Need advice......

[GeoGiant]

Preface – When I spar in class we don’t spar for points. We line up and engage in light [head shots] to medium contact… with moments of occasional heavy contact [body shots]. It is not uncommon for me to come home bruised. Our sparring is probably better characterized as controlled fighting.

I’m a yellow belt. When I spar someone at my belt level I feel like I’m controlling the pace. I’m not sure that equates into domination but I feel like doing what I want to do while only receiving minimal damage from my opponent. I’m tall (6’4” or 1.9 meters) which must be intimidating to some so I tend to initiate contact first otherwise my opponent and I end up endlessly circling each other. The black belts tell me that I come hard and fast which they say is good but they say that I lack control. I have never hurt anyone but I have thrown some hard kicks to the body and occasionally I have tapped someone in the face. Again, I feel the need to point out that while I may spar aggressively I have never knocked someone down or caused someone to retreat due to too much contact.

For the past 2 weks I have been trying to focus on pulling my punches and kicks, covering up and trying to work inside [as opposed to using my long legs kick the person back & and taking what I can get], stepping or turning out of an attack & blocking. I thought that doing the aforementioned would make me a better martial artist…. BUT… what its doing is getting my butt kicked. I understand that learning to do something new takes time and feels awkward when you first start doing it but I’m wondering if I’m taking the wrong approach.

So once again I’m asking the forum… how did you evolve your fighting technique?

Did you make a conscious effort, as I did the last 2 weeks, to fight a certain way and then over time the things you worked on just developed?

OR

Did you fight the way you felt comfortable and then over time your instincts sharpened and you slowly evolved into a better fighter?

[Sokusen]

Did you make a conscious effort, as I did the last 2 weeks, to fight a certain way and then over time the things you worked on just developed?

Yes

The only way you will become a better, more rounded fighter is to step outside your comfort zone. You are in class, class is for learning. The problem is you have to stop thinking about winning when you are sparring in class and start thinking about learning. Pick one technique and work on that. Say to yourself "I don't care what the other person does I am working on my reverse punch today." Will you lose your sparring matches? Probably. But who cares? Eventually your reverse punch will start to land because you will figure out fast when to throw it, and how to set it up. There should be a sign at the entrance to every Dojo that says "Leave your Ego at the Door."

[Spodo Komodo]

As I said elsewhere my fighting is unbalanced towards close range stuff and this has definitely come from keeping to what I could do well rather than developing what I was lacking. It is taking me a lot of effort now to make up for my lack of effort early on so if you have the ability and drive to push your own development now then strive on heedfully as they say.

[GeoGiant]

Thanks Sokusen.

I never thought of it as an ego thing but maybe it is. Over the past few months I’ve been working several things that are starting to come together. When I changed my fighting style I felt like I was regressing BIG TIME.

I want to be more of a defense fighter so I’ve been working on covering up, getting in close by blocking, then working the body with punches… but I’ve been getting my head knocked off [and I guess my ego bruised too].

[Pajarito21]

This is a topic I feel I can relate with. I am pretty much the opposite of you GeoGiant, I am a 5'3" male that has horrible kicks above the waist. So, I fight more on the inside and try to work angles than I do try to create distance and fight from the outside. I started in a dojo in which we sparred like you do. Fight as hard as your opponent allows and go until your sensei says stop. Thus making me a competent fighter with my own "style." Not until I came to Wado Ryu have I actually doing different type of sparring. I found out that when fighting in the dojo for practice you should treat it like a learning experience at all times. Take the hits and let yourself open up. This allowed me to see better as well as react better. I guess to answer you're question I say this, you are a complete fighter no matter who you are it just takes time and effort to fight that person within yourself. Try all different ways and see what happens.

[Toptomcat]

Taking a butt-kicking is perfectly acceptable, so long as you take a hard look at what's going on every time you do get your butt kicked and resolve never to take an identical butt-kicking again. Try working drills that specifically address the attributes you're having trouble with- in your case, rounds of pure defense in the pocket, maybe countering off of a beautiful slip or parry but not initiating anything.

[ninjanurse]

All good advice. From an instructors point of view-I will often limit my students to those techniques/strategies they are having difficulty with for a few matches in class and/or pair them up with a partner that presents a particular problem for them. This helps facilitate the learning process....maybe you can communicate with your sparring partners on occasion that you would like to work on something in particular for that match.

[GeoGiant]

Thanks everyone!

Since my initial post I spoke with one of the BBs that instructs at my dojo. His response was (1) I had a good offense with good power & (2) no one has hit me really hard yet

Well, needless to say, that conversation got me thinking. Now I see that my sparring time should be used to work out problems and learn… as opposed to using that time as an opportunity to kick & punch someone. Why is it that sometimes the most obvious things are overlooked?

[DWx]

Nice topic Geo

Did you make a conscious effort, as I did the last 2 weeks, to fight a certain way and then over time the things you worked on just developed?

OR

Did you fight the way you felt comfortable and then over time your instincts sharpened and you slowly evolved into a better fighter?

TBH I prefer a bit of both as a training method. When sparring people you are clearly better than, thats the time to work on stuff. So if there's a particular technique or strategy, go for it. Sparring less experienced people means you can dictate the pace and you have a chance to throw stuff that might not actually work against a more experienced fighter. Then when sparring people who are a lot better than you, use what you are comfortable with already and hone it. As you get better at certain stuff you've tried out then you can incorporate it into your overall game and try it out with the better fighters.

I don't think either strategy works that great just on its own. Obviously if you just stick to what you're comfortable with you wont ever see any dramatic improvement because you aren't trying anything new. But if you don't keep at you're comfortable techs and strategy they wont really improve either.

From an instructors point of view-I will often limit my students to those techniques/strategies they are having difficulty with for a few matches in class and/or pair them up with a partner that presents a particular problem for them.

This is what my instructor does and it works great for forcing you to adapt what you know or trying out different stuff.

[GeoGiant]

DWx - The thing that hit home for me was being told that I haven't really been hit yet. I never thought about it, but its true. Don't get me wrong, I've been hit and felt pain, had the wind knocked out me, etc, but I've never had my bell rung in class.

As most have suggested, intend to use a combo of proven and unproven techniques. Right now I just keep focusing on stepping in on an opponent and then dealing with the result. What usually happens is - I step in on a higher belt, that person lifts their front leg to either block or kick, as soon as I see the knee coming up I drop my left hand to block the leg (The one protecting my head!!!! while my right hand is cocked to punch) and then my opponent tags me in the head. Grrrrrr, it keep happening!?&%$?!