Hello Tim,

I’m a long time visitor to your web site and forum. Lots of good stuff there. I’m also a fan of your published materials. Effortless Combat Throws is one of the single best IMA books I’ve ever read.

I’d greatly appreciate any advice you might offer regarding how to get into sparring. I’m aware that sparring is a regular part of training at your school. I’ve been studying Hsing I for several years. Partner work in our classes is limited mainly to cooperative technique drills. Several fellow students and I are interested in moving into more uncooperative partner work. I’ve got several questions I’d like to ask. Also – since I may not be asking all the right questions please fill in any important blanks. I’d also appreciate any advice from your experienced students.

I’ve seen Shen Wu class video clips currently posted on your web site and some posted elsewhere and noticed that sparring in your classes ranges from relatively slow and soft to hard and aggressive. Presumably each has a different purpose. Could you tell me what the intentions of these types of work are?

From what I can seen in these videos I’ve noticed that protective gear worn ranges from what looks to be none to gloves and head gear. This may seem elementary but what protective gear is worn and when?

How do you move beginners into sparring? Is there a progression from softer work to more aggressive work?

Do you have basic school or mat rules for safety? Do they differ depending on the nature of the work you are doing? Do you set the rules or do you allow the partners to decide between them?

It is a lot of questions for one post and again any help is greatly appreciated! If I neglected to ask any important question please don’t hesitate to fill me in.

Sincerely

Roland

Hi Roland,
It is difficult to describe our sparring methodology in detail in print (you can do a search on "sparring" and find a fair amount of information already posted).

First off, sparring is a dangerous practice, even under "controlled" conditions. My advice would be to find a teacher familiar with actual sparring and fighting practices and begin under supervision.

As an overview of our methods, we start with basic defensive skills (learning how to defend against punches and kicks, common standing grappling holds, throws...) and quickly work into structured, but non-cooperative practice. For example, as soon as students have a basic understanding of covering skills (how to use their guard, footwork, where to focus the vision, how to move the body) we will strike them with gloves on at random, the speed and force of strikes is increased as the students progress. The same for standing and ground holds, once students have drilled the techniques in a cooperative format, more force is used and attacks are at random.

From these types of drills, students progress into non-cooperative contact sparring. There are various levels of contact, and different formats. We often break down sparring categorically (only strikes, only wrestling, only ground grappling, one fighter is only allowed to strike while the other is only allowed to wrestle...).

Advanced students will practice "all-in" free fighting with protective gear.

It is important that the teacher pay continuous attention to the students to make sure no one escalates the force beyond the agreed upon level, and makes sure to intervene in case of injury. It is also important to realize that the students that want to take the fighting to a higher level will be injured on occassion.

Tim:

Thanks much for your reply - your advice is most valuable. We'll start with the search and review the info already posted and we'll give your advice serious thought before proceeding.

Best Regards

Roland