New to Kempo Karate sparring? Here are ten tips to help you sharpen your crafting skills.
1. Define your goals by saving.
Kempo Karate Master Ed Parker defined sparring (or freestyle fighting) as Tournament Freestyle and Street Freestyle – or fighting with rules and fighting without rules. It is unusual today to find a karate studio that promotes street style, because of our successful culture. But it’s street boxing and non-tournament boxing that provides a more realistic way to train for self-defense. If you are planning on sparring for self-defense purposes, make sure you make this clear to yourself by starting sparring training with Kempo. Sparing laughter and sparing self-defense are not quite the same thing, so make sure you consider what your goals are before you start. However, sparing tournament style can still help you to increase your reaction time and understanding of some of the things you can see in a “real battle”.
2. Share with different people at different levels of the battle to improve.
Expand your skills and your wide range of techniques by sparring with all different people sparring partners. Hang out with people bigger than you – they’ll teach you what it feels like to absorb the impact of someone bigger and stronger than you. Even smaller than you – they might surprise you with their speed and different fighting style. And always try to spare people better than you – it’s the best way to improve.
3. Learn which strike and block combinations work for you
Back when I competed in sparring karate tournaments on a regular basis, I developed a few signature combinations that worked for me every time – even against those who knew they were coming. What did they do well? My body type and my fights were correct, so I could do it against almost any opponent. Here are just two of my favorites:
- Light in and sidekick – propel the opponent by breaking the foot. Then, as they move towards you, quickly turn around and throw your best sidekick (also called a back kick). I had several opponents walk right on my kick with little effort.
- Jab and counter punch – perhaps the oldest trick in the book, but often effective nonetheless. Most people have a knee-jerk reaction when an object flies towards their face at lightning fast speed: cover their face! The adversary’s face is forced towards the friend’s face to raise his hands, leaving the body open to the opposite iron.
4. Agility and speed prevail in strength and power.
If my karate master said it once, he said it a hundred times: in a fight, speed is more important than strength. Dilated harder than you want; if I am faster than you are, you will never connect with that powerful kick or blade, and I will strike you five times before you have time to recover. So to really improve your kempo sparring skills, start with better speed and hand foot and hand .
5. Move in X, not in T.
Watch the beginner Kempo students fight to spare and you will probably see them advancing towards each other in straight lines. A more skilled fighter moves at an angle, in the form of an X. Moving to an X makes it easier to open openings in your opponent’s body and head, while making it harder to hit you. For example, the opponent twists the iron. Starting from that, the iron will rest in a straight line. A more experienced fighter will advance in X to the side of the iron that will strike the now exposed ribs.
6. Always watch your opponent’s face, especially his eyes.
Often a slight darting of the eyes or a tilt of the head will be the “telegraph” where the opponent plans to strike his next ascent. A shrewd student of the language will be able to pick up on the shrewdness of the body and be easily moved by this subtle signal. the way before the iron or the kick is thrown. Their Eyes Were Watching God may well be a pretense of detection. For example, if an opponent shoots a spike at your temple but is looking at your ticks, I recommend keeping your body covered!
7. Be careful, keep your hands!
“Always keep your hands up!” It was another one of my favorite parts of my karate training plan. When you lower your hands, not only do you leave them exposed, but your hands also have a longer path to the block or iron. This extra space costs valuable time.
8. The best obstacle is not to be there.
But even better than blocking the iron with hands or feet, is to move completely out of the way. Sometimes, he may try to prove that you are “tough” and smart by hitting or kicking him. He seems almost too lazy to move out of the way. But when you move out of the way and your punch or kick can’t connect with their target, you leave your opponent off-side and exposed. Moving out of the way is a far better defense than blocking – blocking should only be final.
9. Too much hotdog, not enough sauce.
Ok, we know you’re cool. But while your interest is moving Ralph Maccio, step out of the way and throw a simple reverse kick while you’re airborne in your jump kick. Nobody likes a hotdog showoff. All your cocky attitude is going to make your opponent try to hit you harder in your park.
10. Every unwelcome move leaves a defensive opening.
Finally, whether you are defending or attacking in the park, always remember that every offensive move leaves a defensive opening. A kick can take you away. The reverse iron leaves part of your temple open. The figure leaves your ribs exposed. By experimenting and watching other fighters, I scattered, what moved me, what opened me up. Then in the ring, when your opponent shoots it, you’ll know what opening to look for.
Good luck sparring with Kempo Karate!
