Sparring is essential if you’d like to be able to apply your techniques on another human being. Anyone who trains sport based systems knows this. Unfortunately, there are still a great many people practicing traditional martial arts and even “reality based self defense”, who either don’t spar at all, or do so very poorly.
I recently received an email from one of my site subscribers (you can subscribe to get free tips and info here) asking for help with a problem. When he’d try to fight, he couldn’t use any of the techniques he was training and he couldn’t stay calm. I recommended he do more sparring, in order to learn to apply his techniques and get accustomed to dealing with a resisting opponent. He wrote back and told me he was training wing chun, and that at the school he goes to they cannot hit above the chest in training. Of course, if you can’t practice hitting someone in the head, and defending against someone who is trying to hit you in the head, you’re not going to be able to do it in reality either.
Sparring shouldn’t be difficult or scary. The video on my boxing page demonstrates a very easy sparring progression, starting with simple, basic techniques, and adding on as a practitioner feels comfortable. You can begin with a single attack and a single defense, and only add additional techniques and defenses when you feel you’ve got the first one down. As you get more comfortable, increase the intensity. Go a bit faster, and a bit harder. In no time at all, you’ll be sparring at a high level of intensity, using your techniques, and staying mentally calm and relaxed. Without sparring, you won’t have a chance.
Sparring for Sport vs. Self Defense
Most combat sports, from boxing and wrestling to MMA, have rounds with time limits. Usually, the time limits are fairly long compared to the time a real assault takes place in. And, the way these systems train and fight has been influenced by these time limits more than many people might imagine.
When I first started boxing, I asked my boxing coach about using a boxing blast, a continuous, high pressure assault that doesn’t stop until your opponent is on the ground. Such a blast doesn’t work all that well in the sport of boxing, as boxers will simply clinch in response, for example, preventing additional techniques from being thrown. In self defense, the clinch wouldn’t stop the blast. It would continue in the form of knees, elbows, throws, locks, chokes, etc. But one thing my boxing coach said stuck with me. He said that the techniques and sport of boxing is based on 3 minute rounds. If a round lasted 5 seconds, boxing would look very different. Boxing would look more like two people using a blast.
The 5 Second Round
Sport based sparring tends to have a back-and-forth quality to it. For example, one person attacks, the other evades and then counter attacks. The counter attack gets blocked or misses, nothing lands, and they break. People move in and out, and rarely attack with 100% intensity. They need to last 3 minutes, 1 minute, or even just 30 seconds. But in a real assault, the outcome of the assault is often decided in the first second or two. Five seconds is a long time in an assault.
While sparring for longer durations is definitely beneficial, as you have more time to learn in a low to moderate intensity environment, for self defense, you should also train very short rounds that are more likely to mirror a real assault. Next time you spar, after warming up with a regular round, try a few 5 second rounds. What do you need to do differently? Can you apply the lessons you learn to your regular sparring?
Granted, neither you nor your opponent may “win” in five seconds. But sometimes you will. You’ll learn valuable lessons. And your training will be closer to what you’re likely to face in the unfortunate event of a real assault.
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If I have to fight, I will strike first on the oppt side of the jaw with my outward hammer fist. If I do hit fist, he will be knockout with a broken jaw. I use a small rubber ball on double end rubber bands to build my speed and timing and do hard strikes on my dummy bag. We all know how fast a back fist strike is in karate matches, I use my hammer fist the same way. It works for me and the fight is over in one hit and go home without getting hurt. This fist strike is hard see and block. P.S. When is your book coming out? Thank You.
Hello Keith,
I would caution against having a one strike technique strategy. What if your opponent moves out of the way? What if he blocks? What if the technique doesn’t take him out?
Yes, a hammer fist is as good a technique as most, and it can certainly work. But I would just make sure you have a good strategy for preventing a situation from going there in the first place, and then a strategy for what you’re going to do if/when that single technique fails.
My book…hopefully in the next 2-3 months. I’m just bogged down with other work, as usual.
I live in a country where assaults, robberies, murders and car jacking is almost a daily occurrence. I’m 74 still quite fit but in the age group which are known as soft targets. What type oh self defense would you recommend.
Thank you
Prevention is the most important aspect of self defense, for everyone. Check out my prevention page, here, if you haven’t already.
Regarding physical self defense, unfortunately there is no magic technique or techniques that can work better for people who are older/weaker/etc than for anyone else. But, as you aren’t getting any younger, I would probably focus on a combination of prevention (99%) and weapons, along with functional empty hand training.
Consider that in the vast majority of countries, an innocent man is unlikely to be killed in a robbery. It’s more likely that someone will want your money or some other possession. And the best way to stay safe in many of those situations, especially with multiple armed opponents, is to give them what they want. It’s not fair. But it may be the smartest thing to do. So prevention and compliance will probably work very close to 100% of the time for you. I would consider physical self defense to be an absolute last resort, and for that, I would likely rely on a weapon.