Against the fast guy

[Black_Crane]

Hi all.

Just after some tips. In my club their is this speedy sort of character, the kind where his punches are quick, they never fully extend, but give the illusion that they scored. (I do non-contact karate by the way)

When it comes to sparring him, ive been taking on the whole, dodge-and-kick routine, and thats helped to an extent. But unfortunately, as im getting smarter, so is he. Hes been using alot of feint techniques to draw my guard away from target areas.

Any ideas? I just need help with the whole speed thing.

Thanks in advance.

[bushido_man96]

It is hard to get around speed in non-contact sparring. You need to keep working your reaction time, and also, try to get faster each time.

Try to bait your opponent with feints, the way he does you. Then work on a counter based on his reactions. It is all strategy. Or, you can thump him once, and try to intimidate him (although I don't recommend this course of action highly).

[Shui Tora]

Here's a tip...

Leave part of your body defenceless... When i was in the junior class, we did some kumite (non-contact...) and there was one kid that had ADHD so he was very quick... Anyhows, i had twisted my ankle outside of the Dojo, and i came in to watch... My chief Sensei was away, so the second in command took over and for about 45mins he did kumite (not something i would do, but we are all different)... The kid with ADHD was first in, and he was in there for about 15 mins... During that time i looked at how he fought, and he always went to the chest area and the head... His kicks were not that good!

Anyhows, I fought with him some time later, and this time i left my chest area open.. I knew he would go for that, and so I had my left hand extended in front for a uracken (back-hand punch)... He came in, did two punches to my chest in which i brought my knee up to do a front kick, stepped in and did a back-hand punch to the face... all controlled.... He was soo surprised that he fell to the floor and I won!

Point is, leave an area open, and you'll know that they'll go for that area... Bit like baiting them to attack there... No point in being all closed up because then the attacker will punch everywhere with no target....

Hope that helps!!

Shui Tora

[Shotokan-kez]

Thats really good advice shui, i agree with that. Another thing i do with my son to increase speed is this. Two people face up, one wears a focus punch pad on each hand and the other wears their sparring mitts.

The one with the focus pads swings their arms directly at the others head, the other one has to duck quickly and make a jab with each arm on each pad and the whole process keeps going, getting faster as they go along. The good thing is that the other attacking person doesnt know when the person with the pads will swing, also you could move about a bit to make it feel like more of a sparring situation.

What bushido said is right too, it's difficult against a very fast guy when its not full contact.

[Rick_72]

When you say "non-contact" do you mean no contact at all, or controlled contract?

For a speedster, you need to learn to counter punch better. People with fast hands tend to throw double and triple strikes often. If he goes high, you circle him and counter punch to the body. If he goes low, you circle him and counter punch to the head.

Circle outside of his power side (reverse side). If he's fighting right handed (left hand forward) circle to his right, your left. If he's fighting left handed (right hand forward) change it up. This makes it tough for him to trace you down with that back hand, and often times cross's up a jab, rear hand combination.

[Leopard claw]

Bait him into you and then look and create angles for you to counter and go in for the kill...So to speak!

[KamasandSais]

this technique always works, its called the "keep out of his punching distance and then murder him with kicks" technique

[mantis.style]

In one of my semi contact classes, there is a guy who just shoots in a taps you for the hit. They do nothing and the guy has very bad form in general in that he looks the part but there is no grounding, no hip, no stance, no body structure, especially when we spar.

His ability to find holes and tag people had lead him to develope a largr than normal. That's when a few of the senior students decided to show him some basics. We baited with some open targets to draw him into a highish hit then we would simply sink and put out a straight punch for him to run into or step into his stance and make him fall without even making a strike. After a few times he got the message and stopped being so mouthy about how he could easily "beat any of the seniors".

[obiwansbane]

easy fix... technique used by all spirit of the dragon students... (i own them but thats besides the point... they're style works 99% of the time... especially against punchers) work on ure balance, and constantly have ure leg chambered... as soon as he even shifts his weight, kick out and rechamber... eventually he will dive in and your kick will score before his punch

another option is to go right in ureself, as soon as u hear fight just jump in with a side thrust kick and a combo of punches, if you go fast enough he wont have time to throw his combo before you get the point

[true_practioner_of Kokoro]

most people use a certain type technique that the practice more you can usually pick up on it by watching them fight others. If he is a fast kicker heres an easy tip to slow down his kicking you want your lead leg to go in front of his lead leg. Just move in fast and throw your lead leg behind his lead leg it jams him up and he can't kick throw a punch or two and then get out. Don't over use this or they will pick up on what your doing.

Remember were theres a will theres a way