Do you hold back when sparring if...

[Callandor]

Do you hold back when sparring if ... you are a male and your partner is a female? Do you only hold back if you are sparring a newbie (orange belt)? Do you hold back with any lower ranks, age, size, sex, etc.?

I am male and I believe that it is the senior females in our school who are holding back on me - they could kick me really hard if they wanted to. Seriously, I hold back on weaker sparring partners (new, children, whatever) but don't go all out on the rest either.

 

[Lynne]

I am male and I believe that it is the senior females in our school who are holding back on me - they could kick me really hard if they wanted to. Seriously, I hold back on weaker sparring partners (new, children, whatever) but don't go all out on the rest either.

We have some very good women at our school as well. I'm sure they could put a knot on anyone's head if they wanted to. They're great teachers.

 

[Tez3]

Only the children in our club do TSD, the adults do MMA and as I'm the only women in the club training at the moment it gets a bit rough lol! I've been knocked out, choked out and a couple of weeks ago had my front tooth knocked out ( a crown as the real one had been knocked out ) and to be honest it's great fun! We go 60-80% full on when sparring, so we get bloody noses and bruises, in comps it's 110% so we do go easy in the club! We go easy on beginners but more often than not we have to curb their enthuisasm as they can get carried away!
I used to do karate point sparring and never would I go back to it, it's like playing now. I realise though MMA isn't for everyone lol!

 

[stone_dragone]

I never hold back on someone based on gender. I gear each sparring session to the person and the day and the time of day.

 

[Lynne]

Only the children in our club do TSD, the adults do MMA and as I'm the only women in the club training at the moment it gets a bit rough lol! I've been knocked out, choked out and a couple of weeks ago had my front tooth knocked out ( a crown as the real one had been knocked out ) and to be honest it's great fun! We go 60-80% full on when sparring, so we get bloody noses and bruises, in comps it's 110% so we do go easy in the club! We go easy on beginners but more often than not we have to curb their enthuisasm as they can get carried away!
I used to do karate point sparring and never would I go back to it, it's like playing now. I realise though MMA isn't for everyone lol!

Master Byrne taught an MMA clinic at our school awhile back. He stressed the importance of learning grappling techniques. I think he said most fights end up on the ground. I took Judo for just a short while and I'll never forget what my Sensei said, "Someone who knows Karate might hurt me, but if I get in close, it's over with."

I think it would be so hard for beginners to have any control. When we practice wrist grips and one-step sparring, there is no contact except for blocking. I didn't realize the other day that I was lightly chopping my partner on the jaw. I never knew until my daughter told me. I felt like such an ***.

The only time we are told to kick someone in one-on-one kicking (exchange kicking we do as white and yellow belts or people who don't have their sparring gear yet) is if our partner accidentally kicks us. We're told to kick them back. I think the idea is to wake them up so they gain some control.

So, you get literal blood on your belts, eh? Our sparring classes aren't like yours though people often need ice for this or that. Now, competition is another matter of course.

Your classes sound like fun but you're right, they aren't for everyone!

 

[Tez3]

The worst thing about our sparring is people who come in thinking they can fight, ( I have to say it's always a man). They don't realise, or don't want to realise that they have to learn an awful lot of techniques to be able to hold your own in an MMA fight let alone win. The standup is karate/Muay Thai/TKD using wharever moves work, we have people with a wide variety of experience so we continually learn new moves. I imagine any of you here who do a traditional stand up style would feel at home with the standup yet some come in thinking it's just a matter of throwing a few punches and kicks which is easy "coz they've seen it on the tv ot I've had street fights you know!" they have the same attitude to the floor work well it's just rolling around cuddling each other isn't it! When I've done traditional martial arts people like that tend not to join, though I think sometimes there can still be an ego problem there.
The best thing is that's it's like a game of physical chess, your mind moving as quick as you body (hopefully! at my age there tends to be a bit of a time lapse lol). When we spar we have to adjust what we do to what the other person is trying to do, if they are good at standup try to get them down, and vice versa. We don't intentionally go hard on each other, and I don't think it's many harder than a traditional full contact karate club, it's just more contact than most perhaps. I have heard that old style Judo clubs are/were pretty full on though!

 

[stickarts]

I adjust to my sparring partners level, Man or Woman, and mirror whatever level that they want to take it to.

 

[Lynne]

The worst thing about our sparring is people who come in thinking they can fight, ( I have to say it's always a man). They don't realise, or don't want to realise that they have to learn an awful lot of techniques to be able to hold your own in an MMA fight let alone win. The standup is karate/Muay Thai/TKD using wharever moves work, we have people with a wide variety of experience so we continually learn new moves. I imagine any of you here who do a traditional stand up style would feel at home with the standup yet some come in thinking it's just a matter of throwing a few punches and kicks which is easy "coz they've seen it on the tv ot I've had street fights you know!" they have the same attitude to the floor work well it's just rolling around cuddling each other isn't it! When I've done traditional martial arts people like that tend not to join, though I think sometimes there can still be an ego problem there.
The best thing is that's it's like a game of physical chess, your mind moving as quick as you body (hopefully! at my age there tends to be a bit of a time lapse lol). When we spar we have to adjust what we do to what the other person is trying to do, if they are good at standup try to get them down, and vice versa. We don't intentionally go hard on each other, and I don't think it's many harder than a traditional full contact karate club, it's just more contact than most perhaps. I have heard that old style Judo clubs are/were pretty full on though!

Wow, you make MMA sound like fun! So much to learn. Such a challenge.

From the little I experienced in Judo, grappling is pretty rough...you lose endurance very quickly for one thing. It takes a great explosion of strength to do some of those moves and then you're done, lol.

We began sparring immediately in Judo. The first day, I was throwing, grabbing and knocking shins. It was extremely rough and I wasn't really cut out for it. The last straw was being thrown into the air and my knees striking together as I hit the ground. It took over 6 months for the pain to go away.

The mental challenge you speak of sounds incredible. I would think what you do would be addictive.

For self-defense, standing artists could certainly use some grappling techniques.

 

[Lynne]

I adjust to my sparring partners level, Man or Woman, and mirror whatever level that they want to take it to.

Is it gratifying for you, as an instructor/higher belt, when people push themselves? Do they ever do something and surprise themselves, have that look of, "I've done it now!"

 

[Blindside]

Is it gratifying for you, as an instructor/higher belt, when people push themselves? Do they ever do something and surprise themselves, have that look of, "I've done it now!"

I was a green belt and for the first time managed to kick my instructor in the head, jaw actually, and not much control on it. He stopped, took out his mouth piece and said: Have you always been able to do that?
Me: Um, no.
Him: Nice Kick.

That time, and the time when I hit him with an exact copy of the closing technique that is his "goto" technique, I could tell he was thinking "hey, the kid is getting it." Proud moments for a teacher, prouder moments for the student.

Lamont

 

[JT_the_Ninja]

That reminds me of the time, during a gup test, when there was an odd number of testers, and I was without a partner for the sparring part. Master Kim turned toward my kyo sa nim (now my sa bom nim) and said, "You fight him!"

That was a fun match. He spent the whole minute telling me to keep attacking him. I survived, somehow.

 

[Tez3]

We had a grading for the children, we'd done the line work, three step etc and it was time for sparring. One of the kids is a boy 14 and rather tall so we asked David one of our pro fighters who was in waiting for the next seesion, to spar with him to be fairer. David is brilliant with the children, he adjusts his sparring to theirs and isn't bothered at all of course by being kicked and punched. The sparring was going well until David got the lad into a clinch, I shouted to Daniel, 'knees' so he did a knee strike catching David right where he didn't want to be caught! Poor David dropped and Daniel looked horrified! he'd just dropped a pro MMA fighter! We, of course roared with laughter ( we are very cruel lol!) Daniel when Daniel received his green belt afterwards he was still shaking bless him. David now wears his groin guard always.

 

[fireman00]

always! when I spare against women and anyone younger then 18 in the dojang I use much lighter contact then when against guys over 18.

 

[Kacey]

Is it gratifying for you, as an instructor/higher belt, when people push themselves? Do they ever do something and surprise themselves, have that look of, "I've done it now!"

Good Lord, yes! There is nothing more satisfying, as an instructor - for me, at least - than to have a student who surpasses you. To have them recognize it for themselves, and realize how far they've come - awesome!

 

[agemechanic03]

Of course like everyone else has said, take it easy on the younger aged and ranked, but give it all you got to the same as you and above. Just like one of my friends and I do, let the younger (aged or ranked) set the pace. Myself, even tho I am just a white belt, I always send the upper guys a run for there money. But I've also done 2 other styles too.

 

[stickarts]

Is it gratifying for you, as an instructor/higher belt, when people push themselves? Do they ever do something and surprise themselves, have that look of, "I've done it now!"

Absolutely! for those that need confidence, I lead them to develop skills and help them to find little openings I will leave. Others respond better when you push them and they give it their all to make it to the next level.
Some need to be subtly led while others need to be pushed.
Some need to bring out the tiger while others need to develop patience.
Sparring can be the most frustrating, rewarding, and gratifying part of training. Sparring my fight teacher were some of the best times I have had in my career.