Why You MUST Spar: It's the Only Way to Truly Learn
Hello there. Let me talk to you about something that’s absolutely vital for your development in martial arts, sports combat, and, of course, for self-defense: sparring.
Now, when I say sparring, I don't mean that you go hell for leather, trying to knock each other out every single time.
Not at all. There are different types of sparring, each with its own purpose, but I have to stress this: sparring is vitally important. Without it, how else do you know that what you're doing is actually going to work?
We can practice all day long - shadowboxing, kata, drills - but if we don’t actually do it against a live, resisting person, we'll never truly know, will we? It's an integral part of everything we do.
I remember many, many years ago, people started talking about this “new phenomenon” that hit the martial arts world called “live training.”
I had to laugh. "Live training"? You mean sparring? It was unbelievable to me that this was a new idea.
Everybody I’ve ever trained with on a regular basis, from students to pro fighters, we've sparred a heck of a lot. Not every single session, of course, but the vast majority of our training sessions involved some form of sparring.
So, knowing that it’s vital, we must put it into our training in a way that's safe, that builds our skills, and most importantly, that builds our confidence and ability to deal with a real situation. Whether that's a sports match, a boxing fight, an MMA bout, or a self-defense situation where you really need to save your own life.
I get asked all the time, "Russell, how do I become a great boxer?"
My answer is always a bit of a trick question. I say, "If you wanted to be the best window cleaner in the world, what would you do?"
Even they know the answer. They say, "Clean windows."
Exactly. You start with a window you can easily reach, get your bucket and squeegee, and get used to it. You gradually build up and up until you can abseil down a 50-story building in a hurricane. You don't jump straight to that, do you?
It's the same with fighting. How do you learn to become a boxer? You box. How do you learn to become a fighter? You fight. How do you learn to swim? You swim.
It really is that simple. But we make it very difficult. We put all kinds of obstacles in the way to avoid sparring, "just in case." I’ve seen so many great names who never spar, but you have to. Ask anybody who's trained with me - we spar, and we spar a lot. And again, it does not mean you go hell for leather and try to hurt each other.
The Principles of Smart Sparring
There are lots of different types of sparring. Let me run through a few of them for you right now.
We start everybody, especially beginners, with light and situational sparring. For example, I might have you, the student, moving around while I, the coach, throw certain things very light, very steady, to help you understand distance and positioning. We gradually build that up.
Then we have pure situational sparring. Let's use boxing as an example. Say you have a very poor defense against a jab, and I have a good jab. In our situational spar, I'd take my jab down a few notches to match your inability to stop it, block it, or evade it.
I’d help you with that until your defense got better. We’re working together to help you improve. And we flip it around, too. If I have a great defense against a poor jab from you, I'll be explaining all the time why I can stop it and how you can improve. This is the heart of sparring - we help each other get better.
You can move on to light contact sparring, just to the shoulders and body, for example. That way, you're not getting smashed in the head, and you're working on timing, distance, movement, parrying, and slipping. You get used to things coming at you.
We can also get incredibly specific. The only limit is your imagination. You might be stuck in a corner, on the ropes, or even sat in a chair in a disadvantaged position. We can replicate any scenario you wish to practice, from groundwork to getting out of an awkward clinch. We call this drilling through sparring.
And then you build up to whole-body sparring. This could be like boxing, where all punches are allowed, but the power is kept low and the speed is high. It's a way to pressure test all your skills - defending, countering, moving - in a live environment. You can extrapolate this out into any discipline, adding in kicks, takedowns, grappling, or whatever your art requires.
The ultimate spar - as close to a real fight as you can get - is very rare. It's once in a blue moon, and it should only ever be done when you’re very good at all the other types of sparring, with a coach present to stop it if it goes too far.
Safety First, Always
This is non-negotiable. At all times, you must have the correct safety equipment. I don’t care who you are or how good you think you are - the correct gear is paramount. Head guard, gum shield, groin guard, whatever is needed for your art. Anyone who says they don’t need it? They don’t get to spar. It's that simple.
And every single spar you do, you should be working with your partner, helping each other at the end of each round. Let's say you keep catching me with a left hook to the body in a hard spar. You should tell me how and why you kept landing it. I should be asking you.
We help each other fix our mistakes. This is the key.
This is why sparring is so vitally important. It helps you truly know that you can do what you think you can do, and you become 100% confident in your ability without becoming overconfident.
Everybody I've trained with over the years, from pro boxers to amateurs, we’ve done hundreds of rounds of sparring. It is absolutely essential.
But it must be done correctly, with safety in mind.
Remember the correct gear at all times, or no sparring.
Ideally, you film it and have a coach watching.
Take these principles, extrapolate them into every scenario you can imagine, and get to work.
I guarantee you that if you incorporate as much intelligent sparring as possible, you’ll build your skills faster than you ever thought possible.
