Sparring Without Gloves or Pads

In today’s society, with the need to work and earn money to support not just yourself but also your family, people who train in martial arts don’t want to look bruised, blooded and broken each day. This is one of the reasons why gloves, shin guards, mouth pieces, cups and other protective equipment are used during sparring.

The problem about wearing protection all the time when sparring however is that you can get to used to it. Sloppiness can set in sometimes with technique, the thought of avoiding strikes can sometimes be ignored as getting hit by a soft 14 oz glove or shin padding sometimes does not inflict enough damage to hurt and awareness, timing and rhythm when fighting does not get trained as much.

For this reason, maybe sometimes it is best to spar without any protection, nothing at all. The idea of covering up without boxing gloves when your opponent is throwing hooks and straight punches becomes a more difficult task. Firstly you would be taking some of the blows on the back of your hand and if you try just tapping the back of you hand with your knuckles you shall see that it is quite painful, so you can imagine how a hard punch would feel. Secondly, without big gloves, you would not be covering up much at all. Your opponent would find it much easier to strike around and through your “covering up” as your hands do not defend as much as your face as you would have hoped for. This way of defending may now be substituted by parries, body movement and stop hitting, which all work your timing reflexes and awareness much more.

A lot of people also get into the habit of taking shin kicks to the thighs when wearing shin pads without the thought of defending them. If anyone does not know the pain of getting hit hard on the thigh with an unpadded shin let me just say it hurts and you don’t want to get into the habit of taking them when fighting. When shin protection is out of the equation you shall find yourself relying on correct technique when shin blocking, again you shall learn to move out of the path of the shin kick and hopefully you may start to learn to move whilst staying within a striking range, ready to counter.

Sparring without protection keeps you on your toes. It helps you to think better, move better and reminds you that without good technique you could easily find yourself in an awkward position. As mentioned above, most of us have jobs and families and cant afford to get hurt so keep the sparring controlled and sensible. Contact to the body and thighs may be a little harder. The level of contact can be agreed with your sparring partner before you begin.

Marks

Related Articles...
Dealing with Different Ranges of Combat
Limb Striking
Heavy Bag Training - Bad Hibits
Is Sparring Useful in the Martial Arts
Kick Catching for Throws and Takedowns

Technorati Tags: sparring, boxing gloves, shin kick

Read More...

Summary only...