What to do if you are sparring and get hit:

Sometimes when you spar you will get hit, you’ve let your defence down, your partner has found a way in. A few tips:

1. Breathe! Exhale, the sshh noise that fighters make isn’t for show, it serves a purpose, and a VERY important one. It allows you to do several things, 1) it makes sure you breathe, which will keep you from tiring out faster 2) if you get hit you wont get winded. If you are holding your breath in and you get hit you will get winded 3) by engaging the transverse abdomini it allows you to punch harder – a useful trait in fighting. Don’t skip on good breathing, as humans, oxygen is useful as fuck, don’t be shy, be loud!! If anything breathing correctly will not only make you a better fighter, but you will sound like a fighter too.

2) Put your hands up, circle out and SURVIVE! Whatever you do don’t stop! Treat each round like a fight, you need to be able to fight if you are winded, if you wind your partner in class whatever you do dont stop hitting them! You aren’t being kind, you will train them that stopping is acceptable. Reign the power in but keep tagging them so that they learn to fight through it. Also, see note 1 – if you get winded you need to breathe correctly. Exhale loudly ALL THE TIME, I even exhale (and recommend) exhaling when my partner hits the pad I am holding. Exhale when you shadow box, some people will exhale more when they are walking than when they are fighting, remember dude you need that oxygen to do literally everything so don’t be shy…breathe!!

3) Don’t let it show! You have to learn to hide your feelings, maybe you have a really well meaning partner who will stop if you get winded, but in a real world situation, if I’m fighting someone and they look tired, they look hurt, then I’m going to attack harder, no one on the street will step back and give you time to recover, you need to learn how to do this IN TRAINING. I’ve had fights where I’ve broke my foot, thought I snapped my shin once, it was the hardest kick I’d ever took, BUT I didnt let it show, I didn’t stop and I didnt tell my partner until after sparring had stopped.

4) Clinch! Just took a good uppercut and legs feel wobbly? Clinch and recover! Don’t ask for a rest, remember most rounds at the club are ONLY 3 minutes, so you don’t have long to go, last it out.

5) You can always ask your partner to go lighter, but remember this works both ways, dont ask them to go light and then launch a fucking tornado heel kick at their nose.

6) If you are sparring someone who is new, remember that to them a light punch feels like a heavy punch. So when I spar with new guys I will often get them going harder whilst I go light. Exercise control!!

7) Against a good fighter, stick with what you know, play it safe. Against a beginner fighter, use the opportunity to practice new moves, work on your defence. Also, give them tips! Stay humble, they might be better than you in 2 years and you could be asking them for help.

8) Train with as many partners as possible – the only time partner swapping is socially acceptable (lol). If you found someone a hard fight, I would try and train with them a lot. I like to train with all body sizes and shapes but if I know someone can kick my ass then personally I’d be pestering them to train with me all the time. Growth comes from outside your comfort zone.

9) Accept you are going to get hit! You are boxing, it will happen! You need to condition your body…your legs… to taking shots. “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” – Mike Tyson

10) Top Training Secret – TRAIN MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE 😀 . It’s not about how long you’ve been training, its how much time you have trained in that period. Two fighters been training for 5 years, fighter A trains 3x a month. Fighter B trains 6 days a week. Fighter A wonders why fighter B is better than him even though they’ve been training the same time. Want to improve? Put more time in. Our system is already stripped down to the basics, you will be pushed to find something that equips you as fast as Krav Maga. But you still need to put the hours in. Train more, find a spare hour on a sunday, if you can’t then get up an hour earlier. Make time.

Train hard, fight easy.