Fear of Getting Hit or Submitted in a Fight or Sparring

For most beginners, their first sparring session is a nightmare. Everything that they learned in training seems to just not work when the sparring partner starts resisting. Almost every move they do is countered, especially if their sparring partners are seniors that lack work ethics.

What most people don’t realize is that fear of getting hit or submitted is useful, especially if the fear is healthy. Let me explain what the healthy fear of getting hit or submitted is and how it can work for you. Let’s look first at what happens when you get hit for the first time!

What Getting Hit for the First Time Feels Like

Most people that come to train have never taken a punch to the face. It is a terrible feeling and most beginners do whatever they can to avoid it after getting hit for the first time. They tend to forget about attacking and focus only on defense. Unfortunately, most beginners don’t know how to defend and they end up freezing right in front of their partner, or turn their face away.

Freezing is an invitation for the attacker to attack. You essentially become a punching bag! In catch wrestling, most beginners freeze when they don’t know how to transition and stop resisting which leads to them being locked up in a submission hold more often. The solution to both the problems is very easy. Learn how to get hit less or submitted less, instead of focusing all of your attention into avoiding getting hit or submitted!

Yes, you will get hit and your will get submitted, especially if you are a beginner. Your goal should always be to work and train in a safe environment where you can practice getting hit or submitted less. That way, you will be able to unlock the ability I call ‘Attack Window’.

The Attack Window

I always teach my students that the only reason you want to defend an incoming strike or submission hold is to look for opportunities to attack when the attacker is attacking. That is essentially the Attack Window. Attacking will stop most combinations and transitions. Attacking your opponent while he/she is evading can also halt the evasive move, as most strikes or catch wrestling transitions upset the balance of the opponent.

Always defend and scan your opponent for an open target, in the middle of the defensive move. Whether is a simple parry, block, roll, guard pull or sweep, you always want to follow it up with some kind of an attack.

Even if the attack isn’t successful, your partner/opponent will have to really think about using the same move again. Slowly and steadily, you will basically be disarming your partner and be able to control the fight. When you start attacking, your attacker will get discouraged and be forced to calculate the risk of attack. In other words, you will be hit less when your attacker is attacking you less and gets discouraged when his/her moves are not working on you.

That does not mean that you can get away by just keeping your attacker at bay. You must inflict some damage in order to not take damage. That really comes down to who can control the fight better, but that is a topic for another time.

The Effects of Getting Hit Less

When you get into the habit of trying your best to get hit less by using the attack window, you start appreciating that in order to save yourself, you must defend yourself effectively. The only fool proof way of defending yourself is by attacking your opponent every chance you get. You start to realize that the defensive moves only work when you follow them up with an attack.

When you get hit less, you also get the opportunity to catch your own mistakes. That way, whenever you get hit, you will analyze yourself and figure out what you did wrong. That way, you will improve your defense and attack. Take note that this goes for your opponent as well! If you become too predictable or use the same move over and over again, your opponent might outsmart you and land shots or transitions.

The Healthy Fear of Getting Hit

Not having a fear of getting hit at all will not make you a better fighter. It will make you a reckless fighter. An effective fighter is much better than a reckless fighter. A fighter that can pull of one move successfully while neutralizing 10 moves by his opponent is better than a fighter who pulls of 5 moves successfully and fails to neutralize 5 moves by his opponent. Why you ask? It is because hits and transitions start adding up and will eventually break you down.

A healthy fear of getting hit is okay. What is healthy fear? A fear like, ‘I don’t like being hit so I will try my best to get hit less and look to neutralize attacks’. Getting hit is not at all a good feeling. Getting put in a submission hold is not a good feeling either! Do what you can to neutralize the threat, instead of neutralizing the attack. Naturalize your opponent.