Dealing with pain, in the ring.

Justfulwardog · Yellow Belt

Just wondering what some of your veiwpoints were on this.

I think you need to devote as much practice on this, as you do on other things. Such as breath control, balance, etc. You need to maintain a good poker face, and be able to act as though nothing is wrong. Fight on as though you are not in pain. For if your opponent even senses it, it is like a wolf tasting blood. He will try to take full advantage of your temporary weakness, and exploit it.
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Justfulwardog

By daily dying I have come to be. ~Theodore Roethke

Each forward step we take we leave some phantom of ourselves behind. ~John Lancaster Spalding

TJS · Black Belt

There are 2 types of fighters.

1) the people who get hit hard and cower away and cover up.

2) The people who use the pain and anger to hurt their opponet.

The first time I speped in the ring I got hit with a hard right hook off the bat and found out i was the second type

granmasterchen · Black Belt

i like to smile and laugh when i get hit ....i use psychological methods of destroying my opponents when i fight them, if you destroy their morale you have already won....
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That which does not destroy me will only make me stronger

iolair · Blue Belt

The best idea IMHO is to make sure your training/sparring includes times when you hit like you would in the ring, then you can get used to it.

However, with the best will in the world, training will never be like the ring. Your adrenaline runs much higher when you get out there on the canvas. Personally, I pretty much "turn off" emotions in competition - I'm not vicious, but neither do I notice the pain much. My wife has said watching me fight is like watching a ballet dancer - graceful and controlled! I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but at the (fairly low) level at which I've competed, I've done "above average", but not brilliantly.
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Currently: Kickboxing and variants.
Previously: Karate (Seido, Shotokan, Seidokan), Ju Jitsu, Judo, Aikido, Fencing.

hobz · Blue Belt

To be honest, since my adrenaline is going and everything, I don't feel it until I stop for rounds or, at the end of a sparring session.
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Rule #1: Play the game to the limit. Damn the consequences.

SevenStar · Black Belt

no offense, but I don't think it's adrenaline... you probably haven't been hit hard enough yet. When you get hit HARD, adrenaline or not, you feel it. If nobody felt pain, nobody would ever tap while grappling, begin to limp after a hard leg kick, etc. Adrenaline will mask some things - I always tell people not to rely on groin kicks in a fight, because while they can be effective, adrenailine can nullify the pain until afterwards. I know that from experience. Also, how much of an adrenaline rush do you get from sparring? It's only sparring. The only time I get a rush is in the ring. But maybe I spar more, I dunno...

SevenStar · Black Belt

I think every one missed the point of the topic though, except GMC - he's asking How you deal with pain, once it's been inflicted. you have just taken a hard left hook, you stagger in everything is spinning - if that hasn't happened to you, you haven't been hit HARD yet - what do you do to avoid letting him know that you are stunned? you just took a leg kick that has your leg on fire - you can't stagger, because once you do, he knows it's hurt and will continue go after it, not to mention becoming more aggressive in general, because he knows you're hurt.

As for my answer, I think the answer for this is hard contact sparring. If you don't know what it feels like to get hit like that, then you will not know how to deal with it. That's one of the issues that fall under the "experience is the best teacher" label, IMO.

cross · Black Belt

I agree completely with SevenStar.

If you are serious about competing then you should get used to taking part in hard sparring sessions so you can at least feel what full power strikes are like.

White Warlock · Black Belt

Pain is a relative thing. All my relatives are a pain.

I do agree that exposure is the best cure. You build a higher tolerance and a series of 'reactions' or 'non-reactions' to pain and impact if you encounter it regularly.

Some tips:
1. Go with the impact - Learn to perform small circles when hit (the smaller the better). A sort parry on contact, redirecting the energy of the blow away and outside your center (think 'swivel'). If they aren't attempting to penetrate your center, all the better. Just as you would 'go along' with a joint lock effort, in order to reverse it, you would go along with an impact in order to reverse or minimize the effects.

2. Go with your body's reaction to an impact - Sometimes you have an 'internal' response to an impact. When this happens, learn to 'go along' with the way your body reacts. In fact, even encourage it. Example - when impacted in the solar plexus, the immediate response is to attempt to 'inhale.' Of course, this won't work out too well if a good hit was made, as your diaphragm contracts on impact, forcing your air out of your lungs and preventing you from pulling air in. Instead (and here's one of my personal little magic tricks), learn to push all your air out of your lungs. Intentionally 'further' contract your diaphram. Pull it out of the contractive spasm by 'encouraging' the contraction beyond its initial state, thereby releasing it from the spasm. Sort of like the way you would unnotch a bowstring from a bow. You'll recover from the impact almost immediately and, in most cases, significantly dishearten an unseasoned fighter.

3. Don't insist on a gameplan - If strikes throw off your intended gameplan, switch. Someone punches you in the face hard enough to cause you to lean back, turn your imbalance into a lifting front kick. If struck on the left side, switch to a right roundhouse. All performed naturally and along the paths of energy created by both their actions/reactions, and your actions/reactions. In short, don't miss a beat.
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Intro

Justfulwardog · Yellow Belt

I can't tell you how refreshing it is, to talk to people of like mind.

I am glad that I found this website. Most of the people that I associate with, look at me like I am crazy, when I ponder things like this out loud.

Thank you all.
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Justfulwardog

By daily dying I have come to be. ~Theodore Roethke

Each forward step we take we leave some phantom of ourselves behind. ~John Lancaster Spalding

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