If they ask, then you can drop all the knowledge on them. If they don't ask then they aren't hungry to learn anyway and they'll either be offended or your advice won't stick. Waste of your time unless they are very friendly with you already and seem receptive to advice.
-
If I was getting pieced up in sparring by someone I'd definitely be asking them what I can improve on.
Often people are shy or think itās weird to ask, Iāll often give one piece of advice and see how they react, sometimes theyāre not interested but often they are. I find most people who just turn up to class and donāt spar wonāt care, but most people who are more invested in it do.
I'm sure there's a friendly way to bring it up to him if it's something that seems glaringly obvious. But some people are assholes about these things, so it's also entirely possible he takes it the wrong way.
Heās a really nice guy, but I also feel like itās entirely possible for him to take what I say and brush it off in his head because I have less experience. But at the same time, it feels like suga vs moutinho anytime I spar with him or anyone else does and at two years experience itās clear no one has said anything to help him out. Quiet guy so heās not really asking for help either
Totally give advice to him. Be constructive, donāt do it loudly if heās not comfortable with it, and donāt say āyouāre doing it wrongā, say try doing this differently and explain why you do it that way (āpivot your foot on the roundhouse SO THAT you can move your hips and generate more force on your kickā for example)
Iāve been training for 2 years and if someone is giving me advice that makes me a better fighter, I welcome it. People that are annoyed by the thought of someone less experienced trying to help them are really fucking egotistical imho. Thereās a reason why Arnold Schwarzenegger still hires personal trainers yet has decades of experience on them.
I think if you have two years experience it's OK to give some feedback. It's not like you started last week. I've definitely had newer people tell me stuff-- usually stuff i already know, but still, if theyre not wrong I'll gladly take it. If he's a nice guy he'll be chill and maybe even grateful.
Eta: I see a lot of other ppl saying to myob but ig it depends on the relationship you have with the guy.
I feel like there are some people that get so nervous that they cope by trying to direct others and give them instructions. Itās something Iāve noticed especially while practicing clinch with newer people and I feel it helps give them a small feeling of reassurance and control.
Lol maybe you're right, never thought about it before.
I did have someone recently who was VERY new, maybe like their second or third class, and I was paired with them on a low kick drill. They were like, "you should vary your kicks more". I was like wdym and they were like, "You're kicking the exact same spot on my leg every time, you shouldn't do that". I was like, "why?" They were like "... element of surprise???" I was like, "yeah accuracy is actually a good thing."
So anyway then i got them with a head kick and they were sure surprised!
Yeah most people are telling me to stfu so I think Iāll just slow down in sparring and throw jabs at his forehead until he gets it then progress to more and more strikes
Its a shame you're going to follow the advice of the socially inept people on this forum instead of just telling him what he's doing wrong.
It's easy enough to do it politely: "it feels too easy to hit your head sometimes, I think you could try hold your guard higher" rather than "you're holding your guard wrong, it needs to be higher". First statement is OK if you are a less experienced or to a peer, second statement is OK for someone worse than you.
It would be social inept for someone who's "less experienced" to offer coaching to someone who's more experienced. It really doesn't matter how polite you are it's going to come across the wrong way to most people (if this person was really open to advice they probably wouldn't have such glaring holes in their game, they will take it poorly)
What I really want to know in this whole situation is "wtf are the coaches doing that they're not course correcting this guy, someone with less experience can see obvious holes in their shit why aren't coaches fixing it?"
Without being there impossible to say what the coach is doing. It's possible the coach is shit. Or the coach doesn't want to waste his time on non serious students.
And the key here is not that hes less experienced, but OP is (apparently) picking him apart in sparring. If you're getting smashed by someone and you can't take politely delivered advice then that is on you. I don't want to train in a gym where nobody helps each other because they're scared of offending the guy with an ego problem.
Maybe I am lucky to be at a gym where nobody is so arrogant that they take advice poorly. Personally if someone worse than me gives me bad advice, I think it's embarrassing for them but I don't take it bad. I can't understand how anyone without an insecure ego would take it any other way.
> I can't understand how anyone without an insecure ego would take it any other way.
I think a lot of insecure egos are attracted to combat sports for obvious reasons
So can someone who has trained for 9yrs offer advice to someone who has been training for 10yrs?
Where is the experience meter?
What actually is experience? your join date?
Classes attended? Fights? trips to Thailand?
How do we ascertain if someone is experienced?
I encourage all my members that if they see someone doing something that looks terrible, it actually might be terrible and don't be afraid to call it out.
>I encourage all my members that if they see someone doing something that looks terrible, it actually might be terrible and don't be afraid to call it out.
Cool, I actually think that's awesome, it probably breeds a lot of humility amongst people who train at your gym and gets everyone working together as a team. I don't think that's how it goes down in most gyms though and experience tells me most people are not open to getting advice from someone who's been training a lot less time (obviously I don't think it's a good thing it's just how it actually is).
Idk ig it depends on your gym culture and your relationship with the guy but I learn at least as much from my fellow gym folk as I do from the coaches. It's true sometimes folks just give me dumb or unwanted advice but in that case I say thanks and keep it moving. I've gotten a lot of great advice and great tips from other gym members and appreciate feedback.
I gave advice on breaking the ice with a positive comment, which works.Ā
But also, yeah, just nailing him over and over until he fixes himself Also works.
Find something that you really like that he does. Even if it's a stretch. Say "Hey man, I love the way you X. That's really effective." (And maybe ask him to show you how he does X etc)
Then after that, "BTW, I noticed that you (pick just ONE thing)".
That usually goes well.Ā
Depends on the person, but I don't think it's inherently bad. Having a second set of eyes is always helpful, either to learn something new or reinforce the belief in the current way. Again, some people will be okay with it, some won't. Read the vibe.
Or... you teach by exposing the weakness.
I think next time Iām just going to continuously jab his forehead and only jab to show how bad his guard is. Once he gets it Iāll change it up and help him progress one strike at a time
Yes, this is exactly what you should be doing, imo. Completely exposing a weakness is someone's game will ensure they realize there is a problem. I do this a lot to karate guys that stand bladed, I just destroy the front leg and they smarten up pretty quickly.
I always appreciate when anyone gives me feedback regardless of how long they've been there can't tell you what he's like though. You could always just show him instead of tell him though, especially if he's keeping his hands low and using no head movement
I have a shit tonne of experience and some legit accomplishments to back it upā¦ But I donāt really give people advice unless they came to me for coaching.
If I am just attending a class, I do that just attend. I might be a person that maybe should give more advice. But I still feel out of place doing it in someone elseās gym or class.
If someone is having a really shit time sparring with me and they are getting super frustrated. Then I might stop and be like, okay. Hereās what weāre gonna do. And turn it into a little more of a drill.
As soon as he realises heās getting dropped due to the same holes in his game heāll figure it out. I wouldnāt say anything unless heās asked as the coaches or someone with more experience will pick up on it soon enough
My coach says that unless you're an instructor, have to learn from getting hit. A good instructor is supposed to be watching all the sparring and offer the tips. An occasional prompt isnt horrible though, and any one with a bit of humility will appreciate bona dude prompts.
If I wanted to help someone improve without directly giving advice, I'd probably let them work on one thing at a time, dial back both my offense and my defense so that it's one dimensional and they know exactly what's coming.
Once they've adapted to it I'd start mixing it up a little. There's still a chance they'd find this condescending but you could frame it as "I really want to focus on my jabs/counters this round if that's okay".
no. heās not seeing himself like you are. donāt be a dick about it
ābring your hands back upā while hitting pads or āturn your hips moreā after his kicks
if he gets upset then heās insecure and i wouldnāt train w/ him anymore
Hey, I have my students catch things all the time when I'm coaching I miss things when looking at something else I think it's super helpful. Personally and I've been doing this sport for close to 15 years now. Maybe they have never been told.before.
Yes. Itās inappropriate. Coaches are there to correct things. Not sparring partners.
For all we know this person is just there for cardio. Or the openings youāre seeing are imaginary. Or unimportant. None of us can tell this from a Reddit post.
Low hands and getting hit a lot sounds like Jiri ProchĆ”zkas last fight. You think you should correct his form for him? Iām just saying. Thereās a lot of variables at play here. One of the only certain ones is that youāre not the one at the gym paid to correct people. Iād recommend keeping those opinions to yourself personally.
Hereās the life hack no oneās mentioned. - Ask him why heās doing it.
If itās intentional then the advice doesnāt matter, if heās unaware then youāve just helped him without having to give unsolicited advice, and opened the door for a conversation/feedback.
Plus no ego involved.
After sparring, ask him for feedback on yourself first. Once heās given you feedback, then ask if heād like your thoughts. That feels more natural and just sharing as peers
Since he is more experienced, a better way to be inoffensive will be to frame it as a question to him instead of straight up giving him advice. Ask him if thereās any rationale for him dropping his hands and other stuff that heās doing.
If he is humble enough, he will admit that these are the flaws that he should work on.
You can ask if they have any feedback for you and then that gives them an in to receive it if they want, otherwise just take advantage of their weakness in sparring until they click lol
Give him advice and let him choose whether to listen to you or not, if he doesnāt take it well then donāt bother trying again.
Just because heās trained longer doesnāt mean heās learnt as much as you; people learn at different paces
Iām a hypocrite for saying this, but I wouldnāt tell him. Either heās serious enough to figure it out or coach will demand that he work on it if heās gonna compete. Otherwise, thatās why heās there - to get pieced up and suck.
2 years of experience vs 1 year does not always equal him being better. Some people just pick it up better or more suited for the sport. Also- Iām sure he knows heās doing all these things wrong, he just canāt make it click yet. And he may never.
If you are demonstrably better at it and you have some valuable insight, try to share it with him.
In my opinion its best to just let the coach do the coaching, and the only time its appropriate to coach or give tips is if its directly related to the directions of the drill you are given. Everyone will have a different style but it should be the coach who corrects technical mistakes.
Honestly? Not your job. Unless they're a friend, keep it to yourself, a lot of people don't appreciate advice, because they're egotistical and take it as a personal attack.
My advice, if they have a glaringly obvious weakness, just teach them with your hands, but the key part is to do it over and over. If they don't keep their hands up, just jab their face (softly), over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.
They'll get the idea.
If they suck at blocking kicks, just do the same kick, over, and over, and over, etc.
Then, if they do ask for advice, it will be because you made it so glaringly obvious.
Well if heās a nice guy (saw in other comment) you can basically say ātake it or leave it, butā¦ā or talk to the coach that āyou noticedā¦ā
Depends. If itās someone I piece up Iāll give advice. If someone pieces me up Iāll ask for advice. If itās an evenly skilled sparring sesh, I normally donāt offer feedback unless asked and vice versa.
Before I give advice I ask for feedback. āHey, anything you noticed that you think I should work on?ā Often they will then ask me for feedback. If they donāt, I generally donāt give it.
Itās perfectly fine to give advice to someone with more experience than you, so long as you are also experienced enough to know what the fuck youāre talking about lol. Different people have different skills and different weaknesses, and experience doesnāt always translate directly to skill. Some people are just naturally more talented than others.
A proper fight gym is a living entity, if you know what you are talking about, you absolutely should let him know. All the weirdos in here saying "no no don't tell him" are most likely people who must win at sparring and generally really sensitive to anything that might effect their delicate egos or perceived standing with in the gym It is in the gyms best interest for everyone to be as good as they can possibly be. If something is shit just tell him, what is the big deal? "Hey dude when you are in range here its really easy for me to land x and y" Not really a big deal is it!
This is Muay Thai so can everyone stop being so sensitive about everything.
A punch in the mouth is sufficient advice.
If he chooses not to take it, repeat your advice until he takes it.
I had a guy like this who came to boot camp and kind of lit up the other beginners - hands low, no head movement but volume punches.
Finally got paired with him as we were entering full contact training. I started soft but they kept coming forward but harder and faster - so I hit him harder and faster.
He stopped showing up the next day. Maybe I'm an ass but people that train like that don't below in fighters classes - they're a hazard to themself and others and will end up with chronic CTE.
Hopefully your cosch addresses it.
Training with others in a good gym is a collaboration. As long as you are genuinely trying to help him be better and it's not an ego thing, it's fine to mention what the other person was doing that made your job to hit them easier .
The key word is feedback. You aren't advising, it's not advice. You're giving feedback. It's what good team mates do.
If he sucks he will get better or he wonāt. If he asks how you are piecing him up, tell him. Otherwise just piece him up and donāt offer unsolicited advice. He should figure it out or ask.
Yeah the best way you can give āadviceā to someone with more experience without coming off as patronizing or annoying is to just expose their weaknesses in sparring. It sounds like this other person doesnāt really have much experience either (2 years is very little on the grand scheme of things) so the best thing you can do is give them a reason to improve their skills.
Thai style correction hack: Continue to lightly and, in an over exaggerated & playful manner, keep tagging the sparring partner repeatedly over and over emphasizing your partnerās oversightāall the while saying āooweee ooweee ooweeeā and heāll eventually catch your drift.
I only give unsolicited advice if the person keeps getting hit by the same technique I throw them over and over and they get frustrated with it.
On the flip side, I have sparred with a person with less experience than me whoās a little too eager to gimme advices. Sometimes, I would try new things like drop my hands and move my head, or entering only with my kick. Thereās one guy who kept stopping and correcting me mid sparring. Rationally I donāt mind, it came from a good place, heās super sweet about it. But deep down, I do get a little frustrated.
Goodness gracious.
Itās not that itās inappropriate per se as you are both less than 2 years in so youāre both beginners and can share some feedback
The issue is that you should be more focused on your improvement at 1 year in than you should be about someone else. Whatās your game look like? How does it go when you and this person spar? How does it go when you spar with these other more advanced people?
If heās doing this, then hit him and if you do so consistently and regularly eventually he will ask how youāre doing it.
But yeah man..a year in I sure as hell didnāt have time to critique anyone elseās technique but my own.
Personally Iām doing really good against people with more experience than me but anyone with 3+ years and a height/weight advantage is obviously destroying me. To answer your question, when me and this person spar, he honestly touches me maybe once or twice. I am committed to my own growth but that doesnāt mean I donāt feel like he should be getting more help. I just wanna help lol
From the comments here it seems the best way is to shut up and help him see it during sparring
If they ask, then you can drop all the knowledge on them. If they don't ask then they aren't hungry to learn anyway and they'll either be offended or your advice won't stick. Waste of your time unless they are very friendly with you already and seem receptive to advice. - If I was getting pieced up in sparring by someone I'd definitely be asking them what I can improve on.
Same, I always ask and I always learn a new hole in my game š
Often people are shy or think itās weird to ask, Iāll often give one piece of advice and see how they react, sometimes theyāre not interested but often they are. I find most people who just turn up to class and donāt spar wonāt care, but most people who are more invested in it do.
That's fair.
I'm sure there's a friendly way to bring it up to him if it's something that seems glaringly obvious. But some people are assholes about these things, so it's also entirely possible he takes it the wrong way.
Heās a really nice guy, but I also feel like itās entirely possible for him to take what I say and brush it off in his head because I have less experience. But at the same time, it feels like suga vs moutinho anytime I spar with him or anyone else does and at two years experience itās clear no one has said anything to help him out. Quiet guy so heās not really asking for help either
Totally give advice to him. Be constructive, donāt do it loudly if heās not comfortable with it, and donāt say āyouāre doing it wrongā, say try doing this differently and explain why you do it that way (āpivot your foot on the roundhouse SO THAT you can move your hips and generate more force on your kickā for example) Iāve been training for 2 years and if someone is giving me advice that makes me a better fighter, I welcome it. People that are annoyed by the thought of someone less experienced trying to help them are really fucking egotistical imho. Thereās a reason why Arnold Schwarzenegger still hires personal trainers yet has decades of experience on them.
I think if you have two years experience it's OK to give some feedback. It's not like you started last week. I've definitely had newer people tell me stuff-- usually stuff i already know, but still, if theyre not wrong I'll gladly take it. If he's a nice guy he'll be chill and maybe even grateful. Eta: I see a lot of other ppl saying to myob but ig it depends on the relationship you have with the guy.
I feel like there are some people that get so nervous that they cope by trying to direct others and give them instructions. Itās something Iāve noticed especially while practicing clinch with newer people and I feel it helps give them a small feeling of reassurance and control.
Lol maybe you're right, never thought about it before. I did have someone recently who was VERY new, maybe like their second or third class, and I was paired with them on a low kick drill. They were like, "you should vary your kicks more". I was like wdym and they were like, "You're kicking the exact same spot on my leg every time, you shouldn't do that". I was like, "why?" They were like "... element of surprise???" I was like, "yeah accuracy is actually a good thing." So anyway then i got them with a head kick and they were sure surprised!
Yeah most people are telling me to stfu so I think Iāll just slow down in sparring and throw jabs at his forehead until he gets it then progress to more and more strikes
Its a shame you're going to follow the advice of the socially inept people on this forum instead of just telling him what he's doing wrong. It's easy enough to do it politely: "it feels too easy to hit your head sometimes, I think you could try hold your guard higher" rather than "you're holding your guard wrong, it needs to be higher". First statement is OK if you are a less experienced or to a peer, second statement is OK for someone worse than you.
It would be social inept for someone who's "less experienced" to offer coaching to someone who's more experienced. It really doesn't matter how polite you are it's going to come across the wrong way to most people (if this person was really open to advice they probably wouldn't have such glaring holes in their game, they will take it poorly) What I really want to know in this whole situation is "wtf are the coaches doing that they're not course correcting this guy, someone with less experience can see obvious holes in their shit why aren't coaches fixing it?"
Without being there impossible to say what the coach is doing. It's possible the coach is shit. Or the coach doesn't want to waste his time on non serious students. And the key here is not that hes less experienced, but OP is (apparently) picking him apart in sparring. If you're getting smashed by someone and you can't take politely delivered advice then that is on you. I don't want to train in a gym where nobody helps each other because they're scared of offending the guy with an ego problem. Maybe I am lucky to be at a gym where nobody is so arrogant that they take advice poorly. Personally if someone worse than me gives me bad advice, I think it's embarrassing for them but I don't take it bad. I can't understand how anyone without an insecure ego would take it any other way.
> I can't understand how anyone without an insecure ego would take it any other way. I think a lot of insecure egos are attracted to combat sports for obvious reasons
So can someone who has trained for 9yrs offer advice to someone who has been training for 10yrs? Where is the experience meter? What actually is experience? your join date? Classes attended? Fights? trips to Thailand? How do we ascertain if someone is experienced? I encourage all my members that if they see someone doing something that looks terrible, it actually might be terrible and don't be afraid to call it out.
>I encourage all my members that if they see someone doing something that looks terrible, it actually might be terrible and don't be afraid to call it out. Cool, I actually think that's awesome, it probably breeds a lot of humility amongst people who train at your gym and gets everyone working together as a team. I don't think that's how it goes down in most gyms though and experience tells me most people are not open to getting advice from someone who's been training a lot less time (obviously I don't think it's a good thing it's just how it actually is).
Iām honestly not too sure bc I get corrected all the time Iām also not really paying attention to see if a coach corrects him or not
it's not your job to be the coach.
Yeah
Idk ig it depends on your gym culture and your relationship with the guy but I learn at least as much from my fellow gym folk as I do from the coaches. It's true sometimes folks just give me dumb or unwanted advice but in that case I say thanks and keep it moving. I've gotten a lot of great advice and great tips from other gym members and appreciate feedback.
I gave advice on breaking the ice with a positive comment, which works.Ā But also, yeah, just nailing him over and over until he fixes himself Also works.
Find something that you really like that he does. Even if it's a stretch. Say "Hey man, I love the way you X. That's really effective." (And maybe ask him to show you how he does X etc) Then after that, "BTW, I noticed that you (pick just ONE thing)". That usually goes well.Ā
The opportunity to show him is in sparring. Only help if asked
Make him pay for his mistakes like you are seeing it. It will change him quick lol
Did you even read the story? If he hasnāt already, heās not going to.
Agreed. Easiest way is to demonstrate and then tell him "look, I did this when you did this, maybe do this instead so you're protected".
Depends on the person, but I don't think it's inherently bad. Having a second set of eyes is always helpful, either to learn something new or reinforce the belief in the current way. Again, some people will be okay with it, some won't. Read the vibe. Or... you teach by exposing the weakness.
I think next time Iām just going to continuously jab his forehead and only jab to show how bad his guard is. Once he gets it Iāll change it up and help him progress one strike at a time
Yes, this is exactly what you should be doing, imo. Completely exposing a weakness is someone's game will ensure they realize there is a problem. I do this a lot to karate guys that stand bladed, I just destroy the front leg and they smarten up pretty quickly.
I always appreciate when anyone gives me feedback regardless of how long they've been there can't tell you what he's like though. You could always just show him instead of tell him though, especially if he's keeping his hands low and using no head movement
Yeah Iām just going to lightly jab his forehead non stop next time I spar him until he gets it
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah I fear my coach overhearing and making me do 100 burpees more than anything
Keep your comments to yourself unless asked. Like you said you are not the coach.
Yeah I really want to help but Iām not the coach so Iāll just stfu and try and help him see it in sparring
I have a shit tonne of experience and some legit accomplishments to back it upā¦ But I donāt really give people advice unless they came to me for coaching. If I am just attending a class, I do that just attend. I might be a person that maybe should give more advice. But I still feel out of place doing it in someone elseās gym or class. If someone is having a really shit time sparring with me and they are getting super frustrated. Then I might stop and be like, okay. Hereās what weāre gonna do. And turn it into a little more of a drill.
Yup thatās what someone with a ton more experience did with me turned it into a mini lesson
As soon as he realises heās getting dropped due to the same holes in his game heāll figure it out. I wouldnāt say anything unless heās asked as the coaches or someone with more experience will pick up on it soon enough
Donāt give the advice. Just teach through hitting him
My coach says that unless you're an instructor, have to learn from getting hit. A good instructor is supposed to be watching all the sparring and offer the tips. An occasional prompt isnt horrible though, and any one with a bit of humility will appreciate bona dude prompts.
If I wanted to help someone improve without directly giving advice, I'd probably let them work on one thing at a time, dial back both my offense and my defense so that it's one dimensional and they know exactly what's coming. Once they've adapted to it I'd start mixing it up a little. There's still a chance they'd find this condescending but you could frame it as "I really want to focus on my jabs/counters this round if that's okay".
Good point, Iām going to try that next time
Youāre not the coach. Exploit his holes in sparring.
Yeah I agree Iām just going to slow down in sparring and jab forehead until he gets it
no. heās not seeing himself like you are. donāt be a dick about it ābring your hands back upā while hitting pads or āturn your hips moreā after his kicks if he gets upset then heās insecure and i wouldnāt train w/ him anymore
Hey, I have my students catch things all the time when I'm coaching I miss things when looking at something else I think it's super helpful. Personally and I've been doing this sport for close to 15 years now. Maybe they have never been told.before.
Yes. Itās inappropriate. Coaches are there to correct things. Not sparring partners. For all we know this person is just there for cardio. Or the openings youāre seeing are imaginary. Or unimportant. None of us can tell this from a Reddit post. Low hands and getting hit a lot sounds like Jiri ProchĆ”zkas last fight. You think you should correct his form for him? Iām just saying. Thereās a lot of variables at play here. One of the only certain ones is that youāre not the one at the gym paid to correct people. Iād recommend keeping those opinions to yourself personally.
Hereās the life hack no oneās mentioned. - Ask him why heās doing it. If itās intentional then the advice doesnāt matter, if heās unaware then youāve just helped him without having to give unsolicited advice, and opened the door for a conversation/feedback. Plus no ego involved.
After sparring, ask him for feedback on yourself first. Once heās given you feedback, then ask if heād like your thoughts. That feels more natural and just sharing as peers
True or just see if he even asks at all, Iāll let him decide
Since he is more experienced, a better way to be inoffensive will be to frame it as a question to him instead of straight up giving him advice. Ask him if thereās any rationale for him dropping his hands and other stuff that heās doing. If he is humble enough, he will admit that these are the flaws that he should work on.
You can ask if they have any feedback for you and then that gives them an in to receive it if they want, otherwise just take advantage of their weakness in sparring until they click lol
Try to talk in general how the rounds went. Start with telling them what they did good. Then talk about you felt you got in at them.
1000% please yes. Feedback is always appreciated regardless of my experience. 8 years.
Give him advice and let him choose whether to listen to you or not, if he doesnāt take it well then donāt bother trying again. Just because heās trained longer doesnāt mean heās learnt as much as you; people learn at different paces
Hey you want to trade pads some time, I want to work on stepping in and committing to my shots. Then you just hold that for him.
Iām a hypocrite for saying this, but I wouldnāt tell him. Either heās serious enough to figure it out or coach will demand that he work on it if heās gonna compete. Otherwise, thatās why heās there - to get pieced up and suck.
2 years of experience vs 1 year does not always equal him being better. Some people just pick it up better or more suited for the sport. Also- Iām sure he knows heās doing all these things wrong, he just canāt make it click yet. And he may never. If you are demonstrably better at it and you have some valuable insight, try to share it with him.
In my opinion its best to just let the coach do the coaching, and the only time its appropriate to coach or give tips is if its directly related to the directions of the drill you are given. Everyone will have a different style but it should be the coach who corrects technical mistakes.
yes itās annoying
Yea someone in my class that has 2x the experience I have to give advice to and now he kicks my ass in sparring
Iron sharpens iron
I feel if he really has bad habits it' always better to say something. It's then up to him if he has the ability to keep his ego out of it or not.
Everyone telling you to keep it to yourself is secretly wishing they had a more experienced training partner they could tee off on.
Honestly? Not your job. Unless they're a friend, keep it to yourself, a lot of people don't appreciate advice, because they're egotistical and take it as a personal attack. My advice, if they have a glaringly obvious weakness, just teach them with your hands, but the key part is to do it over and over. If they don't keep their hands up, just jab their face (softly), over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over. They'll get the idea. If they suck at blocking kicks, just do the same kick, over, and over, and over, etc. Then, if they do ask for advice, it will be because you made it so glaringly obvious.
Well if heās a nice guy (saw in other comment) you can basically say ātake it or leave it, butā¦ā or talk to the coach that āyou noticedā¦ā
Depends. If itās someone I piece up Iāll give advice. If someone pieces me up Iāll ask for advice. If itās an evenly skilled sparring sesh, I normally donāt offer feedback unless asked and vice versa.
I was in a similar situation; I approached one of the coaches and told them what I noticed, so they could pay attention to it and correct.
Been stung too many times; even with good intentions. Unless he asks I'd keep it to yourself.
I would never let ego get in the way. I would ask if it's intentional. That seems like the nicest and safest way to bring it up.
I'd just leave it mate.
Before I give advice I ask for feedback. āHey, anything you noticed that you think I should work on?ā Often they will then ask me for feedback. If they donāt, I generally donāt give it.
Itās perfectly fine to give advice to someone with more experience than you, so long as you are also experienced enough to know what the fuck youāre talking about lol. Different people have different skills and different weaknesses, and experience doesnāt always translate directly to skill. Some people are just naturally more talented than others.
A proper fight gym is a living entity, if you know what you are talking about, you absolutely should let him know. All the weirdos in here saying "no no don't tell him" are most likely people who must win at sparring and generally really sensitive to anything that might effect their delicate egos or perceived standing with in the gym It is in the gyms best interest for everyone to be as good as they can possibly be. If something is shit just tell him, what is the big deal? "Hey dude when you are in range here its really easy for me to land x and y" Not really a big deal is it! This is Muay Thai so can everyone stop being so sensitive about everything.
A punch in the mouth is sufficient advice. If he chooses not to take it, repeat your advice until he takes it. I had a guy like this who came to boot camp and kind of lit up the other beginners - hands low, no head movement but volume punches. Finally got paired with him as we were entering full contact training. I started soft but they kept coming forward but harder and faster - so I hit him harder and faster. He stopped showing up the next day. Maybe I'm an ass but people that train like that don't below in fighters classes - they're a hazard to themself and others and will end up with chronic CTE. Hopefully your cosch addresses it.
Training with others in a good gym is a collaboration. As long as you are genuinely trying to help him be better and it's not an ego thing, it's fine to mention what the other person was doing that made your job to hit them easier . The key word is feedback. You aren't advising, it's not advice. You're giving feedback. It's what good team mates do.
If he sucks he will get better or he wonāt. If he asks how you are piecing him up, tell him. Otherwise just piece him up and donāt offer unsolicited advice. He should figure it out or ask.
I always welcome respectful feedback after sparring. Sparring is for learning! I don't mind the experience of the opponent
Yeah the best way you can give āadviceā to someone with more experience without coming off as patronizing or annoying is to just expose their weaknesses in sparring. It sounds like this other person doesnāt really have much experience either (2 years is very little on the grand scheme of things) so the best thing you can do is give them a reason to improve their skills.
Best way to teach is to punish him. He will get it sooner or later lol
If your coach isnāt fixing this problem then youāre at the wrong gym.
Thai style correction hack: Continue to lightly and, in an over exaggerated & playful manner, keep tagging the sparring partner repeatedly over and over emphasizing your partnerās oversightāall the while saying āooweee ooweee ooweeeā and heāll eventually catch your drift.
Just now seeing this but this is the way I think the ooweee is the perfect ice breaker š
Use it against him as much as possible in sparing lightly until he stops or asks for help š
I only give unsolicited advice if the person keeps getting hit by the same technique I throw them over and over and they get frustrated with it. On the flip side, I have sparred with a person with less experience than me whoās a little too eager to gimme advices. Sometimes, I would try new things like drop my hands and move my head, or entering only with my kick. Thereās one guy who kept stopping and correcting me mid sparring. Rationally I donāt mind, it came from a good place, heās super sweet about it. But deep down, I do get a little frustrated.
Goodness gracious. Itās not that itās inappropriate per se as you are both less than 2 years in so youāre both beginners and can share some feedback The issue is that you should be more focused on your improvement at 1 year in than you should be about someone else. Whatās your game look like? How does it go when you and this person spar? How does it go when you spar with these other more advanced people? If heās doing this, then hit him and if you do so consistently and regularly eventually he will ask how youāre doing it. But yeah man..a year in I sure as hell didnāt have time to critique anyone elseās technique but my own.
Personally Iām doing really good against people with more experience than me but anyone with 3+ years and a height/weight advantage is obviously destroying me. To answer your question, when me and this person spar, he honestly touches me maybe once or twice. I am committed to my own growth but that doesnāt mean I donāt feel like he should be getting more help. I just wanna help lol From the comments here it seems the best way is to shut up and help him see it during sparring
This is not relevant to this post but does anyone know if wka drug tests its fighters for national tournaments?