How Hard Do You Go in Krav Sparring?

[Jaspthecat]

There isn't much emphasis on sparring at my Krav school, at most we spar semi contact.

I wouldn't mind padding up and going full on as I personally think technique has to go through the furnace of combat to become solid and honed. I also do Muay Thai in which I do a lot of sparring so I know that it works for me.

Our instructor is a little reluctant to let us go at it fearing injury and people dropping out due to the physicality of it all.

How hard do you spar in your Krav class?

 

[girlbug2]

During class proper, we usually spar between 10 % power (basically, tapping) and 75% power, depending on what each pair agrees to. Some people are not comfortable with full contact, some are not advanced enough for it, etc. The instructor lets each person decide how much contact they can take and it's supposed to be a courtesy to match your partner's intensity level but not exceed it. The more advanced students usually go harder.

On Saturday mornings there is a special Fight Class for people who just want to spar. I've only been to it a few times but it has started off with light contact and progresses until it gets to nearly full contact at the end. It's typically a smaller class -- only level 2 and above are allowed to take it for safety purposes. IMO, the Fight class is a great thing to give the "fighters" a chance to enjoy themselves at more intensity than they get during regular class time.

 

[Jaspthecat]

During class proper, we usually spar between 10 % power (basically, tapping) and 75% power, depending on what each pair agrees to. Some people are not comfortable with full contact, some are not advanced enough for it, etc. The instructor lets each person decide how much contact they can take and it's supposed to be a courtesy to match your partner's intensity level but not exceed it. The more advanced students usually go harder.

On Saturday mornings there is a special Fight Class for people who just want to spar. I've only been to it a few times but it has started off with light contact and progresses until it gets to nearly full contact at the end. It's typically a smaller class -- only level 2 and above are allowed to take it for safety purposes. IMO, the Fight class is a great thing to give the "fighters" a chance to enjoy themselves at more intensity than they get during regular class time.

I think that's a good idea, best of both worlds.....

 

[masherdong]

There are two categories that I have seen so far in Krav Maga. Slow fighting and light fighting.

Slow fighting you spar with no gear but all attacks and defenses are in "slow motion" but just a tad bit faster. The reason, so that you can practice the krav maga defenses and incorporate it into muscle memory.

Light fighting is faster but now with light contact and protective gear. Reason now is putting it in "real" time motion to practice the attacks and defense techniques.

Eyal Yanilov said it best to my colleague and their class. "When you spar, you want to improve your skills, not prove them." Love that quote. We are all here to improve, not prove!

Hope that helps.

 

[Jaspthecat]

There are two categories that I have seen so far in Krav Maga. Slow fighting and light fighting.

Slow fighting you spar with no gear but all attacks and defenses are in "slow motion" but just a tad bit faster. The reason, so that you can practice the krav maga defenses and incorporate it into muscle memory.

Light fighting is faster but now with light contact and protective gear. Reason now is putting it in "real" time motion to practice the attacks and defense techniques.

Eyal Yanilov said it best to my colleague and their class. "When you spar, you want to improve your skills, not prove them." Love that quote. We are all here to improve, not prove!

Hope that helps.

Yep, pretty much sums up what we do.

Love the Yanilov quote...

I personally would like to go a bit heavier, one on one and multiple attackers as it's easy to gas out during a fight and I think heavy sparring teaches you how to conserve energy, move more and make strikes count.

 

[masherdong]

Yep, pretty much sums up what we do.

Love the Yanilov quote...

I personally would like to go a bit heavier, one on one and multiple attackers as it's easy to gas out during a fight and I think heavy sparring teaches you how to conserve energy, move more and make strikes count.

Those come little later in the curriculum where the contact is a little harder and faster and with multiple attackers. Yeah, FUN!!

 

[ellies]

Those come little later in the curriculum where the contact is a little harder and faster and with multiple attackers. Yeah, FUN!!

Krav Maga? I though it was awesome. The first night was great and I could not wait to get back to it. I really wish we would train more in this one than the stuff we do on base, there's some very practical stuff going on here.

 

[Jaspthecat]

Good news..

At my last lesson our instructor said that as long as we bring the right protective gear, we can indulge in a bit of heavier sparring. Bring it on....

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I am a little surprised because the few opportunities I had to work out in Krav we were really getting after it. Now mind you this is about ten years ago (and very private instruction) and I know that Krav Maga exploded in popularity and a lot of other martial art instructors/school owners decided to get weekend instructor certificates and then teach in adjunct to their regular classes. I am wondering how watered down Krav has become in some areas? Is it still Krav Maga if you do not get after it very hard? Mind you these are not dig's at the system as Krav Maga is simply a great system!

(I am a huge fan and proponent of Krav Maga) However, I am interested in hearing peoples opinion on their training and if it is tough enough or is it watering down a bit!

 

[Jaspthecat]

I am a little surprised because the few opportunities I had to work out in Krav we were really getting after it. Now mind you this is about ten years ago (and very private instruction) and I know that Krav Maga exploded in popularity and a lot of other martial art instructors/school owners decided to get weekend instructor certificates and then teach in adjunct to their regular classes. I am wondering how watered down Krav has become in some areas? Is it still Krav Maga if you do not get after it very hard? Mind you these are not dig's at the system as Krav Maga is simply a great system!

(I am a huge fan and proponent of Krav Maga) However, I am interested in hearing peoples opinion on their training and if it is tough enough or is it watering down a bit!

In our club, we learn all the moves according to the IKMF syllabus, which is great.

I'm speculating that due to the fact it's a newish club, circa 2-3 years and the it's limited to a few sessions at a few different locations, that there isn't sufficient time and or supervision to cater for us hard nuts who want to spar hard.

Also, protective equipment such as full chest shields etc can be expensive (in the UK) meaning that not everyone buys it, so we can't go hard when practicing the standard moves.

I'm sure over time, the situation will improve.

Each of the established students' opinion on progression is valued by the instructor, so I think the onus is partly on us to suggest what we want to do.