"... believe in yourself. believe in your training ..."
WHAT IS SANDA
Sanda means Free Fighting. Another very common term used is Sanshou - Free Hand. Sanda has been developed by the Chinese Military and it is based on the study of Traditional Kung Fu. It is a Stand Up form of fighting and it includes punches, kicks, knees, elbows, sweeps, take downs and throw downs. It is similar to Kickboxing and Muay Thai, except that the fighters have more freedom in using their techniques. Usually, alongside the study of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts - Kung Fu, Tai Chi, etc. - the practitioners also study Sanda so they can train the self defense applications shown in the Traditional Forms (Taolu). This is also part of the training at the Shaolin Temple.
SHADOWBOXING
Apart from what has been stated about Shadowboxing in my other article on BOXING, I have to mention a few things to which we pay attention when we shadowbox in preparation for a Sanda Ring Fight or for Self Defense.
While Boxing, we mainly have to protect our upper body and head. In Sanda, we have to protect our whole body. Therefore, while Shadowboxing we have to be aware of the fact that we can get hit in the legs as well, we can receive knees or elbows - if the opponent gets too close - and we can get thrown to the ground. Now we have to use all the body and find a good combination between Punches & Kicks, between Upper Body & Lower Body, so that we maintain balance and flow without opening ourselves too much.
There is very little Ground Technique in Sanda & Kung Fu, because it is widely accepted that you have to do everything you can to maintain an upright standing position, because if you get to the ground you have lost half the fight. In the case of a street fight, falling down is the last thing you want to experience because fights don't happen on a mattress and usually there are multiple or bigger/heavier opponents and it is very easily to get kicked in the head from different sides at the same time or to have things thrown at you. In a Self Defense Situation, first thing you have to do is to not lose balance!
When practicing Shadowboxing for Sanda or Self Defense we can make full use of our imagination. We can throw strikes, use different angles, different targets, we can use all the parts of our body, arms, legs, shoulders, hips, knees, elbows, fists, palms to throw hits, we can set up take downs, train our foot work, body movement and learn how to appreciate distance and timing. In Sanda, the distance between fighters is bigger than in the case of Boxing. We have to learn Kicking Distance, Punching Distance, Elbow/Knee Distance & Take Down Distance. We have to be more creative about the way we reach our opponent without showing our intentions. We'll have to find a way to first get close to the opponent and then maintain and control the right distance for our favorite style so that we can make the best use of our best techniques.
PADWORK & BAGWORK
A great form of training the body and the mind is hitting bags and pads (also called focus mitts). First, we sharpen our techniques with Shadowboxing. We train the form, the alignment, the speed, the power and we visualize the right timing and the right reactions. Without having practiced Shadowboxing, we will lack power and flow and we risk getting injured while throwing hits. After Shadowboxing, we can practice the techniques against a bag (on our own) or against pads (with the help of a partner).
Hitting the BAG is good for sharpening our Power. We can learn that way how to throw a hit to produce the maximum damage. We can feel the right alignment for our technique. If we hit the bag and we bounce back, the technique is poor. If we hit the bag and the bag bounces bag, the technique is ok. We also need to pay attention to the sounds we make. We can shout so that we release internal tension accumulated in the body, release stress, train our focus and deliver more power. The sounds that our hits make are also very important. We want to get as crisp and as sharp sounds as possible.
Of course, hitting the bag is also a great way of training the body and a very good form of therapy for our mind. It releases a lot of aggression that has been built up and repressed during our daily experiences and it gives back endorphins that make us feel happy. Just feeling our power will give us instant satisfaction and confidence.
Physically, it is a very entertaining way of training. We can train our legs and our core by throwing kicks & knees against the bag and we get a more fun and less boring workout than if we did 1000 sit ups.
Hitting the PADS can be practiced in a Preset way or in a Random way. Having a partner in front of us will help us study the fighting distance much better than while hitting the bag. Pads are smaller in size than a bag and they will be moving all the time, so we train our accuracy better and our focus. After having a clear set of combos that we are good at, we can then practice hitting the pads in a random way. This time, our partner will decide which pads to show and you have to react in a fast and intelligent way. He can also hit back so you get to train your reflexes and your counter-attacking speed.
SPARRING
After having practiced Shadowboxing, Bag Work and Pad Work, we can start practicing Light Sparring and gradually move to Full Contact Sparing and Sanda - Free Fighting.
It is very important to start slow. You have to understand what you are doing and you have to develop good reflexes and control. If you start too fast, you will not understand what is happening, you will not get to learn what your job is - how to open up and set up your opponent in order to eliminate the target - and you may develop fears and bad habits after accidentally getting hit or injured.
Start slow and gradually build up the speed. I believe, while practicing Shadowboxing, Bag Work and Pad Work, you first train your Form, then your Power, and then your Speed. Speed comes later on, due to repeated practice. But it seems to me totally pointless to have speed without power. With good form and good power, you may eventually land a hit and that hit may be decisive. You have to focus on throwing not too many hits in order not to burn out. If we are talking about Self Defense, then it would be ideal to eliminate one opponent with one hit. Because, as I said, usually there are more of them and you cannot spend too much time "arguing" with only one of them.
In the case of Sparring, Power comes later on. We first need to train the Form, the Distance, the Reflexes (Speed), Body Endurance (getting used to getting hit) and later on we can add Power and move to Full Contact Sparring. Then, we really have to be careful because it is no longer PLAY. Light Sparring should be a playful activity! If you observe the animals, they learn how to fight at a very young age by playing with each other. They don't have power, because they are small. But they have speed, because they are small. So, before they grow up and develop their full power, they have already learnt how to use that power and how to defend against it. In the same way, we should play while practicing the Light Sparring and do this activity in a safe and relaxed mode so that we can let our imagination guide us. If we are afraid of getting hit, if the sparring is too hard, we don't have time to think, we don't have time to get inspired. We may learn some very practical moves, but we also risk getting injured and becoming unable to train properly for a while which can be very frustrating.
Therefore, it is important to find good sparring partners - preferably friends! And then move to sparring with random people. Sparring should be playing with the techniques you have learnt and playing with your body, testing strategies and combinations, it should be fun! And it should be fun for both partners - because if you knockout your partner, who are you going to train with again!? Later on, after having developed a good body condition and a strong mindset, we can safely move to Full Contact Training.
SPARRING AS MEDITATION
Sparring is also a great form of Meditation. While sparring you physically don't have time to think about something else other than what you are doing. If your mind goes off for a split of a second, you instantly get hit. You have to be fully attentive and enjoy what you are doing. While it is a very demanding activity that tests your Stamina a lot and trains your body in new ways - because you have to move freely now and not just repeat the same techniques and train the same angles, it can be a very enjoyable activity and time will fly before you know it. You will be surprised to see that so much time has passed without you having to worry about a single problem of yours! It has to be practiced in such a way that it does not become a form of escapism. We are not running away from our problems and into our practice. We train our minds to focus on what is happening right now, and not stress about what has happened or what may happen. So that when we return to our problems we try to maintain the same mental attitude and we may find out that for some things we won't have to worry at all anymore because they either already happened or they did not yet happen. And we learn this from fighting. When you get hit, you don't have time to complain and overthink about it - because then you will not be paying attention anymore to what is happening right now and then you get hit again. You have to move on with what you already have, whatever the situation is. The hit that you got already showed you what was wrong. You already know it. There is no point in beating yourself up. There is someone in front of you who is doing that for you already. And, if you think too much about what hit you are going to throw, you may wait and wait for the right moment. You may expect your adversary to act in a different way than he is actually acting. You may have other better hits to throw, but you hold back because your mind is set on this one move that you are planning to make. You have to become free of past and future so you can be in control of what is going on right now.
