I was on fire last night.
I was in the zone.
I wasn’t really thinking anything during my match, my mind was in a peaceful place.
It was almost like my fists were acting independant of my body.
It was like my fists were leading me.
And the BOY I was sparring ended up giving up!
Anyone else get that feeling when you are sparring?
I wanna be on fire and in the zone
Yep.
last night, but it wasn’t boxing, it was MMA sparring.
Ryu
ryu,
I have a silly question.
what is mma?
mma is mixed martial arts.
It is a sparring format that includes punches, kicks, knees and elbows, along with takedowns, throws, jointlocks, chokes and groundfighting.
The rules vary from place to place and event to event but are generally characterized by the fact that the fight doesn’t stop when it goes to the ground.
MMA = Mixed Martial Arts
Boxing, NHB, grappling, wrestling, mixed.
Though it was more just testing some ground and pound in a full contact situation. 
Ryu
awwwww Merry…
almost got to it first. 
Ryu
Look,
I’m bored and stuck at work until 10 tonight, and I REALLY find the people I’m working with to be drips
Sorry, it’s not very nice of me, but it’s the truth!!!
Ah, good ol working in the USA. 
Don’t worry, MerryPrankster, I’ve definitely been there as well.
(You can always suplex someone)
Ryu
well…
Off to shadowbox for awhile. At least that’s something… an hour to workout.
RYU,
if you are working on all those different things…boxing, wrestling, and all that other stuff, how do you have the time to get good at any one?
I train hours a day in boxing alone and I find I am going to have to put more time in to get better.
Well most of it comes from a strong grappling background. And I put in much of my time to that. My boxing skills are used more to get a clean entry, strike first in an encroachment scenario, etc. I want to clinch, slam and pummel on the ground, or at least kick the head of my downed opponent, whatever.
While I crosstrain in boxing, etc. My real base is in grappling.
And I can still be better at that as well, just as you can be with boxing.
But I’d be careful about not knowing how to groundfight…
Ryu
What RYU said
But it is equally possible to be successful as a “striker.”
You tend to specialize in one, and learn enough of the other bits that you can escape and return it to the range that you want to be in.
Boxerchick
Watch it!..Ryu always try to bring innocent boxing girls to grappling!..You get the picture? ;)…You want to play UFC with me?!! :rolleyes:
Originally posted by BoxerChick
RYU,
if you are working on all those different things…boxing, wrestling, and all that other stuff, how do you have the time to get good at any one?
I train hours a day in boxing alone and I find I am going to have to put more time in to get better.
IME, you can’t do them all at once. But once you achieve a skill, you have it. I don’t know how long you’ve been training. But if you train for about 2-3 years and really get the skill, you will always have it. You may very well go to pot, get fat, get lazy. But you’ll always have solid, powerful combos because it’s in your body.
So say you box for 2-3 years> Next you do some Muay Thai to develop your feet, knees, and elbows as weapons. After that, maybe think of picking up a few throws from Judo or Shuai Chiao. Do some wrestling to deveop a strong base. Look at a different striking sysytem like Xing Yi or Southern Mantis. See how they are alike and different from boxing.
In the end, you’ll always be a boxer. That is the foundation that all of your skills will be built upon. Everything else is just to fill in gaps. These other things will basically become a part of your boxing.
In my case, I’ll always be a Taiji man. Everything I do relates back into my Tui Shou, even BJJ.
Also, take Brazilian Jujutsu. You can train BJJ along standing arts because the philosophy is so different. But do the standing arts one at a time. It lets you concentrate better. But BJJ’s good stuff. I got my azz repeatedly handed to me today by a girl I outweighed by 40-50 pounds. She had been training just over a year
Ryu: "or at least kick the head of my downed opponent, "
Are you serious? You train to do this? I didn’t think that was a Ryu thing to do…
When you are merciful to your opponent, you are cruel to yourself…
When you are merciful to your opponent, you are merciful to yourself.
I always try to avoid the fight, even if it means being considered a coward or a chicken. But if I cannot avoid the fight, and if that fight is a real threat (I do not consider a black eye a threat) then I fight for real and mercy is a word I forget…some say philosophy has nothing to do with MARTIAL arts, I say mercy hasn’t got anything to do either.
Some will have hot blood and fight for no reason, or reasons stupid like being insulted or showing off in front of someone (often girls)…I do not…avoiding a fight to the end is much more moral and reasonable than fighting for light reasons, here is the main difference for me.
But when I fight, I fight first, there’s always time for morals or legal consideration if you make it alive after.
But the very concept of mercy implies that you have already obtained a dominant and controling postition. Therefore, you are no longer concerned for you safety…you are already safe.
Mercy occurs at the point in which you have complete control over the decision to hurt someone more than is absolutely necessary.
You cannot be merciful if you are in danger.
Shaolin, I totally agree with that…you CAN be merciful, but only to the extent that you’re overwhelmingly better than your opponent and therefore you can manage being merciful…
But I’m not overwhelmingly good, so I won’t take that risk if it gets really hot.