If you break your sparring partner, you don’t get a new one

Q&A with the Coach
Don’t break your training partners

[@benjaminvega7186]

"We're going to need another timmy" is a terrible mindset for training

[@DarkDoughnutsVids]

Just make a bunch of viral TikTok ads for the gym and wait for the confused 15 year olds to flock in

[@tamamalosi]

No kidding. Gym Heroes missed the whole point of fight training.

[@BMO_Creative]

Honestly, even wild animals like lions and wolves PLAY to learn how to fight... they don't kill eachother as pups and cubs! LOL

[@martinlepisto2926]

[@ajshiro3957]

training should be approached like studying and not like a competition. It's to answer questions.

[@scottmacgregor3444]

"If you keep hurting your sparring partner, it makes it real hard to get more," is a phrase I use often. Accidents happen, sure, but if they happen repeatedly, guess what, they aren't accidents, they are you not showing control.

[@Sevensliders]

Accidents unfortunately happen. But if it is a pattern it needs to be stopped.

[@JohnDoe-sq5nv]

You don't understand, Ramsey. If I don't kill my partners in the gym, how will I know how to kill people on da streetz? I'm sorry I thought this was fighting not competitive hugging.

[@johanjonsson6504]

I feel a lot of beginners go very hard because they are scared. They think they need to "win" the sparring.

[@chriscross7494]

Accidents happen and it's easy to overlook some safety precautions that you might should take. However it's never okay to hurt your training partner.

[@ryanhouk3560]

We are living in an era where top tier fighters are saying they no longer spar, and people like this still exist. It's insane to me to think that people think this is okay. Sparring is a game. You play. You can play rough if you trust your partner, but if your goals is to knock the head off of your partner, you aren't his partner, you're his liability.

[@xpallodoc1147]

This reminds me of how I teach my kids to rough house. They often injure each other. I’m like don’t kick each other in the neck. Don’t knock each other teeth into the guns etc etc etc. No groin hits. No using weapons. I also say don’t play with people who do stuff like biting and hair pulling

[@WadeSmith-oe5xd]

I accidentally caused a pretty severe bruise on my old classmate in karate class, because I used a combined Submission/Striking maneuver whereby I pulled his wrist, dragging him down into my thrust kick and didn't "pull" it enough. It left a bruise that took two entire weeks to heal up. I apologized to him, but if I hit him any harder it would have broken ribs or who knows what. It was an accident, but a pretty serious matter in my old Sensei's dojo.

[@blockmasterscott]

It goes to show you that contrary to popular belief, Asian martial arts DO work. 👊

[@justforkicks5112]

Ive left gyms over stuff like this. Its actually why i prefer hobbyist gyms over competitive ones. They tend to be there more for fun than to hurt someone even if i am not as good of a fighter because of it.

[@tjsho417]

The BEST competitive gyms are playful and chill too. You just went to some bad ones.

[@justforkicks5112]

@@tjsho417 I agree. It takes a lot of work to find a good gym that is the right fit and depending where you live there just aren't that many to choose from.

[@J-P88]

​​@@tjsho417 yeah I trained at a competitive boxing gym and the trainer kicked out 2 of his fighters for refusing to listen, talking back to him and going in too hard during light sparring. The good trainers and gyms take saftey seriously as there is no points getting injured for no real reward

[@Stahlvanten]

For my experience its the actual opposite since the competitors need be able to train alot while the hobbyists go for the kill in training.

[@tjsho417]

@@Stahlvanten exactly. This is why in gyms in Thailand you’ll see fighters practicing light sparring 90% of the time. They need to save themselves for the actual fight.

[@MissingTheMark]

I am a deeply cynical man and somehow I was still surprised that you had to explain why one shouldn't injure his training partner. I wonder if anyone has had to explain why one shouldn't use real guns in a paintball match or why to not fill water balloons with hydrochloric acid.

[@KingdomOfDimensions]

Coach is an angel for even attempting to explain common decency to this psychopath.

[@nappyheaded]

I've never seen Ramsey with that serious look in his eyes before.

[@skullsnguns22]

_"If you break your sparring partner, you don’t get a new one... unless you're in Mario Yamasaki's gym."_

[@bartekwojcik4448]

A couple of years ago, as a BJJ white belt, I accidentally injured a blue belt girl I was sparring with. I caught her in a triangle but wasn't able to finish it, so I switched to an armbar from the triangle. I nearly had it finished when she tried to escape by falling backward and extending my hips with her own. She screamed really loudly and stormed off the mats while screaming that I broke her arm. My coach just told me to keep training. I never saw her again on the mats, and I still think about it sometimes. I don't think it was my fault, but I wish it had been handled differently by the coach. He should have at least taken us to the side and asked what happened.

[@deltapi8859]

I don't know if this thinking isn't the kind of "harder, faster, stronger" mindset of today. Like "last man standing" mentality and everyone thinking they are the highlander. The effectiveness of martial arts is limited anyway, especially compared to using weapons or even something simple as a stick. This whole endeavor is to become a well coordinated athlete, to live discipline, grow out of your comfort zone, think out of the box and reach a new human potential and grow as a person. Not to escalate into an extreme. Anyway great take on this Grand Master Sifu Chosen One. "you don't get a new partner at least in my gym" good to know you side with the good and not the prideful on this topic.

[@anton8267]

Yeah, I watch a video where 20 whitebelt fight over one Blue belt. And they must win all the fight to get that. They fight like in competitions with true power of competition to get the bluebelt.

[@Sevensliders]

Keep the ego out the door, especially at training. You're there to learn. Bring that rowdiness in competition.

[@Jinutik003]

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

[@RamseyDewey]

Thank you!

[@gsmoove9315]

That question actually made me angry as you were saying it. Like does that really need to be explained to you?

[@F2007KR]

This guy doesn’t train at all. Two weeks of training and you’ll understand the difference between training and competition.

[@RamseyDewey]

You would be shocked at how many times this needs to be explained.

[@TheRazorTongue]

Training is about self-control and proper execution of technique. If you seriously injure your partner then you’ve failed in both regards. And if you gain this reputation no one would want to deal with you. A serious injury can affect income and job security as well as cause a wide variety of other problems unrelated to the injury itself.

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

Fighting business is about team work, Look your training partner is giving you his body to you train your skills so you must take care of your sparring partner he is helping you.

[@Boolai]

Exactly!!! Sparring is playful fighting. You lose lots of training hours that could of went learning new things. Just saying.

[@sincityinfinity6255]

I agree with you completely on this

[@rocferdable]

That shirt is badass.

[@blockmasterscott]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I kept checking it out. 😂😂😂

[@_vofy]

Damn, you are a good coach.

[@Doubbiguy]

Thank you Ramsey for all the content & wisdom you have shared with us through the years 🙇🏼 It's a big shame that so few of instructors/teachers/"coaches" spend those extra 30 seconds to teach their students/athletes Why is it that people think if they can give an occasional class here and there that it means they're fit to be a coach? How do you think the best coaches are or have been developed?

[@DenshaOtoko2]

I had this experience a couple of times. So I quit those gyms.

[@tamamalosi]

Gym heroes typically don't compete. Easy to be a monster with your mates, but never with strangers.

[@afightersdream]

I've hurt training partners and been hurt by them, it's never on purpose and it's never a good thing

[@GuitarsRockForever]

Being injured pretty bad in spar. It sucked, really sucked.

[@NeilKight]

Perfectly implemented slow blink at 1:53

[@GregP_]

Absolutely, sparring should be a tool for training, not a d*** measuring contest.

[@loquay]

I got my arm broke rolling almost four years ago. I have hardly rolled since and never with the guy who broke my arm.

[@elnino4643]

injuring your training partners is also bad for business. I lost count of how many times someone got injured by a partner and never came back to train at the gym. gyms need people training there to make money.

[@Annokh]

In hindsight, staying healthy to be able to repeat your training routines should be really obvious. But somehow it's not for many people. By the same token, the fact that top athletes train carefully is really an accessible information for anyone who cares. But here we go...

[@robertconrad8005]

Bullies think they have to hurt you in sparring.

[@troyscottx]

When I was younger there was a slogan I can't remember verbatim but it pretty much said Philly fighters don't make it out of the gym. After a month of sparring I understood why they said that. After three weeks I started jokingly saying that I had a record of 3&11.

[@ChrisCapoccia]

This wild swinging guy with the question is off his rocker, imagining that he should try uncontrolled ideas at other training partners or that just trying random stuff is a good strategy, but do new people have to have a certain competency before they qualify for sparring against other beginners?

[@jaynemoon5659]

@RamseyDewey Question . I’ve been reading jack dempsey book and it’s helped my punching power so much. My question is should I study a Far Eastern martial art such as wing chun or karate as they might have a different technique to creating a powerful punch . There’s apparently a Japanese term for a karate strike called ikken hissatsu meaning one strike one kill . Is there anything I’m missing out on just by using Dempsey method ? I’m an mma fighter . My name is ares from England . Hope you can respond and explain on KZbin as I watch your channel a lot . Thank you

[@Duckydafist]

Hey coach, you mentioned the boxing ring and cage. Which got me wondering, there are many different fighting arenas like the dohyo for sumo or the pit in karate combat. what are your thoughts on different fight arenas for fighter safety, entertainment etc?

[@Carell117]

I literally just got home from a bjj session where my sparring partner hurt his shoulder. I'd done a very standard harai goshi, (a throw which i consider myself to have alot of control with) but i think he landed badly and unfortunately is now injured. I feel awful, even though it was an accident and i hadn't been doing anything out of the ordinary. I go light in sparring but I'll be even more careful from now on because this must really suck for him. 'accidents happen' feels like a cheap excuse right now.

[@Mokujinko]

You sound like a cool training partner. I got my shoulder injured on a tomoe, took months to recover (still not quite there honestly) and my senior said it was because I was a 'bad uke'. Kind of annoyed about it really. He also gave me covid by knowingy training sick. What can you do huh

[@StripMallSensei]

My sparring partner is twice my size and he wrecks me all the time. I made a video about it.

[@KeithWickliffe79]

I remember being 17 and training muay thai with a guy that was older and taller than me and we were trying leg sweeps in the clinch and he continuously used his big toe on the vein by my ankle. I was sore for weeks but was too ashamed to tell coach. I just toughed it out. I wasn't very assertive at that time.

[@Disgruntledgamer]

Break your toys you’re not going to have any toys left.

[@sideofhashbrowns660]

Hey coach, its been two months since my last fight and I dont know when I can get back in the cage. Is ring rust real in your oppinion and if so how do I shake it off?

[@Boolai]

Wrestlers, grapplers know this already. But I see it more in the pugilists domain of martial arts. Wrestlers and grapplers usually just do playful practices.

[@leonardomarquesbellini]

I'm not sure I'd go generalizing about all grapples knowing better than going too hard in practice. BJJ has been the most popular grappling sport for a while and there's a LOT pf horror stories out there of people being at best negligent and at worse malicious with thwir training partners. I myself had both shoulders dislocated by people going way, way too on the mats.

[@user-nl3sy3ts3l]

❤

[@blockmasterscott]

Wow, I had no clue that paid sparring partners existed. I never heard of that before. It does make sense though for professional fights with purses as rewards. Question though. I would say that accidents do happen. What if the guy that went too hard felt bad and apologized immediately and concentrated from that moment not to go hard in sparring?

[@lightartis228]

or in my personal opinion: NEVER surprise yours sparring partner with the intensity you will go for, ask them how hard they wanna go with you(10%,30%60% etc...) if you want go 100% in a sparring match for some reason that`s ok if you ask first your partner to do so and he agrees... people who goes hard with out asking permission first to their partner(or change intensity significantly mid session) are just narcs who wants ego boost from ``winning a sparring match`` or showing their superiority over other guy by cheating in a subtle way cuzz they are to much of the p@ssies to ask for a hard sparring first so they attempting to catch of guard a guy and hopefully ``defeat`` him before he realises what`s going on... feel free to correct me if i am wrong though.

[@mrunknwn3644]

hey coach i took a fight on 4 days notice at 91+kg . i usually fight at 85-80kg but since my last fight i bulked to 100kg im pretty strong i can bench 130kg and overhead 90kg , cardio is a bit of an issue for me how can i prepare or should i do nothing till fight day?

[@ishwar5936]

Hey Ramsey Dewey. I don't know if you questioned this answer before but do you think fighting is for everyone. I would like to compete in a boxing or mma match one day but at the same time i'm really scared of the damage I could might take. I do bjj now and I have competed in a couple of WT teakwondo matches when I was younger. I was always really scared during competition and the whole time I was thinking "this sucks so much, why am I here"

[@RamseyDewey]

Everyone should train. Not everyone should fight.

[@RamseyDewey]

The “this sucks so much, why am I here” feeling is pretty universal during a fight! Even the pros feel that way.

[@ishwar5936]

@@RamseyDewey thank you for the response, I just don't like the pressure and everything in my body is designed to go away from fighting. One of the best friends of my dad organises a big district tournament in WT taekwondo and as a child I would always feel really pressured to go to that tournament every year.

[@terencejeffries5359]

how do all? when watching 3 hard r jabs some would call punches from between the gloves, then notice their elbow bending more causing a quick l uppercut which floats him back to the floor for 8.5 seconds, there isn't enough time to slow the shot. taztez.

[@skeezymike2305]

got back to training after 2 years off and my first night i got kicked by someone in my kickboxing class100 pounds heavier in my calf/big toe nerve and was paralyzed calf down for almost 2 months but barely even realized because my ribs got broken by a 6 foot+ body builder in my bjj class later that night(im 5 foot 9 and 150) when he pulled guard and squeezed as hard as he could.. the fight game is a hurting place sometimes but i don't blame my partners.

[@MzuMzu-nx1em]

Accidents happen 😔

[@F2007KR]

This question was super dumb. Anyone with even a little experience knows why you don’t bust up your partners. Even a spazzy white belt won’t hurt you intentionally (most of the time), they just don’t know how to control themselves yet.

[@Sbv-25]

A soldier does not need to kill a real person to learn shooting

[@Drikkerbadevand]

I feel like even in a fight you're not necessarily looking to *injure* them.. just hurt them (more than they hurt you) When I think injure I'm thinking destroying someone's elbow or knees, like attacking joints or poking in the eyes.. cætrying to cause lasting/permanent damage.. but I suppose trying to kick someone in the ribs as hard as you can and, frankly, hoping to break them to hurt him and win IS actually trying to injure someone.. So I dunno.. I just feel like there's a distinction between that and eye pokes and even legal techniques like oblique kicks to the knee to hyperextend it. But when I'm in a match or fight I don't want to tear someone's knee or shoulder apart, I don't want to cause permanent injury to them

[@deltapi8859]

"isn't this the point of fight training" You only realize how stupid this thinking is once you understood how to hurt an opponent. It's because of well trained techniques. But not random ones. Those you were able to execute well enough in a fight with a resisting opponent. Because the execution part you trained in the gym. The hurt and effectiveness part came from witnessing it in fights. Also from putting in effective and removing ineffective things you were doing. None of what I listed here has anything to do with aggression or hurting in unsuspecting training partner by coincidence.

[@ajshiro3957]

But I fought robots, a bear, supernatural beings, and a kangaroo. How was I supposed to know my sparring partner would crumble like a cookie from a single punch?

[@TalentDanceTV14]

You been playing tekken ?

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

The "well you get paid to do X" is a very toxic mentality to have. Not just in fighting, but in life. "breaking in the new guys" or whatever garbage is spouted. It's more evident in the realm of pro-wrestling where they leave the jobbers like drooling vegetables just because "it's their job" to let some guy maul them.

[@TaijDevon]

I just realized another virtue of the US Marine Corps. You will never be strong enough and viscous enough to do worse to him (or more rarely her) that the Corps didn't already do to them. I am partly joking, of course you don't punch full strength let alone eye gouge. But you can punch him, or even more rarely her (there are female Marines, and everyone I met is a loyal warrior, your best sex fantasy, and a drinking buddy rolled into one person). And they hit you back, carefully calibrated to give a solid thwack, but not injure you much. Somehow in boot camp and Marine Combat Training you figure out how hard to hit is just rough housing or training, and what is the 'NO' zone. Which brings me to an actual question. In half a dozen different martial arts I have never heard it elucidated how to take a punch. Marines do it intinctively, but I never described it correctly. Obviously you move away, the old 'roll with the punch' cliche. But I also think you stiffen. With over a dozen martial arts and combat instructors I have never gotten a clear explanation. And I don't think I can explain it either. I would theorize some of Jujitsu's growing popularity is it tends to evade the elephant in the room. How do you take a punch? Ba Gua has some 'Iron Shirt' theory, only taught after decades ( the circle geometry is cool, and if you know a few martial arts not that hard to pick up on). But the old question, how do you get hit is never answered.

[@RamseyDewey]

I’ve made several videos on that topic. Here’s one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6q0iZtoa7SEhq8si=Oa7qH0Fj8oxu1cSA

[@TaijDevon]

@@RamseyDewey The problem may be more I don't like the answer. But I did feel a tiny bit better reviewing that video you just suggested. Bulk up. My answer is kevlar, but I have never worn it outside a job requirement, and nobody else seems to either. So not wearing it is not effective.

[@DenshaOtoko2]

Is it the same in competition Ramsey?

[@RamseyDewey]

No. In a fighter, the objective is to damage your opponent until either (a) he’s unconscious (b) he gives up (c) a referee stops the match because your opponent is not longer intelligently defending himself as a result of said damage.

[@swankmank]

Sometimes I see videos of people being instigative in sparring, or being blatantly too violent, and no one does anything. I'm not so sure about an 'out of my hands' mindset when people's long-term health is on the line. If you run a gym and you observe a crappy sparring partner sneaking someone with unnecessarily hard shots or trying to hurt people, and happily escalating situations i'd say you give them a lecture and a chance to be more ethical. If they continue to do that, you kick them out. I feel that every aspect of the gym, even its memberships and finance, are harmed by letting guys like this stay in the gym. What do you think. I guess i'd like to direct this topic to people who run gyms or have more authority and responsibilities there and what they should and shouldn't do

[@henrygeiger8520]

It’s pronounced: Shang-high

[@tomsheppard378]

Randori doesnt translate to death match😅 How can you defend yourself with a broken arm, torn ACL

[@jaynemoon5659]

You gonna answer my question please

[@Groteskfull]

He probably hasn't seen your question yet. Just keep posting the question (without spamming).

[@RamseyDewey]

What’s your question?

[@Groteskfull]

@@RamseyDewey I think his question was something about punching power: whether he was limiting himself by studying only Jack Dempsey's book and not learning punching techniques from other fighting styles (karate, wing chun, etc.) ...Something like that, I think??

[@jaynemoon5659]

@@RamseyDewey @RamseyDewey Question . I’ve been reading jack dempsey book and it’s helped my punching power so much. My question is should I study a Far Eastern martial art such as wing chun or karate as they might have a different technique to creating a powerful punch . There’s apparently a Japanese term for a karate strike called ikken hissatsu meaning one strike one kill . Is there anything I’m missing out on just by using Dempsey method ? I’m an mma fighter . My name is ares from England . Hope you can respond and explain on KZbin as I watch your channel a lot . Thank you

[@SteveJuszczak-dx3gz]

When I do that I use gorilla glue to put them back together

[@CarlySB]

Argh. I wanted to yell at the PC a bit in response to his "made up a whole new move". I think he has a mild case of narcissism. If he thinks injury is the purpose of training then I want to watch his deadlifting sessions, for fun. 😁

[@waaagh9936]

What kind of stupid shit is this ?? "Sparring is only useful if your opponent is dead by the end of it" - Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, page 376, chapter 6, section 13)

[@RamseyDewey]

😅

[@tjsho417]

I’m surprised and disappointed that this even needs to be explained. I’m guessing the person who asked this question has seen Sean Strickland spar and is trying to emulate him.

[@tomo2807]

Can you imagine the future? "don't break your GrappleBot 3000series sparring product! It costs too much" still well...don't break human partners too!

[@Berengier817]

Fuuuuuuuuck I want that future.

[@tomo2807]

@@Berengier817 all fun and games until the GrappleBot 3000 gets a minor software glitch and chokes you out and smashes your spine...they ought to patch that poorly optimised crap hard

[@thisplacedoesntevensellcheese]

@@tomo2807straight uuuup, my GrappleBot’s servos locked up and now i’m typing this while stuck in a banana split

[@jaynemoon5659]

@RamseyDewey Question . I’ve been reading jack dempsey book and it’s helped my punching power so much. My question is should I study a Far Eastern martial art such as wing chun or karate as they might have a different technique to creating a powerful punch . There’s apparently a Japanese term for a karate strike called ikken hissatsu meaning one strike one kill . Is there anything I’m missing out on just by using Dempsey method ? I’m an mma fighter . My name is ares from England . Hope you can respond and explain on KZbin as I watch your channel a lot . Thank you