Man you can hardly hold up the training lifestyle of the average thai fighter as a role model for the average western man - it just isn't feasible. Yes, they've been fighting professionally since they were little kids - usually every second week at the young ages and that does give them an incredible amount of experience. For a wasterner - they need to spar.
Guys like Wanderlei Silva and Cro Cop both started fighting when they were pretty young and have had alot of fights, but both still spar regually when preparing for a fight. As do nearly all boxers, kickboxers and MMA fighters. I don't think you can really use pro thai boxers in thailand as examples, anymore than you can use journeyman pro boxers in this country or certain MMA fighters like Paul Jenkins. If you're fighting literally every 1-2 weeks then obviously sparring isn't so important, or even at all neccessary. If you're fighting every 2-3 months like most fighters do then it take a very unusual, or experienced, individual not to need significant amounts of sparring to get ready for a fight.
Couldnt agree more Slip, I have coached people to fight for 30 years now and I have a particular way I like my boxers to fight,this takes time to build up with the Boxer layer upon layer,fight and evalute,get rid of the bad things and replace with the good things,takes around 3 years for me to make a decent Boxer. If my students go to other gyms(even good gyms ) either sparring or training they may pick up habits that dont fit with my way,once that starts to happen Ive lost the boxer and it doesnt work the way it could of had they stayed with my method. I dont mean that my way is best! There are lots of ways and lots of good gyms/coaches,my point is its hard to mix gyms that may train differently(the exeption could be once a boxer gets to a good level of technique and understanding and has fight experience). The relationship with a fighter needs to be heart to heart,both commited to each other to make it work. So if any of my Boxers are reading this take note.Dont gym hop! lol
Well I've been training at this other gym too now and been sparring alot more which feels good. Thanks for the replies, It's working out ok right now and I have three weeks till the fihgt, I'll let you know how it goes in this thread. I think I will TKO him with a left hook to the liver in the 2nd round. Just putting that out there...
Good luck Mr. Never say u going to TKO or KO someone. The harder u try. The harder it gets. My old Kickboxer trainer told me. Just do what u have to do. And think about techniques. A TKO or KO comes when u not even think about it. :hat:
You've highlighted the flaw in your own argument there. How many people outside of thailand do you know that have the time/opportunity to fight every other week? Very rarely happens, unless you happen to move over to Thailand. The fact is, my statement was just that - a blanket statement. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, i.e. Nak Muay living in Thailand, but by and large, if you are going in the ring and don't have the opportunity to fight every other week, you need to spar. On the contrary, I think the more unrealistic option is getting into the ring whilst rusty, having not prepared against a live opponent either a) ever before; or b) recently. Whilst it is true that sparring isn't as close to fighting in a ring as actually fighting in a ring is, what other way is better to prepare you for fighting than sparring?.... You can hit a bag/pad and shaddow box all you want, but if you aren't facing a live opponent who is going to challenge your footwork, body movement, defence, etc, you simply will not be fully prepared to fight. In addition, I don't think that any truly sensible person would delude themselves into a false sense of security after a certain amount of ring experience. Ultimately, this is what it all comes down to - experience, when you can really see the benefit of sparring. You may be right that at the intial phases of training, nak muay may develop such a false sense of security, but after their first couple of fights, a smart nak muay should be able to see the difference between fighting and sparring, and realise what sparring is for, and how to utilise it to get the most out of their training. I don't really want to get into a debate about why sparring is good, as a) it has been done to death on MAP, and b) it really is a no-brainer to be honest
From what little you've told us, you were born and raised in thailand, albeit from western parents. To all intents and purposes that excludes you. How many fights have you had?
Mention before in this thread. Do many Thais skip sparring. Because them fight allot. And them all try to go in the ring. With out any injury's If someone not fight to much. Do them/we need sparring. Jogging is only for stamina and burn of some fat/calories. So that this guy. Say him do jogging instead of sparring. Have to be a big joke.
Look, I know sparring has benefits and TBH I'm trolling a little bit here. My point really is, if you're not fighting next week then there's no harm in doing as much sparring as you want. Injury risk, so what if you're not fighting? But as an exercise it is way over rated. End of story. <Homophobic comment removed> Yes, I do think jogging has more merit in it than sparring. Maybe not for a beginner, but. Though later on, the benefits of sparring start to become irrelevant, and you can think of nothing more than fitness development.
This question is very legitimate, but my answer may seem strange(and long winded). It is odd to think of it this way, but while many people think that the only way to prepare for a fight is to endlessly bang on each other in hard sparring, this is wrong. Here is why; Sparring can be a time to learn new things, but by and large, you don't learn anything new from sparring. What sparring really is is a time to APPLY the things you already do know; your technique! If all you do is spar, it goes like this; you get hit, you desperately try to hit him, and you get tired, frustrated, and negative. You revert back to your most primitive and natural attacks. The most desirable goal in sparring is to be able to execute clean, crisp technique regardless of what your opponent does. It's hard, there is no doubt. But if all you do is worry about what the opponent is doing, what are you doing? Nothing. And that means you lose. So even if you don't get a lot of sparring time, it's not the best thing, but it certainly is not the absolute worst. Think of this; practice your technique endlessly. VISUALIZE. What are you doing and why are you doing it? When you step in the sparring ring, you will turn you sparring session into gold if you take what you have practiced so endlessly and APPLY it. Don't fight your opponent's game; make your own. As for some response to the other post I have seen, I offer this; sparring or padwork is great cardio, and cannot be replaced by jogging, or anything else. It is another part of training. Fighting is a random and dynamic thing, filled with soft and hard, and slow and fast. Nothing is set. Therefore, if you train within a set form that doesn't change, how can it prepare you for the formless? Train Harder!
Sparring is a necesary and integral part of any true combat sport. In Muay Thai it is esssential for developing your timing and getting a good sense of distance and defensive skills. In addition you develop the ability to counter with good timing and are able to develop useful responses that work. Also you learn to take hits and to move correctly. What you learn and develop through sparring goes way beyond what you can do with just pad work and drills which lack the unpredictability of a real fight. Sparring should be performed at a level so that each fighter just presses his opponent enough to lift his game. It is not full out competition fighting, it is training or could even be likened to play fighting.. Sparring is performed to perfect your skills and improve your game not to beat the sparring partner. If a fighter is preparing for a fight and he gets badly hurt or even knocked out in sparring then he won't be able to fight in the match that he is preparing for, so what was the point of sparring. My fighters spar every training session in various different regimes that develop their abilities, but the maximum power that they use in sparring is 60-80%. They look after each other, acknowledging good strikes and respecting their training partner, in a effort to improve their ablilty
Great post bro,looks like we approach sparring /training in a similar way. On the pad work point I think with a good partner/coach you can replicate what you do in sparring plus use the power,however it has to be with a experienced coach/partner to achieve this level
