The Art of Sparring & Its Many Forms

[Mou Meng Gung Fu]

How many of us out there practice sparring? What does it mean to practice sparring? How is sparring different from other types of training? What techniques, forms or drills do you practice to compliment your sparring? What weapons or gear do you use? What ways of sparring do you practice and what are some different ways to practice sparring? How has sparring effected you as a martial artist? I'm interested in what you have to say about the Art of Sparring, if anyone wants to share.

 

[CB Jones]

Forms, techniques and bag work at beginning of class then end with:

Pair up...5-7 mins of one partner attacks while other only defends alternating who attacks.

Usually 3-4 rounds of continuous sparing...rounds are usually 3-4 minutes with 1-2 minutes between rounds....Switch partners every round.

End with kinda a bull in the ring drill. Everyone lines up first 2 in line fight a one point match (Sensei determines when point is scored...must be good technique and an effective technique) loser goes to back of the line...winner fights next one up and so on. Typically 2 rounds through the line.

Do this usually every other class (night). So 1-2 per week since we usually go 3 nights a week plus Fridays.

Friday nights is 30 minutes of forms and 30 minutes of freestyle sparring while Sensei observes. Spar at your own pace. (Advance students only on Fridays)

 

[Langenschwert]

Sparring is a vital part of my HEMA training. The last 45 minutes of the HEMA class I teach is sparring.

When sparring, you should have a goal. This could be as simple as winning, or attempting to apply a certain technique or principle.

I would say that the bulk of our sparring uses steel training longswords that we call "feders". We routinely use steel arming swords, messers, and small shields called bucklers. We also use a leather sabre called a dussack, which was a common training tool in the 1500's. Those wanting to spar unarmed will usually box or do ground grappling. We don't have sufficient mats to do full resistance standing grappling yet, but light sparring can be done by those with control to do so. Beginners will sometimes start sparring with nylon weapons, but they aren't much safer than steel. It's better to transition them to steel as soon as they have the appropriate protective equipment.

 

[drop bear]

I do different elements of sparring and combined elements of sparring.

So I box,kick box, wrestle, MMA, Jits, shoot box.

Each element forces me to use a specific dynamic in a resisted setting with a risk of failure.

That way when I have combined these elements I Havent sneakily left anything out.

 

[kuniggety]

I do BJJ so sparring, whether positional or free sparring, usually takes up a large portion of the class. In a 90 min class, it'll be as much as 45 min. A lot of times, say we just practiced a sweep from the half guard, we'll do some half guard positional sparring to give people a chance to immediately feel it "live" and try to work it into whatever they usually do in that position. After that, it's free sparring. Whether we start on the ground (knees) or standing usually depends on how full the mat is.

How I spar depends on who I'm sparring against. If it's a newbie, I usually ask them if they want to work on something and if they don't, I usually play defense to let them work on their attacks. Once they have a few stripes, I roll harder but usually take more risks, i.e. Try out stuff I'm not as familiar with. I have to feel out other blues. If they're more flow rolling, then I'll play around more. If I can tell they're not messing around, then it's game time. Purple on up I'm not messing around.

 

[Langenschwert]

Another distincton we have is whether you're working on tournament longsword fighting or the more classical style that was used in duels. In tournament fighting, you'll often lean forward, baiting with your head, using a more combo and feint heavy style. In a hypothetical duel with sharps, more work is done with the swords still in contact with each other. The footwork changes too. In a tournament, you don't have to cut someone, but rather hit them, negating the need for large amounts of hip torque. In a duel, a passing step is often used for the attack so as to create a devastating cut from body weight and hip rotation. There's no set line that determines the divide between the two styles though.

 

[Midnight-shadow]

At my school we have various levels of sparring, everything from pushing hands to full contact. usually in class before we do free sparring we do 1-step and 2-step sparring. 1-step sparring is where one person throws a technique of their choice, then the other person has to block and then counter with a single move. 2-step sparring is the same except you retaliate with 2 techniques rather than one. I really like this as it gets you thinking about all your different techniques and allows you to make basic combinations of blocks and attacks before putting them in your free sparring.

As for the actual sparring itself, we have 3 basic levels. Open hand with no equipment, where you are only allowed to use open hand techniques and cannot strike a person's head, do grabs or takedowns. After that we have semi contact sparring where we wear gloves and headgear, and you are allowed to use takedowns but no floor grappling. Finally, full contact sparring allows everything including floor grappling.

 

[CDR_Glock]

I grew up in the old Shito Ryu system of full contact.

There aren't a lot of Japanese styles where I live. Most are Tae Kwan Do black belt mills.

I joined Wado Ki where I live. We do just light contact. But as we get higher belts, we are starting to get more full contact.

I like sparring but the forms of karate go out the window for me. I use a different fighting style combining Japanese techniques, Boxing and Chinese boxing. Not one style is perfect so that's why I combine them in application.


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[gerardbu07059]

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[Martial_Kumite]

We usually do regular free sparring that takes up about 15-20 min at the end of class. It is usually no contact unless it is a higher rank class. Then it mostly depends on the ages in the room. We also have had one step sparring, and weapons sparring as well, but we wear head gear for the weapons sparring (mostly bo staff)

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Types of sparring I do/have done ...

light, medium, hard contact
no protective gear, MMA gloves, Boxing gloves, shin pads, full armor, whatever seems appropriate for the level of contact and the techniques being used
punching only
punching and kicking only
clinching & knees only
punching, kicking, clinching and knees only
all strikes
grappling, takedowns only
grappling, just looking to enter to a control position for a takedown
ground grappling only, looking for submissions
grappling with takedowns and groundwork
positional ground grappling (ex - starting in mount, bottom person trying to escape, top person trying to submit)
ground grappling - pass or sweep
ground grappling - pass, sweep, or submit
ground grappling - pass, sweep, submit, or stand up
stand up sparring with strikes and takedowns
ground grappling with strikes
stand up sparring with strikes and takedowns, continuing on the ground
stand up and ground sparring with various "dirty tactics" allowed, such as hair pulling, groin attacks, (simulated) eye gouges, etc
situational/environmental setups - fighting in a car, on a couch, etc - grappling only and grappling with strikes
sparring where I try to limit myself to fighting within a given style or structure (i.e. use only Wing Chun, use only the Philly shell, etc)
stick sparring with padded sticks
stick sparring with real sticks and protective gear
knife sparring with training knives
unarmed against knife (standing and on the ground)
one against multiples grappling only
one against multiples strikes included
one against multiple weapons included
multiple against multiples
asymmetric rules (ex - one person can only strike, the other can only grapple; one person is trying to restrain the other who is trying to get away, etc)
various scenario drills aimed at specific situations, for example: to simulate having to recover from a sucker punch, one person stands in the middle of a "crowd" (the rest of the class gathered close), bends over to look at their toes, and spins around 30 times really fast*. During this time, another person is designated at the sucker puncher, puts on boxing gloves, and comes in aggressively shoving and punching once the punchee stops spinning. The defender must either clinch long enough to clear their head (if they can stand) or defend themselves from the ground using open guard long enough to clear their head (if they fall down).

*(If you've never been TKO'd, this gives a passable simulation of what it feels like. It doesn't really hurt that much, but your balance is shot.)

All sparring should be treated as a learning experience, not a proving ground for who's the biggest badass. Have a plan going in for what you want to learn. Afterwards, try to analyze what sort of problems, lessons, or discoveries you encountered. When I'm teaching class I like to do a Q&A so we can troubleshoot specific problems students may have run into while sparring.

 

[Danny T]

Types of sparring I do/have done ...

light, medium, hard contact
no protective gear, MMA gloves, Boxing gloves, shin pads, full armor, whatever seems appropriate for the level of contact and the techniques being used
punching only
punching and kicking only
clinching & knees only
punching, kicking, clinching and knees only
all strikes
grappling, takedowns only
grappling, just looking to enter to a control position for a takedown
ground grappling only, looking for submissions
grappling with takedowns and groundwork
positional ground grappling (ex - starting in mount, bottom person trying to escape, top person trying to submit)
ground grappling - pass or sweep
ground grappling - pass, sweep, or submit
ground grappling - pass, sweep, submit, or stand up
stand up sparring with strikes and takedowns
ground grappling with strikes
stand up sparring with strikes and takedowns, continuing on the ground
stand up and ground sparring with various "dirty tactics" allowed, such as hair pulling, groin attacks, (simulated) eye gouges, etc
situational/environmental setups - fighting in a car, on a couch, etc - grappling only and grappling with strikes
sparring where I try to limit myself to fighting within a given style or structure (i.e. use only Wing Chun, use only the Philly shell, etc)
stick sparring with padded sticks
stick sparring with real sticks and protective gear
knife sparring with training knives
unarmed against knife (standing and on the ground)
one against multiples grappling only
one against multiples strikes included
one against multiple weapons included
multiple against multiples
asymmetric rules (ex - one person can only strike, the other can only grapple; one person is trying to restrain the other who is trying to get away, etc)
various scenario drills aimed at specific situations, for example: to simulate having to recover from a sucker punch, one person stands in the middle of a "crowd" (the rest of the class gathered close), bends over to look at their toes, and spins around 30 times really fast*. During this time, another person is designated at the sucker puncher, puts on boxing gloves, and comes in aggressively shoving and punching once the punchee stops spinning. The defender must either clinch long enough to clear their head (if they can stand) or defend themselves from the ground using open guard long enough to clear their head (if they fall down).

*(If you've never been TKO'd, this gives a passable simulation of what it feels like. It doesn't really hurt that much, but your balance is shot.)

All sparring should be treated as a learning experience, not a proving ground for who's the biggest badass. Have a plan going in for what you want to learn. Afterwards, try to analyze what sort of problems, lessons, or discoveries you encountered. When I'm teaching class I like to do a Q&A so we can troubleshoot specific problems students may have run into while sparring.

^^^^^^^^^ "THIS"

 

[JP3]

I'm interested in what you have to say about the Art of Sparring, if anyone wants to share.

I try to get my class into some "aikido-sparring," or randori each class, but it flows in and out on the mat time I can devote to it with the ebb and flow of what the students are working on. In a perfect world, I'd just extend class a half-hour every night and we'd do nothing but work on some part of randori in that half-hour. But... people have things they have to take care of... like jobs... and kids... so way too often it's less than 5 minutes.

Right now in my student group, I'm limited due to the knowledge of the students, meaning they don't have much experience beyond aikido, so they are progressing in the actual "combat" skills as you'd expect them to, i.e. slowly. The only outside skills in the group are that at different points in their history two of them got up to a green belt in TKD, and a different one has a green belt in judo. We do a limited form of sparring we call hand-randori, which is simply a slow-moving, so the people can actually understand what is happening, and why, while they are moving. In terms of the other full-bore sparring I've done, it's very limited as suits the skill and temperament of the student body. It is hand exchanges only, slowly performed, working to try to get wrist locks/armbars, putting in strikes when the opportunity arises, everything you'd generally expect. But, most of you probably wouldn't actually consider it sparring. These people just aren't ready - though oftentimes they think they are and I'll oblige them by going a bit faster, a bit faster etc until their eyes are wide and I'm giggling as I know they don't have a clue what's going on. Then, I usually get them to step back and my friend the foot sweep shows up. They're usually frustrated, sometimes more than a bit miffed, and they ask, "Why'd you do that?" or "I didn't know using the feet was allowed." to which I usually reply, "I didn't change the rules, you did. You wanted to go faster, so we went faster. But, speed isn't the only learning rule we've got... would you rather that I kicked you instead of the little sweep?" or some such. I'd enjoy a group who "could" go a long way down the speed-power curve, but with this group folks would end up in the hospital. And then I'd loose my student... my dog would die... my wife would leave me for harmonica salesman and the rear axle would fall off my truck.

Just kidding, I don't own a truck.

Randori is where you take the tools you've learned (techniques) and you try to use them. Key word being try. It's experimental, chaotic with order being attempted to be imposed, all of that. In progressive resistance theory, it's moving along the curve towards getting attacked and trying to defend yourself successfully... though it's not really all that far.

Movement drills, release motions (which work out to be blocks against striking attacks, too... just don't tell the students), then the kata techniques and the always-arising, "How would this work if the bad guy Zagged instead of Zigging, like we do in the kata?" Which leads into principle explanation/exploration, and tons of repetition for muscle memory, trying to instill the principles "in there" instead of a list of thousands of techniques.

Judogi, done. Well, mostly. When working on koryu we work against tanto/ jo stick and boken. It's stylized however, and does not resemble any of the more effective (imo) weapons systems.
As stated above, I'd like to get a group of these folks up to shodan, then branch them out sideways into some of the judo. Once they can move and flow in & out of the different ranges and be comfrortable with that... this is going to sound weird but it makes perfect sense to me... I'm going to start working in some Muay Thai training. Not the conditioning, they'd die. But, the low kicks, elbow strikes and boxing work, the simple stuff.

But, that is probably at least 7 to 10 years off.

 

[CB Jones]

I try to get my class into some "aikido-sparring," or randori each class, but it flows in and out on the mat time I can devote to it with the ebb and flow of what the students are working on. In a perfect world, I'd just extend class a half-hour every night and we'd do nothing but work on some part of randori in that half-hour. But... people have things they have to take care of... like jobs... and kids... so way too often it's less than 5 minutes.

Right now in my student group, I'm limited due to the knowledge of the students, meaning they don't have much experience beyond aikido, so they are progressing in the actual "combat" skills as you'd expect them to, i.e. slowly. The only outside skills in the group are that at different points in their history two of them got up to a green belt in TKD, and a different one has a green belt in judo. We do a limited form of sparring we call hand-randori, which is simply a slow-moving, so the people can actually understand what is happening, and why, while they are moving. In terms of the other full-bore sparring I've done, it's very limited as suits the skill and temperament of the student body. It is hand exchanges only, slowly performed, working to try to get wrist locks/armbars, putting in strikes when the opportunity arises, everything you'd generally expect. But, most of you probably wouldn't actually consider it sparring. These people just aren't ready - though oftentimes they think they are and I'll oblige them by going a bit faster, a bit faster etc until their eyes are wide and I'm giggling as I know they don't have a clue what's going on. Then, I usually get them to step back and my friend the foot sweep shows up. They're usually frustrated, sometimes more than a bit miffed, and they ask, "Why'd you do that?" or "I didn't know using the feet was allowed." to which I usually reply, "I didn't change the rules, you did. You wanted to go faster, so we went faster. But, speed isn't the only learning rule we've got... would you rather that I kicked you instead of the little sweep?" or some such. I'd enjoy a group who "could" go a long way down the speed-power curve, but with this group folks would end up in the hospital. And then I'd loose my student... my dog would die... my wife would leave me for harmonica salesman and the rear axle would fall off my truck.

Just kidding, I don't own a truck.

Randori is where you take the tools you've learned (techniques) and you try to use them. Key word being try. It's experimental, chaotic with order being attempted to be imposed, all of that. In progressive resistance theory, it's moving along the curve towards getting attacked and trying to defend yourself successfully... though it's not really all that far.

Movement drills, release motions (which work out to be blocks against striking attacks, too... just don't tell the students), then the kata techniques and the always-arising, "How would this work if the bad guy Zagged instead of Zigging, like we do in the kata?" Which leads into principle explanation/exploration, and tons of repetition for muscle memory, trying to instill the principles "in there" instead of a list of thousands of techniques.

Judogi, done. Well, mostly. When working on koryu we work against tanto/ jo stick and boken. It's stylized however, and does not resemble any of the more effective (imo) weapons systems.
As stated above, I'd like to get a group of these folks up to shodan, then branch them out sideways into some of the judo. Once they can move and flow in & out of the different ranges and be comfrortable with that... this is going to sound weird but it makes perfect sense to me... I'm going to start working in some Muay Thai training. Not the conditioning, they'd die. But, the low kicks, elbow strikes and boxing work, the simple stuff.

But, that is probably at least 7 to 10 years off.

Reminds me of a legal update.

Legal posed the question to the group:

If someone refuses to exit the vehicle or roll the window down, can you break the window to remove them....group answered yes.

Legal asked...what window should be broken....someone answered from the back.....all of them.

Smart a** cops...

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Right now in my student group, I'm limited due to the knowledge of the students, meaning they don't have much experience beyond aikido

These people just aren't ready

I take it your current student group is still mostly beginners? How long have you been running the school? Do you expect to make some significant changes once your student base matures?

I was thinking about useful sparring formats for Aikido which could focus on developing of core principles but still allow more genuine testing and resistance. I came up with the following idea and was wondering what you would think of it:

Based on the theory that much of the "grab my wrist" setups in Aikido go back to the idea of ambush attacks where the attacker would restrain the defender from drawing his sword before the attacker could deploy his own weapon, the drill would go like this...

Partners start out relatively close, in grabbing range. Defender starts with a sheathed training weapon. (Sword if you want to be traditional, gun or knife is you want to inject more of a modern feel.) Attacker wins if he can prevent the defender from drawing his weapon (for a specified length of time? until he can land 3 clean punches? until he can deploy his own sheathed weapon? - you can experiment to see what produces the best results) Defender wins if he can disengage and draw his weapon or if he can use the attacker's commitment to hanging on to execute an Aikido lock or throw.

This format could hopefully avoid both the issue of uke delivering overcommitted attacks just because they are expected to enable tori to execute a technique and also the issue of a boxing style sparring partner hanging back and feeding only quick, balanced, deceptive attacks which give no opportunity for applying aiki. The need to prevent the defender from drawing his weapon gives the attacker a legitimate reason to commit to the attack and also a legitimate reason to hang on longer than you would normally expect a skilled grappler to do if the grip starts being used against him.

Obviously this only addresses certain elements of the Aikido curriculum, but it seems like it might be useful. What do you think?

 

[DanT]

How many of us out there practice sparring? What does it mean to practice sparring? How is sparring different from other types of training? What techniques, forms or drills do you practice to compliment your sparring? What weapons or gear do you use? What ways of sparring do you practice and what are some different ways to practice sparring? How has sparring effected you as a martial artist? I'm interested in what you have to say about the Art of Sparring, if anyone wants to share.

I spar "full contact" 2-3 times a week. I also spar with staffs full contact (the staffs are padded tho) and broadsword and double broadsword full contact (again the weapons are padded). I try to do weapons sparring 1-2 times a week. When I spar I just try to apply the techniques as much as possible. We do techniques because they work if you're good at them. Sometimes I decide "okay, I'm only going to use Wing Chun" or "okay I'm only going to use Shaolin" or something like that. Something I mix various styles when I spar. Just depends on how I'm feeling. I usually spar 8-20 rounds of 2 minutes. So roughly 30-50 rounds a week.

 

[marques]

How many of us out there practice sparring? What does it mean to practice sparring? How is sparring different from other types of training? What techniques, forms or drills do you practice to compliment your sparring? What weapons or gear do you use? What ways of sparring do you practice and what are some different ways to practice sparring? How has sparring effected you as a martial artist? I'm interested in what you have to say about the Art of Sparring, if anyone wants to share.

Who doesn't practice sparring in martial arts? I know they exist and I just find it puzzling.

Sparring is more about freedom and tactiques or strategies in a quite safe environment. Fighting is a bit to much for every evening, drills don't let you express yourself...

Drills, like combinations or basic single techniques. Abusing of feints and timing.

Gear, gloves and shin guards and elbow protections eventually.

I apologise light and slow sparring, as an introductory level. Then a controlled but more heavy sparring, but always quite slow. Training slower as his flaws as every method. But the advantages are better technique, better timing and safety. I like limited sparring (no kicks or no punches, for instance) and 1 to many opponents is also a great alternative to 1 to 1, if self defence in mind.

Good sparring keep me motivated, since it is the funniest and more intelectual challenging part of the training.

 

[Danny T]

I spar "full contact"...

Would you be willing to describe what you mean by full contact?
How does full contact relate to power, speed, and desired outcome?

 

[Mou Meng Gung Fu]

I spar "full contact" 2-3 times a week. I also spar with staffs full contact (the staffs are padded tho) and broadsword and double broadsword full contact (again the weapons are padded). I try to do weapons sparring 1-2 times a week. When I spar I just try to apply the techniques as much as possible. We do techniques because they work if you're good at them. Sometimes I decide "okay, I'm only going to use Wing Chun" or "okay I'm only going to use Shaolin" or something like that. Something I mix various styles when I spar. Just depends on how I'm feeling. I usually spar 8-20 rounds of 2 minutes. So roughly 30-50 rounds a week.

That sounds very much like what we do sometimes in Wumingquan, with the full-contact sparring and switching it up. It sounds very fluid, going from one style to another. You are getting the feel for different things when sparring. I like that a lot. That's kind of what we do in my system. May I ask you to elaborate on some of the weapons sparring in your system? Do you wear protective gear?

 

[Mou Meng Gung Fu]

Who doesn't practice sparring in martial arts? I know they exist and I just find it puzzling.

Sparring is more about freedom and tactiques or strategies in a quite safe environment. Fighting is a bit to much for every evening, drills don't let you express yourself...

Drills, like combinations or basic single techniques. Abusing of feints and timing.

Gear, gloves and shin guards and elbow protections eventually.

I apologise light and slow sparring, as an introductory level. Then a controlled but more heavy sparring, but always quite slow. Training slower as his flaws as every method. But the advantages are better technique, better timing and safety. I like limited sparring (no kicks or no punches, for instance) and 1 to many opponents is also a great alternative to 1 to 1, if self defence in mind.

Good sparring keep me motivated, since it is the funniest and more intelectual challenging part of the training.

I like limited sparring too sometimes. It really compliments the full-contact sparring and breaks it down, allowing students to hone in and fine tune specific areas in their training. Like sometimes, we will spar with just our hands and fists (no kicking or wrestling), sometimes we will spar with just our legs and kicks (no punching or wrestling) and sometimes we will spar with just our grabs and holds (no boxing or kicking). It's a great way to compliment full-contact sparring in my opinion. Thank you for sharing this insight. Have you ever practiced free-for-all sparring, with three or four partners sparring all at once against each other? That's fun too.