few questions on beginner sparring

[j3kk]

so sparred for the first time and i picked the right opponent. a guy with 20 years experience, wow he demolished me. but ofcourse he was stopping like every 15 secs to tell me what i was doing wrong and what i needed to do. still i was murdered.

anyways,

i noticed that my eye becomes red right after sparring? is that normal? how can i prevent it?

are headaches normal? i sparred for the first time and got a mild headache for about an hour or 2. i am about to buy a neck strengthener to help me absorb the punches better.

also i close my eyes sometimes before i get hit. i dont know why i do it, is there a way i can prevent that? trust me i try to keep them open when im getting hit but every damn time i get hit i close them its just a reflex i guess and i still have to get used to it. it was my first time sparring. but is there a way to make progress faster?

my punches dont land!! my opponent slips and blocks everything i throw. where do i aim? i did notice that i was aiming at the target instead of past it. i am going to spar him next week and aim about a heads length away and punch through him so that when he trys to block or slip backwards hes gonna get hit. where do you guys aim?

also i dont see the punches coming (its not because i close my eyes, i only do that when im getting hit by combos) like the guy is not fast at all but i see the punch coming but its often too late. what am i doing wrong?

also where do you guys look when you spar?

i know its alot of questions and i will ask the same to other experienced boxers at the gym but right now i am just looking for a quick advice.

thanks!

[Lovely]

man you just gotta spar more, straight up. dont get in there with dudes that are ****in you up that bad. what's a neck straightener? homie if you gotta neck brace dont box... ha.

headaches aren't normal, it's from dehydration. i did 14 rounds of sparring in a sweatsuit tonight and i dont have a headache... dont get hit haha. if the people youre in with are hurting you, dont spar them until you reallly want that ass whoopin.


what you need to do is relax, dont do any bull**** about "aiming past" the guy or whatever, i have negative five vision in both my eyes. i aim for a dude, i hit them every ****in time. if you cant hit the head, hit the body. jab the chest.

remember youre fighting the shadow of a man. hit the shadow, hurt the man. dont think of anyone youre sparring as being better than you, theyve got two hands and two feet. the only advantage is their confidence, build yours and you'll be killin them in no time.

look at the chest if you can see well, i cant see well enough to look anywhere but the top half of the body. experience has taught me how to slip punches, move well, make angles, etc etc. you'll get it all with time.

[Ivansmamma]

are headaches normal? i sparred for the first time and got a mild headache for about an hour or 2. i am about to buy a neck strengthener to help me absorb the punches better.

No. But if he beat you up bad it's not strange. As long as it don't happen to often it shouldn't be a problem.

also i close my eyes sometimes before i get hit. i dont know why i do it, is there a way i can prevent that? trust me i try to keep them open when im getting hit but every damn time i get hit i close them its just a reflex i guess and i still have to get used to it. it was my first time sparring. but is there a way to make progress faster?

You will soon stop doing that. You could ask someone at the gym to throw light light jabs at your face over and over again and while you don't move your head and just try to force your eyes open, then you will get used to punches coming right at you.

my punches dont land!! my opponent slips and blocks everything i throw. where do i aim? i did notice that i was aiming at the target instead of past it. i am going to spar him next week and aim about a heads length away and punch through him so that when he trys to block or slip backwards hes gonna get hit. where do you guys aim?

I aim at what i want to hit. If you keep missing it's probably because you telegraph your punches and haven't got the timing down yet. Don't worry you will learn it soon. If you can't get to the head try go for the body or try and feint before throwing to get him to move where you want him to be.

[j3kk]

thanks you for the response!

a neck strengthener is like a strap u wrap around your head and attach some light weights on it so you can do "yes and no" or whatever to make your neck stronger.

yeah i went through google, this forums and other message boards for sparring beginner problems and most of them are what i experience except the red eye thing. i think i have a condition called episcleritis where the whites of my eye get inflammed. idk why? well it doesnt matter im not really pursuing to compete in the pro. amatuer level maybe but im taking it one step at a time.

and i think i miss him because yes i probably do telepraph my punches. the problem is, i am probably the top if not the 2nd top prospect at my gym, i have the fastest handspeed and im pretty good at form.

but when sparring starts i start to look like a grandma and just reaching for the punches. i need to find my distance on this guy but whenever i try to even come close to getting my distance to land a jab, he lands combos on me.

[Bullrush]

dude that stuff comes with experience dont worry

sparring is totally different than hitting the bag or the mitts. you gotta get used to another person standing in front of you and throwing punches at you and trying to hit you. right now youre thinking, thats why youre so slow. keep sparring and soon it will become natural and your insticts take over, you dont think anymore you just do it, you see and react

[Littlechicken]

I have just started out as well but I certainly hasnīt been beaten up like you.

I donīt know how it usually is done but I donīt think it is necessary for a guy with 20 years of experience to give you a headache for 2 hours after training...

[setza]

[INDENT][/INDENT

You could try this method we had to do as a group in the gym, get a friend and stand opposite each other and get him to slap you about four times like a combo on each hand really fast but not with the palm just the finger area and alternate so once he hits you, you hit him after and do a round or two a day. This will help you to not close your eyes on incoming punches and also it makes your skin firm for taking punches.

[j3kk]

I have just started out as well but I certainly hasnīt been beaten up like you.

I donīt know how it usually is done but I donīt think it is necessary for a guy with 20 years of experience to give you a headache for 2 hours after training...

i think it was because it was my first time getting hit so many times. we did 3 rounds and damn he whoooped my ass. like bad. haha. my brain was just getting shook around inside my skull. but i was fine after that. my neck was a little sore yesterday but thats normal cuz i need to work on my neck muscles.

also the guy was 200 lbs+ and im 143 lbs. he wasnt trying to knock me out but his punches was heavy. real real heavy.

[fdotorres]

i think it was because it was my first time getting hit so many times. we did 3 rounds and damn he whoooped my ass. like bad. haha. my brain was just getting shook around inside my skull. but i was fine after that. my neck was a little sore yesterday but thats normal cuz i need to work on my neck muscles.

also the guy was 200 lbs+ and im 143 lbs. he wasnt trying to knock me out but his punches was heavy. real real heavy.

if a trainer sent you in against an experienced guy who outweighed you by more than 60 pounds, you should get out of his gym. it's that simple

[j3kk]

if a trainer sent you in against an experienced guy who outweighed you by more than 60 pounds, you should get out of his gym. it's that simple

hey thanks for the concern but i didnt want to get in the details. we dont have alot of people in this gym because theres weights here too so people just lift and stuff. and not alot of people want to spar some are just white collar boxers.

white collar meaning theyre in it for fitness you know.

the people who wanna spar is the 200 lb+ trainer and some other guy whos about 170 lbs (i whooped him bad btw, hes worse than me lol) and there probably be other people too 160lb+ but theyre not good or anything.