When sparring does the fighter watch the opponents eyes, shoulders or what?

Question

In boxing, kick boxing or other martial art what does he focus on when he is sparring to anticipate a punch or kick? What should a begginer look for or concentrate on?

Answer 1

Old school martial arts tend to say look at the eyes but as a mixed martial artist I would always say watch the chest/shoulder area as they tend to give movement away. My old Karate instructor (even after I left Karate) was positive that the eyes were the key until he & I gave Krav-Mega a go and he was suddenly converted as by watching the eyes with a faster martial art he kept missing the punches to his head etc :)

Answer 2

Try and look at all of it, though the satyles can give you clues. I do TKD and there are several places attacks come from. Shoulders and arms will give you an idea of where punches are from but it's the legs that the kicks come from so you have to watch stances. And some kicks are designed to come out of your blind-spot: A guy i train with has very long legs and can bring an axe kick crashing down onyour head before you see it coming! Hook kicks also can be tricky as the view is often blocked by your shoulder.

If ypu're unsure try and watch the whole person, if you see a movement and you don't know what it is or where the mvoe will come from, learn to move backwards or tothe side, then you can develop further a opponent's tells.

Answer 3

Well, I'm a pretty short person (almost 5'6") and many of my sparring partners are taller than I am. I spar them the same way I do everyone else-- I fake, I lead, I charge; if I'm close enough to punch and kick, I do it, then either follow through with more punching/kicking, or pull out quickly. I try to keep my opponent guessing on what I'll do next. I also try to make sure to hit spots that are already open, not in areas where s/he's already protecting herself. Soemtimes I try to get the opponent to attack first, so I can counter. The only thing about sparring really tall people is that their kicks tend to be high, (well, it's not so high for them, but it's pretty high for me) so if one of their feet comes for my head, I duck. Most of the tall people are guys and pretty strong- there is no way I'm blocking their kicks. Their reach is also a lot longer... but I think that could be remedied if you stay out of range, then when the timing's right, move in close and punch/kick them while you're close.

Answer 4

Watching the eyes can get you in trouble as a good fighter will use his eyes to fake you out. Same for watching the head or hands. Feignts will get your head busted if you watch his hands. Most good fighters can give you a "shoulder fake" so even watching there won't always help you.
Personally, I have very good peripheral vision, so I watch the area right at his middle. This way, I can see his shoulders and upper body very well and also his hips. You CANNOT even move without using your hips, so keeping an eye on his hips will almost always give you an advantage. It also helps when we are talking about fighting someone who may use ground techniques or wrestling. However, getting "tunnel vision" on ANY part of his body is bad. Try to use your peripheral vision and not specifically concentrate on any one place.

Answer 5

Try to watch everything, but concentrate mainly on the center of the chest (where the gi top forms a V). The eyes and shoulders and hands can be deceiving, but where the chest goes, the body goes. The key to sparring is closing distance without being hit, and knowing where your opponent is headed is a key to accomplishing this goal.

Answer 6

Different teachers suggest different things, but I like to watch the shoulders. Our brains are wired to focus on a face if we watch the eyes, so a blink can be enough to throw you off if you're watching your opponent in the eyes, and if you're watching the hips you're going to miss hand movement, but rarely are you going to meet someone who is good enough that they can kick without at least some kind of shoulder movement. As your opponent gets more adept, the amount of shoulder movement when they kick should get less and less, but it will always be at least some.

Answer 7

I've heard of several primary focal targets, including eyes, chest, and the throat. Personally I like the eye as not only can you often pick up on tells but also becuase you can possibly unnerve your opponent with a good stare. I've had parring partners say that they're very intimidated by my stare. A lot of people prefer the chest because you can see more of the opponent and pick up on body movement faster. I find this to be untrue, as I can see all of my opponent from the eyes. It's largely a mater of preference, but in each case you aren't actually looking at that spot. That is the center of your difused vision. What I mean by that is you should not concentrate on any area or activly look for tells. We reflexivly move faster when responding to motion that our peripheral vision picks up, so you want to maximize your peripheral vision and minimize your focal point.

Answer 8

you cannot truly anticipate it, it depends on the art and experience.
you focus on the area depending on the distance.

for example we actually aim to make contact with the hands. If I'm touching you or close in on you I know where your hands are and can either feel them move (you pull away you are giving a free uppercut), or can be controlled. It would normally be considered grappling range.
you don't need to "look" in grappling range you know where the guy's hands and legs are.

kicking range you look at the lower body.

striking or boxing range you look at the upper body.

generally you are not going to be able to effectively "block" all the time because you need to: 1 see it then 2 react. this takes more time for the message to reach your brain, then for your brain to send a signal to react. it is pure guesswork and luck and this is also why fakes work. slips are not as difficult but you need to train yourself to do it and do many hours of slip drills, it is an unnatural motion.

Answer 9

Well it is different in boxing you don't have to worry about the legs so you can focus on the hands. At the same time you sort of watch the whole upperbody. Just remember it is the hands that hit you. You need to watch the whole body too though because you need to find the opening, watch the range, watch the angles. You can't really have some sort of rule you need experience. Again I'm just talking about boxing here.

Answer 10

Some say to watch the eyes, others say the shoulders , I personally look at the center of the chest . It allows you to see almost every other part of your opponents body peripherally . Watch for movement , it usuall starts in the shoulders or hips .