Flinching Problems

[JowGaWolf]

If your reaction to being hit is to flinch, then yes you will just get hit.
Defensive drills should be worked first to a competent level for a student to not be flinching frequently, otherwise sparring will just train bad habits and waste time.

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As a kid I played a game with friends where people would get hit for flinching. After a while it eventually go boring because no one flinched.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I've seen two approaches work, and it might be that they work for different people. One is what @drop bear suggested: just go spar long enough in one go (a bunch of rounds) that you get tired and don't really care about being hit. Some folks just "get over it" after doing that. Make sure you're not doing that sparring in a way that's beating up your head - that's not the point. It should be light sparring, and your focus really is on defending the ones you flinch from.

The other approach is closer to what Danny and some others have pointed to: work light drills on just those attacks (or, with more of those attacks than others). I use "defensive sparring" (where there's no counter-attack from the student) to help with this. Their focus is to keep moving and control distance (opening and closing distance to control my very light attacks).

 

[JR 137]

As a kid I played a game with friends where people would get hit for flinching. After a while it eventually go boring because no one flinched.

“Two for flinching?”

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Your eyes will open big when you feel excited. How can you make your opponent's incoming punch to make you feel excited? You may just need to develop an effective counter against a face punch that will have high successful rate.

Next time when someone throws a punch at you, you will have a big smile on your face.

 

[axelb]

Your eyes will open big when you feel excited. How can you make your opponent's incoming punch to make you feel excited? You may just need to develop an effective counter against a face punch that will have high successful rate.

Next time when someone throws a punch at you, you will have a big smile on your face.

yes! don't learn to get hit, learn to defend against a hit, that's the point of martial arts training
other wise it is just training how to be a punch bag.

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[Deafdude#5]

Like the others said...don’t get hit. Start by moving out of the way. Never just stand in one place.

Practice, practice and practice so that you can learn as you make mistakes.

 

[FriedRice]

Like the others said...don’t get hit. Start by moving out of the way. Never just stand in one place.

Practice, practice and practice so that you can learn as you make mistakes.

One of the main problems of Muay Thai, IMO, is not a lot of footwork. MT is trained to ultimately pack in as much pain & destruction as possible in 3 rounds of fighting to keep it exciting for the spectators and especially, the Thai gamblers.

That's why it can be very annoying to see some Karate guy running around the the ring all day while the MT chases him. This can be seen in MMA with Wonderbread, Machida and other points fighting style, Karatekas getting booed to hell in most to all of their fights...during and after the fight, and even when they've been awarded the win by decision.

In MT, it's mostly about going straight in and out, exchange damage to see who gets KTFO. It's rarely breaking stance by moving/running way out of range like Kung-Fu, Karate, etc. does.

 

[EddieCyrax]

I developed a flinch with one of my instructors a few years ago. During a moderate sparring match i got popped harder than he intended as i walked into it. From that point, my brain went into auto-defense every time i sparred him. No one else, just him.

I am not sure what padding you use, but we generally do not wear head gear as control is generally there with the higher ranks. This said, I started wearing head gear when i sparred him. Through time, I lost the flinch as the protection gave me the confidence that i had lost.

Just a thought.

 

[EMT]

A simple conditioning against flinching: when taking a shower face your showerhead with your eyes wide open and let the water drops hit your eyes without closing them. This way you will desensitize your eyes to rapid movements in front of them.