07: Double Your Vision, Double Your Fun

Tonight was a great night. I sparred in the cage for the first time with headgear, shin guards, and 16-oz. gloves.

During these sparring sessions, which take place after Muay Thai class, the fighters increase the amount of power in their strikes to around 50 percent or more. The rounds are three minutes long, and you do anywhere from one to two rounds at a time. Since I was the new guy, I only did one round.

The guy I was up against is something like the Energizer bunny. I was sure to let him know it was my first time sparring outside of class, and he told me, "Just go easy."

I figured that would be no problem, I'll just ease my way into this. I've sparred easy a hundred times in my life, but it's always been "light contact." I'm used to sparring "easy." That's what you do in virtually every karate class in this country.

However, as soon as they set the timer and said, "Begin!" this dude came at me like a rabid badger! I was pretty sure he was putting way more than 50 percent power into his punches. Maybe it was the way he grunted when he swung at me, maybe it was because he was moving fast as hell - or maybe it was both. Either way, I knew I needed to turn it up a notch to hang with this guy.

He was all over the place. At first, I felt like a toddler trying to catch a mongoose. I gotta say, that made me feel really inadequate. Also, this was my first time using the 16-oz. gloves, and they felt really heavy to me. Throwing punches with all of this gear on feels really, really different.

Being inside the MMA cage made me feel secure - sort of like closing your bedroom door at night when you go to sleep. I don't know how else to explain it, but I really liked it in there. You don't have to worry about being crowded by other people in the class, and there is something really relieving about not having to pull your punches. Pulling punches in karate class just never felt right to me.

I tried remembering to keep my shoulders up and keep my chin tucked as I learned during a light sparring session in class this past Tuesday. However, as fatigue set in very quickly, I made that mistake again and got rrrocked!

He hit me with a right cross right on the chin and literally had me seeing double. I had to stop for a second, and it seemed like my vision was not going to go back to normal. I had a strange feeling of deja vu, as if somewhere before I had been staring at the floor inside of a cage while seeing double. I guess getting punched in the face can do weird things to the brain.

I've been knocked out twice during street fights before, but this was my first time getting rocked this hard without actually going down. If this were a real fight, he'd have come in for the kill, and I would have been toast.

I recovered in what I think was less than ten seconds, and I was surprised at how normal I felt upon recovering. I was able to continue sparring, and I did my best to turn the heat up on this guy.

I was feeling really fatigued and wondering how I was going to make it through the whole three minutes. This guy was just pouring it on me.

There's a lot of things going through your head while sparring like this. I was trying to remember to work my angles (footwork), keep my hands and shoulders up, tuck my chin, focus on technique and speed, throw my kicks from the opposite side as my last punch, control my breathing, and listen to my coach.

Now I fully understand why you need someone in your corner telling you what to do. To a spectator, it doesn't look like there's that much going on, but for the fighters, it's almost chaotic. Listening to my coach made a world of difference for me during this session.

On top of everything that was going on, my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest, my arms felt like lead weights, and there was a voice in the back of my head saying, "This is just a three-minute sparring session. You really want to fight full-contact for three, 5-minute rounds?" But the answer to that voice was easy - "HELL YEAH!"

I knew that the main thing defeating me during this session wasn't the other guy - it was my cardio. If I wasn't gassing out, it would have been much easier to stay focused.

Finally, I landed a good shot on this guy - I don't even remember what punch it was - but I soon as I felt him backing off, I felt energized again. I went in for the kill - probably with all the speed and agility of hippo on muscle relaxers.

Regardless, I landed a serious of several punches, though I can't vouch for the quality of my technique. I had him backed up against the cage and was throwing uppercuts and hooks as fast as I could when they called, "Time!"

I felt good that I finished stronger than I began, but I knew more than anything that my cardio and my technique failed me miserably.

Identify your weaknesses, work on them, and make them your strengths.

Several people, including my head instructor, told me that I did really well for it being my first "real" sparring session. That made me feel really great! I love my school and my team, and I love the positive vibes in that place.

I got some tips from our other instructor as well. He told me that I was dropping my hands after each punch, instead of pulling it right back to protect my face, and that I was punching too much with my arms and not my hips. I'm taking mental notes, and these will be two things I will be very focused on during my next session.

Having had this experience this evening has only added to my hunger. I can't wait to do this again. I can't wait to get into better shape, so that it is not as hard!

I was so tired before class today that I actually considered not going. I'm really glad I sucked it up and forced myself to go. I loved it!