Sparring

Hi Alan, just a quick question for you regarding sparring. I know Geoff Thompson believed in "heavy" sparring, and with you being one of his top pupils/instructors/friend i was wondering on what you class as heavy sparing? do you believe in just heavy contact to getting used to fighting back under pressure or going in for a knockout out if it's there? when i do my pad/bagwork i go flat-out, and when i spar i do go pretty hard but not all out? thanks mate.

Hi Gav

Thanks for the question and apologies for the long delay in replying.

Heavy sparring used to be "All-Out", ie, your aim was to knock the person out, choke them out, get them to submit.
However, I think, whatever you call it, so long as you have agreement and understanding with your training partners, as to what your interpretations are, how heavy you're going to go, what targets are allowed, what techniques are not permitted, etc, then you should spar with a variety of degrees of pressure, speed, intensity, contact, etc

As for padwork, when you say "go flat out", it depends what you mean.
If you mean flat-out in terms of speed and commitment, then that is great.
Going full-power can be a different issue though, we all tend to whack focus mits as hard as we can, but really, that's not what they're there for. Use the heavy bag for your realy full-power stuff, and save your partners shoulders :-)
Focus mits should be used as though you are sparring your partner, this makes your padwork more realistic to your sparring, and also allows your pad-holder to get a workout too, ie, they get to work footwork, movement, throw shots back, etc

A word of caution though, heavy sparring should be a part of your training, but still keep one eye on safety and make sure you train safely with a view to longevity.
It can kind of lose it's edge if you do it all of the time and there is most definitely a place for lighter sparring, sometimes with restriction, etc

Hope this helps