are there any clubs that will let me spar straight away if you ask them or do you need to impress, ive training for 4months now and my trainer says he will look for sparring partners to bring from local clubs, for some reason he doesnt let us spar each other if we are in different weight classes, most of the group being a stone lighter and few a stone heavier, which isnt a problem to me or anyone else i reckon. the club is local and free so i cant complain and is hard working, but getting a bit fed up of shadow/bag work every session.
Just keep telling him your happy to spar with the bigger guys hopefully he will give in eventually. Just don't blame him when you get beat up lol
You need to show you are capable, and then request it at my gym. I have sparred guys from Welterweight to Super Heavyweight.
Both of my gyms have waited until you've learned something to put you in sparring, and even then it's with someone who knows how to hold back
Two guys that I am training at the moment have never hit a bag or the pads. Only each other. Controversial I know but they are making fast progress.
i didnt spar until the 3rd week, but then again, the guys in my weight class were commonwealth games competitors so far more skilled and experienced. im sure your trainer , if you trust him, will do whats best for you. sparring right away against experienced guys is good provided your guy isnt a dick, and also depending on what you want to get out of it. ive seen guys pick up bad habits that stayed for good after a traumatic first sparring experience. like turning their heads away, orthe like- because they got badly hurt, and dint have the chance to develop a defence gradually before they were being hit. but then , i ve seen guys who have the traits to fight right away.
I'd be interested in hearing more about this. Seems to me like the best way to learn to hit someone is to hit someone. Thinking of jumping back into training but I'm feeling like my left hand (injured) won't hold up to rounds upon rounds of bag-pounding and mittwork. Was thinking of doing a mostly running/conditioning routine with just sparring and shadowboxing when I'm at the gym.
Mate thats pretty much exactly what I did a few months ago for a month or two, had pretty bad hand pains (both hands although right was worse) and any bag work and mittwork would just make things worse. Ended up just using the floor to ceiling bag alot because its easy on the hands, and just sparring a shedload. Completely stopped using the heavy bag and mitts. Didnt even really do much running/conditioning outside of the gym in that period but even so, my fitness was better then it had ever been. To be fair my daytime job is active and involves many miles of walking but the experience has kind of got me thinking sparring alone is enough to get into fight condition.
Well without giving too much away I find that pairing people up is a great way for both to learn about punching and blocking techniques and also correct punching arc which is something that takes a while on the pads. Might make some YouTube videos one day- my methods seem to be as good as any of the beginner videos on there not trying to sound big headed! Everyone I train even those with completely terrible motor skills like someone like ylem, get to a point where they can box a bit and spar! Time will tell with my younger prodigys
