# Sparring from class today



## Azulx

I am slowly trying to improve on all the suggestions everyone had. Here are a couple videos of me sparring in class today. I welcome more suggestions and feedback. Hopefully there is some improvement since my other sparring videos.


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## Kickboxer101

I'm going to comment after watching each video before moving on.

1: you do look better but you still threw pretty much 99% kicks did you notice in that video the one punch you threw you landed you're a tall guy getting a good jab going will help you. Also your push is pretty telegraphed especially when you use the cocking action I'd say that's your slowest kick. One suggestion when you lift your leg use it as a fake sometimes, lift it then throw the other leg, lift it throw a punch. Nice spinning kick at the end that was nice.

2: good speed on your front leg and mixing the kicks throwing more than one, again punches use them don't limit yourself, Also I kind of saw you were using the side kick when you were to close a side kicks a long range weapon sometimes you didnt get the full extension because you were to close and it jams you up a bit.

3: wow it looked like I was watching a different guy you fought a lot different in that last one you threw a lot of punches and mixed them up with kicks which is good but you need to try and put more behind them not try to hurt the guy but use more follow throw again good speed in your kicks maybe try and counter a bit more like as soon as their kicks in th air try and hit them as they'll be off balance. 

Overall: absolutely a lot of improvement from your tournament video or your test one your arms aren't flailing as much and there's more snap to the kicks. Main thing combos mix it up but that'll just come with practice it's easier said than done I know and also counters. That's what I'd day but hey good job respect to you for showing it


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## Azulx

Kickboxer101 said:


> I'm going to comment after watching each video before moving on.
> 
> 1: you do look better but you still threw pretty much 99% kicks did you notice in that video the one punch you threw you landed you're a tall guy getting a good jab going will help you. Also your push is pretty telegraphed especially when you use the cocking action I'd say that's your slowest kick. One suggestion when you lift your leg use it as a fake sometimes, lift it then throw the other leg, lift it throw a punch. Nice spinning kick at the end that was nice.
> 
> 2: good speed on your front leg and mixing the kicks throwing more than one, again punches use them don't limit yourself, Also I kind of saw you were using the side kick when you were to close a side kicks a long range weapon sometimes you didnt get the full extension because you were to close and it jams you up a bit.
> 
> 3: wow it looked like I was watching a different guy you fought a lot different in that last one you threw a lot of punches and mixed them up with kicks which is good but you need to try and put more behind them not try to hurt the guy but use more follow throw again good speed in your kicks maybe try and counter a bit more like as soon as their kicks in th air try and hit them as they'll be off balance.
> 
> Overall: absolutely a lot of improvement from your tournament video or your test one your arms aren't flailing as much and there's more snap to the kicks. Main thing combos mix it up but that'll just come with practice it's easier said than done I know and also counters. That's what I'd day but hey good job respect to you for showing it



Thanks for commenting. I really appreciate the feedback!


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## Kickboxer101

Azulx said:


> Thanks for commenting. I really appreciate the feedback!


No problems sparring a thing that isn't easy at all it's easy to watch some videos and say shoulda woulda coulda but I'm sure if you watched me sparring I'd probably be doing some of the same things I'm telling you to not do


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## JowGaWolf

Not sure what to say from a TKD perspective.  
Just glad I'm not in a TKD class because you guys do way too much kicking for me lol.

From a kung fu perspective I would say that you should learn how to retreat properly or may be the correct term is "retreat more efficiently."  Currently you are over-retreating which is causing you to move out of the range of engagement and as a result you are constantly trying to re-engage.    Getting out of the way of a punch or a kick doesn't always have to be a backwards movement away from your opponent.  You school actually throws enough kicks where it wouldn't take you long to figure how to move forward and at angles when kicks are thrown.  Don't worry about getting hit or kicked hard because it looks like none of the kicks are full blast which makes it a good environment to make mistakes without getting severe injuries.

it should be really easy for since there is a 99% chance that every attack that comes at you will be kick; so it's not like you don't know what attack is going to come next.  You guys seem to just throw the punch out there without any real purpose, the punches are often thrown well outside of their range.

Other than that the videos were good to watch. To me you seem to be fairly solid with footing and the other stuff that I could comment is going to improve as you do more sparring.  For me sparring is less about what I could have done better and more about understanding the mechanics of what is coming at me.  
For example, I already know that if you kick me, it will take time for you to bring the legs down and bring it back up.  I know for a fact that I could move forward as your leg goes down and attack before you can kick with that leg again.  If I move in with fierceness, then it may trigger you to freeze up a little and cause even more of a delay.  None of this has much to do with me and what I can do. It's mostly about the limits, restrictions, natural reactions, and time that my opponent has to deal with.  If I can get a better grasp of that then I'll have a better understanding of what I can do when my opponent attacks.


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## Azulx

JowGaWolf said:


> Not sure what to say from a TKD perspective.
> Just glad I'm not in a TKD class because you guys do way too much kicking for me lol.



I joined TKD, because of the strong influence on kicking. Played 15 years of soccer, I thought I would have an easier time to transition in that MA.



JowGaWolf said:


> From a kung fu perspective I would say that you should learn how to retreat properly or may be the correct term is "retreat more efficiently." Currently you are over-retreating which is causing you to move out of the range of engagement and as a result you are constantly trying to re-engage. Getting out of the way of a punch or a kick doesn't always have to be a backwards movement away from your opponent. You school actually throws enough kicks where it wouldn't take you long to figure how to move forward and at angles when kicks are thrown. Don't worry about getting hit or kicked hard because it looks like none of the kicks are full blast which makes it a good environment to make mistakes without getting severe injuries.



I've been experimenting with different ways of retreating. I was actually overstretching to block things that had zero chance of hitting me, so in order to get out of that habit I started retreating more. I will become more comfortable with retreating from different angles as I practice those escapes more. 



JowGaWolf said:


> it should be really easy for since there is a 99% chance that every attack that comes at you will be kick; so it's not like you don't know what attack is going to come next. You guys seem to just throw the punch out there without any real purpose, the punches are often thrown well outside of their range.



This is something that our school has been heavily criticized for not only on this forum, but just people in general who have had previous experience and tried our class. WE DON'T PUNCH.I honestly have no idea why, we are just not taught how to use our punches effectively during sparring. There is not one single person in our school who I can say uses their hand effectively during sparring. It's just kicks upon kicks. I am slowly trying to add punches into my offense, but without proper instruction I'm kind of just self training it. Since I have started with the school, it's been about a year and a half. I would say maybe, and I'm being generous here, 5% of our training has involved punching. Sometimes we do hands only sparring and it looks like an awkward match of rockem' sockem' robots. Some matches even look like hard swinging "sissy fight" where arms are just slapping each other constantly.  I just don't know how to use punches to set up kicks and vice versa, sometimes I get lucky and pull something off. I just throw some random punches hope the guy moves his hands, and if he does I kick him wherever the opening is. I just feel more comfortable using kicks to set up kicks.


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## JowGaWolf

Azulx said:


> I joined TKD, because of the strong influence on kicking. Played 15 years of soccer, I thought I would have an easier time to transition in that MA.


Kicking takes a lot of effort when it is done over and over again so that makes sense.  One day I was watching a tkd person "light off" kicks like a machine gun.  I tried to do the same thing and it only took me 10 seconds of constant kicking like that to gas me out completely.  My kicking quality probably started decaying around 5 seconds of kicking.  

I might have been good at doing those types of kicks when I was in the 3rd grade when I took karate.  I doubt if I can do even 5 seconds like that now, well at least not at blazing speed.



Azulx said:


> I am slowly trying to add punches into my offense, but without proper instruction I'm kind of just self training it. Since I have started with the school, it's been about a year and a half. I would say maybe, and I'm being generous here, 5% of our training has involved punching.


 Study your videos and take note of how your opponents react to your attacks, take note of when their movement is a natural reflex reaction vs when they plan the movement.  Try to recognize what happens to their hands when they do certain kicks.  Do they leave their hands down or do they keep them up when kicking? Do they have a pattern where one part of the body moves before the next.

For example: The guy in the first video leans his head back when he wants to kick and leans his head forward when he wants to punch. He has a noticeable weight shift.  I'm not sure how this would look if you are standing in front of him, but from the video you can tell what he wants to do by how he positions his head.  This is important because if you know he's going to punch then you can kick under his punch. Don't worry about getting hit with his punches because you already know that his punches will most likely be out of range.

If he wants to kick, then you know that you'll be able to quickly close the distance by moving forward.  This will either jam his kick or put you safely inside of the kick where it has no power. Once inside of the range you can use your punches as he fails to land a good kick on you. The more you study your own videos, your and your opponent the better you will do.  Next time you video tape your sparring, try to do a bunch of different movements for the purpose of seeing how your sparring partner reacts to it. Try side to side head movements, side movements of the body, forward movements.  Try some misdirection tactics like moving to the left and kicking with your left leg, or moving to the left and kicking with your right leg.  The more things you can try the more valuable your video will be in understanding how what you do affects the people you spar against.

The videos are going to be one of your best training tools, provided that you aren't always doing the same things in the videos.  If all you do is kick then all of your videos will be about kicking and you won't have any footage to help you learn how to improve your punching.   See if you can record a video of when you are only sparring with punches.


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## Kickboxer101

Azulx said:


> I joined TKD, because of the strong influence on kicking. Played 15 years of soccer, I thought I would have an easier time to transition in that MA.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been experimenting with different ways of retreating. I was actually overstretching to block things that had zero chance of hitting me, so in order to get out of that habit I started retreating more. I will become more comfortable with retreating from different angles as I practice those escapes more.
> 
> 
> 
> This is something that our school has been heavily criticized for not only on this forum, but just people in general who have had previous experience and tried our class. WE DON'T PUNCH.I honestly have no idea why, we are just not taught how to use our punches effectively during sparring. There is not one single person in our school who I can say uses their hand effectively during sparring. It's just kicks upon kicks. I am slowly trying to add punches into my offense, but without proper instruction I'm kind of just self training it. Since I have started with the school, it's been about a year and a half. I would say maybe, and I'm being generous here, 5% of our training has involved punching. Sometimes we do hands only sparring and it looks like an awkward match of rockem' sockem' robots. Some matches even look like hard swinging "sissy fight" where arms are just slapping each other constantly.  I just don't know how to use punches to set up kicks and vice versa, sometimes I get lucky and pull something off. I just throw some random punches hope the guy moves his hands, and if he does I kick him wherever the opening is. I just feel more comfortable using kicks to set up kicks.




Hmmm hate to say it but that doesn't sound if you can't even throw a punch properly. I know a few taekwondo places are like that one guy who was a taekwondo guy came to our gym and had great kicks but when it came to punch drills looked awful and he said he'd never trained punches. I mean I understand if your more comfy just kicking but if you've barely been taught It then well maybe you should question your instructor on it. But if it's possible you can always go find a boxing gym and train there as well for a bit so you can get some hand skills as well as your kicks


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## Azulx

Kickboxer101 said:


> Hmmm hate to say it but that doesn't sound if you can't even throw a punch properly. I know a few taekwondo places are like that one guy who was a taekwondo guy came to our gym and had great kicks but when it came to punch drills looked awful and he said he'd never trained punches.



Honestly, most TKD schools in my area from what I've seen have little to no concentration on punching. there are two schools with really great reviews and they are both Olympic sparring, which has almost zero punching when they spar. I would love to see videos of a TKD school that shows student sparring with adept hand abilities. I just haven't seen that. 



Kickboxer101 said:


> I mean I understand if your more comfy just kicking but if you've barely been taught It then well maybe you should question your instructor on it.



Naturally I'm more comfortable kicking, because that is what I practice the most. Questioning my instructor in what regard? From our class structure it is clear that punching isn't important to him. Would I question his personal knowledge on punching? Because it, although he has never flat out said "I don't know how to punch," is clearly evident that he doesn't know how to punch in combinations. Since none of us have ever been taught how,or seen him do a combo,  one can just simply assume. He doesn't claim to know boxing or be good with his hands. So there is no need to question something I already know the answer to. 



Kickboxer101 said:


> But if it's possible you can always go find a boxing gym and train there as well for a bit so you can get some hand skills as well as your kicks



At some point I will look into other place to help supplement my training, in aspects I feel I need to improve. Clear example, my hands.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

Going against the grain here: If you are doing the type of competition sparring that you're showing, punching isn't as important. In terms of fighting it is, but for the sport TKD that you're doing, you may end up performing worse by trying to divvy your training equally between kicks and punches. There's a reason many sport TKD places focus so much on the kids...


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

Azulx said:


> Because it, although he has never flat out said "I don't know how to punch," is clearly evident that he doesn't know how to punch in combinations. Since none of us have ever been taught how,or seen him do a combo,  one can just simply assume. He doesn't claim to know boxing or be good with his hands. So there is no need to question something I already know the answer to.


Not necessarily. He could very well have more experience punching than he is showing you, or is admitting to, but doesn't feel a need to go into it because it may detract from learning how to kick for (his version of) TKD.


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## zanaffar

Hey, props for putting your videos up for us to see!

You're sparring within a pretty strict rule set, correct? Light contact, no punches to the head, no leg kicks, no knees, and working towards scoring points? If so, I think your time is better spent working some quick front leg kicks. Slide kicks, repeat round kicks with level changes, hook kick round kick combos, etc. I see that you're doing a lot of kicks with your right leg, which happens to be your rear leg. If you're more comfortable kicking with your right, for the purpose of scoring points, you may want to consider keeping it in front and getting into a more bladed stance. This will let you keep the target that you expose to your opponent smaller and give you quicker forward/backward mobility. Once you get more comfortable, you can start throwing in double and triple switch kicks.

The above advice is with the assumption that you're practicing towards tournament point sparring. However, some parts of the videos you posted make it seem like you're not terribly concerned with scoring points or having them scored on you. At certain points in the videos it sort of looks like you're just trying to get hits in on your opponent, as, for example, in the 3rd video where you're working punches. If points are no concern, then I think you're being way too cautious with your opponents. From the level of contact you guys are using, you can literally stand there and eat every one of their hits and it shouldn't even phase you. Why move out of the way of a kick that's going to tickle you at best? Instead, stuff it, get inside, start throwing round kicks and hooks to the body.

If you're not working towards scoring points, you might have more success adopting a style more similar to something like this video, but without the leg kicks or knees:


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## Azulx

zanaffar said:


> You're sparring within a pretty strict rule set, correct? Light contact, no punches to the head, no leg kicks, no knees, and working towards scoring points? If so, I think your time is better spent working some quick front leg kicks. Slide kicks, repeat round kicks with level changes, hook kick round kick combos, etc. I see that you're doing a lot of kicks with your right leg, which happens to be your rear leg. If you're more comfortable kicking with your right, for the purpose of scoring points, you may want to consider keeping it in front and getting into a more bladed stance. This will let you keep the target that you expose to your opponent smaller and give you quicker forward/backward mobility. Once you get more comfortable, you can start throwing in double and triple switch kicks.
> 
> The above advice is with the assumption that you're practicing towards tournament point sparring. However, some parts of the videos you posted make it seem like you're not terribly concerned with scoring points or having them scored on you. At certain points in the videos it sort of looks like you're just trying to get hits in on your opponent, as, for example, in the 3rd video where you're working punches. If points are no concern, then I think you're being way too cautious with your opponents. From the level of contact you guys are using, you can literally stand there and eat every one of their hits and it shouldn't even phase you. Why move out of the way of a kick that's going to tickle you at best? Instead, stuff it, get inside, start throwing round kicks and hooks to the body.



All the rules you stated are correct except we are allowed to punch to the side and top of the head. I actually practice both point sparring and free sparring. So I mix it up, sometimes. As far as the light contact, only black belts are allowed to use moderate contact against each other, but we don't have any of those yet, besides the instructor. I have no idea how our instructor would feel about moderate to full contact in black belt sparring if both black belt consent to it. I know for a fact , because he has openly said, he doesn't want his black belts sparring him full contact. He has to go to work in morning and can't afford to be injured.


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## Kickboxer101

Azulx said:


> All the rules you stated are correct except we are allowed to punch to the side and top of the head. I actually practice both point sparring and free sparring. So I mix it up, sometimes. As far as the light contact, only black belts are allowed to use moderate contact against each other, but we don't have any of those yet, besides the instructor. I have no idea how our instructor would feel about moderate to full contact in black belt sparring if both black belt consent to it. I know for a fact , because he has openly said, he doesn't want his black belts sparring him full contact. He has to go to work in morning and can't afford to be injured.


So your instructor doesn't want to spar with contact because he's afraid of getting hurt? Surely at that level he should be used to taking a few decent shots and since your club doesn't punch he wouldn't be getting broken nose or anything


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## Monkey Turned Wolf

Kickboxer101 said:


> So your instructor doesn't want to spar with contact because he's afraid of getting hurt? Surely at that level he should be used to taking a few decent shots and since your club doesn't punch he wouldn't be getting broken nose or anything


Dude, like every thread I see you on, you are judging someone you don't actually know (various UFC fighters, ironbear, Azulx's instructors and others). Chill on all your judgments.

You've got no idea what the situation is with his instructor, or why he personally doesn't do full contact. Maybe he has a job in construction where getting hurt could put him out of work for a couple months. Maybe he's 70 and doesn't feel like getting hurt, when it takes him longer to heal than it would either of us. Maybe he's already done full contact in the past, and is more interested in teaching others, than being involved in it again himself. Or some other entirely legitimate reason.

IMO after a while, as long as you know the mindset of full contact, there's not much disadvantage in just doing medium contact, and the chance of getting hurt doing full contact. If I was older, had experience with it, and no plans on competing, I would probably refuse to do full contact as well.


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## Kickboxer101

kempodisciple said:


> Dude, like every thread I see you on, you are judging someone you don't actually know (various UFC fighters, ironbear, Azulx's instructors and others). Chill on all your judgments.
> 
> You've got no idea what the situation is with his instructor, or why he personally doesn't do full contact. Maybe he has a job in construction where getting hurt could put him out of work for a couple months. Maybe he's 70 and doesn't feel like getting hurt, when it takes him longer to heal than it would either of us. Maybe he's already done full contact in the past, and is more interested in teaching others, than being involved in it again himself. Or some other entirely legitimate reason.
> 
> IMO after a while, as long as you know the mindset of full contact, there's not much disadvantage in just doing medium contact, and the chance of getting hurt doing full contact. If I was older, had experience with it, and no plans on competing, I would probably refuse to do full contact as well.


Well I know he's not 70 because I'm assuming he's the one in the black belt in the video and I'm giving my opinion that's what this forums for to post opinions and I'm not saying his instructors bad never did I say that


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## Azulx

kempodisciple said:


> Going against the grain here: If you are doing the type of competition sparring that you're showing, punching isn't as important. In terms of fighting it is, but for the sport TKD that you're doing, you may end up performing worse by trying to divvy your training equally between kicks and punches. There's a reason many sport TKD places focus so much on the kids...



Yeah, we spar with the same rules as point fighting competitions. We just don't record points when we spar. Sometimes we free spar and kind of don't worry about "points" being scored on us.



kempodisciple said:


> Not necessarily. He could very well have more experience punching than he is showing you, or is admitting to, but doesn't feel a need to go into it because it may detract from learning how to kick for (his version of) TKD.



This is true, I have no idea everything he knows. Only he does. I only know what I am able to see. 



Kickboxer101 said:


> So your instructor doesn't want to spar with contact because he's afraid of getting hurt? Surely at that level he should be used to taking a few decent shots and since your club doesn't punch he wouldn't be getting broken nose or anything



Yes, my instructor is 60 years old, so he isn't too crazy about having his students who are all in their late teens and twenties hitting him with full contact kicks. He openly admits that for him it will take longer to heal then his students in their twenties. Just because we can't punch him in the face doesn't mean there aren't other full contact strikes that can injure him. 



kempodisciple said:


> Dude, like every thread I see you on, you are judging someone you don't actually know (various UFC fighters, ironbear, Azulx's instructors and others). Chill on all your judgments.
> 
> You've got no idea what the situation is with his instructor, or why he personally doesn't do full contact. Maybe he has a job in construction where getting hurt could put him out of work for a couple months. Maybe he's 70 and doesn't feel like getting hurt, when it takes him longer to heal than it would either of us. Maybe he's already done full contact in the past, and is more interested in teaching others, than being involved in it again himself. Or some other entirely legitimate reason.
> 
> IMO after a while, as long as you know the mindset of full contact, there's not much disadvantage in just doing medium contact, and the chance of getting hurt doing full contact. If I was older, had experience with it, and no plans on competing, I would probably refuse to do full contact as well.



My instructor works for the local Parish Streets Dept. so there are parts of his job that involve manual labor. So although we can't punch him in the face, anything from bruised to broken ribs, can severely impact him in his work. These type of injuries would be more common if we were allowed to kick full contact.You can't block or dodge every kick ever, one is bound to land, and that one may be the one to effect his job. He did full contact TKD in the 70's he loved it but he was in his late teens then. Now he's 60 so he isn't too crazy about doing that. 



Kickboxer101 said:


> Well I know he's not 70 because I'm assuming he's the one in the black belt in the video and I'm giving my opinion that's what this forums for to post opinions and I'm not saying his instructors bad never did I say that



No quite 70 yet, he's 60 so he's not in his prime physical condition.


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## Kickboxer101

Azulx said:


> Yeah, we spar with the same rules as point fighting competitions. We just don't record points when we spar. Sometimes we free spar and kind of don't worry about "points" being scored on us.
> 
> 
> 
> This is true, I have no idea everything he knows. Only he does. I only know what I am able to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, my instructor is 60 years old, so he isn't too crazy about having his students who are all in their late teens and twenties hitting him with full contact kicks. He openly admits that for him it will take longer to heal then his students in their twenties. Just because we can't punch him in the face doesn't mean there aren't other full contact strikes that can injure him.
> 
> 
> 
> My instructor works for the local Parish Streets Dept. so there are parts of his job that involve manual labor. So although we can't punch him in the face, anything from bruised to broken ribs, can severely impact him in his work. These type of injuries would be more common if we were allowed to kick full contact.You can't block or dodge every kick ever, one is bound to land, and that one may be the one to effect his job. He did full contact TKD in the 70's he loved it but he was in his late teens then. Now he's 60 so he isn't too crazy about doing that.
> 
> 
> 
> No quite 70 yet, he's 60 so he's not in his prime physical condition.


Okay fair enough but if that's the case couldn't they wear body protectors like they wear in Olympic tkd. And also no offence meant at all I didn't mean to criticise your instructor at all I hope I didnt cause any offence.


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## Azulx

Kickboxer101 said:


> Okay fair enough but if that's the case couldn't they wear body protectors like they wear in Olympic tkd. And also no offence meant at all I didn't mean to criticise your instructor at all I hope I didnt cause any offence.



None taken! Everyone has an opinion, and I value everyone's if there is merit to it, and the person isn't just trolling.I was just stating that my instructor has a perfectly good reason for not wanting to spar his students full contact. Our instructor will allow us to use a Hogu (the chest piece), but no one gets one because we can only use light contact, so it wouldn't be used properly. Although if we ever allow consensual full contact sparring, it wouldn't be a bad idea to use one.


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## Ironbear24

Hm, not sure which one in the videos you are, I also am no expert on tae kwon do, so take this advice with that in mind. In my opinion both of your hands are too low, many of the kicks also don't connect and are very far away from making any contact.


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## Azulx

Ironbear24 said:


> Hm, not sure which one in the videos you are, I also am no expert on tae kwon do, so take this advice with that in mind. In my opinion both of your hands are too low, many of the kicks also don't connect and are very far away from making any contact.



I am the one with the blue sparring gear.


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