I would say to hit as hard as you can (or at least to the person with the lowest skill level). Since both sparring partners are wearing protective gear, and should be of equal capacity, they would maximize benefits by full-contact, full-speed sparring.
The problem I see with this is the potentiality of injury increases.
Gonzo thank you for at least posting. There is no wrong answer. I hope others share there opinions on this subject. I have my view on this, and will post it at a later time.
Key word here: How hard should you hit when sparring?
Sifu, during the practice point sparring, I got hit a couple or 5 times and I really felt it. It kinda hurt, but it didn’t keep me from going on…and today, I can feel a couple of bruises where I remember getting hit.
Sooo….I say in sparring, hit hard enough for your opponent to really feel it. So they know what it feels like to get hit and remember what it feels like for a couple of days.
In the sparring class, I think maybe the same…about as hard as it takes to make your partner really feel that they’ve been hit.
Just gonna throw this out there with no experience/knowledge whatsover:
You should hit with enough power that your mechanics, timing, etc, are at “fighting speed,” but you should avoid hitting as hard as you can for the reason Gonzo gave, ie, injuries.
As for whether low-skill fighters/newbies like myself, should go full bore, I’d suggest otherwise in that newbies likely don’t know their own strength (or weaknesses) yet and might be a bit like young rattlesnakes and tend to strike too hard with at least two possible outcomes: injuring oneself or pissing off the better fighter and getting beat down. Thus, beginners ought to start slow and with the guidance of an experienced partner/trainer.
As Dirty Harry says, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
First time posting here so let’s see if I do this right…
Thinking from the bit of sparring that I have done, there is a need to vary the amount of both speed and strength. I also think that it all depends on the experience level of your partner. An experienced individual going all out against someone less experienced does little to help themselves and most always is discouraging to the newer guy. That said, you can always up the speed while maintaining control of the strength behind your strikes…which is good even for individuals just beginning to spar.
A little while back, there was a string very similar to this one on the KMW forum…one comment was that they tend to go a little harder if their sparring partner starts to do so as well. In other words, nobody likes to take a hard hit when they are purposefully holding back while training. I too find myself hitting harder if I get hit hard.
In most cases, the more experienced individual should be able to sense the level their partner is at and curtail their intensity to his/her level or at least resist from going too hard as to not allow their sparring partner to benefit from the training session.
I have not been able to get over to Brand X for their sparring classes, but am thinking I would like to try it out one day…I think it would do me some good…we’ll see.
One thing I recall from kenpo class is the sifus saying that if you feel like you’re hitting as hard as you can while sparring then you’re probably hitting too hard.
I’m not in one of the classes (in a perfect world….), but I figure the point of sparring is practice, right? So I’d probably hit hard enough to get the hang of the punch, but not so hard that I can’t keep sparring. I’m guessing that would be with about half the mustard I’d use in a defending-yourself-or-loved-ones-in-real-life fight.
To my way of thinking, the experience level of your sparring partner has little bearing on how hard you hit, unless the relationship is teacher and student rather than more evenly matched.
There are some great opinions here. I may have to re-assess my initial entry.
So, how hard should you hit when sparring?
When striking the head, with an kick or punch it should be kept light.
Medium strength strikes to the body.
HARD leg strikes.
Great opinions guys. All great assessments of sparring and the power to use.
Haru you hit it right on the nose, as far as my thinking. The experience level of your partner will dictate, also not to discourage new sparring partners. Nobody wants to get hurt, but the whole idea being sparring is to get hit. (not hard) You have to know that if you get hit in the street you can react appropriately.
Yes a more experienced fighter will usually control the tempo, if the partner starts to throw heavy hits, then you throw heavy hits back to say: hey! back off!
The problem is when both partners are fairly equal in experience, young ego’s, etc…... then the Instructors jump in.
Depending the gear when sparring. Sometimes we will spar (no gear) empty hands. Now the control and contact factor comes into play. Then we gear up, so alittle more contact is taken and given, I like given. You still don’t want to do an all out thigh kick and blow out someone’s knee. NO MORE TRAINING PARTNER.
Keep the thoughts coming, this is the feedback I wanted.
Personally I try to go at a medium power level (maybe tone it down for beginners), but it’s hard to realize just how hard you’re hitting when in a sparring match. I can’t count the number of times someone has told how hard I hit and I don’t even realize it most of the time.
Hit as hard as you can while still attending to the fundamentals of sparring. Mainly keeping your guard up and controlling the fight. Every time I have seen someone start wailing away while sparring, their fundamentals go right down the drain. Unless they are very well trained and disciplined, they open themselves and drop their guard, putting everything they have behind the punch. If their opponent guards well and waits for the right moment, they can get laid out or get seriously hurt.
Sparring is a learning experience. To learn you have to leave your ego at the door. When you don’t you walk away frustrated and you miss the chance to learn something.
Sifu: This is an old thread come to life. I think it is like anything else, ask your partner. One observation is that if you are in a mixed group and you are rotating partners you don’t know how many times your partner has been hit and where by the time they show up for your round. Cumulative strikes of lesser power can have more trauma to the brain then fewer heavy hits. The instructors can’t be everywhere to keep track of every student. Better to fail on the side of going lighter. The more you relax, the more your punches will have a whipping effect and the more power you will land. Force is equal to mass times acceleration, and so for those that can establish speed, the blow will be much greater then someone that has strength and no speed. It is hard then to tell how hard the partner is taking the blows. I have spared with some huge guys and they felt like they were pushing me instead of hitting. Then my son Kevin who is so dang fast… hits me once with a hook in full protection gear and I couldn’t get my jaw to shut for over two weeks, yet at the time he weighed less than a hundred pounds.
If you can stay loose in a real situation you can develop some devastating blows. But in reality, most of us tighten up and shorten our movements when the real deal presents itself. The combination of these two takes away a lot of power. So why would you practice hitting harder than what you would actually achieve in the street? I grew up across the street from a retired prof. boxer. The guy was not all right up stairs. I vote for control, and reducing risk while you try to get the most out of the experience. And, just have fun.
I like the style of training at Brand X, because I believe it is true you do in real life / the ring, as you do in training. So with that in mind I would say as hard and as intense as possible without injury to yourself or partner. I like around 70% power because you still feel it, that way when you get in the ring or into an encounter on the street its not so much of a shock when you get hit. I think it also allows you to throw your punches and kicks more effectively and how you would in an actual fight, rather than getting used to holding back and possibly being less effective when doing it for real. I believe it can be argued the other way for beginners however, where you can focus more on your fighting skills rather than just worrying about getting hit or not getting hit. I say 70% though for intermediate and up, I think anything over that has potential for injury for either party. But that is all opinion, I am certainly no expert.
