since we have so many veterans of the arts here, this seems like it would be a good topic. what did you guys do to improve your sparring? how did you gain speed? stamina? did any of you record your sparring matches? i've only been sparring for a short time and i enjoy it. i've got a sparring partner outside of the dojo and he offers a good challenge. he's fast and he's got great kicks. he trained in tae kwon do for awhile...i've heard people say that tae kwon do is useless because it focuses so much on kicks. and once you get past the kicks then the person is defenseless. i'm finding it a bit challenging to get past the kicks....but once i do get past them, this guy has some other tricks. i'm looking forward to training and sparring with this guy.
Here's a tip to get passed the kicks. Tuck your chin, cover your face with your fists with your elbows down to protect your sides. As he kicks, step in a circular motion moving with the kick (ideally he's throwing a roundhouse kick) as you step in punch him in the face. Or you could do what I do, and just dance around with him and use outside blocks to hurt his legs. I've never met a TKDer that had enough power in their kicks for me to be afraid of. Whatever you do, good luck and have fun
Josh, call me I want to go with you guys... also, you know sparring day is this Saturday, right? cya -David
Do you allow sweeps/takedowns in your sparring? If so, I find that's typically the best way to counter people who kick a lot. Especially if you get good at catching kicks, sweep out his base leg. I did this about half a dozen times to a TKD black belt and um... she won't fight me anymore.
Yes, we were allowing sweeps and takedowns when we sparred. We would go up to medium power, the only thing that was illegal was eye gouging, hair pulling, biting, blows to the throat, and a couple more things. But I'm not sparring with this guy anymore, he's moving. I did catch his kicks a few times. One time he tried to jerk it back and he fell to the ground. I jumped on his back and put him in a choke hold (sleeper hold). His hip got sore from me catching his kicks and pulling his leg. Another thing that I would do is step on his foot and then punch him. His foot got bruised up. The only sparring that I'll be doing now will be in class. I like catching the leg and there's a few things that I want to try with that. Whenever I get the chance I'll let you guys know how it turned out.
Fighting tae kwon do lads with kicks is no different to anybody else who is good with kicks, close them down and force them to use there hands they cant kick if the kicking rang is too narrow. Reading one comment about circling with the kick like if they do a roundhouse if he is a kicker then the kick should be too fast to do this same goes for grabbing the leg, nobody should be able to do that too a kicker. TKD is a sport and they concentrate far too much on high kicks, u close him down when hes firing his kicks of and come in with a load of punches he'll be defenceless.
Sparing is like any other skill, practice improves the skill. The trouble with sparing is that the skill sets are so diverse and the tension of the fight reduces your actions to only those that are natural for you to do. Breaking sparing down and practicing components like speed, timing and accuracy can help. Simplifying it in any number of ways can help with developing new techniques. By limiting attacks to only punches or kicks or designating one participant as the attacker can further simplify it. Reducing tension by changing the mind set to playing rather than beating the opponent or going half speed will allow you to experiment and develop the use of techniques freely. This is not to suggest that you always use these training methods, you have to mix it around and experiment. There will be a need for stronger sparring as skills develop, but to get the best educational outcome sparring should be challenging but not overwhelming. Getting the crap beat out of you won’t result in an improvement of application of technique for you. Break the skills down, practice them, and then gradually tie them all back together.
Since starting in Kyokushin Ive completely lost interest in the sparring we do in Kenpo. I still do it for exercise and fun but as far as fighting is concerned Im not getting anything from it. OSU, Dave.
the kyusho opens many more doors, or at least it shows you where the open doors are. are you going to be there this weekend, sparring and kyusho?
I'm sorry. I had mistaken you for kenpo david. we train at the same dojo. disregard that post. any good tips for sparring?
The best way I found to improve was to concentrate on defense and look for opening or create them. There is a matter of power speed and how well you take a hit, but it's also about strategy. I set a standard of seven three minute rounds. Do not stop after every point, but use a continuous flow and keep you eyes on your target. Like I said its all strategy try not to duplicate the and move over and over. Use a low hit then go high. After that do two high and so on. The best way I found to start is using blocking and striking stets. Then move on to applying techniques, this will teach you how to apply them. Remember this is not the perfect world scenario, so the technique will be applied differently depending on the strike and reaction of your opponent.
Buuuull.... kick catching is a totally valid, and very effective, means of countering kicks. Just watch any San Shou bout - people throwing fast, powerful, clean kicks still get cought and taken down. Likewise, consider that both I and the originator were able to do the effectively when sparring, it seems that at least "somebody" can in fact catch kicks. You just have to learn the science of it, like with any other part of the martial arts. Your comments about "TKD is a sport" and "they concentrate far too much on high kicks" is also broad and inaccurate. I've fought several traditional TKDists who a) are not sport-oriented and b) have good punching skills.
the tkd guy that i was sparring wasn't sport-oriented, and he had great punching skills. i don't know if this is the norm. the only teachers that he had were his parents and they threw in a little aikido with it. he had some good punches, but his grappling was nothing to worry about. he was a slim guy with little weight. so it was easy to pull him off his feet after catching his leg.
