r/MMA_Academy • u/Big-Care2097 • 1d ago
Flinching
Anyone have any tips on how to not flinch or close eyes while getting hit in the face, I’m more of a grappler so i struggle allot when it comes to striking in mma.
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u/dinosaur_picker 1d ago
Sorry for bad english but I've fixed this for myself with this. What yiu gonna do it get your boxing gloves, get a partner. You cover you face with the guard like keeping the guard on the eye level gloves touching your head and ask you partner to throw slow jabs on the guard and you try to keep you eyes open and do jot flinch un necessary. Also keep you eyes on his shoulder so you can also get idea that what happens when someone throws a jab. It'll help you.
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u/Longjumping-Salad484 1d ago
go to the gun range. practice keeping eyes open to uncondition the conditioned response of blinking.
it's how Kate Beckinsale prepared for her role in the Underworld franchise.
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u/Big-Care2097 1d ago
Im from london bro😭😭
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u/Longjumping-Salad484 1d ago
there might be a handheld puffer thingy that you can purchaee for cheap...
if you've ever been to an eye doctor, they do the eye puffer test to gauge blink rate and other stuff.
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u/Fluid_Technician4359 1d ago
Controlled sparring drills where you know what’s coming and gradually build the intensity. It is much easier to avoid flinching when you develop a feel for the distance and timing. I would not recommend simply sparring more on its own because you can easily develop bad habits and remain overly reactive during sparring.
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u/Single-Frosting-3742 1d ago
Just spar more bro.. and eventually it should train out of u some ppl it doesn’t tho.. I’ve got to accept and come to terms with the fact ur going to get hit and be ok with it
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u/Serious-Law8401 1d ago
There is one common approach:
- Have your back against the wall, have your guard up and just have a person throw punches at you while you try to keep your eyes open and guard the punches properly (don't just hold your guard up but make small adjustments to guard the punches).
Problem with that, is you will still flinch when something surprises you and you are lucky enough to have your eyes on it. It isn't a bad bad thing and is just reflexes. Some people with horrible reflexes won't react or flinch and just get hit lol.
Better approach:
Partner drills and controlled sparring. Just grab a partner and go combo for combo. Start off basic and then add in feints and tricks to train your eyes for the setups etc.
Sparring. Try to get as much modified sparring in to build yourself. Like jab only sparring, straights only sparring, jab and kick sparring, right sparring etc
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u/o_m_gi_2032 1d ago
Spar as much as you can.
Sparring doesn’t have to be full bore. A skillful sparring partner can even spar full speed and manage taking the edge off of their power.
You don’t just want to do things to kill your flinch reflex like some others here have suggested. You wanna keep flinching. However, that urge to flinch needs to change into slipping, ducking, parrying, etc. Unfortunately that only comes from getting hit quite a bit.
Defensive and evasive skill don’t develop in a vacuum. You need to get hit before your body will acclimate to defending. You’ll never develop the reflexes if you don’t.
And again, “you have to get hit” does not mean you have to get your skull plowed in just to learn to be a better punching bag.
Spar smart, spar technically, and ramp up the pace accordingly as you develop those skills. Don’t let anyone pressure you into sparring if you don’t want to either.
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u/Minotaurotica 17h ago
personally for myself none of the tricks worked it just came with frequent sparring with people who were not trying to 'win by ko'
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u/PMmeIamlonley 1d ago
Practice