So I got back from the gym about 5 hours ago from a pretty good sparring session. My defense was good all around. The only problem was that I took about 3-5 decently powerful direct hooks to the head. Not enough power to really even cause a headache but I still feel them slightly. I'm thinking about going into the gym tomorrow to spar again but I'm having second thoughts. Should I work out at a regular gym and then spar the next day? Or should I just go into the boxing gym and spar anyways regardless of how I feel? Sometimes my coach won't even allow boxers who have sparred the previous day to spar again the next. But then again sometimes he does. Your thoughts?
It depends on how you feel. It's not irregular for coaches to not want their fighters to spar everyday.
Yeah, it's just that I hate the feeling of not training, you know? I always picture in my head my opponent training everyday and if I'm not training everyday then that's one advantage that he'll have over me. But if my coach says I can't spar then I guess I can't spar. I feel fine now though, my head feels like I didn't even spar at all today . I don't know, I'm still going to have to think it through a little bit more.
You can do other things than spar. Hit the heavy bag, pads, skip etc. There's no reason not to train, just don't be getting hit in the head every day.
Yeah I know that's what I'm saying. I'm going to train fitness/technique wise regardless of how much punishment I took in sparring. It's just the sparring again after just sparring that's a problem. I've made up my mind now and I'm just going to train at my house. I figure if I get there the coach probably wont let me spar anyways. There's no sense in driving 20 miles and back just to do what I could be doing at my house.
Taking hard punches everyday is not smart, nor will it improve your game. Spar, analyse what happened, work on it, and spar again. For example you could conclude from your sparring that you need to take less punches, and that could be accomplished by more movement. So you'd shadowbox, work on the bag, whatever, while you work on your in and out / lateral movement. Or keeping your hands up, whatever. Sparring is important but I like to work on something first before trying it again.
:good Well said, I know plenty of people who train like animals and spar everyday but don't get any better... particularly Ann Wolfe's fighters.
Definitely know what you're saying there, but that can play into the other fighters hands too. If you over train imagining the other fighter is training while you are resting, so you decide to train just a bit more, a bit more, until next thing you know, you're :nut. Fight night comes and you get ******* sparked out because you are a shell of yourself from over training. Just from what you're saying, it sounds like you have the drive, but you do need rest. It doesn't mean you are being lazy. Getting ready for a fight can be sort of like the weather. A lot of times the weather man try's to predict the weather a day early because it's better to warn you of a upcoming storm and be prepared rather than get caught in it with no f'ing coat. You might think you feel fine while you're over training but then the next day comes and you're like damn I'm sort of tired. Catch me? P.S. I'm not implying that you are over training by the way just giving an example.
Thanks for the answers guys. It gives me a better perspective on how much I should really be sparring.
I personally need time between my sparing sessions, sometimes over a week. I feel like I improve not from sparring but from thinking about what happened in my last session and drilling adjustments, then testing them out the next time. Also, it takes a few days for the headaches to go away sometimes
I used to spar almost every day. Sometimes twice a day. I don't really advocate that kind of training anymore. In retrospect it was pretty dumb, and I'm lucky I got through it with very few injuries. I still spar quite often, generally 4 or 5 times a week, but it's a lot more controlled and technique oriented, rather than just the gym wars I used to be involved in.
This is an old thread, but I do this. I feel like hitting the bags, shadowbox, etc.. don't really improve my game. They improve some techniques and athleticism - but nothing really imitates boxing and analyzing the night, then sparring again the next day. There's nothing like it - AND it's so ****ing fun!! Nothing compares to a good technical session followed by a gym war. Hell, it's better than sex sometimes. I love it. But the posters are right, sometimes I feel they do affect you the next day and you need to take a day off.
Speaking as a former coach, I don’t advocate taking days off away from the boxing gym. There’s teaching and fundamentals that can be done. Doesn’t have to be sparring. I think most coaches tend to spend their time with the guys who show up every day, not just when they feel like it. Not saying you should spar every day. Sometimes back-to-back days are necessary — if you’re getting ready for a longer pro fight (more than a 4-rounder) or an amateur tournament where you might have to fight on back-to-back days. But usually we sparred maybe twice a week and not back to back ... if we did more days, not everyone would spar every day.