Where do you look in sparring?

[Tez3]

Until I started wearing contacts I didn't look anywhere, too short sighted to see! The refs had to watch out because I'd hit anything that moved. I teneded to rely on instinct of when the opponent was moving. It's funny in hindsight but was a nightmare really. Wearing contacts was a whole new thing and I struggled for a bit to know where to look, in the end it seems I look at the chest and face area, except when grappling when I tend to close my eyes as I can feel for arms legs etc better with them shut!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I look to the core which allows me to see their shoulders and hips which of course lead to their elbows, hands, knees, feet.. Everything that they do will come from there. Andrew also hit in on the head in that you should un-focus or relax your vision so that you see the big picture and pick things up well with your peripheral vision as well. You will pick up things faster this way. On a side note I absolutely love it when I catch someone watching my eyes. If they are a head/eye watcher then I feed them fakes with my eyes and walla they are in a world of hurt.

 

[stand-up-strike]

I never take my eyes off their chin !

 

[marques]

Maybe around chest area, but without focus. Peripheral vision is "faster", and larger.

 

[kravazon]

I think people's answers will be a good glimpse into whether they are sport or street minded. I look forward to people's answers.
I look at the center of the chest. Unless it's a women. Lol...then I don't know what to do.

I literally lol'd.

I've sparring with a few partners who look in my general center out of the corner of their eyes, but they always look unfocused. And then they reach out and get me good. It's super interesting to watch, since they're using their peripheral vision. It's clearly doing something to help them. I've been playing with it a bit.

I agree with a few people. As long as you're consistent and don't telegraph, I think it's fine. But everyone is different. It's definitely worth exploring how you spar best.

 

[Buka]

I think the natural progressions of this question would be - to those that answered, or have yet to answer - do you look at the same place if you were involved in a street situation?

Do you look at the same place if it's dark, or at least in the lower light of night?

Do you look at the same place if it's multiples?

Ain't I the nosey bastard?

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

do you look at the same place if you were involved in a street situation?

Do you look at the same place if it's dark, or at least in the lower light of night?

Do you look at the same place if it's multiples?

If you are good with "foot sweep", will you use it in both "sport" and "self-defense", "single opponent" and "multiple opponents"?

A friend of mine used his "foot sweep" to save his job. 3 of his co-workers always tried to be bully on him. One day he asked his wife how much money that they had in the bank. After he found out that there were enough money to take care of his family for 3 months. He told his wife that he might lose his job that day. He then met with those 3 guys. One guy tried to punch him on his face, he "swept" that guy down. the hard falling shocked that guy and the other 2 guys. After that day, those 3 guys tried to stay away from him as far as they could. My friend finally retired from that job.

- You watch your opponent's leading leg.
- When he steps in, you step in at the same time, put your leading foot just 1 foot in front of his leading foot.
- If your opponent punches at you, you block it (not showing in the following clip).
- You then use your other leg to sweep him down.

 

[Balrog]

I tend to watch the persons core. That seems to allow me the best view of their entire body. You can't effectively attack without involving your core, so in my experience, this makes me less likely to respond to feints.

This. I train my students to look at the upper chest, just below the jugular notch. Nothing happens without the core being involved; your peripheral vision will take care of the extremities.

 

[Shai Hulud]

The nice thing about sparring is that I never need to worry about other people jumping in, or something in the environment that poses either a threat or an opportunity. Because of that I've learned to focus on looking back and forth between an opponent's eyes, and her/his torso.

 

[RowdyAz]

Centre

 

[Juanpa Ookami]

I learnt to do not focus to an specific area, I was teached to have a periferical view, it doen't matter if you are fighting against one or several opponents, if you focus just in one area of the oponent you never will see the other oponents. But if you work on a periferical view, trying that your eyes work as a grand angle objectif in a camera, you will not be limiting your reactions.

 

[Danny T]

Depends.
I tend to observe the chest area for the most part unless selling one target area and attacking elsewhere or looking for other opponents, weapons of opportunity, or means of egress.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If your opponent applies "earth strategy", sliding his feet and move forward inch by inch, it's very difficult to detect his intention by watching any part of his body. You can only sense the "distance" between you and him is getting closer and closer.

 

[Stac3y]

I teach students to watch center mass with "soft eyes," not staring fixedly, but using peripheral vision and seeing directional changes by center mass and arm/leg movement peripherally. I disagree with the person who says you have to shift weight onto the front foot to move forward, btw; we train to move off of either the front or back foot.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I teach students to watch center mass with "soft eyes," not staring fixedly, but using peripheral vision and seeing directional changes by center mass and arm/leg movement peripherally. I disagree with the person who says you have to shift weight onto the front foot to move forward, btw; we train to move off of either the front or back foot.

I like the description "soft eyes". I'm a center mass person, but if you fixate on any one point, you develop tunnel vision.
As for moving forward... I think it's more accurate to say you can't move forward without shifting your weight forward. If you throw an effective kick with the front leg, you pretty much have to move forward, even if you allow the impact of the kick to move you back to your starting position.

 

[ChrisN]

I always advise new people to watch the centre line as you can usually tell what people are doing from the shoulders and hips. Later on I say centre line but unfocused trusting your peripheral vision. Lately my coach has been making me work with my eyes closed.
In a street situation I normally look for the way out.

 

[Jake104]

I look into there soul through there eyeballs. Especially in a street confrontation. But also in sparring. In a self defense situation, I never take my eyes off there's. I can read people this way. You can really see the change if they get scared or if a sucker punch is coming your way. I have found out the hard way a few times. How important it really is.

 

[Buka]

The eyes lie.

 

[Jake104]

The eyes lie.

But the soul doesn't. The eyes are the pathway to the soul. It's a gift. What can I say?

 

[JowGaWolf]

It's easier to judge the distance by looking at your opponent's leading leg than to look at his core. Since your opponent has to pass your "kicking range" before entering his "punching range". To watch for the leg, you can not only sense his weight distribution, you can also sense the distance between each other. Try not to let your opponent to put any weight on his leading leg can make the fight very simple. The nice thing is, after your "foot sweep", you can enter. This way, your opponent's attack will trigger your attack.

Only looking at your opponent's leg means that you are going to get hit with a lot of punches.