Yeh its good for the mental side, to keep going. But i still think if you have been doing a killer circuit or hard rounds on the pads then you go straight into sparring you wont be at your sharpest. There are other ways to work the mental state to keep going, but if you want to focus and sharpen your technique and timing i think its better to spar after a decent warm up. Unless your superman
My son spars in his thai boxing after 2 - 2 1/2 hour of training. All the fighters in the club do, once everyone else has gone home.
I think you nailed it H. Pointing out 2 different styles of sparring. Sparring to work techniques and sparring to train the mental side of things. And I agree. Spar after a decent warm-up to work the techniques, timing, distance, combinations, etc. Sparring after a tough session is more for the mental aspect. Push hard and keep fighting through. Get into that uncomfortable zone where you are not sure you can go another step. Mind you, your sparring partners better have a clue as to which type of match you are in. I would hate to be sparring while exhausted and have my partner use me for target practice.
I hate trying to do anything physical after very little sleep, all I can get away with are the basics! Though as someone mentioned it is good to know what you are capable of in all situations and get to know your abilities and limitations. We often spar near the start of a session to warm up, light stuff without pads then do the harder sparring say half way through the session. I do find it interesting to see what I am capable of nearer the end of a session though ,although that's when my bad habits surface- such as going in head first with my eyes closed.
I think that IDEALLY you should be doing ALL your skill training for whatever sport in a state as close to 0% exhaustion as possible, because it allows you to perform your best and build the best possible movement patterns. Additionally, after serious exertion, your nervous system is usually damaged, which (this part I'm making up, but it makes sense to me) seems like it would keep your nervous system from training itself to its fullest potential. Of course that isn't always optimum for sparring in class. I think starting out with some good solid, powerful bagwork/padwork is beneficial for the following reasons: 1. It's more likely to build really good movement patterns as it's relatively static and easy to handle. 2. It takes the edge off so people don't bang so hard during sparring.
I think you, Hiroji, and I are pretty much saying the same thing. Sparring when exhausted should only be done to work the mental side of things. Developing that never-give-up attitude. Sparring when well rested and fresh should be used to develope the techniques and fine motor skills necessary for accuracy and power.
Sparring I think sparring is ok when : you have some knowledge to apply; you want to test some skills / let someone practice on you; you can get some feedback on your performance. Want cardio / feel what its like to get hit / hit others. I would avoid too much sparring with someone who just 'beats' you and you dont know why and they don't give you feedback. That could be detrimental. I had this latter scenario in Vale Tudo and I just got hit with the same arm bar stuff and the self-learning was torturous. The onus was on me to ask questions, really. BUT you could say that this is what its like in the 'real world' - no one about to advise you. Sooo .... (on this forum can you insert pictures like a jpeg to your post ? I see the picture icon next to the bullet point icon above but it just wants to format text ??) :woo:
Sparring when tired isn't a horrible thing, but from my experience most sparring related injuries occur when one or both parties starts to get exhausted. So I suppose I would say go ahead and spar when tired, but perhaps not as hard as you normally would.
Very good feedback...I almost forgot about this topic. Based on what I have read here, is that fighting when tired is not necessarily bad. One must prepare for all circumstances and states of mind. In a real fight, your opponent won't care how tired you are and you must be prepared to defend yourself. Fighting when tired increases the chances of being injured, so one must condition their mind, body and cardiovascular system to have the endurance to still react appropriately in a fight. At least this is the conclusion I have drawn. Hope it makes sense
