Don't Spar Like This...

[@LawrenceKenshin]

What are your thoughts on sparring? I believe it's time to provide education for good sparring etiquette. To do so, we need to understand what not to do. The bad sparring etiquette in North America was very much highlighted when Saenchai and Spencer Brown (Jake Paul look alike) did seminars there. In this feature, we also discuss the various philosophies on sparring, such as the Dutch and Thai style. Saenchai - How to Fight Giants VIP Waitlist: www.strikingacademy.com/giant

[@gaenaegga]

Theres gon be assholes everywhere no matter what, one reason why there must always be a coach to oversee a session or any pair who wants to carry out their own sparring.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

@@gaenaegga coach wont usually be able to oversee every interaction in the room, so it's important for the best fighters to set example too

[@bobbyknockles5815]

Lovely video as always. What was that fighter you posted a shorts about a few weeks to a month ago? It’s been seemingly removed, sorry for the vague description I can’t remember they name of the fighter but it was a beautiful Muay Thai style I wanted to rewatch. Let me know if you remember or if maybe I’m just high and saw it on another channel.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Hey mate I post about plenty of fighters 🤣 you gotta give me a bit more

[@bobbyknockles5815]

@@LawrenceKenshin hahaha any shorts you remember deleting in the last few weeks-months?

[@theomegamale5335]

I never understood how ANYONE would think to hard spar when you have the chance of a lifetime to spar with and learn from someone like Saenchai

[@exen3980]

Cuz they didn't have the chance to be good at anything

[@nolanconnolly6626]

One word. Ego

[@IXSuperRadGamerXI]

@@nolanconnolly6626 Actually it's the Id not being checked by Ego. The Ego went with the Id rather than considering the superego.

[@dylanb2086]

@@IXSuperRadGamerXI Great example of ego right here^^ lol

[@IXSuperRadGamerXI]

@@dylanb2086 I didn't insult the person, I simply conveyed the idea of what Ego is actually supposed to be. Not my fault you use it incorrectly.

[@tellder1]

In the gym that I once tried out, there were two guys who from light sparring went to full on fight with full on intention to hurt each other. Coach, to my confusion, not only allowed this but encouraged it. After seeing this, this was my first and only time in that gym.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Good call. Thanks for sharing and for watching brother

[@forrestgumball]

Was it the Cobra Kai dojo?

[@andrewa9064]

Usually that happens because one guy is known to throw unnecessary hard shots

[@weirdo24-7]

Coaches are not supposed to encourage that. That causes gyms to close down by having a bad reputation. I've never seen or been to one like that but I do see crappy coaches from different martial arts.

[@ebaocihc7085]

@@forrestgumball it was cobra kai dojo yes

[@mrproxineta123]

I remember sparring with this trainer in Thailand and it was so much fun. This little dude was whooping my ass but it was fun and light and we were both laughing the entire time

[@samblack5313]

I’ve been torched by laughing Thais that are the size of one of my legs, many many times. Haha

[@headkicked]

Yeah, my coach trained in Thailand and sparring with him was always so much fun! He knew how to press without going too hard. Just enough to get you fired up and enjoy it.

[@BCsJonathanTM]

I didn't know the Thais where like like this and now I'm even more in love with Muay Thai. The playful experimentation in sparring is probably one of my favorite parts of martial arts.

[@TheDidacticMind]

That clip of Buakaw and Saenchai sparring near the end is hilarious - those two are basically overgrown kids with each other, but they are lethal in the ring.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Hahaha I love it so much. Thanks so much for watching :)

[@colinmoore747]

Buakaw scares the life out of me. At least with saenchai I think he would let you run off. Buakaw would run after you relentlessly I feel. Scary.

[@maxmuller6730]

I remember watching buakaw fight at k1, he was a beast

[@superbean8110]

@@maxmuller6730 did you see it live?

[@maxmuller6730]

@@superbean8110 no :-P was only watching it on tv in 2006 or 2007 I think. but the k1 fights were so crazy and fun to watch

[@pragzter]

When I started out training it was all hard sparring at my old gym. My striking sessions always felt very stressful and we'd often go home with some kind of injury. But since we switched to light sparring and flow sparring (hard sparring sessions thrown in there from time to time), my striking skill definitely improved. Training sessions were less stressful and more educational. The mind learns better when we are playing, vs fighting for self preservation.

[@rudolfogar1886]

I tend to believe the opposite. Humans have proven throughout history that we tend to work our best when we are put in stressful situations, hence, why the military does it through out basic training. They're basically training everyday people to handle non everyday situations to help them cope with the stress of combat. Warriors are not bred from fun, they are born by tension.

[@rnaD86]

​@@rudolfogar1886 believe what you want but it's a fairly well documented fact that stress is just not conducive to learning new stuff as you tend to default to what you know and can do best when under pressure. Stress-TESTING what you've learned is great, stress-LEARNING flat out doesn't happen.

[@Minsang1st]

@@rnaD86 agreed

[@DanielNyong]

@@rudolfogar1886 light sparring reduces flinch reflex

[@Boris82]

@@rudolfogar1886 I think you're right, but a mixture with soft (or playful) sparing is best. Why? Because in a playful environment we become more creative and we learn from that too. You can be creative in any situation don't get me wrong, but you can be more loose in creativity when youre relaxed, instead of stressed.

[@l.k9667]

I’m dutch myself and I started my first class in muay thai and we went to sparring. I got up against literal giants compared to me and they didn’t care that it was my first time. I got badly injured because of that. It’s kinda messed up

[@ruud4508]

just find another gym, don't quit. they're not all idiot barbarians.

[@pencilbender]

My experience as well

[@Nolbert24]

Nobody is forcing you to spar with shit partners gotta watch your own neck

[@Omrie69]

It's awful mate lack of respect for you as a complete beginner.

[@Murdock1309]

That's really bad of the trainer! Can't understand that...that's the reason why people leave gyms forever. It sucks

[@LucasKingPiano]

Imagine having an angry Sugar Ray Leonard hunting your liver.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Hahaha I know right

[@thebrownbaldy]

Even in his 60s SRL still got them hands

[@eastern1015]

I don’t want to lol

[@hughesadam87]

He lands it so effortlessly

[@Friendofmine377]

Nooop my liver already hurts just thinking about it

[@korhad]

I always tell my training partners that we should start out light, and then we can build some intensity as long as we both feel comfortable with it. Elbows are off limits. Our trainers had this golden rule that if there will be a concussion during the sparring session, we will be doing burpees for the rest of the training and no sparring for 2 weeks. Never had any issues. :)

[@FYCMUNKY]

Sounds like your teacher is soft

[@korhad]

@@FYCMUNKY sounds like you don't get the main idea of training :)

[@Greg-w-smeg]

@@FYCMUNKY “Sparring”

[@demoninveins]

@@korhad Well, we now know that Jeremy is one of those people who take it too far.

[@professor.cheekclapper6999]

@@FYCMUNKY sounds like you cry whenever you get the sht beat out of you for sparring too hard

[@SpidermAntifa]

Almost this entire video could be summarized with "sparring is for both of you to get better. Dont try to win, and don't try to hurt your opponent."

[@dariusv8573]

basically avoid axe kicks front kicks to the chin any flying or spinning if you can t control them

[@nativeredman9940]

@@dariusv8573 ....Never go full retard in sparring.

[@len1434]

Wish I had a partner with no ego; Flow state sparing everyday. Much respect for Saenchai and Thailand.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

cheers allen thanks for watching

[@alohatigers1199]

Well, the partner you’re looking for wishes you don’t have ego too.

[@MrDbz9001]

I’ll spar with you man

[@MrSmurf459]

Flow state sparring?!?!? Sounds cute but in order to excel you need to learn how to spar under stress!

[@markmcallan973]

Dude your gonna meet a lot of idiots that are like this don't worry because if U keep training hard eventually U will get better than them! And then U can pick them apart when U spar them ! But do it with grace and skill! The look on their faces will be priceless!

[@patrickpoloni7091]

Couldn't agree more. I've practiced muay thai for a few years and last week decided to start training again. So at the end of the training there was a sparring session and I took these 16 year old youngster that went really hard since the beggining and we weren't wearing any sort of protective gear besides gloves, not even mouthguards. I've said to go easy that we weren't using mouthguards and could fuck up our teeths. So there i went throwing very soft strikes and it was all fine, until he exploded again and started to go all - I've just did a teep and said I wouldn't be sparring like that. To my surprise, i've looked around and everyone was going hard at each other with a lot of people not wearing mouthguards and just using bad technique. Needless to say i've never went back there. The problem with these kind of bad etiquette sparring is that once it starts to scalate, you get in a weird position where you don't want to hit your training partner hard but also don't want to eat hard strikes that just go through your soft ones..

[@kristianjensen5877]

Good call. If people be out there throwing punches and kicks like they're in a tournament during casual sparring, it's time to head out. Nobody learned anything by getting knocked the fuck out or injured.

[@falcon1378]

I think this is the key reason why great fighters nowadays aren’t lasting as long as the greats of the past. Injuries are always going to be there, this is an inherently violent sport. But, because our past fighters know how to differentiate between a sparring sesh, and a full out event.

[@SemNome-me3po]

you could have saved the boy from the gym.

[@user-dw1zb3fh5n]

I usually just hit them as hard as I possibly can and then say “it’s just a prank bro”

[@blahblahblah4544]

I would just walk myself.

[@kleenbeats]

From my experience it all comes down to the coaches laying down the ground rules at that start of each session (chill=chill, escalation=escalation). When I’ve sparred in places that don’t do that, I find myself having to constantly pull up and educate the new guys. With the experienced guys (who go to far) you just have to tough it out or walk away (happy to swallow some pride to not get injured). Im an Aussie that lived in Amsterdam for 18 months, it was an experience.

[@NailsOeltjen]

This is why starting martial arts young is good... in a setting where the intention is to play, to rise everyone up together, sparring is treated as a game of skill, and the gym is a place to learn. No one should feel like their ego is at threat when someone is better than them, or having a better spar. Like you say it should be about learning from each other. They’re called sparring ‘partners’ for a reason.

[@vutran3758]

Adult beginners tend to be the worst when it comes to approaching martial arts with egos. Most of them feel like they are trying to make up for lost time, or have something to prove. It's great learning martial arts when you're young, everyone is better than you and so everyone is a teacher.

[@scooterman103]

Young amateurs need good close supervision though, kids need guidance and feedback or else you'll get the one big kid feeling like he's unstoppable just because he hit puberty a little early then you have a bully on your hands or whatever

[@screwgoogle4993]

@@vutran3758 Even worse when they're adults with an impression that they have "authority" in this new setting. Cops are the absolute worst about this. I've had the misfortune of having to train them before. They don't know anything about grappling at all, but they spend the whole time rolling their eyes acting like they're above it all. Then in real life they'll close the distance even though their only means of self-defense is countered by close range. Arrogance makes for bad students. Marines don't have this problem because they get degraded as part of their training. Cops come in wanting to be treated like heroes for running away from non-fighters, or acorns, or one 15-year-old on a tantrum while they unlock their Punisher lock screen on their phone. Uvalde anyone?

[@otakoob]

Other legends *kick asses* Saenchai *SLAP ASSES*

[@LawrenceKenshin]

🤣 he does both ! Thanks for the funny comment and for watching !

[@Rikalonius]

Wholeheartedly agree. Nothing is worse than having a trainer tell you to go 50% and having your opponent start acting like its a ring fight. It's almost always someone with less experience and lots of ego.

[@sugoneseballs365]

ego for sure, I had a friend who still doesn't understand what sparring actually is because even years later from our sparring he "hits his friend in the nose a little too hard" and broke it.

[@isaacranchly2458]

Light/medium sparring is definitely the way to go most of the time. But my gym would do heavy sparring on Fridays after normal class, and those were really helpful as well. Some things you'd think would work during light sparring, get blown out of the water in an actual fight. So a dash of heavy here and there doesn't hurt anything.

[@kristianjensen5877]

That's fair. As long a both parties agrees on the terms of the sparring session, hard sparring is perfectly fine as part of a training regimen.

[@darthvader4339]

Yeah I think heavy sparring every once in a while is alright, especially if you are not fighting professionally, just so your mind is ready for when violence comes your way, but most of the time you should do light but quick sparring to really get the technical side of your art

[@RaatoRuhtinas]

I saw the number and had no choice. Nice achieved. Also completely agree.

[@IndepenisDay]

Except your brain

[@hjarnansjarn5969]

Hard sparring is necessary now and again. Shitty gyms don't define hard sparring sessions, or anything.

[@monkeyishi]

from the perspective of someone who probably wont fight again. sparring is something that should be treated like a dessert. something to be enjoyed and the fun thing that you get cause you turned up to your classes. the more fun it is for you and your partner the more people you will get to play with.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Totally true. Thanks for the comment and for watching! Why won’t you fight again?

[@monkeyishi]

@@LawrenceKenshin mostly age and i have a kid on the way.

[@PHATT_TV]

@@monkeyishi watched your fight on your channel, good stuff 💪🏽. I’m in similar boat why I’m done fighting (age I’m 38 now & too many long lasting injuries eg broken toes, ribs, back is stuffed etc.) due to heavy sparring

[@monkeyishi]

@@PHATT_TV this really is the way of it. I think for me part of the problem was I found Muay Thai later in life and tried to spar hard as often as I could to "catch up to" everyone else who had been fighting and was my age.

[@Ojja78]

Well there are different kinds of sparring that are meant for different things. I completely disagree that all sparring should be like dessert. It's really good to have full contact hard sparring sessions. It's also really good to go light. It depends what you're working on and what your training.

[@gib7849]

I've had a fair share of people I've sparred at gyms and I've never had too much of a problem with sparring. But I did actually have a issue with a sparring partner recently, hence why I searched up videos about sparring to compare if in the situation I was overreacting. I don't have an incredible fighting backround just things i picked up here and there, and with most of the people i sparred with at this particular gym we weren't crazy when it came to the head body sure but never tried to knock each others head off. And then I had the unfortunate experience with boxing a guy who outweighed me by at least 20lbs swinging crazy body shots. I can take body shots and even before we started sparring we agreed that light headshots but you could let body shots fly(I didnt bring my mouthguard and we werent wearing headgear hence the agreement). But to my surprise he started swinging at my head with the same energy as the other punches when i started making him miss most of his punches and throwing light punches that weren't at high intensity (nowhere near) but did land. And i was just going to avoid most of them and then at the end of the round talk to him about taking it easy on the shots a bit. That was until he tagged me with a clean cross across my jaw and i did see him stepping and pivoting so any "i DIdNdT eVeN tHrOw ThEm ThAt HaRd" was bs. I was rocked and my legs felt weird and thats when i just said to stop. He got pissy and stormed off calling me a pussy and said he was "there to win". I just said that wasnt how you spar someone if he really wanted to win he should have gone to compete in a match not fucking spar. And then the guy who invited him went on about its my fault i didnt wear my mouthguard. Said something about if he hits you hard you hit him just as hard which im some cases yeah this case no. Even some of the people there just said i was overreacting. After watching this video on how most pros and legends spar now I realize that I was in the right to stop the sparring. I wasn't overreacting and to the guy I was sparring your an a$$ low key praying on your downfall.

[@torhbakalit908]

no point of getting a brain damage cuz of ego :) he c an have abig ego but if his momma gona help him eat soup w a spoon all day and wiping his ass , im curious where hes ego gna be ,brain damage is not a joke

[@samblack5313]

“There to win” Win what?

[@gib7849]

@@samblack5313 Fuck if I know CTE I'm guessing

[@jedimindtrix2142]

​@@samblack5313people like that have emotional issues and aren't well balanced. Probably find a lot of people like that in the fighting community, at least on the lower rungs. Always feel they have something to prove lest their sad little egos get bruised. I'm about to start training Muay Thai and we have a really, really well known gym here that has some awesome trainers/coaches. I'm looking really forward to starting. Since I have watched a ton of advice videos on proper sparring and I am not looking to "prove" something to myself. I have played music for 25 years and have already long ago been able to defeat my ego. I'm not the type of person who feels they always have to "win" so much as have fun and learn. Music has taught me a lot about myself which I can apply to other things very easily. Ego gets you no where except places you don't wanna be.

[@hotcakesism]

What kind of loser tries to "win" at sparring lmao what a dumbass

[@1UcMeOnce1]

Throwback Thursday time. Concerning 5:28, learned that the hard way. I'm Dutch, went to a Thai kick boxing training for the first time ever like 2 years ago when i was ~23 years old, just to try something new. After some cardio + warmup on the bags I was already struggling more than I'd like to admit (although instructor was known for trying to "break" you on your first visit, and just being a bit of a tongue in cheek type of guy about it as well, which was all fun and games and part of the atmosphere). Me being the prideful young adult that I was, in the midst of a bunch of dudes that were on average 10-15 years older than me and in a lot better shape than me, I did my very best to remain composed. The issue wasn't even that at the time I was so far from everyone elses weight; I weighed in at like 59kg at the time, while being 177cm (which is concerningly scrawny for those that did pull up a BMI calculator, I know, and I'm happy I put on some weight since then). Ended up having to spar with a dude that was nearly twice my weight (at least 100kg+ but roughly same height, just very buff, had been working out for years), but we got paired up cause he was one of the newest people there besides me (had only been there a couple of times), which at first glance might make sense to not pit me against a very experienced guy. Was a pretty bad mistake in hindsight, since although he was inexperienced, he was also inexperienced at holding back and taking into consideration the sheer difference in weight and power between us. Unaware of proper sparring etiquette as the video put it. Mind you it was LITERALLY my first time sparring ever. The guy showed no restraint whatsoever, and I hadn't even been taught how to block/evade or anything of the sort yet. I ended up bent double after body shots multiple times and it still didn't occur to him to tone it down a bit. I'll admit I was trying my hardest not to show how much I was actually hurting, cause I didn't wanna seem like a whimp before the end of the first session I attended. He was clearly enjoying himself, I'm assuming because he could finally land some blows as he was no longer the most inexperienced guy in the room. Instructor ended up pulling us apart after some time, taught me the essentials of defense, but looking back on it now, the dude I was sparring with was honestly just an asshat. Yes he was new too, but fighting someone literally half your size, someone that's there for the first time, do you really need to be explicitly told by the instructor that you gotta not go all out? So yeah, that's the story of me experiencing what it;s like to be a human punching bag that evening.

[@sirriffsalot4158]

He was probably like "FINALLY... Now I can feel like a tough guy with these muscles!!"

[@ChiliM4n]

Ah man that's unfortunate. Having this happening to you can completely destroy the whole confidence and motivation to do martial arts. I had a similar experience in my first sparring session where a much bigger guy who did martial arts for over 15 years even told me "we will do light sparring" and then went ahead and immediately superman punched me full force lol. I almost got knocked out and my head hurt for a week.

[@Morpheah]

I never understood where that idea of sparring with equally inexperienced people came from, I've always felt safer sparring with competitive athletes or, even better, the teacher. Sometimes, grappling can be even worse; I was flexible and didn't mind pain so I was everyone's favourite guinea pig. Anyway, I've always agreed with what you said toward the end, some guys are just insecure cunts and sparring might be one of the greatest ways to figure out what kind of cunt a person is.

[@Morpheah]

For a moment there, it felt like you were painting the picture of how a 40 y.o. nak muay beat the fuck out of you for sparring like a Dutchie, reiterating what Lawrence said about it in the video 😄

[@semyaza555]

Damn, he took liberties with you.

[@quentinguerrero3039]

I love my Muay Thai gym and I've never really had a bad experience other than maybe 2 new people who get really excited and don't have the muscle control yet... our coaches really push the light technical sparring and communication with our partners. Our coaches have a saying "take care of your partner or we're gonna take care of you" that goes for the Dutch Drills too! I learn so much from your page this is one of my favorite youtube channels keep up the amazing work!!!

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Which gym brother ! Thx for the comment and for watching !

[@skuipje]

I'm Dutch and I practised a few martial arts. Amongst them was judo. When I started muay thai, I tried to grapple and throw my opponents. My kru instructed the others to go for a knee when I went for a throw, wich usually landed on my nose. It's true, we do hard sparring sessions. Even when we were told to just go 20% power and mainly focus on technique, the others usually just start whailing at you. A lot of the guys here are show-offs (especially the Moroccans), wich I absolutely hate. I'd tell them a couple of times to not go all out, as per the instructions, but they're all just a bunch of "look at me, me strong" kinda guys so what do you expect. The only people that I enjoyed sparring with were the other Dutchies (of wich there were only very few) and our kru. I left as soon as the other Dutchies started leaving.

[@ruud4508]

you got good and bad gyms. trainers who don't/can't control their pupils are obviously not the right gym owner for most, regardless the ethnical background. knee to the face sounds a bit harsh, tbh

[@badr_smd9305]

Bro why you hate moroccans?😂 we are not all like that😂

[@pushyoch.8252]

@@badr_smd9305 well it's his experience at his gym? Who are we to deny that? Plus he's not saying he hates Moroccans in general, just the jerks that he sparred with

[@mndeg]

@@badr_smd9305 jeff chan hard sparred a moroccan somewhere in europe. you can tell because his shirt said Morocco on it.

[@oldmate484]

For real, when I was in Holland, North Africans were the worst to spar with, 100% ego driven.

[@genebarry2471]

Great video. My six year old has been taking Muay Thai for over two years. Once a week he spars with adults who pretty much let him blast away since he only weighs 52lbs but when he spars other young ones I’m always amazed at his control.

[@MrSpiralling]

Thats cool

[@adog5891]

Those adults are very uncool

[@adamcatamco562]

I remember training on a bag feeling frustrated with my kicks until Spencer from Yokkao ( Saenchai’s gym ) helped me out. Breaks my heart to have heard he went to the hospital from an elbow thanks to a bad sparring mate. But that’s fighting, unpredictable; sparring is sparring though, fighting is fighting. I love the man; funny, friendly, and a good teacher.

[@spartankarate]

I swear KZbin is reading my mind. I'm just about to move into a solid period sparring at my dojo. I'm personally in favour of flow sparring and love the etiquette described in the video. Not just useful for Thai fighters but ALL martial artists that like to spar. Great video!

[@randomguy3861]

That Sugar Ray Leonard clip really resonated with something I went through a few months ago. I had just badly sprained my wrist 10 minutes before a BJJ sparring session, I told my partner of my injury and we agreed to go easy, and then once the match started she absolutely went 100% out of nowhere, trying her hardest to take me down and submit me, with me just holding my injured wrist away to the side to avoid getting hurt. She took me down because I had no support with only one hand (can’t post up with an injured wrist), and then proceeded to and smother me for ~2 minutes and then crank my neck into submission. All of a sudden I was in a rage, or fighting energy, as you call it, and I bucked her off with one arm, got into knee on belly, and pinned her to the mat. I unapologetically have to say I was _this_ close to wanting to genuinely hurt her, but ultimately took 10 seconds to breath deeply and chose not to. And I mean I was furious, because (as you astutely pointed out) she completely violated the spoken rules of the fight, and had absolutely no regard for my safety. I’ve been in heavy sparring and a few escalated fights before but I will never forget that moment because of how much genuine pure rage and anger was flowing through me. Anyhow, Great video.

[@Anonymous-ld7je]

Did you tell her "What the fuck is wrong with you, my wrist is injured and you know that"? Because I'd have said that immediately. I'd have also told her I'm not ever sparring with her again unless she learns basic self control. Sounds like someone with an ego and chip on their shoulder trying to prove something, not someone trying to learn

[@eddied1804]

I was a boxer as a young kid, and I remember asking my best friend to come and train with me. He came, and once we started sparring i could feel that he kept punching harder and harder, so I thought that if I would hit him with soft shots, then he wouldn't be that aggressive, but he kept going harder and harder. Then in one of the breaks he asked me "how the fuck are you a boxer, you don't know how to fight". I hit him with an uppercut using all off my power, as he saw the punch coming he ducked downwards right into my hand, and the poor guy started bleeding from his nose. I felt bad so I told him that i was sorry, but he said that it was well deserved. We used to Laugh about it. Unfortunately after we've grown up a bit, we haven't kept contact since he chose to do drugs, and I never was into that kind of life, now i just see him every once in a while hanging with the local alcoholics. Waste of a good kid, and a great friend

[@xvxv360]

I think he needs a hook to the head, a good one to reset his mind back to the straight path. Don't be shy to try it

[@eddied1804]

@@xvxv360 lmao

[@ts0088]

Thats sad

[@VicioRay]

Man I'm a skinny and short kid I dont know how to get better at fighting

[@ts0088]

@@VicioRay Grappling(local Gym), Wrestling (at your school if you still go), Kickboxing/Muaythai or/And Boxing at your gym or another gym if you have one. A MMA class where everything gets combined would be a good idea too. Proper compound lifting or calisthenics and Stretching after class and you will be pretty much unbeatable for the avarage person after 2 years ( if you are training everyday or 6 days a week).

[@Joyride37]

I like my gym for this reason - sparring is kept to advanced students. I know Muay Thai doesn’t have a traditional belt system but we use one to stagger students of different skill levels. Beginners stay in the beginners technique class, next level is pads, next is drills and sparring and then training for competition. When I watch the sparring classes, it’s controlled and respectful, and then there are events that feature hard sparring / internal gym bouts for the advanced students to test skills on about once a month

[@SenseiSeth]

I’ve never seen the clip of him sweeping that girl after helping her back up. I cracked up 😂😂

[@elfynwilliams1280]

Love to see you do this to icey mike XD

[@nobullshitkickboxing5603]

It's humiliating and it sucks.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Hahahaha totally cheeky

[@Tj-vk1dw]

Oh hey there

[@thehighcommunity247]

Ikr...he was just bustin' her balls...that she doesn't have...probably. lmao!!

[@mothertongue8639]

Guy: *Axe kicks Wanderlei Silva* Wanderlei Silva: I see. Well, it was nice knowing you.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

LOLLL amazing comment thanks for watching !

[@nicojar]

He was such an asshole from the beginning.

[@bizmonkey007]

Wanderlei hit him with a pretty stiff right cross that floored him before that. Throwing an axe kick, of all things, was not the smartest way to match power or intensity though.

[@relativelybasic]

Idk. As a professional you should have more self control

[@chucknorris202]

I think both Wanderlei and that guy he was sparring were both in the wrong and acting like idiots that cant control themselves. That temper has caused Wand to lose so many fights he wouldnt have lost if he could control himself and channel his emotions like an emotionally stable adult Man. Theres so many stories of Wand and Shogun having gym wars back in the Pride days too, so many stuff like that from Chute Boxe gym. The Axe kick was WAY outta line, you dont throw that at somebodies head during a sparring match; but the stiff cross way past the pace they both already set was also outta line(not as outta line as that kick though; and its that he slipped when backing up, the cross didnt seem to drop him, but it prob hurt his ego and pissed him off). Wand was an idiot though sweeping him as hard as he did; theres no need for that level in just a sparring match... Brazilians guys, Brazilian fighters in particular the ones from the old style, dont seem to comprehend that sparring matches are NOT full on real fights. They are meant to be as close to a real fight as possible while not being a full force fight, to hone your skills and techniques and willpower and ability to face off against an opponent in an unpredictable fight, keeping your composure while striking them, while guarding against their attacks, and yes even while getting hit yourself. Thats why 70% or so intensity is the best intensity for sparring; hard enough to be a real threat so the guy will put every effort into NOT getting hit by you and will take the fight seriously instead of just playing around, but not so hard that it will escalate into a gym fight. Speaking of controlling your emotions while fighting: the best series of sparring matches Ive had was against someone better than me, a Pro Fighter in fact; he was my regular sparring partner for 2 years straight, or 2 years and 6 months. He usually "won" the spars with me, but sometimes I would draw against him; and a handful of times you could even say I "won". I improved DRASTICALLY, more than I ever have before or since, sparring that guy who was better than me in every department, for such a long period of time; even knowing each others fight habits, he was still an incredibly tough fight; he knew my habits too of course, hes the one that trained me after I left my former muay thai gym, after all. He dropped me twice, as well; once with a fake out body kick that turned into a question mark roundhouse kick to my head that dropped me(I got right back up and continued the fight; but it was a really clever attack and has stuck with me, and Ive been meaning to add it to my arsenal, its just that Im not flexible enough yet to do it as quickly as he did it, yet), and the other time with a hook I believe: I dropped him with a left hook of my own after reading him, and opening his guard with a combo enough so that my final punch(the left hook) could get through, with much hip rotation behind it. Though he was on fire after he got up after being dropped, and I say that match was a draw, because while I did drop him, we had countless exchanges after that, with him usually getting the better of it, but my guard was (mostly) solid, and most of his head shots didnt get past my guard. Ate some hard ones to the body and esp the legs though. You can learn much both by sparring guys better than you(in a smart and respectful way; and that means to fight seriously, but not with the intent of taking their head off or some crazy shit; neither of you came for a war but a sparring match even if its intense and people can get dropped and stunned, its still sparring and not full force swinging for the sake of flooring the opposition instead of mastering your striking and defensive techniques and how to move correctly while fighting and so on like sparring is meant to be for), and you can also learn much by sparring people whose abilities are clearly lesser than your own fighting abilities: you have to take it light on them, unless they are like the guys in these videos looking to take your head like some newcomers to gyms like to do for ego reasons, but those guys always suck at fighting; and its ok to go full force against them, esp picking good moments to drop time it so your bombs land on their head or face. Although I believe you technically learn the least sparring someone of your own or of similar skill level as yourself; its the funnest by far to spar someone of equal(or near equal) skill and attributes as yourself. The fights are always the most even, esp if your long time sparring partners who knew each others likely moves and so on. You have to be creative and you have to use all you've learned; and it feels most like an unrestricted full on fight, even though the rules for sparring are always adhered to. Its best to have all three of these types of people in your gym; multiples of each of those types, all with different fighting styles, is ideal.

[@blakedailey7185]

I’m less than a year into Muay Thai, I weigh 185 and had a guy that’s near 250 and less experienced than me throw a brutal high power leg kick that forced me to take a week or two off of training and probably 2 months to get 100% mobility back. Fortunately my gym and coach aren’t down with that kind of hard sparring and addressed it. Only time I’ve had a problem sparring anyone there.

[@DarkMuj]

Did the dude improve his behaviour?

[@christophercarrillo4726]

@@DarkMujdoubt it nobody ever learns until they’re beat down

[@superawsomeblitz]

Facing the opposite end of the issue, I’m new to Muay Thai & im the biggest dude in my gym at 6’3 260lbs. I don’t want to be the big guy beating on little dudes, but I’m not experienced enough yet to really understand how to strike where I want & with specific power

[@UltraToasty]

I have average height and weight in gym. Sometimes i am hitting to hard they say or to soft. Sometimes the more experienced fighters give me no chance sometimes they spare with me in my level. But against them to hit something i need to go 90% or nothing reaches his goal.... And if I land a punch they go much harder. Like sparring is too complicated .

[@UltraToasty]

I am about to say go all out but i am seeing myself in hospital lol

[@optimize.]

Fully agree. Writing from Amsterdam, the Netherlands here. Hard sparring is unnecessary for successful fighting. It’s mostly an ego thing here in my opinion. The build up of head trauma over the years makes fighters slow and even creates more serious issues with being incoherent, depressed, emotionally unregulated and overall not too sharp and clear. Similar to American Football players that got their head rattled a bit too often.

[@hailtothe_rooster1572]

Wanderlei came from an era where “sparring” was basically brawling with other legends. “Iron sharpens iron”… but it also leads to brain damage

[@albertoalmeida3424]

I know him personally. He is a nice dude. But you don't fool around him. He knows how to spare and he got angry after he got kicked in the head. Like the video says, you don't throw elbows and heels in a sparring, unless you are good enough to do it without hitting your opponent.

[@kevingriffith677]

That is not what iron sharpens iron means.

[@JLee118]

Grind too much and the edge becomes brittle

[@riposter69]

Never understood that statement. Hasn't anybody who quotes that sharpened anything? I know they say it coz it sounds tough and is better than claystone sharpens iron. or silica whetstone sharpens iron. get the impression "iron sharpens iron" doesn't lead to early onset dementia but proves you actually have it.

[@hailtothe_rooster1572]

@@riposter69 Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” It’s 2021 we literally know what materials are best to get a razor sharp blade. I do it quite regularly. So not everybody is familiar with the Bible… I’m far from it but the book of proverbs are full of wise words to live by or be interpreted into a common sense approach on life itself.

[@hakametal]

Dutch-style sparring is exactly what stops people from coming back to the gym. I guarantee more will end up losing motivation faster and end up losing interest because of it. Training has to be fun, it has to be playful. The animal kingdom can tell us a lot about what it means to "play fight".

[@Andrew-zr1jt]

Very well said ,among allies that kind of sparring should never happen

[@johnmcpherson1713]

If it does it's because both guys agreed to it in advance. I have a training partner who has over 100 fights - he's tough, long term pro. Sometimes I will ask him to come at me hard - so I know I can deal with it. But its mutually agreed. @@Andrew-zr1jt

[@stooplights2192]

@@burninghammerkai6176how would u know lol, are you a lion?

[@theace228]

​@@stooplights2192He's Tarzan

[@Ara-_-Sso]

​​@@stooplights2192such a dumb statement, should i become a fighter first to know they punching other people?. No, i can just watch a footage showing a fighter punching each other just like how lion "play fight" with each other.

[@Condeycon]

I definitely advocate for the lighter technical sparring as well and most of the intermediate/advanced folks at my gym all agree and do likewise. I find hard sparring is unfortunately most common in a lot of newbies who get really high on nervous energy and swing for the fences. Calming them down without stopping the round or looking “weak” is routinely a challenge. Additionally, as others have mentioned, lightening the mood with jokes and goofiness is good. A lot of people mentally categorize sparring as a mini-fight so doing everything you can to take them out of that mindset helps a lot. I know a lot of people don’t like jokes during sparring, but I find those are usually the people who need to lighten up the most both mood and power-wise.

[@frenchphilosopher302]

Use them to work on your defence and evasion skills, keep touching them up lightly and then they will maybe realise that they will get better results by staying relaxed. you could also just front-leg teep them in the liver area and really push your toes in there....it is usually a kill shot and can be done from safe distance. Like a foot jab but upon impact you contract and try to extend your big toe to penetrate further. The harder they come at you the more it stings. Against any wild amateur i'd rather keep my distance and just touch them up with front kicks and inside low kicks.

[@jmac7034]

Completely agree

[@GeorgeWilliamThomasH]

Icy Mike addressed this in a video. He suggested trying something playful to lighten the mood

[@edwardcostello3992]

I've been going to this gym for years. And I've taken quite a few breaks during high school (cause I was lazy and still regret it), but once out of highschool I was traveling and in college. Also money was an issue for me so I haven't been able to go as much. When I went back one of these times I was able to pay for it, we were working on the clinch. Now I suck at working in and out of the clench, so I try and get myself use to it by doing light uppercuts on my partner as he has his hands around my neck. I guess he got impatient and threw a hard knee, thankfully I blocked it and got back to trying to get used to it. He then threw another knee and landed it against my diaphragm. Completely knocking my breath out and getting me to my knees, he didn't even ask if I was ok and just walked away annoyed. I pushed through it and got back up and called him back. We got back into the clench and lands a second knee. Instantly getting me to my knees and knocking my breath out again, and again walking away without saying anything. Sparring etiquette, especially from my experience, is very important when trying to both teach and help your partners.

[@kenny1034]

You have provided a well balanced analysis, I think more fighters should follow the Thai etiquette on sparring. It allows for proper form training without the escalation. Great content!

[@rw8147]

I've had a few training partners over the years that were a joy to spar hard with. Our trust was mutual and while a punh or something might hurt, no one was trying to injure the other person. Some of those sessions wound up bloody and battered, but it was always mutual and with the coach watching closely and checking in. Mostly though, we did a lot of light sparring trading technique and it was a good time. It was like watching the Thai sparring in this video. Wow, that looks like so much fun and likewise educational. Good stuff!

[@rw8147]

Note: This is the first time I've seen Saencahi as a trainer. Wow!

[@tolinpeterson2670]

Leonard is a true professional. Best way to respond to someone trying to take your head off in sparring is with stiff body shots

[@MB-vt7im]

Wouldn’t be surprised if a rib was cracked, looked lethal

[@rune.theocracy]

Those were some solid body shots if I've ever seen one, I believe he felt it in his liver on the last finishing blow.

[@amosluyk]

Hard sparring... prepare you for fighting, and for early onset dementia.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Yes it’s very important to train smart! Thanks for watching !

[@isjuan1410]

Me as a dutchman is used to only hard sparring you match the experience and level of your opponent and if they decide to go harder they will learn their lesson

[@yentamoon1808]

Such is the risk of combat sports, you can apply that to literally anyone who participates in combat sports

[@vittocrazi]

@@yentamoon1808 not really. With grappling you can go very hard without risking your head much. Joints Will suffer more, but you can still see grapplers being healthy for a long time.

[@CTF768]

@@vittocrazi The way I see it: kickboxing/mma results in CTE/Dementia. Grappling or BJJ results in painful joints or cauliflower ear.

[@johntaylor-lo8qx]

Im a former fighter. My ego was huge. I was a light heavyweight sparring the feather weight champion. He went super light on me. The tiger came out in me and I nailed this guy with a great left hook. Turns out the left hook wasn't as good as I thought, Paul gave me a flurry of light punches that knocked me into the future. Paul made sure I was OK. He was a true champion. Miss you Paul Biafore, you were robbed of your belt. Gr8 video here. I hope non fighters can understand the lessons being taught here.

[@majorspade9629]

I think a good sparring session is where both start light and get to the point of hardness that is agreed upon quietly simply by checking if the opponent attacks harder or stays on a certain level. This is very intuition driven and some beginners totally lack it but imo that's the way to get most out of a session for both

[@majorspade9629]

Of course it should also be always driven by respect for the opponent and their health

[@LawrenceKenshin]

yes de-escalation is an important skill! thanks so much for brining it up and for watching!

[@gaenaegga]

Be more satisfying to see spencer unleash more of his wrath 🤣🤣 but his self control is what makes him such a great person

[@LawrenceKenshin]

So much patience it’s incredible

[@jashardwallington]

Yea idk if id have that much self control i salute to him

[@Sy3dz99]

@@jashardwallington you will know that you are "skilled warrior" when you somehow achieved the same patience level he does. I fear people who can control their emotion the most, cause I know I'm fucked if he "choose" to become a beast.

[@TheBindoS]

Spencer is one of my coaches, his sessions are always a lot of fun

[@ValenThePowerful]

this reminds of that one time we were doing rotation sparring at my gym. basically its 2 minutes spar then 30 second rest and then change partners. I was able to spar with one of the fighters at the gym. I was just going light. doing kicks to the leg at medium level at best. then this dude out of nowhere started going hard on me. so I was like okay I'll turn it up a notch. and after a few kicks and punches. he tried to do a spinning elbow at me with no head gear or elbow pads. so I immediately backed up and thought to myself, why would a pro fighter with better experience than me spar like this? shouldn't he know better to go light on newbies like me so I can actually learn. This gym of mine, a lot of people that goes there have a huge ego. I lost respect for that pro fighter I was sparring with after what he tried to do to me.

[@batmanonholiday4477]

did you tell him he was an idiot or at least reckless? i wonder how these meatheads can articulate themselves?

[@LuqmanderWeise]

Thats maybe a sign to look for a new gym. What I like about my gym is that no one have that ego trip. Also spared against a pro but he didnt beat me up. He motivated me to punch more and gave me tips for my stance, how i should counter etc. Its really important to find a gym where no one have a huge ego because only then, you can get really better

[@SenseiSeth]

They’re always so mean to this dang guy 😂

[@deadpoulpe]

Wassup man ! I'm happily surprised to see you here, love your channel and it's content. Looking forward for your next "If every M.A was in a room"

[@lesterivan282862]

Ay dude on the first clip his hooks landed harder than the elbow he received. Not defending the elbow but he was the one coming hard first.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Hahaha poor jake Paul of Muay Thai

[@LawrenceKenshin]

They weren’t hard brother they were flurries on the gloves, not meant to land at all

[@lesterivan282862]

@@LawrenceKenshin Have to disagree with you on this one. You can hear them land to the face. The first hook you can’t see it very well bc of the camera angle but it sounded and the guy also leaned his head towards it. He also landed the follow up. But lets just agree to disagree

[@VividBoi]

About a month ago I had the chance to spar our gyms best fighter/champion, (which just so happens to be the coach's son), it should also be mentioned that this is the first gym I ever went to, and that I had, at most, 4 months of daily experience prior to this sparring session. The gyms best fighter is actually the one who initiated the session because he was giving me tips on how to get better, leading to the conversation that if I want to get good I should 1. Spar people better than me, and 2. Spar at least at least once a week. He said we can just have a good time, and I'll be able to get a good learning experience out of it. We get in the ring, and I quickly see why he's the best, the first round he only went for about 7 punches, but all of them landed and they were so quick that I only actually seen his fist move once it was already too late. went for a couple quick jabs but he moved out of the way quicker than I knew was possible. Moving into the 2nd round, he picked it up more (I was basically trying as hard as I could throughout the session, I wasn't wildly going after him, but when I seen an opening, I tried to go for it to the best of my ability. Only one of my punches landed throughout the entire session, and it didn't land clean at all.) With that being said, that round he punched me in the head AT LEAST 20 times, majority of them causing me to become lightheaded for a moment, and one hitting my jaw so hard I wasn't able to chew food for a couple days (no bruises though). This is also the round that his father (the coach) started giving him advice on what he should be doing (I had no one "in my corner" to give me advice). Though, I will say when he punched me in the jaw, it was so loud, caused my head to twist so violently, and the grunt I made from it before shrugging it off, made the coach respond to him saying "Too hard", but nevertheless, he continued "coaching" him throughout the rest of the session. 3rd round starts and I feel OKAY, (we only spar 3 rounds at this gym so I knew it would be over soon, and I will say I felt like I was learning a bit because he exposed so many openings on me that I didn't know I had.) However, this round he went the hardest, he let out a flurry on my head about halfway through the round causing me to become so lightheaded that I could no longer feel my legs, so I had no choice in falling. In other words, he knocked me down. About a week later I realized he wasn't using the 16 ounce sparing gloves we are all supposed to wear, he was using his normal 10-ounce fighting gloves. I found this out from someone asking about his gloves, and he responded saying they are his 10-ounce gloves. Those gloves were the same ones he sparred me with. Not that it would have made much of a difference in my favor if he used the 16-ounce gloves that our coach makes us use. And just now, I'm learning that sparring is supposed to be fun, and easy-going, to an extent, with one retired boxing KZbinr stating that he doesn't even believe in going for the head when sparing because, "The little blows over time is what causes the long-term damage." Now I don't really know what to think of the coach or his son, for now I'm still going to the gym because the workout are pretty solid and It's the only good place in the area. For some extra context, we were both wearing our sparing "helmets", I don't know the proper name for them. I spared a total of 2 times before the champ, both of which being beginners.

[@kristianjensen5877]

Man, sad story. That dude was using you as a living sand bag instead of as a sparring partner. If the skill disparity is too high and the more experienced fighter just uses it as a chance to dominate an opponent, nobody really learns anything from the session. As the more experienced fighter, we should instead use the session as an opportunity to have some fun, try out weird techniques / things we suck at while keeping the session friendly or simply as instruction for the lesser experienced fighter, so they get to learn from it rather than feeling defeated. But yeah, lots of instructors and fighters have huge egos preventing them from doing this.

[@HtheKing]

Are you still at that place or did you leave? Cos I'll tell you one thing the coach doesn't give af about you, he let you take hard shorts from an experienced boxer without saying anything. Not only that he was coaching this boxer. He doesn't respect you and you should stop giving him money

[@ostenpham1041]

I’m actually in a very similar situation I’m getting private lessons from this coach and his world champion boxing and kickboxing son. I literally started sparring the first day. That being said, we were both getting headgear and he gave me a very thick torso padding to use. I don’t get why your advanced fighter went so hard, every time I’ve sparred my world champion I can tell he’s not going anywhere near what he could both in speed and power. I respect both the coach and his son very much. At no point in any session do I feel like I’m being battered for my inexperience, and I feel like I’m learning so much from someone of his caliber it’s insane. The first round of sparring wasn’t even sparring, his dad literally told me “try to hit him in anyway you think” and I don’t think I landed one.

[@penthactussoul]

Complain to the coach, leave and use the workouts you learned at home or continue going there but refuse to spar with the "champion" are solutions that come to my mind rn

[@MrVolodus]

Sparring all the time is important. I train for 5-6 years (hard to count with all the covid breaks), but we had 20-30minutes sparring 2 times a week (it is just my hobby, not life goal). I switched gym and there was guy with 1 year experience but almost no sparing ... jeez, I am no pro, I actually suck at it, but that was like game on super easy mode with cheat codes! I could "kill him" right there. But - I kept my punches super light (but fast and plentiful), just to show him all the places I can hit him. Later I started telling him upfront what I see he is doing wrong and what I plan to do, to teach him and also prevent him from hating sparing. I think he learned a lot that day. Your partner was an idiot with self control issues. I refused to spar with guys like him. Even if I want to go hard (you have to learn how to take hits), I chose guys who can control themes and won't do ground pounding if I happen to fall down.

[@joshuapatrick682]

I’m in favor of consensual sparring, meaning if both partners consent to a level, that level is not breached.

[@jameskendrick7805]

10:53 I recently bought UFC blueprint with saenchai. And all the play sparring they did was absolutley phenominal. Saenchai sharing information with Weili and Weili learning as well while sparring, and keeping it playful. Very informative stuff!

[@LawrenceKenshin]

cheers james, how to fight giants is gonna be 10x the course of UFC blueprint!

[@FightCommentary]

Thanks for making this video!

[@LawrenceKenshin]

My pleasure!

[@gy7694]

I remember sparring with a Tae Kwon Do black belt when I was just 14 and was a green belt (only 4 grades up from white belt) and the guy launched me across the floor with a kick to my chest. He was older, way taller and way more experienced. Most of the guys in the club were great but there were definitely some people there that seriously needed to check their egos.

[@RFlairPC]

He was checking you. Looks like it didn't work

[@mechamahou8467]

​@@RFlairPC... How?

[@joshrandal6982]

I always appreciate your explanations. I talked with two students who told me of gym bullies. One was an instructor who knocked the student out. After recovering he told the instructor not to do that again which of course he did. A guy I worked with was a BJJ practitioner. He was getting the better of another student so the student elbowed him in the face knocking out two teeth. I would worry about encountering this because this triggers an “ok anything goes” mindset in me which I can never get over until I even the score many more times back. Usually resorting to ANY means until the score is evened. Obviously I would be a diss appointment to myself and Gandhi, shame and remorse or anger until I assume room temp. Psychotropics do help though. Thank you again Lawrence for ALL your videos.

[@AveSicarius]

The problem with trying to "get even" is you open yourself up to a whole host of potential legal issues if something goes wrong or that person decides to come after you. Yes they might have instigated it, yes you might be practicing martial arts, but that doesn't somehow negate a wrongful injury suit if someone really feels like being vindictive. Really we should just try to put ourselves in a position where our opponents can't hurt us even if they want to (easier said than done, I know) because this not only helps with shitty sparring partner's, it's also great practice for an actual fight. I find this really applies to BJJ practice, because most people don't train with striking in mind, if that was a real altercation clearly getting elbowed in the face is not a good outcome (like seriously, when you roll, keep some form of protection for your face, people shouldn't be able to hit you at all even if you are just training sports BJJ). Being sucker punched is awful, and it really shines a light on what kind of person you are dealing with, but trying to prepare yourself for the worst is already a good idea even without imbeciles trying to inflict harm on you due to their shallow egos and deep insecurities.

[@Blobby192]

An eye for an eye means you have one left gandhi was a fool

[@joshrandal6982]

@@Blobby192 Romans 12:2

[@Blobby192]

@@joshrandal6982 they were too

[@sirmrdresqmd9200]

Years ago when I did martial arts, I liked it when we sparred with light to moderate contact. This way, I could actually tell if I screwed up with blocking. But, before we would spar, we did drills to get a feel for what "light to moderate" feels like. We'd exchange 1-2 punches with one another into the chest. Everyone did that to get comfortable eating them and giving them.

[@joesr31]

Didn’t know about this as a beginner, was always sparring pretty hard in boxing and thats normal but went to a muay thai gym once and was practicing knees, took me about 10mins and a bruised thigh before realising the coaches wanted me to knee softly lol, they were speaking thai and I didn’t understand what they wanted. Felt so embarrassed afterwards, cringing at myself even to this day

[@austin8313]

I think it's important to spar hard enough to get comfortable in a fight like scenario if you're getting ready for a fight. But besides that all sparring should be light/flow.

[@SandaBoxing]

hard sparring is necessary as a fighter and even as a hobbyist, otherwise it's borderline McDojo. About 20% of the time is good.

[@aduhaneh1057]

@@SandaBoxing for hobbyist i would limit jabs and kicks with shin guards. Going to elbows and knees is just a no no, the risk of injury is just not worth it no matter the benefit.

[@SandaBoxing]

@@aduhaneh1057 Then that's a LOW level hobbyist. I train and fight as a hobbyist. Elbows and knees are essential. And jabs only? Give me a break, that's just weak.

[@kalamiess]

@@SandaBoxing Everyone already knows you need some hard sparring sometimes just to stress test what you learned. Light sparring is when you actually improve and are more willing to try new things. But meatheads want to go hard all the time.

[@SandaBoxing]

@@kalamiess Nobody wants to go hard all the time, so stop making up fictional characters. And if hard sparring is for stress testing, then how is that not actually improving?

[@achieveidealweighify]

I agree with the Thai fighters philosophy. When I was competing back in the 80s and early 90s. We used to spar balls to the wall all the time. And I remember going into fights bruised up and injured many times prior to the flight because of the hard sparring. And wasn’t able to perform as well as I did when I went into matches healthier. So I think Thai fighters Much better and smarter as far as taking care of their health. And the many great champions that they produce is a testament to there philosophy. Hard sparring it’s not really necessary. Unless you want to Shorten your fighting career

[@kukaraca]

I was doing mma back in the day, I wasn't a professional just did it for my self (to stay in shape and self defence). Often during sparring sessions more experienced fighters would beat me or even knocked out me. I wasn't escalating it. But this was one of the reasons I left this sport.

[@mndeg]

damn dude

[@doctorofkickboxing]

I agree with the video and the comments of the Thai Coaches. Flow sparring trains your reflexes, rhythm and to keep your cool. It also allows you to try new techniques without the risk to getting hurt badly if it fails. Hard sparring all the time has a much higher chance of getting injured and also makes you move stiff as you're always ready to brace for a hard hit instead of having the timing and distancing trained from flow sparring to evade it.

[@dreamking893]

Good video, this tends to be a big issue in Boxing as well. Fighters lose years off their career because they get into gym wars. While hard sparring is needed to help fighters get used to bigger fighters and getting adjusted to new weight classes it shouldn't be the primary focus.

[@MrVolodus]

Going heavy is ok if you both know about it and want it. But you can go heavy without intent to KO other person. There should be rules set before sparring, about what is allowed and when to stop.

[@TastyScotch]

I never knew the difference between dutch kickboxing and muay thai. The gym i train at currently spars much harder than i am used to, i just assumed i was getting old and slow 😂 but this actually makes a lot of sense! Thanks for explaining that 👍

[@Anna-loves-you]

To put it simply, in Dutch kickboxing you're not allowed to use elbows, clinches are less frequent and it focuses mainly on boxing and low kicks, always moving forward into your opponent. It's a no frills kind of fighting style, just power and speed all the way.

[@jujutsusorcerer3]

Dutch Kickboxing uses Muay Thai, Kyokushin and Boxing, they do train elbows and clinch fighting but its banned during competitions to make the fights less brutal for TV, however if both fighters agree to use clinching and elbows fully, then its allowed. It basically is just way better than Muay Thai cause it has Muay Thai in it mixed with Boxing and Kyokushin which heavily cover the weaknesses you'd have if you just did Muay Thai, those weaknesses being bad boxing, lack of kick versatility and arsenal and ofcourse a bad guard.

[@mrlee9213]

When i was really young hard sparring used to put me off. Then it made me mad and it turned into an ego battle as i got older. Thank god we had a thai trainer come over and now i have learned more in 1 year than i did in 3 years

[@marcusohlson9448]

You should minimize the punches (and obviously legs, knees, elbows) to the head as much as possible when it comes to sparring. Going that hard to your brain at training? Just plain stupid.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Totally agree we need to train smart. Thanks a lot for watching !

[@closeredge5198]

Agreed...at the gyms I've attended in Thailand, we threw punches with open hand (in gloves)....allowed speed but didn't hit with force

[@kimberlydawggg3911]

But in fight situation will they go light on your head

[@danielpere9559]

I think it's ok to go light on the head, not striking the head surely develops a bad habit.

[@Creeperboy-jw2tt]

@@closeredge5198 Been trying this trick as well. It works wonders.

[@InternalPrimate06]

It's fascinating for me to find this video out. I started to train boxing couple months ago and during the sparing I basically obey all the ethics you spoke about. I only hit head with a jabs and at half of strength at best, It's all about the accuracy and speed. Week ago i paired up with this big, tatooed guy who was about 30 lbs heavier than me, much more experienced. He tougth me a lot during the session. I really appreciated him. At the end of a session we do sparings and i was playful and cool about it until the guy started to throw haymakers at my head. The disappointing thing for me was that it didn't awake my fighting presence or whatever Sugar Ray was talking about. I was scared that if I would go hard, the guy would smash me even harder. I felt like a bitch basically and I still don't know how to deal with such situations.

[@rishab0B]

Till you can mentally deal with someone going harder than expected, walk away. Just say no and get another partner. Sparring is to learn and learning becomes stunted when you are afraid

[@izraelavila769]

First you have to maintain composure. Look for openings when they overcommit on hard shots, and stop them with quick strikes when you see they’re going to throw. Make him chase you and play your game, not the other way around

[@matdan2]

Dave bruv should’ve take off your bra and given him a smack

[@TheMonster50]

If someone starts to go hard and I am not in the mood to go to war I put a knee down and exit the ring. I check my ego outside the ropes.

[@osrichitt5269]

Remember man. Even some of the greatest fighters in the world have walked away from bad sparring partners. That’s just common sense.

[@GeertTheys]

Lived in Belgium and I started at 14 dutch style. I was youngest guy in the gym and only teenager. Rest were young adults. I was like 62kg and all the others were 72kg and up. OMG I dreaded sparring, some guys gave a me chance to sometimes counter or get a combo out. But some were just making me turtle up for the whole round. I even been knocked out but heavy weights that hit my defense. After 1 year my trainer used me to show off good defense. I was excellent at avoiding getting beat up. The only thing was my 62kg full power shots couldn't phase anyone at my gym ;) I stuck to it and even did some fights and at my weight it seemed I was quite strong. The other thing is I don't have a good chin and that cut my fighting career short. Once you go up you will hit people on the same skill level and you will be need to be able to take one. Now I Live in Thailand and I'm too old to fight. But I occasionally have months I train when I get too out of shape and I appreciate the fact the sparring is fun. I don't need hard sparring and proof something. I'm happy to be a sparring partner for the fighters of the gym as long as it's for technique and not for showing how though we are....

[@Cradboradfy]

Man, that sounds kinda messed up how even the heavyweights went hard on you. How old are you now if I may ask? Having trained in both Dutch Style and Thai Boxing, do you feel there's any merit to hard sparring? I assume it must've helped you prepare for competition.

[@humancorruption9718]

Respect brother. Dutch style is madness. Lived in Phuket myself near to Tiger muay Thai. Bless ya bro.

[@GeertTheys]

@@Cradboradfy I started at 14 and at that time there was no youth in my country (30years ago). So everyone was 18+. Not sure if it's from then but until today if someone hits me on the head in turns black in front of my eyes. Just recently god like a 60% headkick partially land and was black in front of my eyes for few seconds.

[@GeertTheys]

@@humancorruption9718 Was scared shittless against some of the guys at my gym....

[@GeertTheys]

@Light Dark As I said before I was good at defense as I was called upon by the coach to show good defense. Reason was because I got beat the crap out of. sometimes 40kg+ dude knocked me out on my hands that i tried to offset. He was just too strong. In that time my chin was not glass. I'm 45 years now and the reflexes and timing are waning away so I tend to get hit here and there. But I don't care about it anymore I just do it to stay in decent physical shape...

[@avb19d6]

The size difference issue was a big one for me. I’m tall yeah, however I was walking around 155. Coach had me spar with a 225-230 lb guy. Dude had a left hand that people at his size would get dropped even if it just tapped them. Dude put my lights out so bad it took me away from sparring for a damn long time.

[@melaninjay592]

Your coach used you

[@Six-bw3ir]

@@melaninjay592 fr

[@samblack5313]

Crowbar, carpark, destroy knee so badly the dude doesn’t walk properly ever again. He gave you brain damage, it’s only fair.

[@cerberus.talking]

well, but you still have the small revenge option; gotta take a doomed solid stick or wood club, and drop him, show him the domination he wanted to inflict on you; amd then leave the gym - basically doing side-step from the gym and the seeking revenge from him. So he will be angry but will not find you ☠️🥊🧠🦾

[@christophercarrillo4726]

@@melaninjay592coach didn’t want him in the gym

[@nomnomnommy2955]

I’m not a martial artist but this was a fantastic video. Leaving your ego at the door is often best.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you join us one day

[@SightlessSailor]

I'm a very big believer in being as loose and fluid as possible, whether in training or in a fight. People disagree with me on certain things, when I teach people I always say I care far less about if you keep your hands high or low, do what's comfortable for you but I want to see no tension in your body. Be loose be fluid. Hard sparring just creates tension. It creates grit, anxiety and eventually tunnel vision. I do not believe that hard sparring develops your ability to control your nerves in a fight and stay loose nor do I believe it trains your chin. In my mind it just teaches you how to somewhat fight with the tension and nerves but you're still tense, anxious and can't see passed the act of just hitting the person across from you and only that. Aside from light sparring allowing you to be more clean, fluid and loose with your techniques however you choose to do them, I believe it helps you understand how to stay loose, relaxed and calm in a fight and it helps show you how important that is. So some people say hard sparring prepares you for a fight, I think the opposite. It develops a habit of being tense, gritting your teeth, throw inprecise heavy shots and missing and not being able to get back to being loose and relaxed. Light sparring develops the habit of always staying loose, calm and relaxed and Everytime you feel the nerves or tension you can identify the moments you feel most relaxed and sparring and go back to those moments when most needed. Hard sparring has absolutely no utility in my opinion. NOT A FACT, just my opinion nobody come kill me calling me an idiot please lmao

[@AppendixDaphnis]

1:44 Wanderlei didn't have education, that's what happened

[@valizeth4073]

It's something I've definitely experienced with beginners, they go off unnecessarily hard thinking its a "fight", which just successively trips up the level by experienced fighters and in the end it comes crashing down. A beginner throwing haymaker vs an experienced fighter being genuinely pissed off typically doesnt end well for the beginner.

[@problematic7993]

If your not able to defend haymakers from a beginner then your not much better than one yourself. Sounds like your a bully making excuses for beating up newbies.

[@BufanMuayThai]

@@problematic7993 wauuu… that completely went over your head. He didn’t write anything about not being able to defend or holding he’s own gains the newbie. There are multiple reasons why this way of sparing can be a annoying, where as non of them has to do with not defending your self🙄

[@valizeth4073]

@@problematic7993 It's not about being able to defend yourself, it's about knowing where the level is in a friendly spar, vs a real fight. You dont throw wild uncontrolled haymakers trying to knock your opponent out in a sparring session.

[@angelojaegerrafael]

Thai's are the best strikers... So I'll go with their model

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Agreed bro thanks a lot for watching

[@angelojaegerrafael]

@@LawrenceKenshin thank you for the great content, been following for a long time now, you never disappoint 👍

[@truthseekerKJV]

Thai fighters are the best at leg kicks, elbows and knees. Some are also good strikers, but they specialize in the other 3.

[@WastePlace]

@@truthseekerKJV and clinch work. Great clinch work

[@BarelyAlive146]

@@truthseekerKJV you don’t know much about traditional or stadium Muay Thai do you? Thais don’t specialise in anything, every Thai fighter has their own style (Muay femur, Muay khao, Muay Mat etc.) and some have a hybrid of these styles. In fact, if Thais were to specialise in anything it would be their mid to high roundhouse kicks, since this is scored the most by judges in Thailand. Leg kicks are actually not scored highly at all in traditional Muay Thai and you’ll rarely see them throw it in a high stakes situation. There is a misconception that Thais are just good low kicks and elbow every chance they get which isn’t true, it all depends on their style like I said. You can’t generalise Muay Thai fighters. Watch a good Muay femur style fighter and you’ll realise they can be highly technical and well rounded using all their points of contacts when it is most efficient, someone like Nong-o or Tawanchai.

[@mrsmallpinky9041]

I found some people in training took the hard shots but didnt like getting them back.

[@michaelpetrovich5353]

I know exactly what you are saying. They sure get upset when you hit back.

[@nierliveson5855]

Some people don't like the taste of their own medicine.

[@jx2794]

My boxing coach called it "getting more interested in each other." Trust has a lot to do with it. Even when we got more interested in each other, we trusted one another not to escalate beyond a certain level of intensity.

[@luismunoz588]

I think that both styles of sparting are equally important and both need to be done in tandem with each other. You need light sparry to check your techniques, make sure your footwork is alligned, and that you know how to set up your strikes, combos and take-downs. However, you also need heavy sparring to ensure that your developed strategies are actually combat effective. Sure, you can successfully pull of a grab, or throw in light sparring, but only through heavy sparring will you know if you can maintain the advantage those moves give you by testing them against the ferocity of an active opponent.

[@XplosivDS]

If equipment is used and the intensity is agreed upon then yes, it's really important

[@luismunoz588]

@@XplosivDS you're not always going to have headgear in the ring. You have to get used to taking hits for real.

[@XplosivDS]

@@luismunoz588 Yes but idealy not strong enough hits that don't let you keep training. I personaly don't use headgear when we spar mainly because we nor the gym don't have none

[@luismunoz588]

@@XplosivDS for sure. No one wants to get decomissioned or responisble for perma-benching their training partner.

[@tanthai3653]

Its really like 75% light/technical sparring, 15% hard sparring with gear, 10% hard sparring without gear. Maybe 4 sessions of hard, gear-less sparring in an entire 10 week camp

[@SuperBlake89]

This was great content Lawrence. Thank you for sharing 🙏 Please do more videos in the future on sparring ettiquette, sparring styles, sparring intensity, sparring frequency and how to use all these to spar as often as possible to improve with the least amount of injuries and brain damage as possible. Hopefully that will lead to more play sparring and less hard sparring in many gyms. 🤙

[@LawrenceKenshin]

Thanks so much for watching Blake !

[@NYKgjl10]

Love this video based on sparring etiquette which I feel we still need to learn. As a Karateka and taking boxing at my local gym apart from Karate, sparring should be light, but also train with respecting your sparring partner as both you and your partner are exchanging data information like learning a new language. Now, in tournaments, its different, but sparring should always be done light, medium at best.

[@kittykatattack418]

I've been training for nearly a year now. I love practicing and drilling techniques and trying to improve my kicking and striking. However, sparring is something I've always struggled with; there's definitely some trust issues involved. I like being playful, having fun and joking around, while trying to focus on technique and defense (my blocking is trash). However, many sparring partners I've trained with have a heavy "power" mindset and it shows in their sparring as well. Getting hit hard, while I am very obviously on the defensive and not returning hard shots, has seriously made sparring more of a stressful activity than anything else. I blew my fuse at one point after finally getting hooked hard in the jaw when it was completely unnecessary, and my coach had to split us up. I apologized profusely afterwards for losing my temper. Ever since that incident I only train the drills and techniques and skip out on sparring because I'm not comfortable enough with my classmates.

[@MrVolodus]

Sparring is best part of kick/thai/boxing ... to bad you didn't find someone like you. I also like light sparring most of the time - sometimes light tap on nose is better learning (and embarrassing) moment than having nose bleed and stopping sparring. I just need someone to point out my weak spots, not to kill me.

[@pencilbender]

(Dutch) i was underweight af and anytime we sparred people where eager to go against me just because i was easy to dominate. I learnt nothing other that to take a punch during those sessions

[@mikuspalmis]

That was weak minded of them.

[@billycris2878]

I started off as a crappy partner, kicking legs hard and stiff jabs, but luckily I watched this video early and honestly everyone I’ve sparred with since has never complained, I get a lot of compliments and point people to this video a lot.

[@Halibut86]

I think either style is fine as long as you've expressly agreed upon limits with your partner. There are definitely advantages to going all-out, but the risk of injuring both yourself and the opponent are great. If you violate the agreement or don't keep your ego in check, that's when real fights can break out and it becomes very dangerous.

[@philosopher2king]

A beginner student who spars hard will only learn to develop bad habits. If you’re beginner, you’re probably going harder than you think you are, so be mindful. Spar only with advanced students and never be embarrassed to tell them upfront that you want to go light and if things escalate say “ease up“. Also remember that the lighter you go, the longer you go. You are better off training 15 rounds super light instead of five hard ones. Sparring sessions are meant to teach you how to fight, not to work out your or your opponent's pent up anger.

[@TheKickboxerr]

I'm Dutch and i've been training now for 6/7 months and recently started with sparring. I expected that it was gonna be pure hell and that everyone was going full power and with almost no control because of the stories I heard on the internet about "dutch style sparring". But it turned out to be exactly the opposite! Everyone was chill and took into account the skill level of others so that everyone could learn something and participate no matter how good you are. The trainer kept a close eye on everything and gave tips if he saw things that needed improvement. He also interrupted when people started sparring too hard. Maybe it is because our coaches have alot of experience and the people that we do sparring with are on a pretty professional level (competition level) so they don't have to prove anything to eachother, because they already know of each other what their skill is.

[@justpette1503]

I am in favour of light sparring for learning purposes, to sharpen your reflexes and ensure you perform your moves properly. Although I am in favour also of completing this with hard sparring or rather 'casual matches' on a smaller frequency.

[@DshaunBirch]

light sparring; heavy conditioning AFTER sparring i don’t believe in dog tired sparring i want the mind sharp for sparring kill ‘em with conditioning after the contact

[@Pennergon]

Both Silva’s are having a to big ego. They are the professionals they should keep control, like Saenchai. When you grow up in a country where every toddler got a 100+ fights, you don‘t need hard sparring. In the Western countries it is necessary. I would say 50:50 for flow and hard sparring. Maybe 60:40

[@jx2794]

I was lucky because my boxing gym was run by karate people. They kept egos in check and were big on keeping it polite in the ring. But it was very clear when people came from other gyms or even other countries that playful sparring is not always the norm.

[@smartchai]

Sparring is about trying to improve one's attack & defense ! It's NOT about trying to hurt your sparring partner ! If you hurt your sparring partner, then who will help you improve your fighting skills ???? Nothing is learned or gained from hard sparring sessions with reckless sparring partners !

[@closeredge5198]

I'm proud to say that the good examples of sparring were at my gym 💯 ... we specialize in knee and clinch (although my style is femue), but the coaches reinforce DISCIPLINE.....Spencer and Saenchai were great men and we had a great day. Also..... Sitjaopho!!! 👊

[@LawrenceKenshin]

cheers, great gym and thanks for watching!

[@_mass_477]

Sparring is a learning method. Not an ego booster

[@johnmill9286]

I have a sparring super-jerk in my muay thai gym: a) as a more recent development, he got it into his head to train and even try to spar with a baseball cap on (bc 'cool/fashionable' or whatever; it's just retarded; Idk why the trainer let's him wear that crap during training even); b) he catches my light kicks nonstop; c) he at some point kinda threw himself on my leg after holding it (fortunately no injury); d) he is superscared of knees, not possible to even threaten him with them or do them lightly (I kinda am a kneefighter who can control them); e) he sometimes needs to take extra time and stops sparring in the middle of a round bc out of breath instead of continuing light; f) he ran me into another couple without stopping; g) he ran me off the sparring field; h) after recovering from one of his out of breath things and me going light on him bc of his endurance, he like did a 20 hit combo and just did not stop. Such a jerk/idiot. He is 41. Another more experienced guy low kicked me hardish right into my standing leg knee as a thank you for just doing a light head kick on him. Totally unnessary, but fortunately no damage; only felt the knee for a week.

[@LawrenceKenshin]

thanks for sharing and for watching brother !

[@jamesf3532]

someone catching every light kick is so annoying

[@daerbmob2760]

find a new gym lol

[@johnmill9286]

@@LawrenceKenshin Ty so much, great channel LK and very good and necessary video. Too many guys still have a subpar attitude when it comes to sparring which should be light/technical/playful/a space to experiment first and foremost imo.

[@napatt.7943]

how the hell can he clinch with cap on

[@simonpierrelauzon3845]

great vid, no one at my gym explained sparring except to say to go at 50 %, 80% if you're training for a fight. In Thailand I sparred against a woman and the coaches kept telling me to go easier...but I thought I was going as easy as I could. I didn't understand nor had I ever learned to correctly spar.

[@Ballisticbob517]

Let your training partners know that you have an issue with intensity/power, tell them you won't be offended if they ask you to go lighter or go harder

[@gorgosanma]

Totally agree. Flow sparring should allow to train more as the risk of interrupting training because of injuries is greatly reduced.

[@shanrafnezden7958]

Love this video. I'm Dutch and indeed we beat the crap out of each other. Not good! I can't wait to train in Thailand and experience the flow sparring experience. I'm in my fifties and have no appetite for injuries. Or proving anything to anybody.

[@todo9633]

Casually throwing in "I helped set up the spar between Zhang Weili and Saenchai" lol. What a legend.

[@shadowwalker2436]

Wrestler here. Was sparring with a football player who was two weight classes above me. Heavyweight. I was 189 but weighed 172 at this time. Wasn't trying hard. Just teaching him some stuff that would be best for his size. After a spar was over. He decided to do a full body slam on my back as I was getting up from a leg stretching position 'V'. Wrestled for 8+ years at this moment. Ripped my lower back muscles. I instinctively rolled on my back. I remember I couldn't move my legs or feel them for about a solid minute. I was honestly terrified. Some feeling was coming back to my legs, but I couldn't stand of course. Couldn't breathe. NEVER felt pain like that before. I've wrestled with a few broken toes, sprained thumb/wrist and all kinds of shit. Literally thought I was gonna die lol. I was pissed. Had a tournament literally a couple days after. (Obviously lost. I couldn't touch my toes like before, couldn't speed walk, let alone run. No crouching. No way to attack or defend. Never wrestled again.) I cried ahahaha. Damn, that was a rough time for me.

[@mikuspalmis]

What was everyone's response immediately after this happened? How was the interaction between the two of you right after and from then on?

[@leonidasnm161]

You almost got completely paralyzed, this is madness.

[@believein1]

Sociologically, Asian people are more concerned with harmony than individual success. I think this shows here.

[@aczeartk7032]

The Thais definitely got it right

[@fikriasrofi5312]

That what what i learn in my anthropology class asian people are more group oriented

[@Mushimiya]

@@aczeartk7032 Rico Verhoeven and plenty of other great Dutch fighters disagree.

[@MMALAB]

I will definitely go with the flow, light sparring as I used to do when I was fighting, and a bit harder before the fights. I encourage my, my team, as well to spar lightly most of the time. Light sparring is fun creative like the kittens playing and not killing each other, sharpening their skills and in no time they can go hunt and kill mice. The Thai way of sparring is correct and it has proven itself to work with the most devastating martial art for centuries. And from the perspective of sportsmanship and well-being, light sparring is correct. Muay Thai has other strategies and tools to emulate hard striking, receiving at the same time blows, pad work ing s one of them and it works just fine as it is proven. The difference I believe is in the demeanor and temper, which has to do a lot with the cultural background of the fighter. In the west, we are generally more hot-tempered than Thai people and this is reflected in our sparring too. Great video as always 🙏 .

[@masterbetacypto9740]

If you spar with a professional boxer in the Philippines or professional Muay Thai fighter in Thailand they'll just play around with you. They can avoid getting hit, and hit back (gently) anytime they want. They are very relaxed and never go hard on a non professional. This is how the best spar at their sport.

[@deadpoulpe]

Fantastic content, while I don't practice striking arts, I do grappling and it's exactly the same. The goal of sparring shouldn't be to win, it's much more about perfecting it's technic and allowing your partner to do the same.

[@RozKounelakion]

For sure. What these guys are doing is basically the equivalent of breaking someone's arm with an armbar in practice. There's absolutely no reason it should happen

[@1tanou]

Very useful. It’s too easy that sparring escalate slightly more than necessary where practicing good technique is not the primary objective.

[@shadowsib6949]

I've come to dislike hard sparring. I'm Dutch, so it's pretty common. Now, practicing kyokushin didn't help of course. But I moved and joined a muay thai gym. We don't spar, we "play". Which takes some adjusting. But I found myself trying things I wasn't comfortable with before. Which is much more valuable than coming home with bruises imo.

[@KwizzyDaAwesome]

Great video! Question: can you talk (or maybe this is another video) about the social constraints that make it hard to just walk away from a spar where someone has, intentionally or not, broken the rules? Even when no one is actively watching, there's an internal instinct not to let oneself down or let oneself be intimidated. Is it realistic to try to develop a "shutdown" protocol, or is it better to develop more ways to de-escalate and set the boundaries of courtesy early and often?

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

In some of these situations like with Wanderlei he was a notorious roid head with a long history of unchecked aggression. I think a gym should keep an eye on guys like that that have no self control, and if it comes down to it the coaches need to step in before they start hurting the other students

[@sevenchambers]

The mma community needs to gatekeep. Problem solved.

[@ahijado86]

At the gym I go to, it's full speed light/minimal contact. For face and head shots open the fist and tap/tag the head/face. You'll know it's too much when you start to actually smack or slap the other person. For body shots you can use a closed fist but you are just touching/tagging the body to let the person know contact was made. The overall goal is to look for openings, move your feet, keep your guard up and make contact, all while keeping your reflexes sharp, being able to see punches/coming at full speed and using your defense. Then we do round robins. 5 mins of spar with one person then immediately to another person. First person might be 6'1 then the next person 5'9 then the next person 6'3. Different body sizes, shapes, different fight styles. You have to be able to acclimate quickly because in real life you don't get to study your opponent.