I am 34y/o practicing goju ryu karate. I know the techniques well and can execute them flawlessly but when I comes to sparring in class or tournament I get creamed because I get too heavy on my feet and am very slow. What can I do to better this to improve my sparring ability?
Try doing the exercises in the water, in a swimming pool, it’ll teach you to slow down on your feet….just a thought
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If you have a workout partner who’s willing to work with you, spar at half speed or so, then work your way up. If you’re good with the techniques then you have a decent “library” of material to work from, but you need to learn how to apply it improvisationally. Challenge yourself — when half speed is working for you most of the time, step it up.
Another partner exercise you can do is have your partner stand *just* out of range and launch attacks at you. Watch them carefully; then start responding. You can start by just saying “Now” when you think he’s about to attack. Then start applying a response (block or counterstrike) when you think he’s going to attack. Don’t let that go on for too long — you don’t want to train yourself to respond to attacks that are out of range. Mix it with the above; go back and forth several times in the course of an hour. The goal is to train your subconscious mind to recognize an incoming attack and respond to it appropriately.
Timing is more important than speed, and contrary to what people think, you can work on it solo, but only after you’ve worked it with a partner enough to create realistic visualizations. If you’re defending, the thing you’re looking for is any flinch of movement toward you. When that happens, you go — any later is too late. By the time the attack develops, you’re already eating it…but you know that already. You have to learn to process advance cues to compensate for lack of speed.
For other solo work, get on over to http://www.rmax.tv and pick up Intu-Flow or Mobilized Strength (the latter will take some equipment; you’ll need a pair of 5-lb clubs). You won’t believe what this will do for your overall mobility and agility.
If you’re feelign leery of spending money on RMAX products, go to http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/ and read up on some free info. (article index can be had at http://www.conniesclubbellcafe.com/cstmag_table_all.htm ) Try out some exercises and see what happens.
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You need to teach your muscles to move faster. Do more plyometric training and speed drills. This will increase your ability to explode from your fighting stance and also to react faster. Plyometrics can be done by jumping high in the air, then just as your feet hit the ground, lunge forward (without letting your feet get planted on the ground first). You should be staying mostly on the balls of your feet when you do this. This will build up the muscles in your legs to explode from a stationary position.
It also helps if you add a stimulus to your training ie. something that will induce a little pain unless you move faster – for instance, somebody poking you in the back with a pen or hitting your foot with a belt.
It also helps to train while listening to techno/dance music because it gets your body moving to the fast beat.
It’s tough to teach an old body new tricks…but with diligence it can be done!
A good website to visit is karatetips.com – it has a lot of useful training tips
If you’re feelign leery of spending money on RMAX products, go to http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/ and read up on some free info. (article index can be had at http://www.conniesclubbellcafe.com/cstmag_table_all.htm ) Try out some exercises and see what happens.
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I like to wear ankle and wrist weights when training at home on the bag. Practicing with the added weight allows my arms and legs to get use to feeling heavy and then without the weights when I spar, my legs and arms feel light and I can kick and strike much faster. Other tips like practicing in a swimming pool, help, anytime you can practice while providing resistance will make you faster!
If you’re feelign leery of spending money on RMAX products, go to http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/ and read up on some free info. (article index can be had at http://www.conniesclubbellcafe.com/cstmag_table_all.htm ) Try out some exercises and see what happens.
Report Spam/Abuse