On sparring....

I would like to take a little bit of time in this next post to talk about sparring and its relevance to martial arts training, especially BJJ. In a number of TMAs (traditional martial arts), there are techniques which are flashy, impressive and ultimately.....useless. Unfortunately Taekwondo is an art which is often brought up in this context. Whilst these techniques look amazing, when it comes down to an actual fight situation they may be more likely to put you in trouble, rather than get you out of it.

So-called 'Modern Martial Arts' (boxing, kickboxing/Muay Thai and BJJ) rarely suffer from this problem due to the high frequency of sparring. Students are encouraged to get in the ring or on the mats and to test the techniques they learn. With my still limited amount of BJJ training, I can't emphasize enough how this is helping me to shape my game.

One of the most basic closed guard passes I have been shown involves moving on your knees, twisting your hips and forcing your opponent to let go. It is a nice, simple guard pass with one problem. I have never been able to achieve it in rolling (BJJ sparring, check the glossary!). No matter how I swivel, how I move my knees, I remain firmly wedged between my opponent's legs. It is frustrating and a source of amusement to me - I used to consider in someone's guard to be basically the end of my roll - I was just waiting to be tapped.

Now, without regular sparring, I would never have known this, I would never have realised that this doesn't work for me and that I would be forced to look for other guard passes (I have had some success with a standing guard pass). I have to stress though, that the first pass works very well for most others, something that again they have proved to themselves through regular sparring. It's a very simple secret, sparring works. It allows you to test your techniques, find out if they work for you and even start working on new techniques that don't work for you yet, as well as try out dumb stuff that would get you killed in a live environment - what's the worst that can happen? At some point, I will definitely work on the kneeling guard pass again, as (once again) constant rolling has proved to me that I need a backup plan.

Sparring is particularly effective and useful in BJJ. Recently, I put some ideas on this in a post on Facebook and I hope that you won't mind if I reiterate a few of them here. Muay Thai and boxing also place a large emphasis on sparring, but due to the aggressive and concussive nature of the sports it is hard to spar 'hard' regularly, which means that to an extent some of the constant growth that comes with intensive sparring is lost. Any boxer will tell you that constantly going hard day after day takes its toll. It is also unusual (outside of Chute Boxe!) to see many people sparring at 100%, due to the high risk of injuries and loss of training time that can come with kayos and other boxing-related injuries. Sparring in striking arts can also be intimidating to beginners - I spend a long time gun-shy after getting my jaw almost broken in my first sparring session (it still clicks to this day!)

My experience with BJJ has been a lot gentler, even after sparring harder and more consistently than I ever did in boxing. BJJ is, I believe, one of the few arts where one can actually spar at close to 100% and do so day in and day out with comparatively little risk. Whilst accidents can, and do, happen, there is a lot less risk in being caught in an armbar from a training partner than there is in being caught with a right hook on the button. As long as you tap in time and your partner lets go, you should be ready to touch hands and get back into it as long as your cardio holds out.

I think this also holds true with partners who are trying to smash you. Whilst one of our gymmates found himself on the wrong end of an illegal move and was definitely the worse for wear, I think he would probably have found things a lot tougher if he'd been sparring boxing or MMA with someone going full out. The safety inherent in BJJ is something that I feel he can be very happy about.

Sparring is good for martial arts and really helps you develop a style and a feel for what works for you and what doesn't. In a martial art as complicated as BJJ it is crucial and something I look forward to during each and every class. I feel safe, pushed, frustrated and elated, often within moments of each other. So, when a higher belt asks you if you want to roll - get stuck in. You're in safe hands and, if you don't do it, you risk limiting your progress in the sport.

Pair up, on your knees, touch hands, let's roll!!!