“Realism – Sparring and Pad Work”
By Danny Corr
“We do spar but it is not very often and we don’t really make contact!!
”We don’t really do much pad or bag work!”
“Padwork is just for accuracy, not for hitting hard”
Not to sound like a grumpy old man which I am fast becoming, but statements like those above which were made to me by “long-term” martial arts experts of 3rd Dan and upward really hack me off.
I truly believe these attitudes are the reasons why our so-called traditional arts have become so embarrassingly passive when compared with the new fighting styles, advocated so clearly in the likes of the UFC arena.
Lets deal with sparring issue first, and lets be clear we are talking about sparring between two consenting adults of equal experience in their system who have had years to lay down a good foundation in their “Art.” What way should they spar -should they play around at a safe distance and throw aesthetic pleasing techniques or should they endeavour to test all aspects of their art by pressure testing each other? Grapple, take to the ground, and strike with at least an agreed level of force! The latter should be the choice every time.
Ever person involved in sport will go through various stages of training, learning the game, conditioning skills, learning drills etc, but there comes a point when you must train specifically for your “game” and nothing is more specific than standing toe-to-toe with your peers and testing the effectiveness of your system.
If you are committed to your fighting art them you should have the confidence to apply all that you know albeit in a controlled fashion while sparring. Go into any Boxing gym and ask them what is fundamental to their training and without a doubt Sparring will be the answer.
So why do so many alleged physically able “Martial Artists” never more than break a sweat while sparring and believe it is enough to passively engage their training partner in the safe knowledge that no-one will get hurt either physically or mentally!!! Probably because us big proud black belts don’t want to look vulnerable and certainly we don’t want to show that we have weaknesses in the art we have spent decades perfecting!!!
Sparring also teaches us to begin to deal and understand the anxiety and nervous energy you will feel when a fight situation is eminent. The more you spar the more you will become accustomed to the feelings that an adrenaline dump will cause you. The rush of adrenaline that seers through your body can sap your energy and leave you gasping for air, it can make you freeze and give your mind a blank..this is the time you must rely solely on instinctive reaction, so if your training has consisted of passive technical strikes, locks takedowns etc then you will become unstuck very quickly. The more realistic sparring you do the easier it will become to control your nerves and deal with the fight in a calm and effective manner, your mind will stay calm and your body will become accustomed to being hit.
Katas, Kihons, randori, two-man routines etc are all there to teach us aspects of distance and technique but they cannot replace sparring, if you really want to improve in your chosen fighting art or indeed if you want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the new breed of fight schools, it is simple -you must spar and you must make it as realistic as possible without causing injury.
Any fighting art should require a significant amount of conditioning, which should include; power, speed, agility, flexibility etc but more importantly it should require guts and psychological hardness. Without a doubt this hardness will inevitably found the more sparring sessions you complete. The payback of sparring at this level has countless benefits, not just physically but mentally.
Again I would apply the same attitude to pad work, if you think that working on pads is simply a way of developing accuracy then why go to the expense of purchasing pads, why not just put your hands up and let your training partner hit them or even better if there is no power or menace in your strikes why not just tap away at your training partners body or face, sure its not going to hurt anyone!!!!
I believe there are two basic ways to use pads, firstly to test the power and effectiveness of your strikes “on the move” while simulating all the appropriate movements that may arise in a fight situation. This type of training will also help you find out your strength and weaknesses before you attempt to apply them under pressure from an aggressor in sparring or indeed real life. Secondly you should use pads to develop conditioning drills enhancing your strength, stamina and accuracy! Again in my opinion, if you are just using pads to develop accuracy then you are not making best use of the training tools at hand and as a result you are wasting valuable training time, something none of us can afford to do in our hectic modern lifestyles!
So go find yourself an intelligent, skilled training partner and unleash the real meaning of your system.
