(Muay Thai) Sparring with bigger guys - any value?

[caneca]

Hi guys, I had a general question - do you guys spar with bigger guys and if so/not why?

I weight 195 lbs and was sparring the biggest guy in our gym 270 lbs, cut down from 285, heightwise he has at least a good 3-4 inches on me and probably half of that in terms of reach. He's also solidly built, so when I say 270 lbs, I mean he probably has at most 12% body fat and looks like the oldschool 80's hulk.

I get really nervous when I spar with him because his "light" punches can knock me off my feet and his kicks HAVE lifted me completely up in the air. For a big guy he's also surprisingly quick. I can't imagine I do too much for him though, I'm usually so turtled up that I don't throw as aggressively as I would for someone closer to my weight.

Part of me feels like this type of training is good due to the body conditioning and making me more aware of defensively blocking, but the other part of me feels that the training isn't helping me because I'm not throwing "naturally" since I'm too scared of getting knocked out - and thus not working on how I would "really" fight.

With guys closer to my weight 180-220, I don't have any problems and I actually feel that I block more kicks/punches and also dish out more too. So I'm wondering if I should take sparring for him for what its worth and gain from the physical brutality of it, or if I should just focus on going with guys more my size?

I guess I'm just feeling a bit down on myself because I got the shit kicked out of me (literally) and am wondering if there's something wrong with my game or just the fact the dude has close to 80 pounds on me.

If you guys do train with bigger guys, is there a certain weight range that you try to keep within, like +/- 15 pounds?

 

[brokengloves]

If he is still punching too hard let him know. If you can't do that, you'll just have to learn how to deal with it.

I don't mind sparring bigger guys. You get to learn how to fight people who are much taller. I'll never use it in competition, but it's always useful if I ever happen to fight on the streets.

 

[ASEGSEA]

I train with heavyweights, and I am a lightweight. In fact, my buddy Jacob is 6'2 at 285 and I'm 5'9 at 155, so there is a HUGE difference.

Really though, I enjoy sparring with him. I can hit him HARD, and that's good for me as it taught me to hit his face with impact instead of the usual "be satisfied with the tap on the chin." And, because he's a tougher ex-football player, I can hit him hard all day and he keeps powering forward. Granted, I had to ask him to bring his 50% down to a 30%, I swalled my pride asking that question and now have good sparring sessions.

I call that style the "GSP vs Koscheck" where I just pop in and out with the jab with the quickness.

THAT BEING SAID if Jacob didn't let up on his punches --even though HE thought he was hitting soft-- I would not have kept up fighting him. I do not learn anything by surviving, I learn by fighting. And when his 50% punch when send me a step back, it was just illogical to continue getting pummeled.

 

[Roger z2]

I always work on my 'heavy hitting' combinations whilst my larger opponents always try out their faster moves on me (me just lightly jabbing them and having them swing as hard as they can is counter productive).

I weigh 65 whilst everyone else has around 4 inches in height and are all middleweight and up (I assume/saw their records)

 

[O Flannigan**]

Its generally better to spar guys within 15 pounds or so but sparring people with varying reach, styles, and speed is good.

 

[DaGenius]

Heres a basic way to succeed in any "sport". Find bigger and better athletes and train with them. In this case get your ass kicked by them. As long as he isnt hitting so hard that you might get seriously injured. You will learn a TON by working with him and getting better. In 6 months you will be lightyears ahead of where you are now.

Stay with your technique, and get better. No matter who you fight take a look at them and see what your advantages are and what your disadvantages are. Youre quicker. He's stronger. So you will be forced to execute your moves quicker and BE quicker. Good luck man!!

 

[SpeedDaemon]

I never thought size made too much of a difference in the difficulty of the fight. You do gotta get used to different people though, fighting someone 6" shorter is a lot different than 6" taller.

I'm 6'5", 230lbs. There's a guy at my gym whose 6'2" and 270, and I have no issue sparring with him. Smaller guys neither. Only annoying thing is that sometimes the smaller guys get nervous and get all tweaky, and next thing I know they throw a full force/speed Thai kick at my ribs like I'm a punching bag when I'm going 50%.

My favorite sparring partner is 6'5" and 155lbs. He's an experienced fighter, lightning fast with good footwork, and my height. So it's like fighting a me, twice as fast. Makes it real easy to fight guys in my own weight class.

Fighting someone much faster is much harder than fighting someone much stronger. To me anyway.

 

[Deathmonkey]

Most all of my partners are heavies, I'm a welter that walks at 190. It's taught me to be more evasive, using my speed to my advantage, not to over muscle techniques, use calculated movements, not to head hunt. It's also conditioned me to take blows. When I spar/fight my weight class I don't get hit very often and when I do I can take it pretty well.

 

[ATL]

i THINK THERE IS A HUGE ADVANTAGE OF SPARRING WITH BIGGER STRONGER OPPONENTS

REACH
POWER
STRENGTH
YOU THROW YOUR PUNCHES DIFFERENTLY
OPPONENTS STRIKES COME IN DIFFERENT ANGLES
HAND AND EYE COORDINATION
BUILD UP ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH TO HANDLE POWERFUL PUNCHES

SO YEA IT HELPS TREMENDOUSLY AS WELL AS SPARRING WITH SMALLER FASTER GUYS THAN YOU
HELPS YOUR SPEED AND TIMING MORE

ROCK ON

 

[OZ!]

Yes. Fight heavier people. Fight smaller people. Fight taller people. Fight them all. You learn to cope with a person you can't over power and may have reach on you so its good. You can't always fight smaller guys that you can overpower.

 

[OZ!]

i THINK THERE IS A HUGE ADVANTAGE OF SPARRING WITH BIGGER STRONGER OPPONENTS

REACH
POWER
STRENGTH
YOU THROW YOUR PUNCHES DIFFERENTLY
OPPONENTS STRIKES COME IN DIFFERENT ANGLES
HAND AND EYE COORDINATION
BUILD UP ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH TO HANDLE POWERFUL PUNCHES

SO YEA IT HELPS TREMENDOUSLY AS WELL AS SPARRING WITH SMALLER FASTER GUYS THAN YOU
HELPS YOUR SPEED AND TIMING MORE

ROCK ON

You can tell he's hella serious by the caps. jk

 

[Soul Rebel 2]

I have had mixed experiances sparring bigger guys. I'm 6' 160lbs (currently 180lbs but its fat) and some of my most helpful sparring partners have been bigger guys. Two guys in particular come to mind, a really tall, lanky guy who I could spar pretty hard with because he didnt have too much power in his hands, he was also a lot better than me but was an ideal matchup for me aside from his height as I prefer to fight jabbers rather than brawlers.

The other guy was a short (about 5'10 185lbs) pressure guy with a SHIT TON of power in both his hands. He would throw hard sometimes, all but dropped me one time but he wouldn't open up and be the aggressor, he would let me do my thing but hit me hard from time to time and then explain what he did.

My worst sparring experience has been with a big guy (5'11, 185-190lbs) in my new gym. He is an excellent, aggressive fighter with big power and a lot more experience than me; he beat the piss out of me despite my asking him to tone it down as I A) had no mouthguard and B) got into a car accident recently and had a sore neck from whiplash. He opened up a total can of whoop ass on me and dropped me in the second with an uppercut. I did learn a lot though so its not like it was without success but when your much bigger and better than your opponent you need to tone it down, not spar like you fight.

 

[mjw1]

If he is still punching too hard let him know. If you can't do that, you'll just have to learn how to deal with it.

I don't mind sparring bigger guys. You get to learn how to fight people who are much taller. I'll never use it in competition, but it's always useful if I ever happen to fight on the streets.

ditto

 

[caneca]

thanks for all the advice guys, i think i'll tell my heavyweights to go a little easier on me - i think the big thing is that my nerves are just shot around them due to their power so i tend to just go into rhino guard and take all their shots without firing too much back in return.

i'll talk with my boxing and MT instructors to see what advice they have for me to remedy this - don't want to develop any bad habits/fears when fighting, since as everyone has mentioned i have no control over who i fight.

 

[ZERO THEORY]

It helps git rid of the fear. If you can get wallopped by a heavyweight, taking punches from the super middleweights is nothing.
On top of that, getting cracked by the big guys really gets you used to any blows that slip through your defense.

 

[superjatt]

i agree with ZERO THEORY. theres one guy at my gym who is around 240 and im 190. he's a couple of inches taller and like to play keepaway. usually in order to get in on people i can just walk in and take a few hits but his jab can send me flying back so sparring with him helped me use more headmovement and footwork to get in and get out before he punished me too much

 

[Dougiek]

There are only a couple of guys in my gym who are bigger than me and i fight them as often as i can (i'm 6'1'', 245ish).

I find it much easier fighting someone equal to or bigger than me. i worry fighting the tiny little guys in case i mistime a rib shot and really hurt them or something (i'm new and clumsy).

fighting someone 6 inches taller than you is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to fighting someone 6 inches shorter than you.

 

[NGSouthpaw]

You should sparring with everyone, taller, faster, stronger, heavier, more experienced and of course weaker, slower, shorter, and less experienced. it's generally considered the best way since it helps you to adapt in every situation and really testing how great you are at not just fighting, but also as a gentleman for helping others to see their weakness and improve it from there.
Tho, imho. You shouldn't sparring with someone (when you're more advanced) that have all of these factors in it like he's all faster/taller/stronger/heavier/ and much more experienced than you since he's of course not gonna go full 100% on you. But of course, unless he's your instructor and trying to teach you something or it was just a sparring for fun, or you just love to get your ass kicked... like me, lol.

 

[Kanka]

To prepare for a fight it's optimal to spar people about your size, but in lack of partners sparring bigger guys will be better than nothing. I

 

[1 2 3]

Where do you guys live that you're all, "Yeah, I'm 6'5"...you know--normal." and 5'10" is "the short guy?"