In my experience, sparring at a single range (though good for practicing a specific set of techniques) has one main purpose - to feed the egos of the fighters. You get good at one range and you excel. You may get good at two or even three ranges (e.g. kicking, infighting, grappling), and staying put in any one of them is fun, because it is comfortable. I once knew a guy who would actually watch himself in the mirror when throwing a kicking attack. He was that confident, that vain, that arrogant - that inexperienced with the realitites of full range sparring.

It is the transitions between different ranges that are a challenge. Entering and exiting - those moments that you have to build up to and when you are most vulnerable. This is what takes the machismo out of the battle and separates the men from the boys. The idea of martial arts training, as I see it, is to protect your body from harm. Therefore, it is during the transitions that the most skill and care are needed, to avoid broken fingers, noses, ribs etc.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Training tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.