Muay Thai: How To Get Better At Sparring
Sparring is the key element of Muay Thai training and the one that elevates your game to a higher level. Students can’t expect to develop timing, reactions, feeling for distance, and many other skills without sparring at least once a week.
But what if things do not go as planned, and you feel stuck without being able to improve? What are the things you can do to get better at sparring?
In this article, we will bring you a list of Muay Thai sparring tips. If you include some of these tips from the list below, you can expect to get better at sparring in a very short time span.
Check your ego before sparring
Sparring is not a match where you must win or give 100% each and every time. No, it is just one aspect of training and a part of the learning process, the same as a heavy bag workout or shadow boxing for instance. Instead of trying to win, try to keep your ego and emotions low, and focus on learning.
Beginners tend to have quite a problem with this as, in the end, no one likes to get beat up all the time. They often spar against more experienced students who know how to control the power and techniques to keep it all light and safe. So don’t expect that you can beat these guys, or feel bad because they are superior.
Bear in mind that this is normal for beginners, and we have all been there. Even if you have more experience, don’t feel upset if the opponent dropped you with a body shot, or you had a hard time landing a strike. These are all lessons that show you the holes in your game, and areas in which you need to improve.
Becoming aware of your weaknesses is the starting point in getting better at sparring. And to have this ability, you have to keep your ego low, do not look at sparring as a match, and focus on learning.
Change sparring partners
In order to improve at sparring, be sure to often change your sparring partners. Finding the right partner gives you a sense of comfort and security in some way. You know that this person won’t hurt you and that their skill level matches yours. But this is bad in the long run and here is why.
Sparring against the same person will limit your progress and you won’t learn much. As soon as you start sparring with other people, you will see that you wasted your time.
We all learn how to fight according to our advantages and how to use physical attributes. Some students spar from the southpaw, some from the orthodox, some have long arms, high reach, or are small, fast, and explosive. You have to feel this on your own skin to be able to develop timing, reactions, and feeling for distance.
If you go to an amateur tournament, you might find yourself fighting multiple times a day, against totally unknown opponents. Sparring against the same people won’t help you much in that. To become good at Muay Thai, you must know how to deal with all types of styles. This also means that you are going to get beat up a lot until you get it right.
Keep your mind calm and breathe
Sparring is fun for people who do it all the time, but it could be stressful for the ones who are just starting out. Once the fists start flying, it is so easy to fall into fight or flight mode because our minds forget that we are in a safe environment. As soon as that happens, most beginners forget to breathe, which is normal. You are fighting for your life for God’s sake.
Jokes aside, the first thing you need to learn in sparring is how to keep your mind calm, and to breathe all the time. If you get carried away, you will last just a few minutes in the best case scenario before you gas out. There is no exact procedure on how you should breathe or learn how to breathe in sparring or a match. It’s natural and you should breathe while moving, striking, or defending.
If you tend to get nervous before sparring, try to relax. Once you let the tension go and start to breathe, you will have a much easier time. This also improves your awareness and allows you to focus on your opponent. You can’t expect to read the opponent and find holes in their game with a blurred mind.
Ask for a feedback
If you have a hard time getting better at sparring, don’t be shy, feel free to ask the coaches or other students to give you honest feedback. If you truly want to get better, you won’t mind their opinion, even though it might not be what your ears want to hear. But on the flip side, it’s the coach’s job to spot the weaknesses in your game and help you improve in those areas.
After a hard sparring session against the more experienced student, feel free to ask them how you can improve. In the end, they are in the best seat to see what are you doing wrong and give some valuable advice. Don’t be shy, the coaches and pro fighters you meet in the gym have all been in your shoes at some point in their careers. Coaches, in particular, are more than happy to see a new student willing to learn and improve.
Shadowboxing
For some reason, many students tent to skip shadowboxing for some reason. But this exercise has many benefits, notably for beginners. For instance, most beginners have a hard time learning how to move around and find a comfortable stance. This is where shadowboxing comes into play because it allows you to experiment a lot and making changes in your stance.
Eyes on the opponent and hands up
Many students tend to look away, flinch or close their eyes in sparring. Looking away or closing your eyes is bad because you may not see a punch or kick coming, and those are the ones that hurt the most or knock you out.
You should always watch the opponent in the chest or head. And try to always keep your eyes open, even when you are absorbing a strike. For instance, beginners tend to look down when they receive a leg kick. This means that they can’t see a follow-up right hook that’s coming straight at them.
Always keep your eyes open and on to your opponent. You must see the strike coming in order to block it, dodge/slip, or move away.
Throw combinations
Muay Thai is an art of eight limbs where the emphasis is on mixing kicks, punches, knees, and elbows at all ranges. Or in other words, be sure to always throw combinations instead of a single strike. Throwing one strike at a time is predictable, and it allows the opponent to counter your attacks more efficiently.
Before each round of sparring, remind yourself to throw more than one strike. Try to apply the same combos you drilled on the heavy bag during the first two months of your training. Those usually include two or more punches, and you finish each combo with a leg kick. Or you can do it the other way around. It really doesn’t matter as long as you are throwing with proper technique.
This is crucial for beginners because you don’t want to develop bad habits and tendencies. If you continue to throw one punch at a time, it would be very hard for you to correct this in the future.
Focus on specific techniques or areas
This may sound like the total opposite of throwing combinations but stay with us on this one. Some people may struggle with a certain aspect of Muay Thai or a specific technique. One student may have a hard time moving around, the other just can’t land a one-two, or the third may struggle with the counters. Sparring is a great way you can correct all these issues.
For instance, you can dedicate one round of sparring to work on your footwork and head movement. You can even tell this to your opponent who will then put even more pressure on you. Or you may focus on landing the one-two combo, and once you do, follow it with some other strikes. This way you can develop better timing, reactions, and get more comfortable.
Touch Gloves and have fun
At the end of the day, the most important thing in sparring is to learn, grow as a martial artist, and have a lot of fun. Some sparring sessions, notably the hard ones, will give you such a big rush of adrenalin and dopamine that will keep you up at night for days.
Don’t take sparring too seriously like it is a match, that’s what pro fighters do. Give your best to apply techniques you drilled on the heavy bag, which is the main goal. Learn how to deal with fears, emotions, and being hit in the face, which may help you on the streets one day.
Once you get comfortable, start playing with your timing, reactions, counters, and many other things that come with advanced Muay Thai training. Who knows, you might end up competing in amateur matches, or later on in the stadiums. As long as that makes you happy, go for it!
