how much sparring?

[Yung Apprentice]

I know that this thread has been done before. But it wa a while ago and, I didn't pay any attention at the time, becuase I wasn't thinking how important it might be.

Anyways. I'm interested in a Hsing-Yi school. Problem is, the teacher say that they only spar two or three times a MONTH. I thought this was kinda not enough, to help me learn to fight, and defend myself.

What do yall think? It is to little of time, or is it enough. What words of wisdom can yall give?:)

[oldwolf]

Sparring helps you spar,
Fighting helps you fight,
Defending yourself helps you defending yourself,

Specificity is the name of the game, why are you training? and then train to that end.

[apoweyn]

oldwolf,

i agree with your sentiment, but not the literal statement.

fighting might help you fight. defending yourself might help you defend yourself. but either one might instead just land you in a wheelchair. there are a lot of variables dictating that one.

and that's sort of the point of sparring. it's an opportunity to work with the variables. it's never going to be reality. there is always going to be a leap between sparring and fighting. but through manipulating different variables, you could change the distance of that leap. but never eliminate it.


yung apprentice,

to me, that sounds like too little sparring, yeah. but in addition to the frequency of sparring, you may want to consider the type of sparring they do. that's what i like about oldwolf's point (if i understand it correctly). if your priority is self defense, then a school that spars every day, but does so with a lot of restrictions, probably isn't going to help you much.

oldwolf's right though. smart move is to identify what you want out of your training and go from there.


stuart b.

[SevenStar]

I don't think it's that general, especially about defending yourself. How do you practice that and fighting without actually doing it? you can't. That means that realistic drilling and sparring are the alternate routes. And there are things there you can't drill full speed, like eye gouging. So if you look at it your way, you really can't train to defend yourself, or to fight. sparring (full contact) is by no means fighting, but it does develop skills and habits that will translate into better fighting ability.

As for the question, What type of sparring is it, light or full? Also, how much drilling is done in between?

[neito]

luckily there is always somebody who is looking for a sparring partner. if you can't always do it in class try and find someone who will do some sparring with you. its a good way to make friends both in and outside your school.

i don't empty hand spar much but i do lots of knife sparring with my brother and some friends of mine who teach/study kali. its fun because you can do it all the time without much injury. i only like to spar empty handed once a week. i'm a wimp, so what?

[rogue]

I'd go with not enough. The best use of sparring IMO is to vary the intensity. Pad up and go all out, other times drop the gear totally and go only as hard as you and your partner can handle. And then work with some padding and no gloves, then gloves but no padding. Just keep changing how you do it so you don't fall into any traps.

[yenhoi]

Whatever sevenstar says is usually 100% right.

:D

Anyways, doesnt sound like enough to me, but like 7* said, there are other things that are just as important as sparring.

For refrence, I sparr nearly every class session, sometimes with sticks. I goto class 5 days a week, and bjj once a week.

[yenhoi]

rogue makes good point about changin' it up.

We change the 'rules' all the time, sometimes in the middle of sparring. We make targets illegal, or restrict the use of certain weapons, tie someones hand to their side, someone with gloves, the other without, etc etc.

[SevenStar]

yenhoi is the man. :cool: :D

I was saying it may be enough because it may be full contact. I wouldn't reccomend full contact sparring any more than a few times per month. If the only sparring they do is full contact a few times, they could still be fine if they are drilling on a regular basis. That said though, I'd prefer to sparseveral times per week and only go full contact a few times per month.

If you want to spar more than the time they allow, just ask a few of your classmates if they'd be interested in getting together for some sparring sessions outside of class.

In bjj and judo, we roll every class, and a few of the guys that compete in nhb and I are starting to get together and spar nhb format on sundays.

[Laughing Cow]

Yung Apprentice.

I think Xing Yi has 2 man forms and their own form of push hands exercises.

One question I would ask myself if I was in your shoes:
"Do I want to learn to defend myself or to fight using Xing Yi methods."

Once you got the answer choose a school/syle that fits it.

Just my 0.2 cents worth.

[oldwolf]

I was in a rush Apoweyn, but you got the gist of it.

7* your salient point is that it must be realistic sparring and drilling, unfortunately most of us don't do that.
Rogue is right you must vary the density and intensity of any session.
Part of the problem with sparring is that we get hung up on it and end up sparring for sparring sake, it is just another tool and its primary function is to train timing and distancing, other effects are secondary.

Its important to remember that most martial systems are designed to train a student to fight another trained student. So we are back to specificity, why do you train?

[apoweyn]

oldwolf,


I was in a rush Apoweyn, but you got the gist of it.

yeah, i thought the gist of it was advice well taken. a person's actual objectives should definitely be taken into account if they're going to have any sort of self-directed education (including choosing your own school).

anyway, i didn't mean to be pedantic. my apologies if i was.


stuart b.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by oldwolf

Its important to remember that most martial systems are designed to train a student to fight another trained student. So we are back to specificity, why do you train?

This is true - I don't see a problem with that if you do it correctly though. There was a thread about this recently. Indeed, most people you encounter won't be throwing claws, sidekicks, etc. BUT I've known/seen several wrestlers and boxers who got into fights on a regular basis. That's a big concern, IMO. Alot of the gang bangers and "thugs" I knew were also amateur boxers. But you're right - to decide how you will/will not alter your training, you need to get into specificity.

[Yung Apprentice]

Well, I went to the school to check the school out. I was too impressed. The students there were either fat and lazy, or small kids. Mostly it was just females. I didn't like the easy going nature, and the stretches and warm ups were to easy. They had really good Chi'Na though, but outside of that I didn't find much I liked about the school. Maybe I just don't know what to look for in a good school. :(

[Stacey]

I think doing creative forms to music is more important than sparring.


Sparring will end up on the groud with a gay judoka.


Wushu will end you up with a hot girl who also does Wushu. You can fly through the air and flip and play with weapons.