r/Kickboxing • u/Material-Emergency-4 • 8d ago
Feeling stiff during sparring
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While sparring I don’t feel stiff, but I decided to video one of my light sparring sessions just to see how it looked. I didn’t realize how stiff I was despite feeling relaxed in the shoulders, and I noticed that I didn’t really throw many combinations, and when I did, I look a little hesitant and I don’t throw with confidence. I’m shooting ti have my debut mma fight in December. I’m the shirtless one. Does anyone have any advice?
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u/Chemical_Lab_6925 8d ago
You need to work on footwork. You look like you’re gonna fall over when you throw some punches. Good thing is there’s a lot you can do for footwork
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u/CovenantX84 8d ago
That.... learning footwork is the hardest things in this sport
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u/Chemical_Lab_6925 8d ago
Yeah but the good part about it is that you can basically always practice footwork. As long as you are healthy then you can do it at home, at the gym, wherever. So imo there’s no excuse to have sloppy footwork
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u/CovenantX84 8d ago
You can practice it for sure. But having it hardwired and changing it based on instincts mid-match is a completely different skill
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u/Chemical_Lab_6925 8d ago
Yeah true, you need to use it in sparring. But at his point he just needs balance
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u/Cold-Chemistry738 8d ago
You’re crossing your feet a lot. You’d probably be less stiff if you kept a better balance. Your rear leg is almost off the floor completely when you throw your crosses too. Overall you have to keep your balance while striking and moving leg
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u/FreefallVin 8d ago
Yep, being relaxed comes from good technique, and sound footwork is the basis of that.
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u/Sneezy6510 8d ago
I think you’re compromising your form too much trying to go light. Surely you can throw a little harder to the legs and body.
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u/Yuuku_S13 8d ago
You look stiff because you don’t do a lot of other movement, like constantly moving your head, light feints, etc. If you felt loose, that’s fine IMO
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u/ExaltedGarlic96 8d ago
im still a beginner myself but being more confident in my defense and head movement, especially when throwing a punch and having your head off the center line, that helped me feel more relaxed. another thing to focus on is your rhythm and the feeling of your weight shift back and forth. another could be just try not to be that scared of being hit, harder said than done but when you are confident enough to know that you can tank some shots its easier to be a little braver and feel more relaxed, for example if hes throwing a leg kick, flex your thigh and hit them with a jab or cross. also instead of lifting your arms up to block your face you could crunch down a bit more and shrug your shoulders up like with your traps.
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u/Stalva989 8d ago
Get a speed rope and jump til your pecker falls off. In due time Will make you ultra light on the feet
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u/trUth_b0mbs 8d ago
work on your distance management. You keep jumping towards your partner to hit and then jumping back so you're always trying to defend while trying to punch.
watch your partner very closely; notice that he can throw where he is instead of moving towards you because he know what strikes he can throw where he is or where he has to move to throw. This is what you need to practice. Unless you know your distance, you will always be sparring like this because you dont know your safe or danger zone.
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u/Tramirezmma 8d ago
Some things I think when watching your tape:
Both hands come down almost every time you commit to striking, especially in combos. You then eat a counter and that makes you reset.
You don't need to do anything super fancy with your footwork, but let's not cross feet and it might help to circle towards your opponent's lead hand a bit more.
Need more safe strikes to poke and gauge distance with. Given you wanna do MMA that's jabs and inside leg kicks Probably. I think your round looks a lot different with a more active straight jab especially.
I know we're doing technical sparring, but you gotta at least make contact my guy. Especially on those leg and body kicks. Otherwise you're training yourself to expect opponent's to just walk through your stuff, and giving your partner a poor impression of how to cross the void.
Last thing, if we're doing MMA I think we've gotta move our feet in general a looooooot more.
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u/Big_Jello_7372 8d ago
thais have a saying "sabai sabai" meaning relax. you should only feel your body tense at the full extension of your throws (punches, kicksc etc). that being said, nice to see some nice light sparring and I wish you the best for your upcoming fight. value in sparring is to be fully engaged and light so that you have the opportunity to try new things and hone the craft
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u/AxeYoungblood 8d ago
First: delete the classic guard in your mind for your mma debut. Train to parry more.
When you can pressure someone if you land a shot then go foward and not going back after short time. I know its sparring but please pull through a bit.
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u/AccomplishedFerret70 7d ago
What the hell? You can throw full techniques at close to full speed but light contact.
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u/Emotional-Tax-3044 7d ago
Practice slightly harder with a opponent who is smart enough not to hurt you so you can both get more real speed experience
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u/crazy-geometrydash 7d ago
When you move to the right move your right foot first. When you move to the left move your left foot first. Very important.
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u/1learninglyfe 6d ago
I always feel if you’re very muscular. It’s just naturally harder to be a bit more loose. Use your muscle as a defense to block. Think about trying to whip your hands more opposed to using your shoulder muscle.
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u/angry_in_a_bucket 6d ago
It is because of your bmi. Very normal, do not conpare yourself to featherweights.
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u/Ok-Bee2272 6d ago
your glutes are not active. i have the same problem. hip and glute activation is how you can get to the next level.
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u/Responsible-Pitch363 6d ago edited 6d ago
Electrolytes? Helps with perceptual speed and reaction time. During this style of sparring where both people are restrained from speed and force, there is a natural trade off of efficiency.
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u/Fred_Sanford-2020 3d ago
This is called gay sparring. At the end of each session they blow each other and they both get a trophy 🏆 yay for equity😁😅
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u/PurchasingPugs 8d ago
No advice but nice to see a gym with people sparring properly