So today was my first day sparring. I'm not entirely new to boxing but I'm in the "I can do a boxing workout and look decent hitting the bag/pads" but when I'm sparring . . . . pfffft, newb status. Most of what I asses as my major problem is my conditioning when sparring. I can't really figure it out and it's probably due to my lack of experience when sparring. I know I'm tense, I know I need to relax, and I know my conditioning needs to get a whole lot better. Regardless of knowing that, the exhaustion I get from sparring is entirely different then it is when doing a workout and I have a question about it. Does conditioning in the ring come from sparring mostly, or road work/working out? I'm guessing it's a mix of both but where does the majority of your endurance come from? Should I focus on sparring more for endurance, or start really destroying myself in my workouts and spar more for learning how to apply technique and using everything in a practical sense for the ring? I'm trying to set up how I want to work in the gym right now and am wondering which I should be focusing on more. Any help is appreciated, and any more information needed by me to assess how pathetic I am I'm more than willing to give.
Do you do bell training? Ie: Train in rounds with a rest between rounds to simulate a fight? We do something similar in Muay Thai/Kickboxing and that works wonders for me.
The workouts are always different. They usually start with shadowboxing, rope jumping and abb work for the warm up (about 3 - 5 minute round of each with 30 sec. rest). Then it goes to mitt work in which you're throwing combos for a 3 - 5 minute round with about 30 sec. rest, then usually something like 3 min squat, 3 min pushup, 3 min lunges, 3 min rope jump, and 3x5 min. rounds on the bag with 1 min rest (rest means abb work). In my opinion it's not the type of workout I need to be doing to compete but those are group classes ( not regular gym group, he actually goes around and really focuses on teaching people how to box correctly) and they are only held three days a week. I also get a little bit out of them technique wise since the instructor is really going around showing you what you're doing wrong and what to focus on more. I go in there and work technique on the bag with rounds and run a tabata circuit. The way he runs sparring is 3 min round with 30 sec to 1 min. rest depending on who is sparring, so he generally does the sparring as hard as it would be for a fight.
Thing with sparring is, to get better at sparring...you got to spar more. Its the same as with learning new techniques in anything. Youre hitting the pads/shadow boxing to get the muscle memory in and the endurance exercises to build up your ability to last longer. However these are done separately and in sparring is when you have everything together and its essentially "getting used to it". Its the only way to simulate the "fear" as it were of getting hit in the face or being countered. I like to spar with bigger/better/stronger guys as it tends to improve my defence a bit and also conditions my face
In my opinion it comes mostly from sparring, considering that is the closest to a ringfight you can get. You can run kilometers to improve your stamina, but it will not help with the psychological part of fighting, while sparring does. Especially if you train with different opponents different tactics are required, forcing you to think in a creative way in order to get trough his/her gaurd.
I see a lot of guys gassing just due to the adrenaline. My top tip is try and feel a little more comfortable in the ring. Sure you should always feel under pressure to progress, but in terms of practice this works. Work behind a good guard and just use defensive movements. Parry his jab, move away and back in, try and slip a couple, angle off, or just block the shots on your arms. All the while watch him. Does he have any tell tale signs that tell you he is going to punch? I call it "watch the turbines". Don't wait for the punch to come, as soon as he thinks about punching, as soon as the thought enters his mind, you disrupt, either by punching yourself, or by change of distance, angle, by jamming etc. The other thing you can do is follow his punch back in. you have watched the turbines, so know the punch is coming. Allow it to come and as he retracts, you jab. Have a look at this thread where I did a couple of posts on sparring. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103183 http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1074560235&postcount=3
The more relaxed you are the more endurance you'll have in the ring. Combined with your usual boxing workout and some roadwork (aerobic and anaerobic) that should typically be enough for a couple hard rounds of friendly sparring. Pacing yourself is key. Too many guys blow their wad in the first minute and then stay on the defensive the rest of the round. For general conditioning though that should cover most of your bases.
If you have a training partner you could do some 30, 30, 30 drills on the pads. I like this because it replacates what goes on during a round (sort of). First 30 seconds. Light punches, relaxed, just like you are keeping an opponent at range. relaxation , good footwork and breathing. Second 30 seconds. Power shots. Every punch should be at full power, but still maintaining good form. Final 30 seconds. Flat out punching. Not stopping for a second. bang, bang, bang, one after the other. There are no breaks between these 30 second shots and 3 x 30 is one round. You should be aiming for at least three rounds. After the flat out punching you go back to the light punching to regain your breath and composure. I like this because it replecates somewhat the to and fro of a round.
I recently read an article about this subject, on a great site Hapuka recommended me a while ago. Check it out guys and tell me your thoughts http://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-workouts/how-to-avoid-getting-tired This is another article of the same guy, that's relevant with our subject http://www.expertboxing.com/mental-training/how-to-fight-tired
Intresting the remark about punching from the core. I keep on at my guys to sink more, soft knees I call it. Bob Breen says the arms tire very fast, so put more emphasis into the legs. Seems so simple. We all know what to do, we just don't follow our own advice sometimes.
I hadn't taken that remark so seriously until one day I observed carefully the seniors in my gym shadowboxing. I was wondering how their punches could be so explosive and continuous. I used to punch a sharp one-two combination and the punch that was coming afterwards was weak, with bad form and was putting me off-balance. So I observed those guys carefully and I realized that they were clearly engaging the core in their third punch, coming after one-two. I tried it on the spot and it worked!! I always keep that in my mind when punching ever since..
I think all of these points that revolve around being comfortable and relaxing may be my biggest issue. Although I know I clearly have a few endurance issues because I've never really trained for boxing I think I'm getting drained due to an adrenaline rush that naturally comes with any sort of sparring doing something new, along with the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of performing around a bunch of people I don't know (as silly as that sounds). The sparring is generally done with everyone who has an interest in it, so if you're waiting to go everyone is standing around rooting somebody on and I think that unnerved me a little bit. Thinking back, I definitely wasn't comfortable and although I've learned a little bit since joining along with refining some of the skills I already had, I've never had the chance to use them in a legit boxing environment and a lot of the thinking was so much different from what I'm used to. I used to spar a lot in MMA and sometimes I would find myself clinched up and thinking about scooping my partner or kneeing them (not having the tendency to do it, just thinking about that first rather then what I should do in a boxing sense). So with that, I think my major issue currently is going to be getting in the ring and sparring more which shouldn't be a problem at the gym. A lot of people go there for the sparring only. So what I'll say publicly is, "Yeah, I need to spar more you know, so I can learn to relax and use the skill set I'm learning more effectively and think better in terms of boxing. What I tell myself is "quit being a scared lil punk, spar more and you'll get better. Stop talking about it."
Definitely things to be thinking about and begin practicing. I had periods of focusing on those things during my sparring match but it wasn't consistent like it needed to be partly because I was getting gassed. I'll definitely give those posts you linked a read when I'm done replying to everyone here and post any questions I may have. Thankyou for taking the time to post them!
If you're sparring with your ass, I'd say that's likely to be the source of your exhaustion. :weightlifter:
No. I live in an apartment complex. But getting access to a bag and willingness to drive out to the gym frequently during the day isn't a big issue. I'm currently waiting for application processes to take their sweet time for employment so I'm stuck doing much of nothing during the day. Anything you might suggest I do if I had a bag at home would most likely apply for me now, being it's a short drive and I'm more then willing to make it due to all the lovely free time I have.
While I agree that the best way to spar is spar, I do firmly believe that you need to be taught how to spar. This is why I always teach defence first. Typically I may progress someone as follows: Footwork. Understand your own distance and how far you need to be out of range. Good defence, work behind a good guard, parrying and slipping. Jabbing back. Five ways of attack (and defence) Looking at these individually we have footwork first. I like my students to understand what I call their "sparring cirlcle." Inside of this circle and you can hit or be hit. Outside of it you cannot. How to do it. Stand facing your opponent and a comfortable distance. This is usually governed by what feels non intrusive, much like standing in front of a stranger and having a conversation. From here extend your lead foot and draw an imaginary arc in front of you. Outside of this imaginary line and you can't be hit (unless they move). Inside of it and you can hit them. Your footwork should revolve around moving just one or two inches in and out of this line. No need to go any further as out of distance does not need to be much. As soon as you draw them in you shuffle forward inside the line, hit and away. You can drill this my mirroring. Have an opponent in front of you and have him/her try to move and control, distance. you mirror their moves. they move forward, you move back. An excellent drill. Next comes good defence and a jab. This will help stop you from gassing. Worry less about chasing them down, just work behind a good guard. Do the footwork as above and concentrate on defence. I like this because you are controlling distance (as much as you can) and just blocking, slipping, ducking and parrying. Slowly build your confidence. Sometimes I even lower my guard and take one on the forehead. it sort of makes you realise it isn't so bad. Next comes jab back. You have the distance, you are using a good defence and can block their punches. now as sson as you even touch (block or parry) their jab, you jab back. Don't get to smart. keep defensive and just make then realsie they can't have it all their own way. Jab, double jab (under used in my opinion) and the occasional cross/hook. Lastly will come the five ways of attack, which I posted a link for earlier. each of these "ways" will be drilles individually, but can and should be used in conjunction with each other. So yes, more sparring time is good, but I would like someone to teach it a little better.
Alright, so all posts needing reply to I believe I replied to so now I think I'm going to write a description of my first time sparring in a legit boxing environment for everyone's entertainment, as I think it's pretty funny. It's always good to embarrass yourself anyways right? So the instructor paired me with one of the women that goes to the gym regularly and is pretty decent from what I've observed. I've seen her got eight or nine rounds straight with a different partner every round or two so I definitely wasn't thinking "oh great, he's sticking me in with a woman." I don't have any aversion to sparring with women in any environment, especially one that I see as competent in fighting. As I was in my corner the instructor was asserting that he has a reason he picked her as she needed to work on some things he thought I would provide her and she could provide me with what I needed, and to not take it lightly because she was a woman. I constantly make jokes about things with him in the gym and I told him he was putting me in with her to pay me back for the jokes, that he was going to enjoy watching me get knocked out by a chick. He smiled and patted me on the head. The bell rings. I walk out, we touch gloves, I proceed to look like an idiot. I started off trying to think and forgot that I'm taller so I need to take advantage of that. So I don't jab as much as I need to and get way to close. Of course she tags me a few times but nothing real direct because I'm still pretty "fresh." We exchange back and forth for a little bit and nothing great happens. Then about 30 seconds of this pass and I think, "well damn, I'm pretty tired right now." A lot of it ends up with her on the ropes and me not throwing a flurry or anything significant, in fact it usually ends with me just trying to throw an uppercut or two, failing miserable and backing off because if I continue to keep trying to land anything I knew I was going to be too gassed to even hold my hands up. Pffft, little did I know I wasn't sparring for one round to get my feet wet at the time. So as I grew more tired my defense and ability to move diminished greatly, more to the point of well . . . not moving at all. She would get close and I would end up pushing her back to keep distance (I definitely had a huge weight/strength advantage, didn't help me one bit really). This happened for pretty much the whole round with me progressively looking like I'm about to die and a few exchanges and me being a punching bag occurred during the remainder of the round. Bell rings, I go to corner. "Alright" I tell myself. "I definitely see a lot I need to work on in applying during sparring, especially my endurance because I'm gassed to hell right now." Instructor, "alright, lots of stuff to work on, get ready for another round!" Joy. So the second round began. What was horrible on my end was I learned in round 1 that although she was a lot more skilled and comfortable then me, even when she landed a good hit it just flat out wasn't going to hurt me. So the caution of not being hit because I was going to get tagged real good to where I froze up a bit (has happened to me before in MMA) wasn't there as strongly anymore. What did this do for me? This allowed me to put my guard down, stand there and be a punching bag for a few 10 sec bouts before I told myself "ok, stop being a weak body" and putting my guard back up and moving. I got hit a lot because of that . . . . a lot. It had to look like a guy who just decided, "meh, I'm not going to fight for a few seconds, go ahead and beat me up" and then popping back into a boxing stance and actually proceed to box. A few times we got clinched up and I took advantage of my strength. I would pull her lead hand down, move my feet and land a good, clean hook to her head or body. I should have done that more, but I was too tired to care really. I'm not scared of getting hit and I'm really comfortable being close and that was actually working for me a bit, so I should have capitalized on it but we tend to not do what works well when we're tired, inexperienced, and waiting for the round to end. Weak mind. All I really remember well is how tired I was, being clinched up, pushing her off of me to get distance, and being a punching bag a few times along with landing some hooks from being clinched up. Thinking on it now, I need to work on my endurance, being comfortable, and thinking boxing tactics rather then what I naturally do (clinching up, pushing a person off me to get a better range for shooting, etc.). I also need to work on my straight punches because I can't remember landing anything but one jab. I hope this doesn't sound real bad of me, but I'm glad she couldn't hit me hard enough (I probably had an 80 - 100lbs advantage, I'm 240 right now and I'm not fat) to ring me because I definitely would have looked like more of a punk then I already did. It was a very humbling experience, and on a personal level a bit of a disappointment. Regardless, more sparring, more relaxing, more thinking boxing.
Simon s - Great posts you linked me to! The first one I'll definitely be taking physical notes from to read over. Definitely something to look at before training to focus yourself on things you should be working on during the workout. When I get to the point in which I can help train others I'll definitely show something like that to people, giving you credit for it of course. "There once was an old, wise man names simon who showed this to me and it helped me out tremendously. Look over it, and meditate upon it before you come train and after your train. Your skill with rise with your understanding."
You are too kind. When MAP works it works well. There are a lot smarter than me here, I just enjoy the subject matter.
