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Choose your partners carefully!
Who do you want to train with? How are
you going to use them for your purposes? Every time you pair off during
training, you should give thought to who you are going to pair with. The
purposes of choosing an individual will change depending on that person, and on
what you wish to gain. An example is to compare the requirements of a social
trainer, who just trains for fun, with those of a competitive fighter. One is
looking for enjoyment, the other for competition success. The social trainer
will probably want to train with someone they like and can socialise with. The
competition fighter will look for the person most likely to assist the
preparation for his next fight. Every person has a different physiology
from the next. If your opponent’s are tall, then training with someone of that
size will get you used to the reach and ranges of techniques associated with
that size. Their strength may be comparable to your weight category, to get you
used to the power. The fitness of your training partner may be greater. This
will help push you to improve fitness as you try and keep up. The size, shape
and physical characteristics of your partners will assist you in your
development. Technical ability should be considered.
Your partner’s technical ability may be better or they may be more
experienced, allowing you to learn more. The technical style might be applicable
for your training purposes. He may be a southpaw with fast kicks, who happens to
match the style of your next opponent. Select your partner’s technical ability
to match your specific needs. The psychology of your partner should
not be forgotten. On a basic level they may be more determined than yourself and
train harder, and you will then try to match their pace. When I’m feeling
tired I will often select a member of the class with less technical skills
simply because they train hard. This energy rubs off on me, raising the quality
of the session. After selecting an appropriate partner
you have to use them for the benefit you’re looking for. The first rule is
interaction. It doesn’t matter if you are training for the first time or are
experienced – you can still spot mistakes in your partner’s techniques. Tell
them what is wrong, and let them tell you when your mistakes happen. Examples of
this are guard errors (too low, dropping) incorrect foot positions, failure to
utilise correct body movement, and leaving you exposed to counter punching. Once
you can interact with your partner in this way you become effective as personal
trainers for each other. Encouragement is something that a
partner can really help you with. Helping your partner gain more from an
exercise by encouraging them to work harder/faster/longer will improve their
ability. A class doing exercise with lots of encouragement gives off a lot of
energy that everyone feeds of Who do you avoid? Certain training
partners are more of a hindrance than help. Stay away from those that want to
play around or aren’t interested. Watch out for those that create a dangerous
training environment. Unless assisting them is your aim, stay away from those
who lack motivation. Don’t avoid people with less ability or experience than
yourself – sometimes I learn more from sparring a beginner than an experienced
fighter! If you are injured, make sure you take
responsibility for ensuring that your partner doesn’t make the injury worse!
This is especially true for sparring. If you want more from a training session then select your partner carefully. If you are instructed to change partners, don’t look around and see who’s going to be left at the end. Make sure you grab the person you want straight away – before someone else does. Think about what you want to gain from the session before it starts. Give yourself the opportunity to meet your goals, and use your training partners as tools to assist your development. Only this way will you maximise the value of your training. |
(Class
photo by Gary Turner)