What do u tell yourself after an off day sparring

[Towel88]

Just curious, i know the mental game is half the battle. Sometimes im just not up to par with in the gym, in sure everyone can relate, who hasn't had a bad day. Where you might have felt stiff or slow whatever and didn't do as well in sparring.

What do you tell yourself, to mitigate the bad vibes after and keep your confidence up?

 

[devante]

u have to manage your expectations, the goal is to learn, the goal is to improve; it's only a bad day if you didnt learn anything from it i.e. you make excuses instead of objectively looking at what you can improve, what you did wrong.

just look for points to improve....and take lessons from it, it should excite you because it clearly provides you a path to take to improve and specific things to address to move fwd

 

[j123]

"I should've banged harder!"

Spoiler

I have a checklist of what to do, and in sparring most of the time I'm trying to work on something new for my game weather it be technique or a gameplan / setup.

Really it could be that you were with shit partners who's pure intention was to win to get a 200-0 Ultimate Sparring Championship record and wasn't letting you do it. Big deal. You're gonna improve because you'll deal with those types, whereas they won't because they're never gonna get out of their comfort zone and just throw the same shit without progressing. Usually their technique and gameplan rusts down the line.

Sometimes there are days I "loose" for most of the session, but on one round I manage to get a catch -> dump I've been practicing all week, then its good. Sparring at the end of the day is a environment where you test what you've been drilling and working on all week.

As easy as it may sound, leaving your ego at the door is really key, but its real difficult though. A teammate of mine has no ego, and the good part with that mentality, is he's always improving, and not shutting down due to ego getting in the way.

 

[4daLuLZ]

Just curious, i know the mental game is half the battle. Sometimes im just not up to par with in the gym, in sure everyone can relate, who hasn't had a bad day. Where you might have felt stiff or slow whatever and didn't do as well in sparring.

What do you tell yourself, to mitigate the bad vibes after and keep your confidence up?

 

[Azam]

First of all don't make sparring a competitive thing.

It's an opportunity to get better or learn something different.

You will always come across someone that has your number - whether it's just an off day, more athleticism, more experience on their part or even just having the right set of skills to get the better of you.

I think it's important to understand that regardless of the time spent training - you'll still get bested in sparring (same goes for fighting as well) on occasion or more often.

Once you accept that & let go of the ego - you'll start to enjoy sparring whether you have an on or off day, as the focus will shift to winning/losing to improving/enjoying.

I think when you mentally make that switch you won't have bad vibes or confidence problems but will instead look to get better the next time.

That's at least what I did many years ago and it's worked for me.

 

[j123]

First of all don't make sparring a competitive thing.

It's an opportunity to get better or learn something different.

You will always come across someone that has your number - whether it's just an off day, more athleticism, more experience on their part or even just having the right set of skills to get the better of you.

I think it's important to understand that regardless of the time spent training - you'll still get bested in sparring (same goes for fighting as well) on occasion or more often.

Once you accept that & let go of the ego - you'll start to enjoy sparring whether you have an on or off day, as the focus will shift to winning/losing to improving/enjoying.

I think when you mentally make that switch you won't have bad vibes or confidence problems but will instead look to get better the next time.

That's at least what I did many years ago and it's worked for me.

Spoken like a can

Spoiler

Good stuff

 

[Dismas]

You should have specific goals for each spar and 'winning' shouldn't be one of them. I used to do the same - you lose great opportunities if every spar is about feeling good. You should consistently feel uncomfortable. If you are drilling new things that will help you grow then your sparring will never be entirely comfortable.

 

[freaky]

Off day is an excuse. I used to say that to myself. But I don't learn from it. Instead, I now look at why I got my ass beat and how to fix it. Never use "off day" as an excuse. You got your ass beat for a reason. Even on your best day against Mayweather's worst day, I'm sure you'd still get your ass handed to you. So no excuses plz.

 

[strike thought]

No matter what you experience in life, you will always have the freedom to choose how you wish to feel about the situation. The key is to follow a thought process that’s most productive to your personal growth. Focus on the positive things you did well, reflect on ways to build on it next time. Know that you have value despite how bad things can get. Acknowledge your weaknesses and failures and don’t make excuses for them but instead, embrace solutions for them. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain if you continue to learn, whether it’s from a bad session or a good session.

 

[strike thought]

Off day is an excuse. I used to say that to myself. But I don't learn from it. Instead, I now look at why I got my ass beat and how to fix it. Never use "off day" as an excuse. You got your ass beat for a reason. Even on your best day against Mayweather's worst day, I'm sure you'd still get your ass handed to you. So no excuses plz.

I use to spar with someone who would use that as an excuse. He was doing well evading kicks until I adapted and used feints to throw off his evasive rhythm to eventually catch his head with a kick. He would dismiss my success by saying he was having an “off Day” and wouldn’t understand why I was consistently landing them.

Later down the line, I helped him out to explain to him why I was able to find success and he ended up adapting to what I did and stopped eating kicks afterward. I think using an “off day” as an excuse was definitely stagnating his growth.

 

[Paradigm]

Off day is an excuse. I used to say that to myself. But I don't learn from it. Instead, I now look at why I got my ass beat and how to fix it. Never use "off day" as an excuse. You got your ass beat for a reason. Even on your best day against Mayweather's worst day, I'm sure you'd still get your ass handed to you. So no excuses plz.

I use to spar with someone who would use that as an excuse. He was doing well evading kicks until I adapted and used feints to throw off his evasive rhythm to eventually catch his head with a kick. He would dismiss my success by saying he was having an “off Day” and wouldn’t understand why I was consistently landing them.

Later down the line, I helped him out to explain to him why I was able to find success and he ended up adapting to what I did and stopped eating kicks afterward. I think using an “off day” as an excuse was definitely stagnating his growth.

You guys are saying that you feel 100% in the gym every time you go in there? You don't have days where you're more tired, etc than others???

Sure...blaming a bad session on an "off day" is an excuse but also ignoring the fact that your body isn't exactly the same each and every day isn't a good thing either and can lead to injury.

 

[strike thought]

You guys are saying that you feel 100% in the gym every time you go in there? You don't have days where you're more tired, etc than others???

Sure...blaming a bad session on an "off day" is an excuse but also ignoring the fact that your body isn't exactly the same each and every day isn't a good thing either and can lead to injury.

Nope. Of course injuries will hold anyone back, but when someone uses an "off day" as an excuse to dismiss something that was easily corrected with technical work, it's a bad excuse that detracted away from what he really should have focused on, especially since there were no injuries involved.

Edit: misspelling

 

[Fire of Youth]

Sometimes you need to get your arse kicked to remind you why you train.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Depends on how hard you are sparring too. Despite what people say you definitely need to train to fight and train to win. If you are working something and the other person think they 'beat' you in light sparring then that's fine.

But if you are sparring harder and brain damage is on the line and you got your ass beat... well, you probably got humbled and learned a lesson or didn't...

 

[j123]

Depends on how hard you are sparring too. Despite what people say you definitely need to train to fight and train to win. If you are working something and the other person think they 'beat' you in light sparring then that's fine.

But if you are sparring harder and brain damage is on the line and you got your ass beat... well, you probably got humbled and learned a lesson or didn't...

Training to win is fine, but shouldn't be the priority, when I train to "win" its maybe twice a month, if it happens when I don't plan for it, then its good I guess

 

[Quiz]

Try to learn from your mistakes and understand that the bad days are necessary to get you to the good days ahead. Most of all have fun! Unless you're a pro, it should be fun or why do it?

 

[Bekim]

I must put more lead in my gloves or remove more horse hair......or both.........

That or I had too much sex the night before........

 

[MaxMMA]

Your journey as a Martial Artist has valley's and peaks, if you haven't learned this yet you will. There's nothing to tell yourself after having a bad sparring session, you just pack up your shit, go home, and rest up for the next day.

 

[j123]

I must put more lead in my gloves or remove more horse hair......or both.........

That or I had too much sex the night before........

Reminds me of something, ever run into those guys that gauze up and get laced gloves for sparring? Seemed pretty strange to me. I see it YT vids for boxers, and have only met one guy that did that. The one I saw wasn't even good anyways, seemed like a total waste of time.

You know about the toilet paper trick guys use to get an edge in their fights?

 

[Uchi Mata]

I obsess about everything I did wrong and work on it while dreaming of the next sparring session when I'll get to see if I've made any improvements. It's always worked pretty well for me.