Jump to content

How to get over the fear of hitting people?


Recommended Posts

I can handle being punched and kicked, because I like blocking. But I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to reciprocate and mirror their strength. Please don't tell me to just keep practicing because I did for at least a year and I am getting annoyed at myself to be quite frank.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Tom Riddle said:

For The sake of Your Life!! you can do some punches practice at that time, when you're being attacked and see your strength, 
If you feel that you're not of his strength then just keep blocking!! 😛 

That's the problem, I can go very hard on non-living things but I can't do it on real people 😞

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/5/2022 at 8:52 PM, dazzleanddie said:

I can handle being punched and kicked, because I like blocking. But I cannot for the life of me, bring myself to reciprocate and mirror their strength. Please don't tell me to just keep practicing because I did for at least a year and I am getting annoyed at myself to be quite frank.

I used to be very aggressive on pads. But when I started sparring I just couldn't hit back. I only sparred with teachers who would not go hard but put a lot of pressure and I just frooze. Years back I was stalked and assaulted and I froze then too, begged for mercy. I realised, all that came back when I was once again in a situation where I had to enforce my physical boundaries. And the shame I felt for not protecting myself in the past all came up to the surface. Things that helped me: work with an older, patient male teacher that would give me space to hit back in my own time. And then also, get hit hard by a very aggressive girl with tonnes of experience. She headkicked me so my contact lens popped out and my ears rang but that physical sting, like real pain brought it out of me and instinctively I just hit back. My ex-husband also helped me with sparring, kicking me hard and getting me annoyed and aggressive with a person I trusted. And I broke that barrier slowly but surely. But for me it was a long emotional process of allowing myself to protect my physical space by hitting back, not just take it. Which has helped me enforce my mental barriers as well. 

Not sure if my advice applies to your specific situation, but I really feel you on this freezing thing and what effect it has on your confidence. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/7/2022 at 9:03 AM, LengLeng said:

I used to be very aggressive on pads. But when I started sparring I just couldn't hit back. I only sparred with teachers who would not go hard but put a lot of pressure and I just frooze. Years back I was stalked and assaulted and I froze then too, begged for mercy. I realised, all that came back when I was once again in a situation where I had to enforce my physical boundaries. And the shame I felt for not protecting myself in the past all came up to the surface. Things that helped me: work with an older, patient male teacher that would give me space to hit back in my own time. And then also, get hit hard by a very aggressive girl with tonnes of experience. She headkicked me so my contact lens popped out and my ears rang but that physical sting, like real pain brought it out of me and instinctively I just hit back. My ex-husband also helped me with sparring, kicking me hard and getting me annoyed and aggressive with a person I trusted. And I broke that barrier slowly but surely. But for me it was a long emotional process of allowing myself to protect my physical space by hitting back, not just take it. Which has helped me enforce my mental barriers as well. 

Not sure if my advice applies to your specific situation, but I really feel you on this freezing thing and what effect it has on your confidence. 

It did helped a little. It’s comforting to know I’m not the only one being hindered by the freeze response.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

It's hard to hit people. I always struggle to hit hard. Even when I am sparring assholes that cause super hard, I find it hard to throw back with the same bad intention. 

I am actually working on been meaner in sparring. Not in a douchy way, but just, not giving a break and say I am sorry every time I clip someone good.

Anyway, one thing that helps. Is before the bell ring, try to take the habbit of like closing your eye, concentrate and decide on your intentions and mood for that round. Don't go chatting, not thinking about what you're about to do as if you were just hanging out with your best budd. Go within yourself, be mindful and punch them in the face. Like yoga, but with blood, sweat and tears....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
On 4/27/2022 at 7:41 AM, Joseph Arthur De Gonzo said:

Anyway, one thing that helps. Is before the bell ring, try to take the habbit of like closing your eye, concentrate and decide on your intentions and mood for that round.

I had used setting intentions to get more aggressive in sparring before.  I did it mostly during fight camp because aggression is important for scoring in North America.

One of my intention was "to override" as in to override the opponent's intentions.  I felt more comfortable with this than say, "I'm gonna knock this person out", which is not consistent with my own temperament.

Maybe rephrasing your intention could help you progress.  Instead of "I need to hit hard and hurt them", go with something like "I'm gonna match their energy for this round".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Matty said:

Maybe rephrasing your intention could help you progress.  Instead of "I need to hit hard and hurt them", go with something like "I'm gonna match their energy for this round".

Yes, I try to focus on me rather than my opponent/partner. Like Don't back up, don't let them take a breather if I take the momemtum etc. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I’m a similarly nice person so I get it.  In sparring I don’t like to hit people hard especially to the head.  
 

however I just did a Kyukoshin tournament.  It was my first foray into striking combat sports.  I had no problems hurting someone.  I think you might be a little different the context of an actual match.  I was shocked at just how ok I was with it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • ONE didn't invent giving bonuses on top of fight pay in Thailand. In fact it took a long tradition of gamblers providing injections during fights to inspire fighters. When you hear about traditional fight pay you are missing out on the "injection" bonuses which can be substantial. Here today a fighter winning 500,000 injection bonus ($15,000+ USD) and being guided into the stands to thank the gamblers (who are often portrayed in simplistic caricatured ways). It's an ecosystem out of balance, but its still an ecosystem, in which parts support parts. Instead in ONE this bonus tradition has been transferred to only ONE big boss, being handed out on the preference of a single man, who is attempting to steer the aesthetic of Muay Thai itself...away from tradition.  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=791304983340912&rdid=mUWvMklDzJ4i3xa6  
    • Watched this fight yesterday, and was really moved by Devy. Looking back at Bill's skills he's everything Entertainment Muay Thai dreams of for a fighter, mixing combinations with Thai techniques, eyes and timing. Beautiful stuff. But Devy is incredible...in such a subtle way. He's like: I'm take your pyrotechniques and just hold position and cover, then move the set, take, hold blast a lowkick to your back thigh. It's like watching a chef cook a masterpiece with 3 ingredients. It really doesn't matter who won this fight, its up over 150 lbs, its the art of this cloistered, minimalist fighting, and his shrug-offs of the aggression and attempts to intimidate. Bill probably the most skilled Western fighter in history, but something deeper and older going on here with Devy. Something that is almost painful to receive beamed across the decades to here and now, as everyone is trying to push Muay Thai into Entertainment and Westernization, Globalization.   
    • Saenchai with another KO win on Entertainment Thai Fight. He's the last magical fighter of Thailand, that last of Thailand's greatness, and we are all blessed as he continues in the ring. I don't watch it much (or any of Thai Fight), but still consider it a blessing. When he stops it will all be gone, even though this is kind of half-fighting, and surely he'll do show fights after his retirement. What I love about this photo - and the first thing is that it suddenly feels like Saenchai has aged, and this happens - but what I love about this photo is that you can see his "coal eyes", which is what I call them. There was an old trainer at Lanna named Nok, who when you trained with him his eyes, if you got any advantage or edge, would just turn black. You could see, he just went into that state. And you knew, stop fucking around. Saenchai has always had such a joyful, playful visage, and a charm of handsomeness that he carried everywhere, even into intense battles. But every great, experienced fighter, even Saenchai, has "coal eyes" inside of him, they have to or they couldn't do it the way that they have. And, in my poetic view, it feels like in this slightly aged photo you can see his coal eyes come out. And its really beautiful. 
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • Hi all, Does anyone know of any suppliers for blanks (Plain items to design and print a logo on) that are a good quality? Or put me in the right direction? thanks all  
    • The first fight between Poot Lorlek and Posai Sittiboonlert was recently uploaded to youtube. Posai is one of the earliest great Muay Khao fighters and influential to Dieselnoi, but there's very little footage of him. Poot is one of the GOATs and one of Posai's best wins, it's really cool to see how Posai's style looked against another elite fighter.
    • Yeah, this is certainly possible. Thanks! I just like the idea of a training camp pre-fight because of focus and getting more "locked in".. Do you know of any high level gyms in europe you would recommend? 
    • You could just pick a high-level gym in a European city, just live and train there for however long you want (a month?). Lots of gyms have morning and evening classes.
    • Hi, i have a general question concerning Muay-Thai training camps, are there any serious ones in Europe at all? I know there are some for kickboxing in the Netherlands, but that's not interesting to me or what i aim for. I have found some regarding Muay-Thai in google searches, but what iv'e found seem to be only "retreats" with Muay-Thai on a level compareable to fitness-boxing, yoga or mindfullness.. So what i look for, but can't seem to find anywhere, are camps similar to those in Thailand. Grueling, high-intensity workouts with trainers who have actually fought and don't just do this as a hobby/fitness regime. A place where you can actually grow, improve technique and build strength and gas-tank with high intensity, not a vacation... No hate whatsoever to those who do fitness-boxing and attend retreats like these, i just find it VERY ODD that there ain't any training camps like those in Thailand out there, or perhaps i haven't looked good enough?..  Appericiate all responses, thank you! 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.5k
×
×
  • Create New...