Flailing in sparring

[WingChunChick]

I've practiced tma(karate/wc) for over a decade now. But recently I started doing mma. I have a problem where during sparring when up close(clinch) I don't really know what to do so I kinda feel like I'm flailing instead of fighting.

What can I do to improve my functional game and get better at sparring?

 

[DanT]

This usually happens when one is not looking at the opponent. You may be "gazing" in their direction, but your vision is out of focus as if you're day dreaming. You also may be flinching. If this happens to you, it takes a couple of months to fix. Continue to spar and focus on focusing your vision on your opponent. Ask them to move at 50%, then in a few months work up to 75%, then 90% speed eventually.

 

[Headhunter]

You need to be taught how to deal with it

 

[TSDTexan]

I've practiced tma(karate/wc) for over a decade now. But recently I started doing mma. I have a problem where during sparring when up close(clinch) I don't really know what to do so I kinda feel like I'm flailing instead of fighting.

What can I do to improve my functional game and get better at sparring?

1. Focus target.

2. Correct Weapon at Correct range.
At clinch range the Forearms, Elbows, Knees are your tools.

3.
Search YouTube for videos on striking in the clinch.
pick three techniques that seem good to you.

Spend 20 minutes working the heavybag with each one. bam! there went an hour of trading. do that for a month, and pick three new techniques.

Repeat.

Make sure to always work both sides... if you do ten knee strikes with the left, do ten with the right.

Make sure to review your earlier stuff as you learn new stuff.

After a year, you will have practiced 36 techniques.

Now on your one year anniversary. Spend an hour, blending and shuffling your techniques in various combinations.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

This usually happens when one is not looking at the opponent. You may be "gazing" in their direction, but your vision is out of focus as if you're day dreaming. You also may be flinching. If this happens to you, it takes a couple of months to fix. Continue to spar and focus on focusing your vision on your opponent. Ask them to move at 50%, then in a few months work up to 75%, then 90% speed eventually.

^^This. Slow things down for a while. There's probably a predictable level of speed and intensity that triggers your flailing. Find it with a partner (by ratcheting up slowly until you or they notice it happening), then back off enough to get back to "normal". Do this over and over, and you'll notice over time your "trigger point" will move further into intensity and speed, until you can handle whatever speed you're wanting to work at.

 

[TSDTexan]

^^This. Slow things down for a while. There's probably a predictable level of speed and intensity that triggers your flailing. Find it with a partner (by ratcheting up slowly until you or they notice it happening), then back off enough to get back to "normal". Do this over and over, and you'll notice over time your "trigger point" will move further into intensity and speed, until you can handle whatever speed you're wanting to work at.

Agreed. Never panic in a fight, and sometimes it can be hard to realize that you are panicking. Finding that threshold, and having good breathing can help a lot. I don't know how many times I see people flailing, who also fail to breathe correctly, or hold their breath.

 

[pdg]

Search YouTube for videos on striking in the clinch.
pick three techniques that seem good to you.

Spend 20 minutes working the heavybag with each one. bam! there went an hour of trading. do that for a month, and pick three new techniques.

Repeat.

Make sure to always work both sides... if you do ten knee strikes with the left, do ten with the right.

Make sure to review your earlier stuff as you learn new stuff.

After a year, you will have practiced 36 techniques.

Now on your one year anniversary. Spend an hour, blending and shuffling your techniques in various combinations.

That's all well and good, but without a partner you're essentially, ahem, playing with yourself....

And y'know, a year of playing with yourself won't make you better in bed

 

[TSDTexan]

That's all well and good, but without a partner you're essentially, ahem, playing with yourself....

And y'know, a year of playing with yourself won't make you better in bed

No... but if you dont have the gross motor skill pathways at all.... you wont be using them in that sparring with a partner.

You gotta crawl before you walk.
She asked. That was my advice.

Go to any boxing gym. They wont take a virgin and put them in with a sparring partner on day one.

it will be drills, bagwork, shadow punching, skipping rope and then Focus Pads.

Then more of the same.... and then light sparring.

Same deal, except she has found a range that she isn't experienced at. . . and she is flailing.

 

[pdg]

it will be drills, bagwork, shadow punching, skipping rope and then Focus Pads.

Focus pads is partner work, they won't have you flying solo for a year before that.

A few months max (including mitt work) before light sparring would be more reasonable for someone training regularly.

She said she's already sparring, so the crawling stage is kind of done. A year only on the bag is going to be extremely frustrating and imo pointless.

Do some bagwork too by all means, but focusing on it exclusively?

Getting on with a partner willing to work correctly is going to yield better results.

 

[TSDTexan]

Focus pads is partner work, they won't have you flying solo for a year before that.

A few months max (including mitt work) before light sparring would be more reasonable for someone training regularly.

She said she's already sparring, so the crawling stage is kind of done. A year only on the bag is going to be extremely frustrating and imo pointless.

Do some bagwork too by all means, but focusing on it exclusively?

Getting on with a partner willing to work correctly is going to yield better results.

no no no.... everything I was offering her was adjunct to current training. Not in lieu of it.

I never said "ok stop what your doing for now and try this instead".

What I read and interpreted is that she is flailing because she doesn't know how to attack in the clinch, it's a range she is unfamiliar with.

my prescription was plug in some curriculum where she sees it performed, and then tries to simulate it (developing gross motor pathways)
eventually through the process she will also employ the techniques in live partner work (finer motor skill).

 

[pdg]

no no no.... everything I was offering her was adjunct to current training. Not in lieu of it.

Ah, it read like a replacement - like "do all this, then try again".

Fair enough then

 

[JowGaWolf]

I've practiced tma(karate/wc) for over a decade now. But recently I started doing mma. I have a problem where during sparring when up close(clinch) I don't really know what to do so I kinda feel like I'm flailing instead of fighting.

What can I do to improve my functional game and get better at sparring?

Simple. Learn the techniques that deal with up close fighting and clinch work. Then practice those techniques.

 

[JowGaWolf]

You need to be taught how to deal with it

Exactly.

 

[drop bear]

For me in close everything is basically pummeling or wrestling So I am trying to get to secure positions like an under hook, double unders, angled off, back or a takedown.(mostly)

All of these positions sort of walk through strinking positions. so I might go for an underhook and punch the guy in the face as i do it. But i sort of have a plan.

Or just avoid the clinch all together. Change levels and double or single leg.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I've practiced tma(karate/wc) for over a decade now. But recently I started doing mma. I have a problem where during sparring when up close(clinch) I don't really know what to do so I kinda feel like I'm flailing instead of fighting.

What can I do to improve my functional game and get better at sparring?

Have you actually learned how to operate from the clinch? Collar ties, underhooks, overhooks, wrist control, frames, head positioning, body locks, knees, uppercuts, tight hooks, off-balancing your opponent, recovering your balance, that sort of thing? There's a real art to working at that range. A lot of the necessary elements can be found in karate and wing chun, but not everybody teaches them in a functional manner.

 

[drop bear]

Have you actually learned how to operate from the clinch? Collar ties, underhooks, overhooks, wrist control, frames, head positioning, body locks, knees, uppercuts, tight hooks, off-balancing your opponent, recovering your balance, that sort of thing? There's a real art to working at that range. A lot of the necessary elements can be found in karate and wing chun, but not everybody teaches them in a functional manner.

And I am not sure if there is that much clinching in open space. Yeah against the wall.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

And I am not sure if there is that much clinching in open space. Yeah against the wall.

If they don't keep me away, there will be clinching. In sparring (when grappling is allowed) I mostly want to get to the clinch. I don't think it's always my strongest position, and I'm not the best at crossing that gap, but I really like trying to get there...so I get there a fair amount.

 

[TSDTexan]

And I am not sure if there is that much clinching in open space. Yeah against the wall.

Against a highly skilled striker, it's the first place I am going. Because a striker is wanting to use his best weapons to pick you apart at range.
Deny him! Make him uncomfortable.

Against a highly skilled Wrestler/Judoka it's the last place I would like to go. Stay at kicking to punching range if possible, I will gripfight, but if we get to clinching, headbutt, tear off ears, crush insteps etc. and trap trap trap. Elbows and knees.


I would like to retain mobility and the opportunity to run for it, so I would like to stay off the ground, so Knee on belly works for me (or chest, or neck/head)

But it would be really helpful to put the other guy on the ground, one of the best places to do that is from clinch.

 

[Martial D]

I've practiced tma(karate/wc) for over a decade now. But recently I started doing mma. I have a problem where during sparring when up close(clinch) I don't really know what to do so I kinda feel like I'm flailing instead of fighting.

What can I do to improve my functional game and get better at sparring?

Practice hooks and uppercuts. A lot.

 

[drop bear]

If they don't keep me away, there will be clinching. In sparring (when grappling is allowed) I mostly want to get to the clinch. I don't think it's always my strongest position, and I'm not the best at crossing that gap, but I really like trying to get there...so I get there a fair amount.

See for me if I enter I shoot in rather than clinch because a skilled striker is liable to punch my head off.

Mma is not like Thai where you can often stand in the pocket and trade, then move to clinch. In MNA you can get clipped and finished pretty easily.

With a GI it is a bit easier because I can grab sleeves. But bare chested and sweaty. Clinching a striker I am worried about is a big ask.