Sparring video - Advice?

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 8/19/2008 3:33pm

Originally Posted by scorchedearth

Hello everyone.

Below is a video of myself and a classmate sparring this past Saturday. I am wearing the grey shirt. We're going fairly light and just trying to learn the basics.

I've been doing MT since the beginning of the year and have been sparring since the end of February.

What I see as my flaws here are: my kicks are telegraphed at times and I don't come in enough after jabs to get additional strikes when opportunities arise.

Can anyone suggest anything else?

Thanks :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA6MHOrCMOQ

**EDIT** There is a minor interruption near the beginning but it is very brief.

A few things I picked up:

You seem to be sparring scared. You attack nervously and clumsily and you don't seem to want to commit to anything. You also seem to pull your head back whenever you throw a punch, killing your range and leaving your head wide open. Try to relax more, pace yourself and focus more on being smooth and technical.

Another thing is that you lead with your head a lot. Your head seems to be directly over your lead leg way too much. This really makes it a lot easier for people to both hit you in the face and legs. You don't have as much time to react to things, your ability to check kicks is stifled, and your weight being so far forward makes your movement more awkward.

Your feet are all over the place. You want to really try and maintain more of a balanced stance 100% of the time so you can launch things easily at any time. Since you bring your feet together or are losing that balanced, sturdy stance, you end up stumbling around when you attack or get attacked.

You're movement is without purpose. Don't just circle for the sake of circling. Always be trying to put yourself in an advantageous position, coming forward, and being in a position where you can attack while minimizing their ability to attack you (i.e., outside their lead hand).

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 8/19/2008 3:34pm

Oh and DARKSON and Whiteshark, please forgive me for posting without reading your responses first :(

**DARKSON** · Posted On: 8/20/2008 9:11pm

No prob Kid :) Hows training been going?

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 8/20/2008 9:41pm

Originally Posted by DARKSON

No prob Kid :) Hows training been going?

Great! I actually hadn't done any consistent training (and mostly no training at all) since my last fight back in August of last year. Just got back to it as of about 3 1/2 weeks ago and have been getting in all the training I can. Been training with 3 different classes lately and been pretty successfully knocking off all the rust and improving my cardio again.

I trust things have been going well with you. Any more fights coming up? There's a pro tournament Pete Peterson is putting on in November me and Kat are going to (doing amateur undercards), you should check it out if you're not doing anything =P

**DARKSON** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 7:25am

I've been focusing on the MMA thing lately but I plan to do some pro Muay Thai in the future. I'm not sure when though. You and Kat should be fighting pro. You two definitely have the talent to compete on the pro level. Might as well get some return on investment.

**Sang** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 10:28am

Aye but women's fighting is a bit different, not enough people to fight in the pros and once you take one you are stuck there. The system sucks.

**DARKSON** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 3:36pm

I can see how that would be a problem. I don't know exactly what the talent pool is like but we seem to have a few pro women here in the South East USA.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 10:30pm

Originally Posted by DARKSON

I've been focusing on the MMA thing lately but I plan to do some pro Muay Thai in the future. I'm not sure when though. You and Kat should be fighting pro. You two definitely have the talent to compete on the pro level. Might as well get some return on investment.

Well you're missing out on getting to hang out with us :P

I've been thinking about eventually going pro, possibly in a year or so. I just want to have a good win streak going and have beaten some strong opponents in the amateurs. My plan right now is to win all the big tournaments I can make it to next year, fight at least 2 girls with 10+ wins on their record, and then maybe do some pro fights.

It's true that there aren't very many female pro kickboxers in the US, so that's been a pretty big consideration. Though at my current weight of ~115lbs if I were willing to travel around the world to fight I would have a decent international pool of fighters I think. Here in the US 135lbs seems to be the prime weight for women.

Fighting internationally is a pretty big step from what I'm doing now though so we'll see how I'm doing a year from now. Fighting across the world does sound pretty cool though :)