Sparring Etiquette | Unspoken Rules & How To Not Be A D%@K 

If we are going light and technical and of a slower speed. Don’t catch every single kick that comes your way and then respond with a sweep or a hard counter . Also if going technical acknowledge the KO shots. If I lightly hit the head with my round kick, it spot on, and I your get hit with your hands down. Acknowledge it don’t walk through it. If your partner has enough courtesy to NOT murder your, don’t pretend you would have shrug that hit off and countered

Finally someone is speaking the unspoken. I’m showing this to my whole gym.

Hygiene is a thing to consider too. Wash yourself and your clothers before the training and cut your nails. I clinched with a lot of people and sometimes it's "breathtaking"! I also got some scratches from wolverine like foot nails!

My coach told me, when going against less-skilled/smaller opponents, to practice my head movement defense (slipping) as opposed to guarding with my hands. It was good advice ... I can develop a skill that gets punished against better fighters and they get to develop basic striking.

I'd rather light sparring to practice control, rhythm, defense, technique, etc. and leave the hard hitting for the heavy bag, pads and tires. Too many people in my experience treat sparring like a fight.

Full sweeps when light sparring are annoying. You throw a light middle kick, let the other buy grab your leg, and then he tries to put you on the ground. When hard sparring, they're ok.

I don't do martial arts anymore , but if I did I would want to be in his gym. When he's done fighting professionally I hope he continues to teach.

1000%. I love sparring and I’ll go as hard as my partner wants to go but I prefer light and respectful. The harder it gets, the more I’m going to rely on stuff I’m already good at and the less I’m going to try something new. And one of the big draws for sparring is the chance to work out the timing, with a noncompliant partner, something I’ve been drilling. And without worrying about getting my nose broken if I don’t get it right the first time.

When you're in light sparring and your opponent keeps grabbing slow-mo front kicks., it's so annoying...I mean I am not trying to hurt anyone in a super light and technical sparring. Once I faked front kick into a question mark hitting that guy in the head but lightly, just to let him know that I could hit and hurt him.

The problem I see with when you are the less skilled fighter is that when you are hesitant to throw a punch because you get punished. And when you finally see an opening, you usually throw that punch fast, but it’s also hard, because you need to cover the distance and you are kind of tense. That’s really hard.

What I think is being a jerk is when the people who have 20 lbs + don't control their shots. They don't really realise how hard they are going. In my opinion you should always let the lighter weight fighter dictate the pace

Every coach should tell his students exactly what you mentioned in this video! Highly appreciated!

Bro thanks for mentioning the knees. My last sparring session before I full blown quit MMA as a hobby for a few months this year was the 2nd time someone had given me a rib injury with knee strikes. The same guy both times too. Way more skilled and athletic than me, outweighs me by at least 20 lbs, he already had me stunned, confused and dizzy with flurry after flurry and then cross switch step to unpadded JUMP KNEE AGAINST THE WALL. I tried to talk to him about it and he just seemed confused. It really made me consider if it's worth it for me to keep doing mma because I can't afford to consistently miss work due to injury.

Bob appreciated the consideration through the video.

Totally agree with you, i think being good at sparring requires alot of skill, many people can't manage power, even if they have a good technique. Spinning moves like a backfist or a spinning kick to the ribs also are really dangerous so i usually avoid those.

Honestly when we haven't agreed to do sweeps and the guy keeps catching your kicks, because you're obviously going light and they are catchable, and they don't let it go but go for the sweep every time.

Yeah. I definately knock someone down before after they try to go hard. Some times it's not exactly intentional, you just react to their their aggression. You may throw an unintentional hard shot, but quickly apologize so your partner knows that wasn't intentional.

Mr. Varga, you're awesome. Please keep up the insightful and meaningful videos of your words of wisdom and advice. It is extremely helpful to learn all these things much faster from your knowledge, wisdom, and experience!

Amount of accomplishment and lack of ego is awesome. I wish i had your mentality.

The point with the knee pads 100%! Thank you for mentioning it. I got weird looks for them when I wore them back when gyms were open. I also got a pair of elbow pads recently. Not because I want to elbow in sparring, but because my partner's foot/shin and my elbow will appreciate them. Keep those quality uploads, been following you for a few weeks and binge-watching your stuff - awesome content :)!

Great video!!! Gyms should this video before every sparring session🙌

There should be a term for suddenly changing the power of your shots in sparring. I propose we call it "Going Charlie Zelenoff." 😂

I appreciate that a video about considerate and respectful sparring is made by a Canadian, haha. Joking aside, this needs to be seen by everyone. Great video as usual!

Awesome video!! This video should be a requirement for anyone who wants to spar in a martial arts school. There's a time and place for hard sparring, but most of the time I see sparring simply as an advanced and technical game of tag using your feet and hands and the techniques you acquired in training. Must be an honor to spar with a 6x World Champion!!

Sparring with someone that intentionally hits you in the ears. It's just frustrating.

What are your biggest frustrations when sparring bad training partners???

Thank you for making the point about the less skilled fighter not swinging for the fences. I am guilty of that myself and I will keep that in mind when sparring with more skilled fighters going forward.

Exactly what happens during sparring ,awesome video coming from you

I just got out of my fourth Muay Thai training, and today we were practicing some different combos and exercises. I was practicing with this guy who is much more experienced than me. The guy has been training for 8 mounths, and he knew right away that I had fewer skills and experience compared to him. I was trying my best to control my strength and not exaggerate, I was doing everything almost in slow motion because my goal was to master the technics. But the other guy was just an asshole. Instead of doing what the instructor asked, out of nowhere, he will throw a kick or a shot that was not part of the exercise. I could see in his face that he wanted to mess around with me as if I was a punching bag or something. He was trying to show off to a person who just has started. He will do everything super fast and with bad intentions. I didn't complain about it, I didn't want to go harder or anything like that. At some point, I was even trying to ask him about the movements and technics just to be nice you know? I'm not trying to be a crybaby, but if you are reading this, try to not be that guy, no matter if you are a beginner or a veteran. He literally fucked my leg up, and now I feel like not going back there again. It's just so stupid man...

Great video! Thank you very much for sharing!

Sparring partner types by my experience: 1. "Street fighter". Starting by saying: I'm kinda good at fighting, been fighting all my life at the streets Bruh. Usually very slopy trying to go hard, doing funny and surprising face expressions if u hit him hard. Most probably will be out of gass by the end of the very first round. 2. "Boxer wanna be". Usually have nothing to do with boxing or just took a month or two and beat up a few friends so ego is booming now. Trying to cut ur head off straight away. Might last a few rounds depends on how hard u wanna go on him. I usually go hard. 3. Mr "I've trained in Thailand bruh". Usually a quite useless guy with Thai commercial gym experience. Trying to imitate original techniques but looks funny. Quite rare going hard in sparring, extremely sweepable. 4. "Young gunz". Something around 18 or 20 years old with a few years of amateur experience or 0 experience. Cocky. Going hard. Might last a few rounds. Doesn't like reality checks. 5. "Nak Muays" or "K-1 types". Decent pros. Usually great to sparr with. Going mostly light and technical but don't mind to heat it up a little. My personal favorites. 6. "Ego guy". Previously decent amateur experience or maybe few pro fights. Extremely Cocky and likes to show off on public. Going from moderate to hard, can last up to 4 rounds, might even win a round or two. The more times u sparr with him the easier to pick him apart as he is not changing his game plan. 7. "Real boxer". Good level amateur boxing or pro boxer. Usually making u look bad in boxing sparring and hardly agree to do crossovers(to sparr under kickboxing rules) - smart fellas😂. Great for reality checks. 8. "Sparring Bro". Moderate skilled long term sparring partner with slow progress. Not really interesting to sparr with but most of the time matching ur free timings. So u sparr. 9. "Good guy". Nice smiley guy with decent skill. Good to sparr with. Leaving u with nice post sparring vibes. Shows up 3-4 times during the year.

Thank you for this video. I wish everyone would stick to your ethic.

Thank you for this, I have made some mistakes that I wasn't even aware of. Know I know!

I think light to the head, hard to the body, decide on how hard to the legs however you like.

Thanks . This needs to be a thing.

Great video, super important subject, thank you.

Hi Gabriel, Thanks for this video! I think it shall be loop broadcasted in every clubs. Too much people having no clue about they are doing. What I hate the most: 1) light sparring becoming KO punches when opening appears; 2) hits in the knees.

Your content is gold!

This video is great! I wish more fighters would adhere to this etiquette. I'm usually less willing to spar with people who haven't had 3 more fights just because the green fighters typically lack control or don't understand 'give as good as you get'. Thank you.

I've been guilty of a couple of these, time patience and consistency improves your skill level. Having good sparring ediquete stands out and can make you a leader in the gym.

currently recovering from a broken rib by an overly enthusiastic partner who thought a full strength knee to the rib was a good idea. Thanks for another great and much needed vid.

Great pointers

Great content as always Sir!

This Channel is just so damn good. Keep doing what you are doing! If you don't mind, I would ask if you could do more videos about the short and stocky "type", as I'm muscular and not tall ahah.

Lol I hate when you agree to 60-70% and the guy tries to sleep me. Lot of egos at the gym. After landing a good hit it’s polite not to jump on them and unload. Another great video Mr. Varga.

all your points are 100%! if going hard, I would say make sure the partner has that understanding! communicate!

Great vid (as always). Funny this etiquette should apply to pretty much any contact sports. Played rugby for many years and I would definitely show this video to some of my team mates at the time (especially the part on the different level, I still remember training once with this first division team. They'd crush in like animals against a bunch of regular time office workers, because that's what we were, we played for fun they played semi-pro, and I don't think they either got much out of that training except giving us a few bruises). So you can change the title to training etiquette for contact sports :-)

Very important to know how to control your power, I think its smth that comes with experience and that beginners don't know how to, when you throw high kick knowing when to stop it before it'll hit your partner with full power, same with knees and so on. Or when you sweeping someone, try to catch them right after you sweep, don't let them fall on the head or smth else, I saw people being sweeped falling hurting their arms necks. When you spar someone who knows what they doing I it just feels good , you learn and practice your technique and everyone is happy at the end

Excellent video!

You Sir are a class act !

PREACH BROTHER!

Thank you, even boxing trainers dont teach us 10% of what you said in this video.

A ton of very true things.

Great video. Ever considered doing a video on how to sweep in sparring without hurting your partner too much? I’ve dealt with some people that are decently skilled but will do some dangerous stuff after catching kicks. Such as chopping into the knee at a slight downward angle, chopping into the ankle without floating the person at all so it just ends up as joint damage, dumping people on their head, etc.

grabing your leg walking forward and sweeping you with all the power...

Thank you for this vid!

This is literally the best video on the Internet for those who train combat sports. Why am I just now seeing this in September 2022?!!!

Great video as always. Two comments to add to this. 1. Another irritating sparring move is getting angry at people when you get hurt. If a person is being reckless then sure, they deserve a word or two. When it was a genuine accident, I think it's as important to let your sparring partner off the hook as it is for your sparring partner to apologize for the accident. We aren't baking cookies in there; injuries will occur. Don't make someone feel worse than they do when the inevitable happens. 2. Having seen Gabe spar with people and having sparring experience with him myself, I can say he follows his own guidelines to a T. Something he does that is incredible is the way he matches the skill level of the people he spars with. I've watched him improve a room full of people simply by the way he approaches sparring. Being better than pretty much every person he spars, he has found a way to get good practice in without destroying his training partners and in the process, he helps them improve. It's amazing the way he can outspar a person completely but not hurt them and still raise their confidence by giving them opportunities to work when he's good enough to shut them out completely. You feel his skill but he doesn't abuse it. It's a great quality and more people could emulate it for better training experiences all around.

As a bigger guy I absolutely hate when dudes think they can load up and have more power in their strikes just cause I’m heavier and built bigger than them. For the most part after I let my sparring partners know “hey man let’s keep the power down ; focus on technique” most guys say sorry my bad and the rest of the round is good but there’s always THAT ONE GUY who wants to continue going hard but when I fire back with my weight and hips into my shots all of a sudden I’m the dick?

GREAT POINTS!

Great video

When they don't accept a pulled back highkick and proceed to sweep or punch you back inmediatly.

Omg what you said about guys going light then hard then when u return fire they say ‘whoa not so hard’ 😂 this is the WORST TYPE OF PARTNER. If you want to fight, FIGHT. Its SPARRING

Thanks for the tips

Thanks for this. I've been in the gym for 1 month and this one particular guy who's been at the gym, say 7 months kept kicking me in the knee. I've avoided him in the past because he was kicking me knee with low kicks and i kept limping after. I sparred him once again and he just kept kicking the same spot on my knee. I told him not to kick it cause I was in pain but then he kicks it again and I fell because my whole leg was shaking. Now I know I wasn't just being a punk telling him to chill and how dangerous those kicks are

Great video! Personally I think guys that come into the gym with an ego trying to wing big punches need to be taught a quick lesson. Ive had it before and I usually just try to hit them with a full power body shot (not to the head) once they've seen the consequences of being hit hard they will usually get humbled and start to pull there punches a bit more. Those kind of guys need to be humbled so they can grow as martial artists. Good shout on the knee pads too I might buy some, I usually have to just try to throw them really lightly but slightly harder knee sparring sounds fun!

when people rip low kicks and calf kicks. Sure 1 or 2 but after that give the guy a break.

Thank you!

My first official "light" sparring was 1 minute rounds and onto the next. I ended up in a clinch and had a knee thrown at my face. Kept gloves up tight, thank fuck, but i thought it was odd. I'm relatively new, around 5 months'ish, so hopefully i get a bit more savvy as i go. Loved the vid. Helps a lot. Thanks

Based on my personal experience, light technical sparring is always best most especially for beginners and intermediates.

Superb.

Damn I'm guilty of that nose targeted jab :(

we had some light sparring my first day back and i think it helps also to communicate clearly before the round if your coach hasn't set the tone, or of there's something you're trying to work, or even protect if you're just coming back from an injury and want to ease into it. everybody who's legit should be pretty cool and if they're not... well odds are they didn't watch this video and you may not want to spar with them anyway 😂

LOL so true. Some guy try to hit my nose before... hated it

Catching a pulled-back head kick with your neck and sweeping them

Never catch a pulled high kick, and especially don't sweep or counter after. I can't begin to tell you how many times people have done that thinking they're good.

This is top quality content

Most important video

I watched this video only to find out I already do these things. It was really just a given for me, especially the part about pulling shots. A sparring partner got mad cause I pulled a hook that would have been clean to the back of the head. I looked at him like he was mad, you don't EVER do blows to the back of the head in sparring or in a ring match.

My favourite part is when I throw a light round kick to the head to remind my sparring partners of the gaps in their guard and they either try block it with a parry (as if a light hand movement will stop a full power kick), or even better, they "catch" it and then they counter. Yeah, try and catch a round kick to the head when it's full speed/contact....it's not even a thing to try and catch a high kick.....you either get out of the way or keep your guard up and let your gloves absorb the strike. Also, I agree with not beating someone who is less experienced; I always allow them to attack and I work on my evasions while they can work on their striking precision...but when they try to take my head off, I will remind them that I can also hit hard (I usually go for a low/medium power liver shot). I was once a beginner and I was very respectful towards the higher grades, I NEVER went hard. You know that these guys can hurt you if they want to, put your ego aside.

Pulling back on Elbows and any spinning technics regardless of light or hard Sparring I finde important. Following thru with those is unnecessary dangerous in sparring in my opinion. Even with padding. Still throw them to lern the timing and setups but to just "show" them I feel lick is the best way to do it.

Not showering and washing their gear before training, pop menthol if you didn't brush your teeth at the very least

I grew up sparring hard and soft. Truly skilled fighters should help lesser fighters progress. That's a responsibility. I give everyone 3-strikes and you're out. If you play nice we can spar for fun! If you try to hurt me I hurt you no remorse lol! However, I'll give you solid chances to figure it out before I crack you bad. It seems fair when you're establishing your level of safety, intensity, and game play. Being in sync with a training partner no matter what level you are performing at is what's important to improve with less risk of unnecessary injuries. 👊💀

Gabriel, I’ve been training for about almost 3 years I consider myself decent and want to take a fight for the first time. I just have extreme anxiety because of the high expectations I have for myself. If you can make a video of walking into your first fight, tips for your first fight or anything that could be of help. I’ve been told my teammates (who fight October 2nd) that I should and would do great in fights but ultimately I have doubts in myself because I have high expectations and don’t feel I’m ready yet.

Once, a girl in the gym talked to me with a pretty low voice, so I put my guard down and leaned a bit to hear what she was talking and she hit me in the nose. Hate those games

Oh the old "lest go light" trick.

WASH YOUR EQUIPMENT AND DONT LEAVE THEM IN HOT AND HUMID PLACES. There is a considerable difference between someone that left their equipment in a bag, in an outside shack that is blasted by the sun VS someone who brings their equipment into air conditioned cool places to air out. Sanitary wipes or sprays are also cheap and easy daily cleaning tools. Sweaty smelly people is expected, but weeks or months worth of stale sweat and mildew that builds up on poorly kept equipment is ungodly pungent.

Thank you 🙏

Sport ethics❤️🙏

Nice video.

I had my first spar the other day im glad i had most of these down, i did throw one side kick to knee without even thinking about it, but i apologised to my partner and it was all good.

Emotional Sparring

I was definitely the beginner that looked at sparring with better people as an opportunity to show that I could compete with them and they quickly showed me I couldn't 😂😆😂😆 lesson learned. Now I let them know at the beginning of sparring like hey can you turn it up a little bit I want to see how hard I could go.

this video is 100% true

Hahaha "let's go back to light....BOOM"

My least fav are people who stop throwing to take a break and I give them some time and then they do an unannounced shot out of nowhere. Then when they take their break and I capitalize they're like no no and run away or turn away

U rule mate!

We had a couple of sparring sessions turn in to fights, because someone had something to prove.

Great video! What type of knee pad do you use and would recommend?

Foot stomps are a jerk move