Practicing Sparring without a Partner

D

DrewTheTKDStudent1992

Yellow Belt
Hey guys, I’m new here. As you can see from my name, I study Taekwondo.

I need help.

If I need to practice sparring, but don’t have access to sparring partner, how can I practice?
 
Welcome to MT Drew! Hope you enjoy your stay and join in :)

Yep, sparring is with a partner, and a lot of things there can't be developed without one.

BUT... hehe, you can still do a lot of drills that will still enhance your sparring. Again, not a replacement for sparring with a partner, but when I was training on my own all of last year, the first tournament I entered I had absolutely no training partner to practice with. I ended up winning my first bout and coming very very close to winning the finals, so ended up with silver.

Now I know that a lot of my prior training helped out a lot here which must have kicked in, but I researched like crazy, got creative, and developed a solid routine 10 weeks or so before the tourney.

I did things like:

-plyometrics (not only normal explosive bounces, but bouncing and as SOON as I land, exploding forward with a technique)

-aLOT of footwork drills (even drilling simple steps a great deal, stepping front foot forward, shuffling back foot up, stepping through with back leg), combining these with different techniques and parries, stepping off to the side and at angles with counterattacks

-reaction drills like setting my phone to do random beeps with an app and reacting with a block and counterattack or just attack as fast as I possibly could

-swinging a tennis ball on a string and stepping off to the side as it almost hits me constantly whilst dodging it, parrying it or attacking (also doing this with eyes closed, and opening my eyes at the last second before it would hit me and reacting)

-setting an object on top of a chair back, and practising distancing, trying to come close as possible to hitting it etc

-bagwork

-and of course, a lot of shadowsparring rounds, with a lot of visualisation too. Visualising the person in front of me, what they're attacking with, how I would react etc


But yeah these are definitely more supplementary, but can definitely help sparring. Sometimes in sparring it's too heated and intense, and a lot of people just freeze up and aren't allowed the opportunity to really trial things out and practice as it's too high pressure. So working on relaxing while simulating sparring on your own can help a bit. But no substitute for partnerwork ;)
 
_Simon_ said:
Welcome to MT Drew! Hope you enjoy your stay and join in :)

Yep, sparring is with a partner, and a lot of things there can't be developed without one.

BUT... hehe, you can still do a lot of drills that will still enhance your sparring. Again, not a replacement for sparring with a partner, but when I was training on my own all of last year, the first tournament I entered I had absolutely no training partner to practice with. I ended up winning my first bout and coming very very close to winning the finals, so ended up with silver.

Now I know that a lot of my prior training helped out a lot here which must have kicked in, but I researched like crazy, got creative, and developed a solid routine 10 weeks or so before the tourney.

I did things like:

-plyometrics (not only normal explosive bounces, but bouncing and as SOON as I land, exploding forward with a technique)

-aLOT of footwork drills (even drilling simple steps a great deal, stepping front foot forward, shuffling back foot up, stepping through with back leg), combining these with different techniques and parries, stepping off to the side and at angles with counterattacks

-reaction drills like setting my phone to do random beeps with an app and reacting with a block and counterattack or just attack as fast as I possibly could

-swinging a tennis ball on a string and stepping off to the side as it almost hits me constantly whilst dodging it, parrying it or attacking (also doing this with eyes closed, and opening my eyes at the last second before it would hit me and reacting)

-setting an object on top of a chair back, and practising distancing, trying to come close as possible to hitting it etc

-bagwork

-and of course, a lot of shadowsparring rounds, with a lot of visualisation too. Visualising the person in front of me, what they're attacking with, how I would react etc


But yeah these are definitely more supplementary, but can definitely help sparring. Sometimes in sparring it's too heated and intense, and a lot of people just freeze up and aren't allowed the opportunity to really trial things out and practice as it's too high pressure. So working on relaxing while simulating sparring on your own can help a bit. But no substitute for partnerwork ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you.. I needed to ask this b/c outside of my once-a-week scheduled sparring class, there hasn’t been a way to get sparring practice done at home.
 
DrewTheTKDStudent1992 said:
Competition? I’m not sure that I’m skilled enough for that, besides I’m in my mid-twenties.

As to where I’m from, I’m from the East Coast USA.
Click to expand...

In the org. my son competes in we have 5 year olds to 60 year olds competing and the age divisions are split into beginner, intermediate, advanced, and black belt.....so skill level is a moot point.
 
Another thing about competition is you'll meet other MA that you might can spar with outside of your class.
 
DrewTheTKDStudent1992 said:
Competition? I’m not sure that I’m skilled enough for that, besides I’m in my mid-twenties.

As to where I’m from, I’m from the East Coast USA.
Click to expand...
Oh god sake...

Woowwww you're in your 20s you may as well quit since your that oldest

Btw that's sarcasm...what is it with people thinking 20s is to old to compete. There's a thread in here about a guy in his 70s boxing
 
DrewTheTKDStudent1992 said:
If I need to practice sparring, but don’t have access to sparring partner, how can I practice?
Click to expand...
You can form your own fighting club. Your fighter club members can be found in the following ways.

- MMA gym,
- Karate school,
- body builder in the gym,
- runner on the beach,
- walker in the park,
- next door neighbor,
- your girlfriend, brothers, sisters, father, wife, ...
- ...

You may also put up an ad in the local gym that anybody is willing to spar with you for 15 rounds, you will pay that person $20 (or whatever amount that you think it's reasonable).
 
CB Jones said:
Or go to the seediest bar in your town walk in and loudly proclaim...."My name is Drew the TKD Student and I can whip anybody in this bar" And just like that....free sparring partners. ;)
Click to expand...
When I was in college, there was this guy one night in a bar asking if I knew anyone who wanted to fight for $100. I replied “I don’t know about anyone else here, but I’ll kick your a$$ for $100 if you want.” He quickly walked away. I felt sorry for him, so I proceeded to drink heavily :)
 
Headhunter said:
Oh god sake...

Woowwww you're in your 20s you may as well quit since your that oldest

Btw that's sarcasm...what is it with people thinking 20s is to old to compete. There's a thread in here about a guy in his 70s boxing
Click to expand...

In spite of your sarcasm, it is reassuring to see that 20-something years old isn’t too old.
 
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