Ivan
Black Belt
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2018
- Messages
- 672
- Reaction score
- 395
Hey guys, I’ve just been taking a summer break from studying and returned home to my parents’ new house (they moved while I was abroad). I immediately found some kickboxing classes and a gym and trained as hard as I could. I took part in the sparring, and I found myself to have improved great lengths since lockdown began - I hadn’t sparred in a year and a half, but I spent all my time in lockdown focusing on drills, shadowboxing and polishing my techniques. I found myself to be cleaner and more polished and not nearly as scared as I used to. This was sparring at around 40-60%intensity depending on my partner.
I spoke to my coach there and told him that I was aiming to compete and he told me that I needed to get used to taking and receiving harder shots through hard sparring. Eventually I came down to a sparring session and I upped the ante to about 80%. The first round I wore headgear, but I found myself constantly getting hit and frustrated as I had to adjust my headgear way too much and it was obstructing my view. I took it off and switched partners.
Now keep in mind in this session, Inwas not using any kicks as I am attempting to heal them from Illiotal band syndrome, as per the instructions of my physio, so I was just boxing and I let my partners use their kicks: I know that I overestimated myself. I started sparring (again at around 80%) and at one point I slipped the wrong way and caught a shin sandwich to the face -roundhouse kick. It was a classic knockout. I slumped to the floor and I did my best not to cry in front of everyone, but it wasn’t from the pain, rather it was frustration.
These two rounds of sparring made me feel like when I first started boxing and was thrown into the deep end of the sport by sparring. My flinch reflex came back, and I was not able to slip or block as many hits as I usually do. I am clearly not ready for competition, and I want advice on how to keep my technique in check and keeping my cool during harder sparring sessions, and eventually competitions.
Do I just keep doing hard sparring sessions like this until I’m desensitised to it? Thanks.
I spoke to my coach there and told him that I was aiming to compete and he told me that I needed to get used to taking and receiving harder shots through hard sparring. Eventually I came down to a sparring session and I upped the ante to about 80%. The first round I wore headgear, but I found myself constantly getting hit and frustrated as I had to adjust my headgear way too much and it was obstructing my view. I took it off and switched partners.
Now keep in mind in this session, Inwas not using any kicks as I am attempting to heal them from Illiotal band syndrome, as per the instructions of my physio, so I was just boxing and I let my partners use their kicks: I know that I overestimated myself. I started sparring (again at around 80%) and at one point I slipped the wrong way and caught a shin sandwich to the face -roundhouse kick. It was a classic knockout. I slumped to the floor and I did my best not to cry in front of everyone, but it wasn’t from the pain, rather it was frustration.
These two rounds of sparring made me feel like when I first started boxing and was thrown into the deep end of the sport by sparring. My flinch reflex came back, and I was not able to slip or block as many hits as I usually do. I am clearly not ready for competition, and I want advice on how to keep my technique in check and keeping my cool during harder sparring sessions, and eventually competitions.
Do I just keep doing hard sparring sessions like this until I’m desensitised to it? Thanks.