"Looking away" while punching in sparring

[Replay19]

I tend to sometimes "get in" and start throwing punches at times when sparring, but someone told me that I tend to tense up and look down, or away from my opponent instead of straight at him. I suppose this comes from newbie mistakes of being glove shy. Does anybody know any tips on how to stop habits such as these? It looks extremely wimpy and also it just looks bad when a fighter gets in and his head is looking down or tilted to the side. What would a good boxer do? What would a good martial artist do?

 

[MisterInsideHer]

I think a good way to combat this is to practice shadowboxing in front of a mirror. Watch your technique and try to avoid and fix the bad habits.

 

[Perfect form]

Punching should come last. Keep good posture and move with a plan. Find where to move and be out of harms way but still close to your opponent. This is position and in position punches present them self. Being in the right position keeps you from compromising on your posture when punching.

 

[Paradigm]

Put your back to a wall or something and have a partner you trust throw light punches at your face. Get used to seeing them incoming and getting hit with them lightly. You can add rules like only slipping punches is allowed to defend or whatever as you go along.

Make sure the focus of the training is to see the punches coming in for as long as you can.

 

[mac11]

I sparred last night for the first time. I don't understand looking away while throwing punches. I understand looking away while getting hit which is something I'm trying to tackle. I mean when you're landing and your opponent is put off, backing up, the adrenaline rush kicks in and it feels good overpowering him, I don't understand why you'd look down when there is nothing coming at you.

Do you look straight at the bag when you're hitting it? Perhaps working the bag and keeping your eye on the target will override this psychological thing.

 

[Paradigm]

I sparred last night for the first time. I don't understand looking away while throwing punches. I understand looking away while getting hit which is something I'm trying to tackle. I mean when you're landing and your opponent is put off, backing up, the adrenaline rush kicks in and it feels good overpowering him, I don't understand why you'd look down when there is nothing coming at you.

Do you look straight at the bag when you're hitting it? Perhaps working the bag and keeping your eye on the target will override this psychological thing.

Sounds like TS was talking about fighting in the pocket, where shit gets dangerous sometimes. Easier to see shit coming when you're at range.

 

[mac11]

Sounds like TS was talking about fighting in the pocket, where shit gets dangerous sometimes. Easier to see shit coming when you're at range.

If that's the case, I did the same damn thing tonight. He was 20kg heavier but still. When he bombarded me, I shelled up and looked at the ground and didn't know what to do. I think need to somehow learn to not be afraid of taking punches standing upright, with my guard up taking them on the gloves. I tried uppecuts to no avail. Totally forgot I could have punched his body. It's tough. Blocking shots on the gloves has the same pyshcological effect as taking them square on the face it feels to a beginner.

 

[Paradigm]

If that's the case, I did the same damn thing tonight. He was 20kg heavier but still. When he bombarded me, I shelled up and looked at the ground and didn't know what to do. I think need to somehow learn to not be afraid of taking punches standing upright, with my guard up taking them on the gloves. I tried uppecuts to no avail. Totally forgot I could have punched his body. It's tough. Blocking shots on the gloves has the same pyshcological effect as taking them square on the face it feels to a beginner.

Well, when a guy is swinging hard, you still take some concussive force through the gloves. The drill I was talking about earlier in the thread looks something like this below. You can add variations where the guy on defense against the wall can only use certain things (no blocking/only slipping, etc).

 

[mac11]

^ Cool. Exactly what I need to get someone to do to me. Not full force but y'know. Just so I can learn to not cower and look at the ground.

This guy explains it too. He says cover up but don't look at the ground, it's common mistake that i think you need to be trained against. But don't just cover up, look so for window to fire back...can skip the firtst half where he talks about not cowering.


Poirier v duffy is a good example of a fight where Poirier covers up when hurt but never keeps his eye off the threat. It takes training and I'm obsessesd with fixing it now lol.

 

[Paradigm]

^ Cool. Exactly what I need to get someone to do to me. Not full force but y'know. Just so I can learn to not cower and look at the ground.

This guy explains it too. He says cover up but don't look at the ground, it's common mistake that i think you need to be trained against. But don't just cover up, look so for window to fire back...can skip the firtst half where he talks about not cowering.


Poirier v duffy is a good example of a fight where Poirier covers up when hurt but never keeps his eye off the threat. It takes training and I'm obsessesd with fixing it now lol.

I hear you...I started training in 2010 but still have a ton of things to work on. Approaching 40 myself so that window is closing but whatever...as long as you are better than you were the day before.

That wall drill is also good for the other side of things...finding/creating openings when your partner is shelling up constantly.

 

[Chain Saw]

^ Cool. Exactly what I need to get someone to do to me. Not full force but y'know. Just so I can learn to not cower and look at the ground.

This guy explains it too. He says cover up but don't look at the ground, it's common mistake that i think you need to be trained against. But don't just cover up, look so for window to fire back...can skip the firtst half where he talks about not cowering.


Poirier v duffy is a good example of a fight where Poirier covers up when hurt but never keeps his eye off the threat. It takes training and I'm obsessesd with fixing it now lol.

That's a good drill but the best thing to do is work on dutch drills, I'm sure your instructor will have you do it with a partner. Take turns doing a certain combination at each other and while one throws it the other defends it, this way you work on both attacking and defending and doing one after the other.

 

[mac11]

I wasn't going to make an excuse based on me being 70kg and my partner being 90kg, and still not really but i read this:
http://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-...beginners-shouldnt-spar-with-bigger-opponents

And it's hard to argue with.

quote:
"He’ll cower behind a high guard or Philly shell defense (the rear hand in front of face, front hand dropped low) and take his eyes off his opponent. At this point, he’s no longer fighting back…he’s just trying to survive."


Sticking me in with a guy 43 pounds heavier for my second session shattered my confidence. he was the same guy I sparred first time except we were only allowed to jab, so I kept slipping his jab and countering with my own and beat him.
Then when it was full on, entire composure went out the window.
On the upside when I'm in there with someone around my size it will be less troublesome I think.

sorry for hijacking thread OP. peace.

 

[nyguy1982]

I tend to sometimes "get in" and start throwing punches at times when sparring, but someone told me that I tend to tense up and look down, or away from my opponent instead of straight at him. I suppose this comes from newbie mistakes of being glove shy. Does anybody know any tips on how to stop habits such as these? It looks extremely wimpy and also it just looks bad when a fighter gets in and his head is looking down or tilted to the side. What would a good boxer do? What would a good martial artist do?

How often do you train with a double end bag? Based on your problem - I would say never

You can't hit combinations on the doube end bag without visually tracking it.

It's the best tool for training your eyes so far, I discovered it by accident and I'm probably the only guy at my MT gym who works with it on a regulat basis.

Based on how my punching accuracy, distance and timing has gone up recently, the double end bag has become
my favorite tool in the gym. Such an underutilized implement.