Self Defense Without Sparring?

Self defense without sparring?

Cross country running.
 
Training without sparring is like learning to hit a baseball without ever facing live pitching. Yeah, you can go to the cage, work on your swing just taking cuts and watch videos, but none of that shit matters until you face a guy who is trying to blown one past you (or fool you with off speed stuff).

that is so random...was about to come in and post something about swimming and not getting in the water because it popped in my head while I was at the bank.

I guess you could use resistance bands or something to simulate swimming motions lol.


You guys love to use other sports as examples, but your problem is sparring is not a self defense simulation. You guys talk about actually having to step in and do it, shouldn't that also mean you train to defend yourself with live attackers trying to really get you?

Sparring can improve your self-defense skills in many ways, just like watching baseball tape and practice hitting will help, and resistance bands will help you swim.
 
If you're training for self defense, then live scenario-based pressure testing is probably the closest thing you can get to a self defense situation. The attacker(s) has a plan to loosely follow, based on common pre-attack behaviors and common attacks, and the defender doesn't know what will happen. Once the actual attack begins, the attacker becomes a resisting, reacting opponent. A third party needs to be standing by to break it up if the situation becomes too unsafe, or if it is determined that the attacker or defender has probably been neutralized.

Sessions should be broken down by the instructor to point out important signals to watch out for, and what mistakes were made, so they can be addressed in training. Contact should be hard, weapons should be involved sometimes, protective gear should be worn, and verbal de-escalation and running away should be possible options for resolving the simulated conflict, if applicable. It's live sparring, but it's managed to simulate the types of situations you expect to be in. Think of it like a fight camp--if you have footage of your opponent, you will probably use that to have your sparring partners try to emulate your opponent's fighting style, right? Same idea.

All that said, even normal combat-sport-style sparring prepares you for self defense far better than doing nothing but drills. You NEED to experience being taken by surprise, getting hit, and having your techniques fail. That's how you learn to overcome adversity and perform under pressure.
 
A school that I am considering does a lot of different styles and I wanted to get people's opinions of pros and cons.

They do a lot of Japanese Ju Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu techniques without rolling however, Kali stick/knife fighting, Judo, and self defense stuff that looks like Krav Maga. But the only issue is that they don't do any sparring at all, and you wear a judo GI at all times.

My goal is self defense but I without sparring I wasn't sure if I would be better off with a boxing/Muay Thai school. So my question to you would it be effective without a resisting opponent?


Check this out. Might be cheaper than a school. All you need is a partner. OR take it to your school with you!

http://www.questtraining.com
 
I've trained for about 5 years in various martial arts judo boxing bjj mma

I used to train in something similar to what your talking about pervious to my current training until one day a friend invited me to spar with him at his boxing gym i thought I would use my self training and that it would be a good test (we were using mma gloves full contact sparring I treated it as a street fight) I got mauled I was hopeless I had no idea about timing foot work or distance i eventually resorted to trying grapple/lock up he pushed me off moved away and continued to beat life out of me next day started boxing quit the shit I was doing

from experience the only stuff that works for self defense is the stuff which is drilled thousands of times and practiced under pressured situstions (sparring)

Joe rogan " the stuff that works on trained killers is the best you don't see gsp drilling death touch because guess what when you have someone trying to take your head off it doesn't work"



For self defense 95% of the people who will give you trouble will have little to no fight training guys that are trained fighters very very rarely go out looking for trouble so train In what ever you like illed suggest judo/bjj and muay thai or mma as that touches on bases
 
Last edited:
You guys love to use other sports as examples, but your problem is sparring is not a self defense simulation. You guys talk about actually having to step in and do it, shouldn't that also mean you train to defend yourself with live attackers trying to really get you?

Sparring can improve your self-defense skills in many ways, just like watching baseball tape and practice hitting will help, and resistance bands will help you swim.

I mostly agree with this but I think that sparring to self defence would be more like playing lacrosse and then having the same fundamental skills you need to be good at say hockey. Sparring teaches you how to apply distance control, range, timing, weapon selection, strike accuracy,footwork, impact management and body control against a live resistive opponent all vital skills you need for self-defence. It's not an exact analogue of what you will face but those skills are all directly transferrable.

To my mind the best would be to combine both. As close to real life self defence drills and combative sparring. But if I had to take just one I'd opt for the sparring.
 
I mostly agree with this but I think that sparring to self defence would be more like playing lacrosse and then having the same fundamental skills you need to be good at say hockey. Sparring teaches you how to apply distance control, range, timing, weapon selection, strike accuracy,footwork, impact management and body control against a live resistive opponent all vital skills you need for self-defence. It's not an exact analogue of what you will face but those skills are all directly transferrable.

To my mind the best would be to combine both. As close to real life self defence drills and combative sparring. But if I had to take just one I'd opt for the sparring.

Honestly I don't think playing Lacross would get you any better at ice hockey....in fact I'd guess you'd get better by just playing the video game instead of playing a sport that just happens to be similar in a few ways.

The skills you listed are good for sparring, but used in completely different context in self defense. Distance, range, movement, weapon selection.....all absolutely different from sparring to a life and death situation. That's why in this thread when people have said "sparring" they need to clarify what they mean.

A live opponent attacking you based on the parameters of a situation in the street would be the best. I've done this training myself and it's brutal, there is a reason why the average school/gym won't do anything close to this. Is it the best way to train? Yes, because going 100% is the only way to know if you can be effective.

However I get the feeling in this thread that isn't the "sparring" anybody is actually talking about.
 
Self defense without sparring is like saying you had sex without penetration. What's the point?
 
Back
Top