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For me to get better, I prioritize flow sparing to have fun, 20-30% power but alot more volume (combos), if the other person can "follow", we enter a equal flow and both can expand their technical abilities bc fear is no longer a part of the sparing
In sparring I occasionally deliberately throw the same move or combination several times in a row to give my partner a chance to come up with a counter for the situation, especially if we're just going light on power and speed. We're sparring *partners* so I think we need to help eachother learn in the situation, even if it means sometimes deliberately doing something "dumb" (which isn't necessarily dumb if our partner keeps falling for it).
Thank you for a great way of articulating how a good Partner should be. Just like dancing, someone has to lead until comfortable and then you can switch roles as you please. 👏🏽
The torso/core tightening point you mentioned is so underdiscussed. It takes a lot of muscle-mind training to make it feel like there's a shell on your stomach while you're still able to breathe correctly with the expansion/contraction of your diaphragm. Great point brother 🔥
@@GabrielVargaOfficial yes this is vital, having your posture crunched forwards with your chin tucked and your shoulders high gives you real good defense for both body and head at the same time
Breathing and flexing your core is a major part of kata training in karate. Traditional Okinawan senseis usually go around slapping parts of the body to ensure the whole body is tight and flexed. That's how I learned this component of training. 😅
Just started kickboxing at 31 and i got my ass whooped in sparring lol. I'm eager to progress though. Your channel is a gold mine, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I basically started at 37 and got bopped around in sparring for my first two or three months of that, but setting personal goals for each session helped me get better quickly enough that (about a year later) I've become good enough to productively bully the newer people and serve as a useful challenge in my own right for the competitive fighters. What I mean by "personal goals" is basically always going in with something to work on, like never getting caught with a loose stomach, using at least three different entry attacks per round, never doing the same attack more than twice in a row, adding a punch after every kick, finishing any offense with a lateral step/pivot, etc. It may make me predictable for that day, but in the long run, not only does that sort of thing help build good habits, it also helps with getting used to thinking while sparring.
Started at 37, and sparred about 9 months constant. Have slowed down but content sparring once a week. Still lots to improve on, but what the other 37yo said, have a few things each round you want to work on till things become second nature... Footwork, head movement, counters, strikes off the centre line, combos, tactics against taller fighters, tactics against those that block a lot etc
I found your channel the same day I started to train Kickboxing. I feel I am more educated sparring partner than others who started with me! thank you!!!!
6:05 This works so well for me as a shorter guy in most of my sessions. Most ppl expect me to walk into jabs and teeps to close the distance, but utilizing feints and fakes like Whittaker, Saenchai, and Volk have helped me a lot.
Top tier advice here (and also reassuring to notice that, aside from controlling rhythm, these points are pretty much all things that I'd set as personal goals for my own sparring in the past 🙂)
Gabriel, I’ve been watching Your channel from several months now, listening carefully, learning techniques, following along videos, preparing to my first competition in few days on Sunday 03.12. Thank You very much for whole great content let’s see what I have learnt 🙏🐗💪
Now these are exactly, what I needed, because in sparring, I get controlled by tempo a lot, and I did not understand, how to control the tempo of the round in my favor, but now, I finally understand how to do it, will be sure to implement this fifth tip in sparring soon Gabriel! 🎉
Whenever I watch you, MMAShredded or IcyMike I feel like dropping one day of grappling for some striking. I always felt like I suck at striking more than grappling hut it is so fun when you land hits you actually meant to land!
Agree with everything except keeping the stomach locked, I've always been able to tighten as needed. Locking the stomach reduces movement and provides a big target for a knife (combat/self defense is my training priority, not martial spot). Tightening the stomach with quick and small exhail is how I learned to take it in Shotokan, worked great in boxing and kicking.
Hey Gabriel. I think you'd like Jon Di Bella, he is the Strawweight kickboxing champion in One. His most recent fight especially displays many of the same things that you often advocate for, good hands, conditioning etc. Would love to hear your thoughts on him. Thanks for the great advice as always
thanks for these reminders. been doing full contact karate for 19yr and the last point is the hardest for me. over the years i ended up being a reactionary/punisher fighter, or else trying to simply outperform the opponent in their comfort zone. got mixed results, but i realize i seldom take the initiative unless i'm sure i can blitz/overwhelm the opponent right at the beginning.
2:00 good stuff. Half of my fighting style is designed to set up Front Thrust kicks, but real brown and black belts don't fall for the kick very often, so you need a good jab, cross, and hook punch and you need a good front snap kick to help disguise whether your about to throw the thrust kick. A good Isshinryu thrust kick from a 185lbs fighter leaves a huge bruise on the other person when done full force..I was so good at landing such a powerful thrust kick that sensei actually banned me from using it against anyone below Brown Belt in the dojo and he told me not to hit anyone who wasn't' a heavyweight above 50% what I had, because even 75% what i had would hurt people. We were trying to spar full contact, but sometimes that's unreasonable for some students against a real Isshinryu 1st kyu or black belt. 4: 00 yes. You do need a front side hook punch and a rear side hook punch and upper cut to be effective against brown and black belts. They eventually learn to block even the Isshinryu straight punch. However, fighters who over-use hook punches are very easy to counter. You need hooks, but just don't start 'spamming hooks" like some pro boxers used to do. 5:00 CORRECT. Okinawan Karate begins and ends with Sanchin body conditioning and breathing exercises. You must keep your stomach "taut" at all times. And you need to breath out and "usss" a low sounding kia when you take damage and when you attack. Tense everything, your attacking weapon, your stomach, your legs, your buttocks all at the right time and relax at the right time too. Body conditioning and tension is a HUGE factor in winning. Good straight kicks, when properly timed and aimed, will laughably destroy a boxer or even most MMA fighters. They simply don't have the tools to deal with it.
I started doing Muay Thai this year but I had a head start in body conditioning. I use to do Muay Thai sits ups for ab conditioning so going into Muay Thai I instinctively braced my core and controlled my breathing when getting hit.
Excellent video as always. Thank you. Wondering if you might be able to do a video on creating your own strenght and conditoning routine with weight lifting.?
Thanks for that awesome content. I already were able to use some of your advice in my training/spar sessions. I consider to buy some of those earbuds, they look decent!
On variety, I've been kickboxing for about 5 years and I would say 70% of my strikes are jabs. I love jabs, I love straight attacks I feel strong and safe. Yesterday for the first time in sparring I threw left hook-cross because I saw Tyson Fury do it actually worked but I'm terrified of throwing hooks I feel so slow and opened.
Wsup Gabriel! Is it possible to train your solar plexus? I feel like the ab work I do doesn’t really target that upper ab area. Thanks for the vid 💪🏼✍🏼
no but you can crunch your posture forward while bracing like gabriel says and then your sternum is hidden away in a pocket due to the curved angle of your body, making it much harder to hurt you to the solar plexus
Best way to Spar when you start is move, then round 2 explode with all might. The regulars will expect the beginner to be static, test them, if you get popped, then you will remember not to next time. The brain learns from pain only, too many guys in those gyms that think a fight is singular and involves not recieving any incoming fire lol Throw a punch and see what happens !
Ads before the video and ads as a part of the video seems a bit too much. Hopefully you can get a sponsor like Bazooka has Hayabusa and you dont need to worsen the quality with ads. But the info and things you can learn from Varga is top notch!
You still relax when you know you're safe. But during attacks don't sleep on a tight core. I say I'm fairly tight in the stomach about 50% of a sparring round.
I generally do a half tense of my core, and full tighten when I see or feel a punch coming in, this is what I've been taught, are you saying you go full tense on your abs whenever you're in an exchange? just curious
Iv trained twice in Thailand 🇹🇭. Very good sparing go hard but under control. Don't get me rong if you did something stupid. i would get tagged with something to know. The mma gym i train at a few of the guys try to full-on knock me out every sparing. Im seriously over it . There is no technical sparing to work stuff, just 100% trying to knock me out. Im just going to go back to my old muay thai gym and boxing gym and train wrestling twice a week as well. Screw those guys .
Please answer this question. I am a long and tall fighter. If someone is being very aggresive I end fighting backing up and moving to the sides a lot but I still land hits, evade and I have good defense. Everyone at my gym tells me i need to be more aggressive. But everytime I do I end up getting hit a lotttt more. (I mostly do this against people who are heavier than me)
mr varga can you do a tutorial about how to be offensive while being the taller fighter cause im the tallest at my gym and im finding out being defensive is my main style but i dont know how to actually do damage or really throw to many shots without getting too close and end up getting caught do you have any tips?
You mentioned sweeps and it's always been my biggest weakness throughout all my years of training. Many times when I try to sweep someone I just end up bluntly banging my foot or shin into their lower leg and they don't move. But when I see skilled people do it, they seem to do the same movement but the other person goes flying with ease. What am I doing wrong you think?
Follow through with your leg, just like a normal kick. You sweep when they are stepping down or picking their foot up, not when they are planted. Just a something that helped me since I saw your comment.
