 Oh, so a year ago, we did an episode called 5 Things to Know About Sparring. Sorry. No, I was just saying that a year ago, we released an episode called 5 Things to Know About Sparring. And in that episode, we highlighted some very important considerations with sparring so that you can get the most out of it. But in the course of us producing this channel and in research, I have found that there are a lot of schools that don't offer sparring, or they place restrictive limitations on it. And many people have said to me that they weren't interested, or it wasn't a big deal. They just wanted to learn the art. So this begs the question, why did we spar to begin with? So today, strap on some gloves because we're going to talk about the importance of sparring. Okay, so why do we spar? What's the point of it? Well, the bottom line, dirty honest truth is to learn how to fight. Whether you're interested in self-defense or competition, you need a significant amount of literally hands-on training and practice to become good at it. And nothing helps you practice your art better than going up against someone who's determined to practice theirs. Now, I'll also preface this by saying that this also greatly depends on what art you're training in. Some arts are more combat and fighting-oriented, others not so much. If you're training in MMA or a competitive school, you'll be sparring a lot. But if you're studying in older traditional arts such as Tai Chi, Bu Jinkan, and some weapons arts, there might not be as much emphasis on it. And that's okay because not everyone trains to be a fighter. Now, I know I say this all the darn time, but it's true and it's a matter of matching your goals. But I will say this, if you are at a school that teaches boxing, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, combat karate, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, or any grappling art for that matter and they don't let you spar, then find another school period. If you're attending the school that doesn't spar and they say the reason is the techniques are too doubly to practice with, find another school. If the kick-out spectators enclose the doors and blinds and say it's time for secret training, leave the school and run fast and far. So, why spar? Well, if you're training to learn how to fight and defend yourself, then the only way you're going to do that effectively is to actually fight and defend yourself. So, better to do it in a controlled environment rather than experience it for the first time out in the real world. So, let's run through some highlighted reasons on the importance of sparring. First, you can practice your technique. This is where you can take everything you've learned, every idea, concept and scenario you think you're prepared for and put it to the test. Now, this should actually be an exciting and rewarding part of your training. This is your sandbox. Take the tools you've learned and play, experiment. Find out what works and what doesn't and after a while, you're going to start to define your own technique and strategy. And, when that strategy fails, you learn what you did wrong and you make some adjustments and you try again. Also, it puts you in the mindset to defend yourself. Now, this one's a big one. Psychology is sometimes one of our worst enemies. You can be physically good at your art, but you have to be mentally prepared to fight. You have to work out your brain as much as your body. You can practice as much as you want, but when you face someone who's ready to hit you, adrenaline, excitement and anticipation can be a powerful thing. I've been there myself. In between my jiu-jitsu dojo, I attend various pimple schools and other schools that hold open sparring. So, I try to keep a variety of training going. In a recent encounter, I worked out with a great young man who had a solid technique and he knew his material, but sparring was something he had done very little of. The goal of this particular drill was to lightly spar and then try to find an opening to pull off some self-defense techniques. When we faced off, his eyes widened and he froze. He knew his techniques, but he wasn't used to sparring with a life partner and with resistance, so he drew a blank and when he did go for a technique, it wasn't with confidence and it was pretty easy to get out of. He told me he wasn't used to sparring. And honestly, that's not a good thing. I know for a fact he has good techniques because we've worked out together in the past, but when the pressure testing was on, it changed the dynamic. The martial arts is the balance of the body and the mind. The body learns the movements and the mind handles the situation. Any type of fighting art, striking, kicking, grappling, absolutely needs regular resistance training, otherwise you're missing a big part of application. Sparring is also the best way you're going to be able to work in effective timing balance, speed, and general fighting strategy. You can beat up on Casper to friendly go all day long, but he's never going to test your rhythm. It also helps you to get used to being hit. Getting hit sucks. Yeah, that's your Kemple guy and we love it. But honestly, seriously, you need to get used to being hit because it's rare to leave a fight unscathed. The surprise of it can throw your game plan off and put you in a state of panic if you're not conditioned for it. So use sparring as an opportunity to keep your cool, not let one hit take your focus off track. My Kemple instructor was really big on this idea. He wanted to take away the wins and apprehension of being hit so that we did a lot of conditioning in our self-defense classes. Sometimes we made some pretty serious contact and he had a phrase that he'd like to say if somewhere to hit him, he would be able to say, really, that's it. I pay to get hit harder than that in class. It's an arrogant statement and I don't suggest actually saying that, but the whole idea behind it is basically taking away that surprise and apprehensiveness and getting the job done even if you've taken some blows. Conversely, it also helps you getting used to hitting back. Working on kicking shields, wave masters, pads is one thing. Striking another person is something else entirely. We're shaped different than the kicking bag. We have bone and muscle and it's a different experience working on a live person. Get used to doing it. Judging distance. This relates back to finding your rhythm, speed, and timing. Being able to judge distance is paramount and if you control it, then you have an advantage. I recently sparred a guy much higher rank and much better fighter than I was and he was reading my timing and technique as we fought. I was doing okay but he made the observation on my distance. He said I was finding good range for my punches and kicks but he stopped and he pointed out that I am of a larger size and there was no reason I couldn't use this to factor into my distance. He suggested that I base my range as a couple of inches closer than I normally would when I execute my techniques because my mass was enough to impose on their personal space and actually created enough disruption that from that point on I was able to land 30% more shots. Such a small adjustment but incredibly effective and that's something you would never, ever, ever get if you weren't doing the hands-on sparring to figure it out. Fine tune your weaknesses. Nothing is more frustrating than sparring that guy that always throws the same kick or punch and it always gets in there. This means you have an opening or weakness that they're taking advantage of. Try to identify it, then correct it and then make them eat that technique the next time they try it. Consistent sparring will also force you to learn improvisation and on-the-spot reaction, sometimes breaking away from muscle memory. No one is going to punch you the same way all the time and no matter how much you practice and train and anticipate something, somewhere, is going to change on you and go wrong. Your ability to detect this change and adapt on the fly can make the difference if you've been an effective fighter or not. You will also develop stamina and endurance if you spar on a regular basis. I cannot think of many workouts that will tire you out quicker than sparring or grappling and if you're not used to it you're likely to get winded or run out of energy quickly and if you get tired before they do, you're going to have a bad time. And speaking of rolling, if you're doing any sort of grappling art sparring or randori, rolling is paramount. These arts are heavily focused on manipulating another person. It's hands-on hands, body against body and there are a ton of nuances that can come into play. You can read a lot in a person just by the way they move, certain muscle inflections or weight shifting can tell you what to anticipate or help you fight an opportunity to counter. Now, I consider myself extremely lucky to have a friend that runs a school and he often tells us with sparring sessions. The rule is simple. We go there, leave the egos outside and we respect everyone and we just work out together. We set our own rules. Sometimes people just want to light warm up. Others want to go full speed and harder but just only stand up. And other times it's everything goes, striking, takedowns, ground fighting, submissions. It's all about finding good people to work with and establish and agree to the rules ahead of time and you both can benefit from it a lot. Especially if you can spar people from different disciplines and everyone fights differently and I promise you that sparring someone in Kempo is a very different experience than fighting someone in Muay Thai or boxing or another art. If you only practice sparring people in the same art and in one day you spar someone from Taekwondo you better believe it's going to be a different experience. I don't care what arts people feel are valid or good but you think it's BS. If you spar someone who's good in their art do not underestimate them and don't get cocky and use this as an opportunity to learn some fighting diversity. Sparring gear is also going to vary from school to school and system to system as well so be aware of the limitations of them. Some schools go bare minimum with just two gloves in the mouthpiece. Others go full head to gear padding. Just understand the difference between them. I personally myself like MMA style gloves. They're lightweight, they're still padded but they also allow grabbing which is good for trapping, takedowns and submissions. If you've ever tried ground fighting those thicker red padded karate gloves or boxing gloves your challenge will be trying to strip those gloves off before the other guy chokes you out. Now in the description below I've listed a few different types of sparring gear so please go check that out if you have the time and are interested in sparring. You can practice in the air all you want. It won't teach you application. There is a great quote by Bruce Lee that says if you want to learn to swim jump in the water on dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you. That's why I cannot stress enough the importance of sparring. It's a huge part of your training if you want a completely rounded education. It should be regular, it should be diverse and it should test you and push you to your limits. You'll be the better martial artist for it. Thank you so much for watching. Please like, share, subscribe and please feel free to share any of your sparring tips and experience.