Sparring is here! We have now added two more sparring sessions mid-week they are on:

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:45pm to 6:30pm at Goodge Street Dojo

The weekend sparring class is still on Saturdays at 11am – 12pm

What equipment do you need to spar? 

Your boots and gloves

As well as the sparring kit which is:

• Shin guards
• Gum shield
• Groin/ Breast Guard
• New waterproof bag (if you do not already have one!)

Furthermore, you can pick up all your essential sparring gear from our online store and use code: “spar10” for 10% off all sparring products!

What are the benefits of sparring and why should you do it?

1) You can practice real-world application of skill

Sparring provides a unique, controlled environment for you and your sparring partner to practice your skills on each other. Whether you are sharpening your offense or tightening up your defence, sparring is an amazing training tool to help you familiarize yourself with the intricacies of real-world combat.

You’ve dedicated long hours to honing your technique, making sure your offense is crisp, clean, and technically sound. The only thing left is to ensure that your skills are, in the literal sense, effective.

Sparring will help you try out your skills in a safe environment. It will also enable you to put all the basics and combinations you have been working on into practice! It is a great way to test yourself and see what you need to work on. If you are struggling in certain areas of sparring why not try some personals or one to ones to work on your technique?

Sparring is the closest you will ever get to an actual fight and invaluable for any serious martial artist.

2) It is a killer workout!

There is genuinely nothing more exhausting than sparring. It will be the best workout you can get. The class will start with some sparring combinations that you can put into practice. It is a step up from the group classes as there will be many rounds like in a real light continuous contest.

3) It familiarizes you with the unique situation of a fight

In a real fight, anything can happen, and sparring is a great training tool to help familiarize you with the unique situation of a real fight.  It is all about the art of hitting and not being hit; this can be followed by Master Raf’s famous three rules to sparring:

• Rule one: Don’t get hit
• Rule two: Hit your opponent
• Rule three: Do no break the first two rules!

4) It is great fun

Sparring is an amazing opportunity to bond with the people around you, help one another and make close friends. This is the time to use the combinations and basic you’ve been learning in your classes, when theory becomes practice!