feet. The trick is to have your partner start feeding the punches slowly, but with good form & in proper range. This will allow you to stare down "real-looking" punches when you do your defense. At the slow pace it's much easier to not flinch. Once you're able to do that decently, then have the feeder speed up a little bit. Then a little bit more, and a little bit more, etc. I found it to be a very effective drill.
