Light sparring?

[biscuitsbrah]

Do you ever see boxers or Dutch kickboxers or even mma fighters do this?

I feel like at the highest levels they rather just do some live drills which is a more specified light sparring.

The only people I really see playing is muay thai guys

Live drilling > light sparring... right guys?
Light sparring is so much more mindless and easy than coming up with live drills imo

 

[Frode Falch]

Thais are more known for light sparring i guess. And the % is probably higher on how many who do it.

But.. light sparring is not just used in Thailand.

Cuban boxers, many well known MMA gyms (wonderboys gym, tristar, SBGi, ect..)

That being said.. you can survive as a fighter on only hard sparring.. you wont make it on only light sparring..

I just think the ratio should be higher for light sparring.

I aint a active fighter. But i always done 70-80 % of my sparring light or moderate.

But.. keep the techniques realistic. Not just the strikes. But the footwork, reactions to the hits. You can be jet li or neo from Matrix in light sparring.. but keep it simple and realistic.. then light sparring become very usefull.

 

[SandisLL]

Do you ever see boxers

Yup, KB and Kyokushin guys too, plus for combat sambo, JJJ. Light rolls for grapplers, sports sambo.

I just think the ratio should be higher for light sparring.

I think, usually is, cos athlete is with limited Resources too.

Plus for coach is easier to correct guys after light sparring and then they still have more attention to listen and get what necessary from coach. After this they might do next light sparring session and be corrected again etc.
Then next more hard sparring.

With only hard it isn't easy to teach them plus they are too much used to carefully listen what is told them.
Sparring time also is experience time, especially for distance managment and timing and I think, if used only hard, then not enough experience might be get.

Only stuff, when I really loved only hard and harsh sparring was grappling for self defense, but there with timer max 30 sec. Especially realistic without mats, but this isn't training for sport. Simpler ( no secret unknown to sportsmans techniques ) than sport but far more brutal.

 

[Sensei Student]

I've done both and I don't see the point of hard sparring other than getting the feel of a real fight. I learned a lot more in light sparring. All speed and no power. Sometimes we even do half speed and work on techniques and counters.

fast drills > light sparring. I don't see the point of hard sparring where people get KTFO. Save that for the ring.

 

[SandisLL]

There also are options agree for example, go for head light, other parts hard.
Definitely this requires a lot of discipline form athletes.

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

Thais do it because they have countless real fights in competition, so when they spar they don't need hard sparring, they have no rust-- they fight for real and have plenty of hard experience while growing up fighting. They also have to preserve their health and keep from getting any injuries from sparring or they may not be able to take a fight (which is what they fully depend on to live and support their family), so it makes excellent sense for their situation.

The problem with light sparring is with people who have never done hard sparring or fought. They don't know what the dynamics are like in a real fight and so they take ALL their estimates of what a fight is like from light sparring, which is a recipe for disaster when a real fight happens. Also, they need to be reminded every once in a while even if they have some hard fighting/sparring experience so their body/brain doesn't get too calibrated to light or play sparring.

 

[SandisLL]

The problem with light sparring is with people who have never done hard sparring or fought.

Yes it is.
However for these that wish to be ammies or for really serious self defense training hard sparring still is done, of course.
The problem is, that to get enough sparring experience, we should mix hard/ medium/ light because athlete's Resources are limited.

Yes, it is true that for example even in low level ammy it is easy to see, did had guy so called street experience or no. They does for example KB a bit different, them doesn't likes turn back to opponent, they a bit watches areas that are not allowed to beat in sport KB etc. Also reaction to recieved damage is a bit different.

I can't tell to guy who wish to compete in ammies that 6 rounds of hard sparring per week is enough...
More hard sparring rounds? Okey, in what condition he might turned?
So best solution looks mix light with hard. More sparring time, less damages.

If for some areas beating really might make guy more tough with time, with head is opposite: the more head had been beaten, the more fragile ( easier to switch off a guy ).

 

[eternaldarkness]

Don't underestimate light sparring. The punch that does the most damage is the one that is thrown relaxed with the best timing. I injured my sparring partner a few weeks back in a light session, because he stepped straight into a right hand.

 

[SandisLL]

Don't underestimate light sparring.

That's true.

Mistakes might happen, also guy ( especailly teens ) might get too hot and start go with 100%....

 

[SandaKicker]

There's a reason guys like Miletich, Chute Box and the Lions den dominated early MMA events whilst doing 100% balls out sparring. I think it was once a week at Miletich.

It's good to strike a balance but prior to the early UFC's there was likely an epidemic of light sparring at most TMA schools.

 

[j123]

Dunno about Dutch KB gyms,

But there are MMA gyms that do light sparring. My old gym did, and some I dropped by who were sister gyms to that old gym did as well.

Boxing I dunno. I've heard it was always hard sparring, which is why your early MMA gyms had hard sparring, they took it from there

A few friends tell me it's mixed now, but my exp with ppl who have a boxing BG that came over to MMA. It was always gym wars and a few adapted to lighter sparring , but it took awhile

 

[Minnja]

AMC has a class that is almost all light sparring. I enjoyed that class a lot. I think they probably also have hard sparring classes/days but I have not been to them.

My gym's muay thai class sometimes does light sparring. It's pretty nice when we do it although with some people the intensity picks up and it basically becomes regular sparring.

I'm used to going pretty hard due to wrestling and BJJ so it's actually a nice change of pace doing the lighter sparring as I feel like I can actually try some new stuff without feeling like I'm going to get destroyed for it.

 

[Minnja]

There's a reason guys like Miletich, Chute Box and the Lions den dominated early MMA events whilst doing 100% balls out sparring. I think it was once a week at Miletich.

It's good to strike a balance but prior to the early UFC's there was likely an epidemic of light sparring at most TMA schools.

It's pretty interesting how the culture or mindset of sparring has changed over the years in MMA. The balls out sparring seems to have been the norm and probably seen as necessary since so many great fighters trained that way, but then it seems like there's been a shift towards taking care of the body/brain more and limiting that type of sparring.

I think a lot of it depends on the team and individual. Generally speaking it seems like you need both but the question probably would be how much of each benefits the most people.

 

[SandaKicker]

It's pretty interesting how the culture or mindset of sparring has changed over the years in MMA. The balls out sparring seems to have been the norm and probably seen as necessary since so many great fighters trained that way, but then it seems like there's been a shift towards taking care of the body/brain more and limiting that type of sparring.

I think a lot of it depends on the team and individual. Generally speaking it seems like you need both but the question probably would be how much of each benefits the most people.

I take the position that what’s good for your health isn’t good for your success in MMA (and several other sports).

It’s awkward because I can sympathise with both positions.

I’ve seen the film “concussion” it goes to show one day you are the baller winning MVP awards, earning millions etc. next you are living in your car deciding it would be a good idea to shoot your self in the head.

That said in the old school TMA days there were a lot of posers using it as an excuse because they didn’t want to train hard or because they were too insecure to do anything realistic.

 

[spacetime]

Do you ever see boxers or Dutch kickboxers or even mma fighters do this?

I feel like at the highest levels they rather just do some live drills which is a more specified light sparring.

The only people I really see playing is muay thai guys

Live drilling > light sparring... right guys?
Light sparring is so much more mindless and easy than coming up with live drills imo

I have seen light sparring going in boxing clubs, yes. I would however argue that excessively hard sparring is equally bad too. You should keep a balance between trying to bang and being mindful of technique. Even if you're not a "technican", you have a certain style. When it's all instinct you might as well street fight then.

my two cents

 

[shincheckin]

Do you ever see boxers or Dutch kickboxers or even mma fighters do this?

I feel like at the highest levels they rather just do some live drills which is a more specified light sparring.

The only people I really see playing is muay thai guys

Live drilling > light sparring... right guys?
Light sparring is so much more mindless and easy than coming up with live drills imo

light sparring does not need to be slow sparring, rather it should be fast sparring, just light. This keeps it realistic and reactive etc. I dont see how you would think its mindless, watch the sitjaopho guys spar, although light, still intense.

when I was fighting, i tried to fight once a month if possible, sometimes twice in a month, sometimes every other month or few months, the majority of my sparring was either light, or medium, like 75%, we would still take the big shots, but pull them to not injure eachother, once in a while you might get a black eye or the wind knocked out of you or dropped from a liver shot, but no serious injuries sparring this way.

Americans and MMA seem to think sparring should be a fight, and its how they spar. I dont agree with it, hard sparring is needed to compete, but not to the point of trying to KO eachother, I think how I mentioned above is all thats needed for the hard sparring to compete. Like that video I posted a while ago of the sitjaopho sparring, it was hard controlled sparring, IMO thats the way to go.

the foreinger is joseph lasiri, IMO theres no need to go any harder than this, IMO this is "hard controlled" sparring, this is the type of hard sparring I would do to prepare for my fights. notice that although they are going a little bit hard, they still pull the shots



a little lighter



and thai/shadow sparring with no pads

 

[JohnPJones]

for years i worked sparring for 30-60minutes after the regular saturday classes. some times it was medium, sparring, occiasionally it was heavy sparring, but almost every saturday included some light sparring

 

[AndyMaBobs]

Thai sparring isn't actually light. They just keep it fun and don't swing hard to the head - Thai sparring is still strong contact and you need to be prepped for it. It's not like they're just lightly tapping you.

When I sparred with Damien Alamos his contact was firm, it's just he's not trying to kill you.

 

[SandisLL]

They just keep it fun and don't swing hard to the head

This point, yes.
Cos, sorry, I saw enough guys, that were able to bear a lot head blows when they were 20, sometimes surprisingly tough but when they were 25 and more, started easily get KOs from even less punishment than they were able easily bear when they were 20.

 

[Normot]

When I was fighting MMA, the MMA gym would do light tap sparring in small gloves except for once a week when preparing for a fight and there would be organized hard sparring in big gloves. We were very successful in the regional scene and had a guys make it to Bellator/KOTC/OneFC.
My experience in Muay Thai training has been a mixture of light and hard sparring. My experience in boxing is hard sparring multiple 3x a week. Never found a boxing gym that didn't train like that. I personally found I learn during light sparring and try to repeat the things I learned in hard sparring, but I don't feel prepared for a fight unless I am comfortable doing hard sparring.