What am I doing wrong?

[USAMMAFAN]

I hit the bag and pads great, when I do thai-boxing drills I look good, quick hands and explosive, or so my trainer and pretty much everyone in the gym says.

When I spar I hold back alot to not injure my sparring partner, and frankly dont look nearly as impressive as when i am hitting the pads or bags.

My instructor says I hold back to much and I need to explode when sparring like I do on the pads, however, I am afraid of hurting someone if I do this.

Should I just get over this and let my hands fly or is it I just havent completely tranferred the striking skills i have built on the bag and pads over to live sparring successfully yet?

In other words is it possible to look pretty good hitting the bag and pads, yet not be very skilled at actual fighting or simulated fighting (sparring).

Is it possible that I am simply holding back to much when sparring?

Thanks in advance.

 

[VietMTwarrior]

u can be explosive and work ur partner w/o hurting them just go with speed and lil power but mostly hold back the power enuf not to hurt sum1 but dont hold back too much

 

[stav]

Not going to bag or knock u but i am going to give u some simple truths.

B/c u have great technique on a bag is good yes but it does not mean everything as the bag does not move around randomly and does nto hit u back either. There are alot of varables in fighting that the bag will not give u.

Its like seeing a person that can juggle a footbal (soccer ball) and keep it up for like an hour with some awsome moves with feet, knees, head, back heels and some fancy tricks that take crap loads of skill to do but when they play a game they are crap.

Hitting a bag will devlop and help u improve your technique but u have to learn timing and when to throw your techniques when to disengage, cover, defend and attack in a real fight wich the bag cant teach u.

I dont think there is anything wring with u its just alack of experience. The more u sparr the better u will become and sooner or later your technique will be transfered from the bag to the opponent.

Not wanting to hurt your opponent is not a bad thing in fact its admirable. U dont have to knock someone out when u sparr to get good results. U can excersise a degree of control and still get the benefits of ssparring.

 

[Zankou]

You may just be too nice. Not much can be done about that.

I remember the first time I sparred full contact -- I cringed every time I caught my opponent with a punch, and kept apologizing for it. Which only made him angrier. It takes some time to get used to cracking somebody in the face who is not your enemy.

You should get over it fast with more sparring.

 

[possenti]

You may just be too nice. Not much can be done about that.

I remember the first time I sparred full contact -- I cringed every time I caught my opponent with a punch, and kept apologizing for it. Which only made him angrier. It takes some time to get used to cracking somebody in the face who is not your enemy.

You should get over it fast with more sparring.

I think that's the solution. I have the very same problem as the threadstarter. As my boxing coach yelled at me from ringside during my first sparring session, "Stop being a nice fucking guy! Hit him!" My partner was very experienced, and got a big kick out of that.

 

[Rudy Richter]

I hit the bag and pads great, when I do thai-boxing drills I look good, quick hands and explosive, or so my trainer and pretty much everyone in the gym says.

When I spar I hold back alot to not injure my sparring partner, and frankly dont look nearly as impressive as when i am hitting the pads or bags.

My instructor says I hold back to much and I need to explode when sparring like I do on the pads, however, I am afraid of hurting someone if I do this.

Should I just get over this and let my hands fly or is it I just havent completely tranferred the striking skills i have built on the bag and pads over to live sparring successfully yet?

In other words is it possible to look pretty good hitting the bag and pads, yet not be very skilled at actual fighting or simulated fighting (sparring).

Is it possible that I am simply holding back to much when sparring?

Thanks in advance.

I have a feeling your footwork might be troubling you. If your footwork is poor, you will be off balance a lot and your striking will suck. On a bag and on pads it's less obvious because the traget doesn't move as much and doesn't hit back. I had exactly this problem. I hit like Tyson on the bag, but had a hard time when sparring because I would easily get off balance. I ended up getting boxing instructional tapes to learn proper stance and did foot work drills to improve because my coaches weren't good enough at breaking the subtlties into details(lead foot in front of head rear foot slightly raised and almost at 60- 90 degree angle...weight more on lead foot). One thing many people do in the beginning is crossing their feet and NOT ending up in a fighters stance after every single move. This might not be your problem, but if it is, PM me and I will tell you more.

 

[ryouboard]

Like stated above,

1) Drilling on the bag is different from sparring. You have to be able to hit your combinations on the move while someone is trying to hit you back or running away. So when you're practicing on the bag, always keep moving to simulate this.

2) You don't have to hit your sparring partner that hard. But if you don't hit him at all, you will never improve. Try to get over your fear of hurting the other guy. He's there knowing full well the inherent risks of full contact sports. If you really want to get better, you have to apply your techniques well.

 

[HardKnocks]

Let your hands go a little more, but don't go completely full power. You need to put enough pop on your punches to make the other guy respect you. At the same time, you don't want to hurt your training partners. It just takes some practice, but eventually you'll get the hang of it.

 

[USAMMAFAN]

Sparred again since the first post, taking into consideration some of the advice given here.

I did much better then the previous session.

I let my hands fly a little bit more and used more lateral movement, needless to say it helped alot.

We spare pretty hard, while I have never seen anyone get completely ktfo, its not uncommon for black eyes, cuts, bruised ribs and cracked ribs (I got bruised ribs), and someone having to take a knee to occur (getting rocked). So I do beleive I was holding back to much on my strikes and my opponents werent respecting my strikes enough and just teeing off on me.

I think the lateral movement helped alot, I think my biggest problems was I have a tendency to stand square in front of my opponent and make like a huge fucking target.

Anyway thanks for the advice, it was appreciated for sure.

 

[Matt]

I'm going to say it's a question of experience. Sparring is different in that you have a lot more to think about - it takes time before it becomes automatic like working on the bag or pads. With the bag and pads, you're going to focus way more on offensive and you know what's coming. With sparring now you have to try to think about defense, anticipation, guessing, timing...And you have to be able to relax so that you are smooth and not too stiff. I just takes time and ring experience to get comfortable with all of that.

What Zankou said about being too nice is also a possibility. However, you still need some control - if you think giong harder is going to help, don't get carried away.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Let your hands go a little more, but don't go completely full power. You need to put enough pop on your punches to make the other guy respect you. At the same time, you don't want to hurt your training partners. It just takes some practice, but eventually you'll get the hang of it.

Some excellent advice, especially about more experience and footwork, but I especially liked this one.

For me, the key is to relax while sparring instead of being tight. You gain speed, and much better control of your strikes. Some people cramp up when sparring and put too much power into strikes (being tense all the time) and then worry about hurting the other guy.

If you relax, you don't hurt the sparring partner as much, you don't hurt yourself as much, and can move far better and more quickly. You can always tense up at the right time if you intend to do real damage.

 

[HardKnocks]

^^ Thanks. You and Rexholio are right on with the relaxation, too. It's something I forgot to mention that's probably the most important piece of the equation. Most of my best "moments" in intense sparring sessions have been when I was physically and mentally relaxed. I wish I had gotten to spar with more people like the guys in this thread when I was training all the time. Most people are either trying to take your head off or afraid to get hit. Sparring can be so rewarding when both guys are relaxed, know what they are doing, and respect each other.

 

[Rudy Richter]

^^ Thanks. You and Rexholio are right on with the relaxation, too. It's something I forgot to mention that's probably the most important piece of the equation. Most of my best "moments" in intense sparring sessions have been when I was physically and mentally relaxed. I wish I had gotten to spar with more people like the guys in this thread when I was training all the time. Most people are either trying to take your head off or afraid to get hit. Sparring can be so rewarding when both guys are relaxed, know what they are doing, and respect each other.

Agreed.... If you aren't relaxed you will not last more than one round anyway and the strikes are robotic.