Where to Look

[adammillsy]

When you are fighting where do you look, obviously your eyes will move about but as a general rule is it best to focus on your opponents chest with his hands in your peripheral vision? This is what I do, but then I am bad at anticipating kicks!

 

[thaistyle]

Typically, I tend to look at the center of the body (sternum). Just when I am ready to strike I look at that particular part of the body.

 

[Jai]

A general "rule of thumb" I was taught and so far has worked for me is to watch the shoulders. Alot of fighters will move the shoulders just before attacking, and if you learn how to properly read into the shoulder movement, you can usually tell what will be coming at you.

 

[adammillsy]

So by looking at the shoulders can you usually anticipate a kick say from your opponent dropping a shoulder?

I am having real trouble reading kicks, is this a common thing as it is really frustrating, I can block/avoid punches well but struggle to block kicks, is this in itself a harder skill?

 

[mini_dez]

It just takes longer to acquire the skill. One day at training I suddenly found a could block a few kicks that I could never do before. For a while I only used my lead leg to block too, but that stopped after time too. Just keep sparring and it'll come.

 

[Odin]

I was taught to look directly into their eyes...and for me it works pretty well....after time you start noticing changes in the upper body that will tell you that a kick is coming....An good way of practicing this with out getting hurt is to face a mirror in your gym and watch your how the top part of your body moves as you begin a kick.

 

[adammillsy]

Thanks for the replies, I think it is a case of practice and the more Kicks I take the more I can anticipate.

I will definately try that Odin, sounds like a great tip.

 

[USP45CT]

look at the center of their chest and use your field of vision to cover their upper and lower parts of their body. If you see them staring into your eyes you know they can't see your feet so let'em have it.

 

[Odin]

look at the center of their chest and use your field of vision to cover their upper and lower parts of their body. If you see them staring into your eyes you know they can't see your feet so let'em have it.

I dont know bro

Look at yourself kick in the mirror whether its a right power angle or left you will notice your upper body moves first, this gives you that millisecond more to counter or block.....plus keeping your eyes on thiers makes it easier to line up their jaw......and not to mention quite a few novice fighters tend to look at area they are about to attack before they do it.

 

[tellner]

If you're trying to figure out which body part to focus on you are asking the wrong question. Work towards a soft focus that brings in the motion-sensitive peripheral vision rather than concentrating on the fovea. It's easy to tunnel in. With tunnel vision you open the door to all the bad stress responses from auditory exclusion to hypervigilance and tachypsychia.

You might want to avoid staring into the guy's eyes. Not because of the "windows of the soul" crap, but because there's a good chance you'll get into an ego-based staring match when you should be worrying about taking him apart. If your gaze is going to rest there the hollow of the throat and just above the bridge of the nose are good places.

 

[USP45CT]

I dont know bro

Look at yourself kick in the mirror whether its a right power angle or left you will notice your upper body moves first, this gives you that millisecond more to counter or block.....plus keeping your eyes on thiers makes it easier to line up their jaw......and not to mention quite a few novice fighters tend to look at area they are about to attack before they do it.

ya im sorry if your actually fighting someone that is skilled at muay thai your going to need all the eye sight you can possibly muster up to block a quick kick. Eye contact just won't cover that especially in a mma sense because your right a mt person does tend to telegraph a kick a little more i'd say than someone in say karate where the kick really does come straight from the leg instead of the hip. So if your asking from a mma perspective i'd say look towards the chest in an straight muay thai fight you may get away with looking at the eyes, but i'd rather be safe than ktfo.

 

[Zero]

My background is TKD and karate and ju jitsu and have moved on to mma and so fight all types of styles including mt.

I was also initially trained to watch the eyes of your opponent - but not zero in on them - to maintain peripheral awareness at all times also. If you are new to fighting you may be too 'keyed' up and are looking in on one zone only - ie eyes or feet. You need to be transitioning your eye focus constantly, it's hard to explain but when you are at a stage where you can be more relaxed while fighting you can generally keep eye contact but be aware of the rest of the opponent's body's motion.

I always look to the shoulder for telegraphing punches and the hips (ie flicking of the hip) for leg attacks and roundhouses - and also for punches on those better at masking or not telegraphing from the shoulders as most boxes and powerfull punches generate a lot of punching power and speed from flicking the hips.

The good thing with being aware of the opponent's eyes and face is that many less experienced fighters (before they have these bad habits drilled out of them) have small give away expressions or indications on their faces before delivering certain attacks.

USP45CT is right in that some karate style kicks come straight up and out of the centre line and are harder to read than a mt round house - so your reflex/response time needs to be even quicker to these kicks.

For adammillsy - as well as relaxing more maybe you need to also just work more on your blocking speed and evasion training - i don't mean any offense as I don't know how experienced you are, just offering some advice.

 

[TrainHardFightEasy]

Most people seem to disagree but I myself generally look towards the eyes too. I feel most comfortable doing so and don't seem to have much problems with anticipation etc. Of course you shouldn't just 'stare' or have your eyes 'fixed' on a particular spot as has already been said. Often my gaze will quickly switch back and forth from eyes to center of chest and on and so on.

 

[no_kata]

I was trained to look at the shoulders because of guys telegraphing what they are going to throw

 

[USP45CT]

I was always taught to look right at the sternum. Some say you can look higher up because people telegraph their motions, but my muay thai instructor made me look pretty bad when I tried that.

 

[Giorgio]

Well, it looks like people are dividing between looking at the eyes, and looking at the body somewhere, either the shoulders, hips, or chest. My coach always told me to 'rest' my eyes on the chest, rather than 'look' at it. I guess I interpreted that to mean that although that should be the centre point of my eyes, I shouldn't be actually focusing or staring at the chest.

Does that make sense?

 

[Danny T]

I don't feel one should "look" at anything in particular. Rather than having a focused look at any one particular thing or part of the body be with a relaxed gaze. Use your full range of vision to see and recognize the movements. Something I have my trainees do is when holding the kick pads to hold them with the arms parallel to the floor at just above the hips. When the kicker moves to kick then move and adjust the pads to receive the kick. They learn very quickly to pick up the kick movement. This exercise is for the holder as well as the kicker who is now trying to hide his kick movement until the last instance.

Danny