MUST WATCH BEFORE YOUR NEXT SPARRING | Good VS Bad Sparring Etiquette 

I saved Shane’s life there

the way shane shows how to go from 100% power to 30% is actually brilliant

I really want people to understand Seth's tip!

Icy Mike's tip is something my Judo sensei's always do for me and I always appreciate it - and I always try to thank them for "letting me work". Like Icy Mike says, students don't always acknowledge that's what's happening and it can be a little off putting to hear a 2 week student bragging about the "great round" they just had with a higher belt.

Not gonna lie I started watching figuring that I would hear all the same basic info "don't try to hurt your partner you're there to learn not to win" type stuff which I 100% agree with but also hear on a day to day basis in the gym and on combat sports RU-vid. But wow all of these tips are incredibly valuable and I definitely wouldn't never considered a lot of these ideas, thank you for sharing Kevin!

In general if the partner is going a bit too hard, I try to deescalate, by giving them a bit more space, focusing on defense and attacking super light. I also try to communicate a more relaxed attitude. And if this doesn't work I straight up tell them to chill. If they don't... I try to hurt them to the body and tire them with tons of clinch.

I wish I had these tips for my 13 year old self. My instructor gave us little direction when we sparred and so many of us took unnecessary liver shots from people that outweighed us smaller kids. At least I can say I’m glad that school is long gone.

Love all the knowledge and love you guys collab like always!!!!!! I love the beginning and Mike just bullied Seth out and stole his line hahahahaha funny as hell!!!😂😂😂😂

I'm no coach/sensei/fighter; but I've played guitar for 15+ years now, and have worked as a guitar teacher, and pretty much all of this mirrors learning/practicing/teaching guitar. Slowing down what you are practicing to play it better when you play it faster. Also, slowing yourself down, so the student can practice at their level/pace. Bumping up (or even down) tempo in small increments. Respecting other's strengths, weaknesses, and skill level when practicing, jamming, or performing with them (as well as what they want to get out of that). Practicing just one part/technique, and then adding more parts or techniques when things start to get too easy/comfortable. Putting emphasis on the student, setting ego aside, but can still get time in on your own fundamentals and basics. I feel these are all things any good teacher or student understands, and definitely shows just how good of teachers these guys all are. People say, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." But, really, those who can teach (well) can do, have done, and know how to get others from can't do, to can do. Thanks for the great video, and all the great knowledge!

Lot's of good tips. Great video!

Mike's comment about people not knowing they're going hard is very important. Something I think most of us don't think about when we say "hit as hard as you want to get hit" is that hard to me is not the same thing as someone who justed started for example. So even with experience I may think someone is hitting me hard and therefore I turn my shots up, well now they think I'm hitting them hard... Around and around we go. I think it's worth replacing "hit as hard as you want to get hit" with "if someone is hitting you too hard, tell them". That gets rid of a lot of the crazy escalation in sparring.

Alol, that is probably one of the best starts to a video. Mike and Shane crushed it.

awesome video all around, great coaches/teachers

You lot are just amazing. It's so much fun watching you have fun together and teaching each other (and us) your stuff. I could copy&paste this under so much videos of you guys. Thank you!

The slow motion sparring is a great idea thank you. All the others are great too thank you

Great insightful video, cool to see Gabriel Varga featured

Varga: you only get 1 brain but livers can be transplanted.

As a wing chun guy, who's just started MMA, this channel is dope I just found it. Theres not much good WC guys on YT

You guys are the Avengers of martial arts! 👊😆 Keep it going! 🥊

Man, I love all these collabs! Great tips across the boards

I really liked Seth using the mcdojo recover technique in the beginning. Lol. The times I have sparred with someone less skilled than me by comparison, or a couple times with a pro, I do what Mike said and work my stuff, but also allow my partner to not only work their stuff, but sometimes reward them by giving them a little more "comeback." (With the pro, they'd be training for a fight so we didn't go hard anyway, but giving them stuff from me to think about/consider, but also letting them get their reps in too. They were usually good at letting me work as well).

Good lesson coach! Sparring is about learning and improving techniques. Lots of people take it seriously and do it like they’re fighting in the match. This is your first video I’ve watched. I like it. Hope you made good videos like this more and more. You’ve got my like and follow. 🥊💯

So much knowledge and talent all in one gym. It is a pleasure to watch these videos. I don't think I have watched one and not taken away something positive. Thank you all. 🙏

omg I hate so much when they don't respect my head kicks! Great video thanks for the tips

Man, as a teacher, rewarding good behaviour is the best thing you can do to encourage your students to do better. You're already a badass, so no reason to prove it. Remember why you started being a teacher in the first place. Brilliant

such good advice all round.

Excellent video, Kevkev!

Thanks for the pointers!

This was a really good video! Loved all the insight. I was really wondering what you do tho Kevin! I loved Icy Mikes reward system. I have kinda already been doing that with my students and not knowing it. What I run into is that I have no one I know to spar thats around my level. I need to get out and meet more martial artist around me that can drop the ego and have fun! Again loved the video!

Great tips, thanks for sharing guys!

Amazing tips

Excellent video on sparring etiquette

Wow, thank you so much. Immediately subbed to the channel! Awesome!

What a finishing combo to finish the sparring session, thanks sensei I will use this next time I spar.

Great video as always sir. Excellent tips from everyone

5:38 - "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

Great stuff guys, good gym energy

We have been sparring alot in my gym and my coach has been saying to go light and slow and work on timing. Great advice from everyone here.

Also...I really liked the start at 100 an drop down by increments of ten so people understand actually how hard they are hitting! :)

Mike is the teacher we all wish we had.

Lee bringing more great info to us! Each coach had their focused strength tip! Great video! Seth Too LOL

Guys, this video just became my no 1 reference to good Sparring etiquette

Great content!

Agreed, I didn't know how hard I was swinging. I was just trying to flow and connect. Sometimes I let it go too fast and then things might get out of control because that sets off the other guy. Another good tip is for the other fighter to say hey, lets take it down a notch. It's better than just butting heads.

The reward for good behavior tip is solid. I especially like to reward good footwork - people light up when they feel the effect of changing angles.

Dope flick 🤘⭐️

Love these so much

I finally found out where Kevin Lee fits into this!

Whimsical Whackadoo Shenanigans is the most powerful martial art.

Very nice love it I aint been to a gym in 20 years+ since I was in high school but we train and spar amongst family and friends I try to show a few including my 15 yr old nephew some things kind of as a stepping stone to a real gym but from time to time it gets rough these tips really will help I think

Great vid. I think its tough for those of us for whom high school sports (esp. football and wrestling) were our formative athletic experience because the culture in those sports is that you go as hard as you can all the time and if you don't, then you're going to sit bench and you're a bad teammate for cheating your partner out of quality reps. Because I focus on self-defense and not sport fighting, I usually slap spar bare-handed (or in wraps). Leg and body kicks can go 50-80%. Elbows, knees, and head kicks you still have to pull. Eye and throat strikes are not allowed. I do it this way because I want to be able to practice trapping, footwork, parrying, evasion, clinch, standing grapples, etc. at full speed so I can get a real sense of timing and to feel the pressure of a fully resistant opponent but obviously I don't want the damage. Obviously, elbows, knees, and head kicks you still have to pull and eye and throat strikes are not allowed. My pet peeve is kick catching at half speed. You shouldn't really be catching kicks in half-speed sparring...but if you do, you should have the courtesy to release it and reset (not sweep or throw or strike or whatever). If you're attacking off a half speed kick catch, then you're begging for your partner to start kicking full.

Preach

Damn really liked that last guy tip

Just subbed great tips

Collab keeps on giving :)

Yes, respect the kick and ever other strike that is pulled.

It's pretty easy to remove the ego from sparring as long as the less-experienced partner knows that's what's going on. I have to admit that when people start to seriously believe they can beat me and begin to get cocky...I want to disabuse them of that notion really quickly. To be fair, I usually have that in fencing, where going all-out in sparring really won't hurt anyone anyway. In krav, it's mostly people who, like Sensei Seth said, don't respect the hits. They'll bull-rush through a dozen hits to the head to get close because they're not getting hurt anyway, and I'm not skilled enough myself to really handle it other than defending and trying to open the distance a bit again.

Good stuff guys

Good job men

Shane is funny,” where am i “😹😹😹😹

Rewarding good behavior is called operant conditioning and is a better way to achieve a desired skill set than punishing bad behavior.

Kevin the hammer lee 🔥🔥🔥🔥

This is like the all stars team of RU-vid combat sport coaching all legends

I do the same thing icy mike was talking about. I'm in a very small club and the girly that we are trying to help is VERY new, so, I'm never trying to "win", cause it wouldn't mean anything. I'm trying to leave stuff open so she can "see" the opening and land a hit. My thinking is simple, if I want to get better, I need to help my opponent get better so I can practice later on. Otherwise, I'm gonna get a false sense of victory, my training partner will get frustrated and quit... Then what?! Take your eyes off of yourself and focus on someone else. (Remove your ego). My chance to "try" comes when I fight the instructor. He is 100lbs bigger than me and has like 5-6 inches on me. So, in that scenario, I want to try and neutralize his strategy. If I can, then I call that a win for the sparring session. Even better if I can submit him... But that hasn't happened yet... Yet being the key word.

That intro !!!! XD

Respecting peoples' strikes, and the fact that they threw them at a managable speed, is huge. Too often people look to punish you for the mercy you show them.

Ya'll need to do this at least once a year!

One big thing overall - you and your partner should be smiling at the end of the round = HAVE FUN!

@SenseiSeth is 100% correct. I've pulled head kicks or landed them lightly and my partners ego gets the better of him/her and he or she capitalizes on my control and counters harder than they ever should. The only thing I can say to people who do it...GROW UP AND STOP DOING IT!.

Oh my goood!!!! Apparently kyusho works!!!

I like something a muay thai teacher of mine did, he asked all non beginners (knowing human nature, everyone wants to win) to yes, try to win, but just 1-up the newbies, not use their full capacity in any aspect. Not max speed, just 1 up, just enough power so the other person respect moves, no exploiting lack of composture after it became clear the other guy wouldn't recover, etc.

It would be great to have another video for coaches about sparring with the students

🔥

2:58 pitter patter. We call it that. Touch, touch, boom. Pick a deep one.

Shane straight up got into the Family Guy death pose because of Icy Mike

Also COMMUNICATE! Especially with people who are newer and talented, they may not catch the nuance of what you’re doing. Ask if the pressure is good, component them for a good technique, etc. keep the communication going or else you may risk that cycle of intensity gaining where now they walk away saying both were a bad partner

that intro gag from seth sent me lmao

I love videos like these, not because they teach me to be a better martial artist but because they show me ways to be a better instructor... did you guys know you were teaching people to be couches?

After seeing the thumbnail I was wondering where Kevin Lee fit in all this?

My name is Jared, and I agree with Jared.

Not respecting hits is an egregious etiquette mistake. People more commonly do it with minimal experience fighting or in full-contact. Still, the number of times people will catch kicks after they bounce off their head or think that a high kick is that slow that their opponent will leave it on their shoulder is awe-inspiring. No, you didn't catch that kick; your partner just decided to let you keep your neurons. Not only does this type of behavior potentially injure or disrupt your relationship with your sparring partner, but it also gives you false confidence.

who else knows the guy that feels like the best when you land lets say 6 clean hits at 20-30% but that guy landed one at 100% and starts acting like he is the best fighter of all time, because he knocked the wind out of you. dont be that guy.

My pet peeve is when people catch kicks and then use them against the kicker to get a take down or close the distance or whatever. Dude, the only reason you caught that is cause I threw it easy. Chill out.

Ah, the pain of being 6ft but 108 lbs. Do you have any advice for being on the lighter end? I usually hear "get close and keep the pressure on," but being taller Id prefer not to get that close all the time

👍🏼👊🏼

Love these collab videos. You Gabriel Varga Shane Fazen Icy Mike Jared sensei seth are like the A team of fight trainers here on youtube. Always make great videos esp when you guys collude like this.

4:00 I think that the people going hard don't know Yes most likely they either don't know or they at least don't do it on purpose. (With some exceptions but they can just leave) In my experience it takes some good coaching and proper instruction to get those people into the right habits.

正！

So where do you fit in to all of this?

Really wish Sensei Seth could have been in the video. Maybe next time.

"You're not part of this video!" 🤣 5:47

My tip for making spparing lighter is go twice as long as the person can go, I mean dude can punch hard for 3-4 rounds go 8 rounds he will scale down or die in 5th.....and there's no making brake, i know those sneaky bastards all of sudden they want a breake ....thell them then to stop bichin and go only way idiots learn...

6:15 My coach gave me a bloody nose. :v I feel like he got annoyed that i got him with two feints in a row.

I gotta get some people to watch this... Although I think you should add the caveat of if you're a heavyweight fighter you shouldn't probably be going 100% to the body. Someone's going to get a rib cracked like me LOL

Note to self: practice boxing combos during shadow, s l o w e r. Why it’s so hart to get yourself to do the most obvious stuff?

where does kevin lee fit into all of this

Gabriel Vargas teaches Jordan Peterson kickboxing next

Sounds like Varga wants to do some knockdown karate…

Sparring with those hayabusa tho 😆

Tbh I kinda feel weird about the body sparring thing. Like you can still do some serious damage to a person if you hit them with %100 power in the body, even with gloves on. You can rupture a spleen, damage the liver or even break a rib. My guess is that Gabriel Varga probs doesn't actually go 100% when he spars like this.