New to muay thai... intimidated

[peanutandjelly]

Thanks for the encouragement guys/gals. Going to keep giving it a shot. My sig. other usually comes to the classes with me, and the instructor typically has us practice with each other instead of spar (like practice defense only, punch only, kick only, etc.). The last class she couldn't make it, hence me jumping into the light sparring. If I'm intimidated, I can't imagine how intimidated she feels, being the only female in the class ;). I hear they take it very easy on females in sparring sessions for the most part. I would hope. We have literally only taken four classes of muay thai so far (in our life - first martial art too). I was a tad surprised the instructor let me jump into light sparring; some gyms that we tried out specifically pointed out that they do not do sparring!

I'm locked in for a year, so it is what it is . This gym doesn't really have a wide range of classes - it's BJJ, muay thai, and mma (as well as some ridiculously intense cardio kickboxing). So there's no switching martial arts without losing money if I end up not liking the striking arts. But I've got a year to learn, and am now stoked about another class next week thanks to the posts here letting me know I'm not the only one who felt totally incompetent during my first spar.

[slickoneuk]

my instructor takes a dim view of people going too heavy during sparring. Sparring is training. If you hurt each other it is detrimental to your development and can create shyness when faced with an opponent. Sparring should increase in intensity as the experience develops. gradual process. Not man up and go in all guns blazing. Plus I am at a stage in my life where I can quite happily ask people to lighten the power, no shame. If they don't want to that's cool, I don't spar with them. Simples.

[ThatCanadian]

Just keep at it, I've been training in Muay Thai for roughly 10 months now and I make horrendous amount of mistakes during light sparring, so don't feel intimidated. It's really easy to have crisp, good technique when you're just hitting the bag/pads, but it changes a lot when you're sparring with a live opponent. Just keep at it and don't get discouraged, it might feel like you're hopelessly outclassed and can't land/block a strike to save your life, but you ARE making small improvements every time.

[PeterPain]

I was on a 4 year beak from judo (4 times a week) when I hired a MT kru.

All his students had cardio they could can and sell for later days. I gassed like hell, didn't understood range because for me a fight was happening in a one footh diameter around me. It was horrible. On the clinch I just raped everyone. Profighters included. So as weird as it sound I completely stopped clinching and did 1-1-2 and other basics. The cardio came with time. If I was in a tight spot I always had my clinch I could fall back to but I decided not tho. I've learn the joy of having a long reach. The pain and suffering of being outreach. They joy of kicking the ass of someone taller than you by getting him from the outside and catching his kicks.

With time I've fully develop what I concider to be my style but it took time.

[Discipulus]

Originally Posted by PeterPain

I was on a 4 year beak from judo (4 times a week) when I hired a MT kru.

All his students had cardio they could can and sell for later days. I gassed like hell, didn't understood range because for me a fight was happening in a one footh diameter around me. It was horrible. On the clinch I just raped everyone. Profighters included. So as weird as it sound I completely stopped clinching and did 1-1-2 and other basics. The cardio came with time. If I was in a tight spot I always had my clinch I could fall back to but I decided not tho. I've learn the joy of having a long reach. The pain and suffering of being outreach. They joy of kicking the ass of someone taller than you by getting him from the outside and catching his kicks.

With time I've fully develop what I concider to be my style but it took time.

Cool story, thanks for sharing.

[KennisTheMenace]

Originally Posted by Discipulus

Cool story, thanks for sharing.

:lol:



Hey TS, don't be so hard on yourself. I am coming up on my 1 yr anniversary of when I started hard boxing training. When I first started sparring it felt like an unnatural, nerve wracking experience. The adrenaline and thrill of learning the art kept me coming back, and I'm glad I did. It sounds like you have a great atmosphere to learn in. It's much better to learn with people who are experienced and are humble about it as these guys sound. Combat sports are not for soft people and just by stepping in the ring and sparring someone for the first time you have done something that like only 1% of the world has attempted.

[spannered]

Sparring does not come easy to ANYONE when starting out. There's a good reason for this; sparring is stressful and humans aren't biologically designed to stay cool when someone is trying to punch them in the face. You're going to flip between fight and flight mode, tense up, expend too much energy and forget all the valuable things you were taught just minutes ago on the pads.

I'm not sure why this hasn't been covered in a sticky thread by now, but here are some things I noticed (and have since noticed with others) when I was a beginner that I wish someone had told me:

- Concentrate on throwing ACTUAL combinations when sparring. This sounds easy in theory, but it's actually pretty fucking hard to commit to 3+ combos during sparring when starting out. As a beginner, I found myself just looking for a single jab, cross or hook openings, single leg kicks, ect because you have less chance of getting hit. Consciously try and put together 2s,3s and end with kicks. You're going to get countered and clipped, but it's really the only way to learn.

- DON'T backpedal. Do one-for-one drills with kicks, then punches, then move to kicks and punches. You and your partner are not to backpedal and instead try to check, block, slip and roll shots. You need to try and defend and counter shots as opposed to instinctively backing out of range. If you don't condition your reactions this way early on, you'll be develop an evassive game without offense. This irks me with all the beginners at my new gym - they fucking run away during light sparring so that the mat looks like a team of Calib Starnes doing running-man drills. You don't learn and they don't learn.

- Do defensive only drills: Have a similar level partner throw shots at you for minute long rounds with you only defending. Concentrate on not looking away or ducking for cover and instead work your slips and glove defense.

- Learn to commit and throw proper kicks. It's amazing how many beginners go for months telegraphing the shit out of their kicks and being off balance simply because they have never been corrected on their form.

It's all a very slow learning curve. I actually didn't have too much of a problem with sparring when I started out, other than making the obvious mistakes I've listed above. Once I became more comfortable and fluid, my confidence went up. It quickly occured to me that striking is probably a strength of mine, which was a big relief because at around the same time I'd come to realise that BJJ definitely wasn't a talent of mine.

I actually became somewhat complacent; When I moved and went to a new gym, I quickly realised the difference between 60% sparring and hard, fight sparring. The new coach gave me an initiation sparring session and dropped me within 30 seconds (I had never been knocked down before). It shocked me; I had never been rattled like that before. It was back to flight mode and it ended up being my least offensive and longest few rounds of my life. It bugged me for days afterwards.

Just goes to show that it's all a progression. I'm quite used to that intensity now, but it was like learning to spar all over again.

Start slow TS, overcome your fear of getting hit (you'll quickly realise you won't get hurt from light shots), work hard and slowly step it up. Don't feel unnerved or dissapointed with yourself if you decide to move to a non-striking art. This sport isn't for everyone and people come and go in waves because they aren't comfotable with it. Very, very few actually hang around and do the whole fight thing.

[Check Hook]

Some good advice on this thread.

My own experience with this (starting out and also coming back to sparring after a break) is that I need to get hit. I usually try to have one session where I spar, but don't throw a lot and just get used to taking shots again. I find it's the quickest way to cut down on the flinching reaction.

Possibly not the greatest advice ever but it works for me!

[Scythegpd**]

Originally Posted by Check Hook

Some good advice on this thread.

My own experience with this (starting out and also coming back to sparring after a break) is that I need to get hit. I usually try to have one session where I spar, but don't throw a lot and just get used to taking shots again. I find it's the quickest way to cut down on the flinching reaction.

Possibly not the greatest advice ever but it works for me!

Good advice. I did that as well, took a few sessions where I worked purely defence, so basically not throwing any counters or attacking at all, being a "defensive" fighter in the purest sence of the word. Made a massive difference in that:
1 - Got you used to being hit
2 - When you start attacking you're a lot more confident

Says you're in Scotland, where do you train? Not Midlothian area?

[Discipulus]

Kennis, I was serious about my cool story comment!