Hey guys, I’m new. One of the many things I need some help with my TKD sparring is learning how to not to telegraph my kicks and moves. Have you guys had this struggle or have been aware of this in sparring matches? If so, how did you change that?
Work on setups and feints, you'll get more success working on that than trying to hit someone out of the blue without them seeing it coming.
welcome to MAP When you are sparring, are you standing still or moving? Telegraphing is harder to spot if you are on the move, and like @David Harrison wrote, work on setups and feints - counters, combinations etc will cover up some telegraping. You watch some high level fights and there are some hit landed which you can see as a spectator in slow motion, but the opponent cannot because they are defending a flurry of blows, or they are committed to an attack
Everyone telegraphs to some degree. Even the best fighters. In many ways it is competition between movement and perception. I've always had very poor reaction times so even if someone telegraphs I'm still playing catch up. And some people are just so fast that even if they telegraph the technique is still incoming at a rate of knots! A couple of things to try... Attack in combination. When I teach is say that most people can see single techniques coming. So you have to be sneaky and set them up by playing with their attention. A classic being to turning kick mid-section and then, without putting the foot down, turning kick high section. Get good at this and just flashing the leg low can take the attention enough to land the head kick. Or the jab/cross. Jab finds the range and occupies the vision for the cross to come in. Or hooking off the jab. Jab to occupy from the front and then hook round the side. Different angles. Backfist to the head and then reverse punch to the body is playing with different target levels. Find a dominant angle. I try to "chase the ear". Trying to get round to the side of them. I want to be looking at the side or back of my opponent while he is not looking at me. That way I have a momentary time "window" to try and land techniques as they are adjusting to get back on the attack line. If they don't see the technique coming it doesn't matter how telegraphed it is! Get in close. Not so easy in a TKD sparring environment. The closer you are the less reaction time there is for people to respond (and vice versa!) until you reach clinch/touching distance where it becomes almost all tactile rather than visual.
How long have you been training? If you break down a technique into its component parts and then practice them individually it can really help. For example if kick is transition or position feet, chamber, kick, return to chamber then return to base I'd train move 1 to 2, then 2 to 3, 3 to 4 and so on. Once that's down you cold try moves 1, 2 then 3, 2, 3 then 4 etc. Trying to get to 4 quickly can make things scruffy and your opponent will spot it a mile off. Good luck.
Kukkiwon I got my 2nd Dan Black Belt 3 years ago. I had been on and off but I’ve been doing it since 5 years old.
In my Muay Thai classes, they recommend shadow boxing in a mirror. You can easily see your own telegraphs. Work until you can surprise yourself with your strikes. You will never quite get there, of course, but you can get close.
Footwork and movement is key in most styles, but perhaps even more so in WT style sparring. Work hard on movement, evasion and angling. As others have said, you need to work on combinations, using techniques (and movement) to set up the final score. Similarly, set up patterns of attacks (middle middle high for example), then break the pattern once the opponent shows they have anticipated it and reacted to it. Let us know how you get on!
The shortest answer is to work on relaxing. Most often people who are grossly telegraphing are tensed up or tensing up just before movement. Drilling at full speed helps but nothing is better than simply more sparring time. Sparring with good resistance that is.
