sparring drills - looking for pointers

**phuquedup** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 12:18am

Heya, are there any drills I can (solo) to improve my bobbing n weaving as well as instinctual blocks/counters? I'm thinking along the lines of anything boxing/kickboxing related - I got fairly owned today in sparring. Any tips and assistance would be appreciated, for real. Thanks ;)

**Emevas** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 12:22am

Wrong forum. Post it in strikestan.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 12:43am

Yeah, soon a mod will move this, hopefully.

But to answer your post, we did drills with strikes, ducking, then hook upper cuts and it seemed to help. It is good to have a coach who knows how to drill with pads, but if not just putting together combos and shadow boxing will help you get flowing movements better.

**alex** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 1:27am

move your head after every punch if you can. thats what i try to do, would work better if i wasnt a dorky white guy and had some rhythm but thems the breaks.

the way you move is going to be very different in kickboxing than it is in boxing unless you are doing ***** ass american rules kickboxing. weaving is generally a no no in kickboxing and you want to keep your slipping a bit more straight up so you dont slip into a kick or knee

**alex** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 1:52am

ever since we installed a sound system in our gym my skipping has improved so much. not often a white boy gets to shake his tail feather but i can hide my goofy two steps with my skipping. its ace!

**Godhand** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 3:54am

The most important thing is just to do more sparring. Drill on focus pads with someone swinging hooks, by all means, but you risk getting into a rythm or pre-empting the attack cause you know its comming. The most important thing is just to spar.

Spar at low intensity first, at about 70% speed, and gradually build up. And yeah, as was said previously, keep your head moving.

Also, a mistake I kept making and didnt realize for quite some time is that when you bob and weave, keep your eyes on your opponent the whole time.

Hope thats of some assistance, though there are many more qualified than me to offer help.

**phuquedup** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 9:05am

sorry about the wrong forum, I just went off the list on the left hand side of the screen.

But to answer your post, we did drills with strikes, ducking, then hook upper cuts and it seemed to help. It is good to have a coach who knows how to drill with pads, but if not just putting together combos and shadow boxing will help you get flowing movements better.

Aye, it seems to helps a bit - but unfortunately as another poster mentioned I pre-empted the hooks and strikes. I'd force myself to wait until he actually swung, but even then it felt a little easy. Doing more of these would definitely help though, I've only drilled bob/weaves in my combo pad drills 6 or 7 times thus far.

the way you move is going to be very different in kickboxing than it is in boxing unless you are doing ***** ass american rules kickboxing. weaving is generally a no no in kickboxing and you want to keep your slipping a bit more straight up so you dont slip into a kick or knee

good point - I'm not training for a particular event yet, but generally speakin I'm lookin to train MMA rules - or, as few as possible if that makes sense.

Put some good tunes in the mp3 player and get in the mirror. Do a little bit of Paula Abdul for your front to backl, a little Talking Heads for side to side, and some James Brown mixed in there for the up and down. Yup. And what Alex said. Move your noggin after, and I try to do it before and during too. Music really helps.

I like that ;)

Also, a mistake I kept making and didnt realize for quite some time is that when you bob and weave, keep your eyes on your opponent the whole time.

What part of your opponent do you keep your eyes on? I've been told to look at the chest, or to "look past" the opponent.

gracias, and much appreciated :)

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 11/21/2006 12:11pm

Originally Posted by Emevas

Wrong forum. Post it in strikestan.

Don't encourage him to make another post, we'll move it shortly.
And the Report button actually works.

**NoMan** · Posted On: 12/03/2006 11:31pm

I can only comment on boxing aspects of this, talk to Alex, Kidspatula, or Annatrocity for kickboxing training. There are other good kickboxers on this forum, but those three are generally the most friendly.

If you're solo and have some empty space, take your handwraps and find a location where you can tie them off on both ends. Then, tie them off on both ends and velcro them together in the middle, trying to keep the wraps even just below shoulder level. It'll sag in the middle, but work with it. You can tie off whatever you want for this drill so long as you can see it.

Now, practice weaving underneath it while throwing a punch to the body the direction your body momentum is going. E.g. if are moving to the left, throw the rear uppercut. Going to the right, throw the left hook. This will help you when you are infighting. When weaving, try to keep your body erect. In boxing, you can lean forward at the waist, but I discourage this because it makes it harder to see incoming punches and it generally diminishes the force of your counterpunches.

As a tip, you actually don't want to completely clear the wraps, you want the bottom of your head to lightly skim the top of the rope when rope. The tigher you are when weaving or slipping, the less distance you have to travel to counterpunch. If you drop too low, you won't be able to land a counterpunch before the person defends.

As mentioned by other posters, practice moving your head in any drill you do. If your punching the bag, don't 'pose' on it. Keep moving your head. If you have a friend who will drill with you, tell him to practice only throwing jabs at you while you move your head out of the way. Don't punch him back, just work your defense. Don't get into a rhythm, break it up and make sure you see the punches coming at you.

You can also purchase a slip bag/maize bag to practice solo, along with double-end bag drills. Again, slip the attacks as closely as possible.

As for where to look, people vary on where they like looking. General concensus says that looking at the chest/shoulder region is best. You can look at the eyes of the opponent or the hands, but if you do, you are very likely to get feinted and drawn into punches.

**theword** · Posted On: 12/04/2006 1:31am

Along the lines of sparring drills (don't want to hijack the thread but I figure my question might fit here). Are there any drills that will help one to close distance effectively and quickly. While sparring I tend to double or triple up on my jabs and step in behind them. This has had some mixed results as I've gotten tagged a number of times when I'm about to start throwing a hook. Of course I understand that I'm going to get hit but there have to be a number of ways to move in besides just jabs and feints (only I can't think of any). Any help would be appreciated.