Sparring for the first time can be intimidating, however, there are a few things you can do to make it a rewarding experience and improve your Martial Arts skills.
It is important to ensure you have the proper safety gear before you begin sparring. You should wear full pads, which include headgear, mouth guard, gloves, foot protectors, groin cups for men, and chest protector for women. Also, it is imperative to follow all sparring rules as they are designed to protect you and your partner.
You should train for approximately six months before you begin to spar so you feel comfortable with the various Martial Arts techniques. Sparring is much more complex than just fighting; it is about dealing with fear, learning control, improving your distance and execution of technique. This is why you should begin with controlled partner sparring, with a student at your belt level, where one partner does a combination and then the other partner does not hit back until the other person is finished his/her combination. This allows you to slowly get accustomed to blocking, moving, and coming up with combinations that work for you.
When sparring, keep your 3 main distances in mind: kicking distance, boxing or hand distance and neutral distance. The neutral distance is sometimes the most important one when you are just learning to spar since it gives you the opportunity to assess your partner without being in striking distance. Don’t always be in striking distance, sometimes you need to be in the neutral distance in order to plan your next combination. Like all other aspects of Martial Arts, practice is the essential key to success.
Have Fun - Train Hard - Train Smart - Fightwize
Sensei Malcolm Bale
www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com
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on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Martial Arts.
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