I just suck in fighting... how do you really improve in fight sports?

[shincheckin]

So it is a mental thing then?

more than half of fighting is mental. in the "street" people will never take a fight when they dont have a advantage.

 

[Ilk]

more than half of fighting is mental. in the "street" people will never take a fight when they dont have a advantage.

Hmm... havent though about it in this perspective.
I have been thinking about something the coach said once "you need to get your game going". What is my is hard to explain it to myself. But now looking for the perspective that people fight on street only when they have the advantage, makes me think that this is very important - to get your game going in order to win, be it spars or fights or any kind of competition. Basically putting your frame of how the fight will go and dictating it to that place.

 

[ironkhan57]

Hmm... havent though about it in this perspective.
I have been thinking about something the coach said once "you need to get your game going". What is my is hard to explain it to myself. But now looking for the perspective that people fight on street only when they have the advantage, makes me think that this is very important - to get your game going in order to win, be it spars or fights or any kind of competition. Basically putting your frame of how the fight will go and dictating it to that place.

Oh I think I just found out your problem, when your sparring, do you have a good gameplan? Do you think of a good gameplan in sparring before you spar? Or do you just go in their to do whatever comes to mind?

 

[babycart]

See now this is a hard thing to do. My spar partners are ...
SP jabing him looks pointless as he just hooks around it. I do the same to be honest. It is not that we fear jabbing each other but there is a respect and fear of the hook counter. So it is hard to establish a jab.

The other guys are bigger and taller. Especially one of the guys is like 20 cm higher. How the heck do you establish a jab?

One of.the guys is good in slipping in to counter jab against my jab. But I have.figured out a way to step to my left and jab in order.to nulify his preferred.

I am mostly able to pressure most of.these guys, but my SP guy due to pure will. They are afraid because I am not afraid to take punishment when advancing. And heck I take some good shots often. Way too often for my liking in order to corner them and do some damage. I am quite decent actually in cutting the.ring and getting people on their backfoot, however I take lots of damage to get there.

Lastly I am unhappy about my counters and exchanges when put on defence. Like I suck at punishing people for mistakes and attacks.

So two major problems - entries and counters. I figured I can work on my entries to make them safer by drilling the whole package and not just the single and combo punches but I have no guidance in that...

Take 1-2-slip out-2 for example. It does not work for me. If they counter with a jab okay. But if they counter with 1-2 I land on their cross. So I stopped using it... and lots of fucking questions ...

Have you tried the safety lead?

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/10...rges-st-pierre-the-jab-judo-chop-mma-analysis

Your 1-2 combo, try 'closing the door' with a lead hook, so that it goes jab-straight-lead hook. When you lead hook, your weight shifts to your rear leg, enabling you to retreat. Sometimes hold the position of the ending of the lead hook so that if he comes in too close he's gonna get spiked on your elbow. At that point you are bladed/sideways in relation to the other guy, with your weight on your rear leg, use your front leg (that is unweighted) to step to your "back" (remember: you're bladed, that is facing sideways to your opponent. if you are orthodox stepping "back" is stepping to the left) then pivot to face the guy. That's the angled exit.

At the very least have 2 combos that start the same but end differently. Keep the other guy guessing.

Drill your penetrating step/explosive power. It helps when you want to stick a jab from long range and helps also with leg reaping takedowns (single or double).

Work out your guard with your coach. Learn to make it give more defensive coverage. The lesser you get directly hit when you move, the better. Mike Tyson said "everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face." Plan out your training to give you a good chance of not getting hit in the face so that you can carry out your own gameplan.

 

[babycart]

more than half of fighting is mental. in the "street" people will never take a fight when they dont have a advantage.

QFT.

Most criminals do so. Something most RBSD teachers never address and train students for.

 

[shincheckin]

QFT.

Most criminals do so. Something most RBSD teachers never address and train students for.

I dont know what qft and rbsd mean? I would say you are right that most criminals do though. Thats because if we take a look at human nature, the criminal/gang lifestyle, is much like warrior tribe lifestyle, its human nature, its humans behaving the way humans do outside of modern day domesticated society and how things were back in the day with no rules/laws. Take some of the native american tribes for example, young men had the ambition to grow up to be strong warriors. The more men you killed and scalps you took the "better" you were. Take a look at the viking lifestyle, the mongols lifestyle, samurai, maori, so on and so forth. I lived the criminal lifestyle as a youth up into my early 20's.

 

[Woldog]

I've been training since I was 12, I'm 27 and I'm still shit.

 

[ironkhan57]

I dont know what qft and rbsd mean? I would say you are right that most criminals do though. Thats because if we take a look at human nature, the criminal/gang lifestyle, is much like warrior tribe lifestyle, its human nature, its humans behaving the way humans do outside of modern day domesticated society and how things were back in the day with no rules/laws. Take some of the native american tribes for example, young men had the ambition to grow up to be strong warriors. The more men you killed and scalps you took the "better" you were. Take a look at the viking lifestyle, the mongols lifestyle, samurai, maori, so on and so forth. I lived the criminal lifestyle as a youth up into my early 20's.

Damn shin you a G.

 

[shincheckin]

Damn shin you a G.

it starts out like that, it ends being addicted to drugs, usually meth, dead, in prison, or homeless. I can honestly say at 14 I did not think I would be alive by 20. Anyways your from NJ so Im sure you see it around. Most the guys in jail/prison are there for drugs and are on drugs, they are felons so they cant get jobs when they get out so the only thing they can do is sell drugs. And when you sell drugs, if you want to rob someone for his drugs you can because he cant run to the cops and say he stole my drugs. Its a dog eat dog lifestyle, no one wins, everyone dies.

 

[ironkhan57]

it starts out like that, it ends being addicted to drugs, usually meth, dead, in prison, or homeless. I can honestly say at 14 I did not think I would be alive by 20. Anyways your from NJ so Im sure you see it around. Most the guys in jail/prison are there for drugs and are on drugs, they are felons so they cant get jobs when they get out so the only thing they can do is sell drugs. And when you sell drugs, if you want to rob someone for his drugs you can because he cant run to the cops and say he stole my drugs. Its a dog eat dog lifestyle, no one wins, everyone dies.

Yeah, a lot of them still get jobs, but I definitely don't want to be no gangster, some of them still get jobs after because they know one guy who can get them that job and they voucher for them or they just lie on their application. In new jersey they have a strict self defense law, which I really hate, its if you punch someone once you have the right to punch them once, if you knock them out then you go to jail, if you somehow kill them then you get prison time. And the gun laws are strict, the bow and arrow laws. Basically I hate new jersey because of that shit, I wanted to move to philly but really, who am i going to hang with in philly and i have so many friends In new jersey that would miss me and the drive from philly to north jersey is like 3 or 4 hours I forgot. But God forbid if I ever resort to the life of a gangster, I don't die or anything, right now my aspirations is to become a cop or just go into the military for a while and get a degree, and I figured next year once the law enforcement exam comes out I can take it and just become a CO, for the time being. I still want to be a fighter but shit is hard. I bet you understand shin. You know what the life of a g is like lol.

 

[j123]

Yeah, a lot of them still get jobs, but I definitely don't want to be no gangster, some of them still get jobs after because they know one guy who can get them that job and they voucher for them or they just lie on their application. In new jersey they have a strict self defense law, which I really hate, its if you punch someone once you have the right to punch them once, if you knock them out then you go to jail, if you somehow kill them then you get prison time. And the gun laws are strict, the bow and arrow laws. Basically I hate new jersey because of that shit, I wanted to move to philly but really, who am i going to hang with in philly and i have so many friends In new jersey that would miss me and the drive from philly to north jersey is like 3 or 4 hours I forgot. But God forbid if I ever resort to the life of a gangster, I don't die or anything, right now my aspirations is to become a cop or just go into the military for a while and get a degree, and I figured next year once the law enforcement exam comes out I can take it and just become a CO, for the time being. I still want to be a fighter but shit is hard. I bet you understand shin. You know what the life of a g is like lol.

 

[ironkhan57]

You got to be careful where you punch people too even in the hood. Their are a bunch of people that are civilized in the hood that they call the cops on people who punch them. And most of the time their boys will back them up on that. I'm sure shin understands he was an OG

 

[babycart]

I dont know what qft and rbsd mean?

QFT = Quoted For Truth
RBSD = Reality-Based Self-Defense

 

[Ilk]

Oh I think I just found out your problem, when your sparring, do you have a good gameplan? Do you think of a good gameplan in sparring before you spar? Or do you just go in their to do whatever comes to mind?

Well my game plan is according to my opponent.

Again examples
My SP friend
- pin down jab,
-use left hook as an oppener
- counter with left hook as much as possible - try to make it a 3-2 at least not just left hooks
- body straight or hook when ever it is possible
- use lots of bobs and weaving as he goes head chasing with his left hand more often

My giant friend
- pressure and pressure and keep pressure, because the only time I am able to do damage to him is during pressure and in in fighting or mid range
- try to fake range with lead hand, or try not to get touched at all from his lead hand (he likes to probe the distance)
- lots of body jabs
- lots of body shots
- lots of slips, bobying and weaving

My weakeness against these guys is mainly that I expose my left side a lot and I eat goot right hand uppercuts and body hooks or straights to the body. Trying to stay less bladed for that but my weaving and slips suck ass.

The other guy
- he is good at countering my jab by slipping inside and jabbing or hooking, so I just double or tripple jab going to the left
- he has good offence but poor defence, so I try to be as active as possible and corner him, keeping him on the backfoot
- I struggle the most against him when we are on long range and if I do not initiate an attack before him, so I try to move a lot and find the proper position for initiating
- by the end of the round I get super exosted against him, as I have to be 2-3 times more active in order to get the round

 

[ironkhan57]

Well my game plan is according to my opponent.

Again examples
My SP friend
- pin down jab,
-use left hook as an oppener
- counter with left hook as much as possible - try to make it a 3-2 at least not just left hooks
- body straight or hook when ever it is possible
- use lots of bobs and weaving as he goes head chasing with his left hand more often

My giant friend
- pressure and pressure and keep pressure, because the only time I am able to do damage to him is during pressure and in in fighting or mid range
- try to fake range with lead hand, or try not to get touched at all from his lead hand (he likes to probe the distance)
- lots of body jabs
- lots of body shots
- lots of slips, bobying and weaving

My weakeness against these guys is mainly that I expose my left side a lot and I eat goot right hand uppercuts and body hooks or straights to the body. Trying to stay less bladed for that but my weaving and slips suck ass.

The other guy
- he is good at countering my jab by slipping inside and jabbing or hooking, so I just double or tripple jab going to the left
- he has good offence but poor defence, so I try to be as active as possible and corner him, keeping him on the backfoot
- I struggle the most against him when we are on long range and if I do not initiate an attack before him, so I try to move a lot and find the proper position for initiating
- by the end of the round I get super exosted against him, as I have to be 2-3 times more active in order to get the round

Try thinking of a better gameplan like, keep him at punching range, or stay out of punching range and have him come at you, or use your jab a lot to set up other punches. Gameplans like that. What your doing is trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results (and no I'm not calling you insane). You need to think a little more strategic before the spar, so whenever you spar your friends in the gym, before you spar with them think of what you learnt from sparring with them last time and got beaten up from, and think what you should do better.

Are you going to use a technical jab this time (move around your sparring partner jabbing them), are you going to stay in the pocket or in punching range, are you going to stay out of punching range, or are you going to pressure them? These are the strategies that you should think of.

 

[CapChino]

Perhaps an odd question.. What does winning (or losing) in sparring mean? Isn't it suppose to be a way for both the fighters to get better? Sparring is not a match, right?

 

[ironkhan57]

Perhaps an odd question.. What does winning (or losing) in sparring mean? Isn't it suppose to be a way for both the fighters to get better? Sparring is not a match, right?

Yes it isn't a match, but you can make it a real fight sometimes especially when your training for a fight, and your doing shark tank sparring (some instructors tell you to finish each person in each round, some just tell you to survive.)

 

[CapChino]

Could weight class be an issue?
Question beneath that, if somebody is on the top end of their weight class, is it then better to gain some pounds and move up? Or are you better of if a weight class starts at 82kg, to be 82kg instead? Or if this class ends at 92kg, to be 91kg?

 

[j123]

Perhaps an odd question.. What does winning (or losing) in sparring mean? Isn't it suppose to be a way for both the fighters to get better? Sparring is not a match, right?

Thats what it should be, but the idea of it being practice is lost to some.

Maybe once every now and then it should be focused on "winning", but most the time its to test new material you've drilled all week or more.

 

[Kyryllo]

Honnestly - play other sports against other people and really try to do better than them. Teach your body and brain to physically solve problems under pressure. Set a goal, evaluate your performance and try to improve within a single session. Try to improve your vision and predict the movement of your opponents. All these things are required to get better at fighting as well, but pressure of simultaneous attack and defence of fighting is often too overwhelming for beginners. It really does help to develop the mental capacity for fighting when consciously playing other light contact sports, like soccer or basketball. Dead serious here.