Getting kicked way too much

[jerellem]

I began as a boxer, but transitioned to MMA a few years ago but still when I spar, I never see kicks coming. My legs are yours to kick as you please. Are there any tricks to seeing leg kicks coming? Hell, body kicks too. I can see head kicks tho, I guess cause they're eye level. What are some things I can do to get better at this? Thanks in advance.

 

[fluffball]

Are you used to looking at your opponents eyes? I know some boxers insist on doing that. I like to look with a glossy gaze at their solar plexus area, that helps you see their entire body.

 

[ARIZE]

What fluff said, you need to see the hips, not just the shoulders. Plus make sure to understand kicking distances... You may feel safe from a distance that a kick can still reach you, and you get caught of guard.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

If you have a friend you can ask to spar with you, try sparring with Kyokushin rules. No gloves, no head punches. You're forced to focus on kicks, both your own and your opponent's. Include a couple rounds of that into your sparring routine, and you should see improvement.

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

I began as a boxer, but transitioned to MMA a few years ago but still when I spar, I never see kicks coming. My legs are yours to kick as you please. Are there any tricks to seeing leg kicks coming? Hell, body kicks too. I can see head kicks tho, I guess cause they're eye level. What are some things I can do to get better at this? Thanks in advance.

Your boxing background has set you up for failure when blocking kicks. You need to change the way you distribute your weight from your front foot to your back foot. Where are you looking when you're sparring? Do you square up with your opponent or do you keep a steady bladed stance? If you're not too shy post up some video of you sparring.

 

[Sano]

I have the exact same problem. I prefer boxing and almost give people lowkicks just to close the distance. Highkicks I can see coming pretty well.

I've seriously been thinking about just staying in kicking range and checking, kicking myself for a while just to get better at it.

 

[jerellem]

Your boxing background has set you up for failure when blocking kicks. You need to change the way you distribute your weight from your front foot to your back foot. Where are you looking when you're sparring? Do you square up with your opponent or do you keep a steady bladed stance? If you're not too shy post up some video of you sparring.

I'll upload a sparring vid whenever I spar again. I guess I tend to look at the face but I'll try to focus more on the chest, it's just weird to me to be "fighting" someone and not be looking dead in their eyes. And, as an MMA fighter, I'm normally pretty squared. Thanks everyone for the reply.

 

[Snoowpy]

Stance, ease the weight on the front foot , spar a while using only legs.Kick everywhere with every kick and do that a while. In full sparring fire back after dodging or checking kicks just try to fire back.

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

I'll upload a sparring vid whenever I spar again. I guess I tend to look at the face but I'll try to focus more on the chest, it's just weird to me to be "fighting" someone and not be looking dead in their eyes. And, as an MMA fighter, I'm normally pretty squared. Thanks everyone for the reply.

A video would be helpful, and looking at the top of the chest is useful. You have to imagine it like the first time you drove a car. Checking the side mirrors while maintaining speed and staying in your lane was highly stressful. A lot of people can only glance at their mirrors when they first start driving. However, after years of driving they are able to stare into their mirrors for minutes at a time if they want and maintain control of the car without stressing. I use this analogy to demonstrate where you should be looking when you're sparring/fighting. The more skilled you are the easier it will be for you to look at the entire opponent's body while maintaining your offensive and defensive capabilities. As of this moment sparring is probably working your brain to a point that you can't process all the information being given to you. So keep practicing and keep my analogy in mind when trying to figure out where you should be looking while sparring. You can look anywhere, but a new driver should keep their eyes on the road, and the road is normally considered the chest/upper torso region.

Ahhh, and as for blocking kicks if you usually remain squared up then being able to check kicks should be much easier. So I believe the issue lies within either your exposure to kicks, too much weight on the leg being kicked, or hesitation manifested from not enough experience.

 

[aries]

I began as a boxer, but transitioned to MMA a few years ago but still when I spar, I never see kicks coming. My legs are yours to kick as you please. Are there any tricks to seeing leg kicks coming? Hell, body kicks too. I can see head kicks tho, I guess cause they're eye level. What are some things I can do to get better at this? Thanks in advance.

I had similar issues. It's where you are looking I think that makes the difference. In MT the attacks can come from very low down so you have to adjust your eyes so you are looking for movement over your opponents whole body as opposed to just their shoulders. I always try and not focus too much on any one spot but allow my vision to take in their whole body so I can see any beginning movement of a strike.

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

I had similar issues. It's where you are looking I think that makes the difference. In MT the attacks can come from very low down so you have to adjust your eyes so you are looking for movement over your opponents whole body as opposed to just their shoulders. I always try and not focus too much on any one spot but allow my vision to take in their whole body so I can see any beginning movement of a strike.

The idea is that you can't move your lower body without moving your upper body unless you want to throw a kick like a pansy. Which is why the general place to look is the chest/upper torso. When a guy goes to throw a kick a lot of guys will load their shoulders up, hence the cue to expect a kick.

 

[pandaJr]

til you are more comfortable adapt an over exaggerated thai stance.
consider your foot work/neutral stance as I find in boxing the rhythm is different when it comes to kicks

what I was taught is
- tuck your chin in a thai stance
- imagine a square on your partners chest with the corners on the shoulders and hips, when one of those pivot thats what is coming (faints aside) its a beginners aid to sparring is what I was told

good luck

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

I had similar issues. It's where you are looking I think that makes the difference. In MT the attacks can come from very low down so you have to adjust your eyes so you are looking for movement over your opponents whole body as opposed to just their shoulders. I always try and not focus too much on any one spot but allow my vision to take in their whole body so I can see any beginning movement of a strike.

Yes; look at your opponent as you would look at a mountain, or a forest. As a whole. "Look at the chest" is a good place to start, but there's no need to stare at it. Just look at your opponent's whole body, your gaze wandering about somewhere around the middle, looking "through" your opponent.

 

[panamaican]

Lots of good responses. I say start with a better understanding of kicking range. If you're coming from a boxing background you may be unintentionally staying in punching range which is reducing the time you have to identify and respond to kicks. High kicks take longer to get to the target which is why you're able to see them easier.

Also techniques that come from below are harder to pick up. Something about the way our eyes work. So low and mid level kicks are just harder to see unless you're already looking at the body as a whole. Still, that's solved by learning to stay out of kicking range until you have a better read on your opponent.

 

[aries]

The idea is that you can't move your lower body without moving your upper body unless you want to throw a kick like a pansy. Which is why the general place to look is the chest/upper torso. When a guy goes to throw a kick a lot of guys will load their shoulders up, hence the cue to expect a kick.

You can't always tell what's coming if you watch their shoulders, kick, knee or punch. The hips give more clues I believe.

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

You can't always tell what's coming if you watch their shoulders, kick, knee or punch. The hips give more clues I believe.

Of course you can't, which is why you see Muay Thai fighters block their entire side. Lift a knee, bring down your elbow and brace for a leg kick, body kick, or head kick. You've now effectively brought the choice down to right or left side which can easily be read if the other guy is a robot. However, as you know human beings aren't robots and there are no set rules in combat. Which is why I said, GENERALLY, people look at the chest/upper torso because you can't move your lower body without moving your upper body unless you want to throw a kick like a pansy.

 

[aries]

Of course you can't, which is why you see Muay Thai fighters block their entire side. Lift a knee, bring down your elbow and brace for a leg kick, body kick, or head kick. You've now effectively brought the choice down to right or left side which can easily be read if the other guy is a robot. However, as you know human beings aren't robots and there are no set rules in combat. Which is why I said, GENERALLY, people look at the chest/upper torso because you can't move your lower body without moving your upper body unless you want to throw a kick like a pansy.

True that they block one side or another but that comes from reading the hips not the shoulders. But it's not true you can't tell if it's going to be high or low or else the question mark kick would be pointless as there would be no need to trick anyone by faking low and going high.

You can't kick or punch at all without moving your hips but you can certainly kick without moving your shoulders. And what you might lack in power you can certainly make up for in speed. A head kick doesn't need to be thrown with much behind it to KO someone if it lands. One of my favorite kicks is the lead leg with no switch, it's not super powerful but I've stunned plenty with it, my shoulders don't move at all before the kick.

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

True that they block one side or another but that comes from reading the hips not the shoulders. You can't kick or punch at all without moving your hips but you can certainly kick without moving your shoulders. And what you might lack in power you can certainly make up for in speed. A head kick doesn't need to be thrown with much behind it to KO someone if it lands.

No, actually it comes from reading the shoulders. You should never be looking at someone's hips. The way someone rotates their upper body to throw a kick versus a punch is different. Which is why it is super rare to find fighters who don't really telegraph their kicks, like a Barbosa, but even he telegraphs his kicks, it is just minimized. No, you cannot kick without moving your shoulders and generate any kind of power. Kicking speed and power comes from the torque and momentum created by rotating your entire body. You won't ever generate any power trying to kick with just your legs. Record yourself throwing kicks and if you think you can throw a powerful kick without moving your upper body then I would love to see it, because you just broke through the limitations of the human anatomy.

 

[jerellem]

All very good stuff in here. Now, to take it one step further, how do you know whether it's going to the head, body, or leg? Is that from noticing trends in his attack or are there more tricks?

 

[TheNightmanCometh]

All very good stuff in here. Now, to take it one step further, how do you know whether it's going to the head, body, or leg? Is that from noticing trends in his attack or are there more tricks?

It is calibrating yourself to what it looks like when someone throws a kick. Your brain is able to take lots of data and patterns and shrink them down to a manageable size so you can respond quickly. However, this takes time and won't happen overnight. Especially with large concepts and you only sort through the data with lots of experience. Throwing a perfect punch without thinking only comes with mastery of the technique. The same can be said for recognizing kicks. You need practice recognizing these techniques and defending. You would be surprised how many people new to the game of stand-up absolutely cannot handle blocking kicks even at 0% speed/power. Their brain is working so hard that even when someone throws strikes at an extremely reduced speed they can't block it in time. Which is why light sparring day in and day out is absolutely fundamental to improving in my opinion.