# bad "sparring"



## fight4fun (Mar 22, 2009)

I've been training muay thai for 4 years and at first i did smokers and got my butt kicked. I started training harder and I started doing a lot better. I've fought 2 amateur fights with 1win-1loss and over 12 smokers. I excel in clinching and kneeing, not the best but my knees are my best weapons. I recently did an "interclub sparring" match (no more "smokers" thanks to the california athletic commission) and got dropped by a punch-kick combo and again by a punch combo. I normally do smokers at 180lbs but I didn't have time to cut weight and fought 190. When I fought my opponent his punches felt extremely hard and the kicks also. Even so I'm still dissappointed cuz I think I looked horrible. In my gym I'm regarded as being tough and knowing a few things. I made it through my two rounds but I think I embarrased my friends and trainers. My cardio is above average and I train about 2 hours five days a week and I spar a lot too. any advice?


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## Jarrod G. (Mar 22, 2009)

First, I'm not sure what you mean by 'smokers', is this some sort of local term for something..I've never heard it before.  

second, it sounds like you need a good drill to improve your guard so that you can weather an onslaught and get in close enough to use your clinch/knee talents.  One thing you can try is a drill we used to do.  When you spar, don't attack.  Try to find someone with some decent hand/leg skills and ask if they want to play offense for you.  Get them to attack you for several 5 minute rounds without you attacking back.  We used to do drill and switch back an forth every 5 minutes, but if you can find someone willing to be strictly offense, you can improve you guard drastically by doing this just a couple times a week.

I hope this helps =)


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## jarrod (Mar 22, 2009)

a smoker is an informal, usually unsanctioned fight night.  usually opponents aren't set up, you just show & see who is around your weight.

jf


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## Akira (Mar 23, 2009)

I find my sparring goes up and down.  Some days I'll do great at it, some days I act like a human punching bag.  If you were great every time you sparred or had a fight, you'd be world champion, right?

I don't think you embarrassed anyone by getting in the ring and wanting to learn from your performance.  But without seeing the video of your fight, it sounds like you need to improve your cardio and get in some more sparring practice against people from other gyms.  If you're always sparring people who are better then you are, you'll get better a lot quicker.  This is only your third amatuer fight remember...slowly slowly...

Good luck!


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## denmyos (Mar 23, 2009)

Akira said:


> I find my sparring goes up and down.  Some days I'll do great at it, some days I act like a human punching bag.



Phuu, i thought i was the only one that felt that way.
Some days i feel like never coming back, cause i got my *** kick by a first time sparre.
Other days, everything goes super smooth.
There are ups and downs in life, also in MT.


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## searcher (Mar 23, 2009)

My advice is to learn from this fight and use it to fuel your training.    Intensify your workouts and make sure it does not happen again.     I know that when I fight, if it is not against a top ranked fighter, I let myself get a little sloppy.     And I pay for it.


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## fight4fun (Mar 23, 2009)

thanks for the replies. I'm taking everything that was suggested into consideration. today im hitting the gym again. My cardio is excellent but im going to increase the intensity while still doing long up hill sprints. I'm going to also try the defensive drills by just defending a sparring partner's offensive. i'm also going to re-evaluate my arsenal of strikes to weed out the weakest one's and improve my striking. also i need to work on timing for counter-attacks. I would get caught in exchanges. I normally dont get caught too badly. And concentrate a on creating power without affecting speed and technique


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## Skpotamus (Mar 24, 2009)

One thing that I really worked on in sparring was similar to Jarrod G's suggestion about not attacking, but instead of simply not attacking, I made myself only counter during the sparring rounds.  Really made me pay more attention to footwork and angles, as well as watching what my opponent was doing and where the openings were.  Really made a big difference in my defense and counters.  Nothing is more demoralizing to an opponent than throwing a good hard combo, only to eat a hard shot because of it.  Makes them hesitate and can really put them on the defensive.  

Probably the biggest thing that helped my MT though was adding in some boxing at a boxing gym.  Really sharpened up my hands, my defense and my footwork.  I went from having "good" hands at my gym to "daaaaamn" hands at the gym.  I went from being  a regular guy at our gym, essentially standing straight in front and coming straight in and out to coming in on angles and constantly moving even while in range.  That footwork let me get off angle and really control where the fight was and what options were available to my opponent, while opening up more options for me.  

Hope this helps a bit.


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