What kind of sparring? Like full tilt sparring? Do you throw a lot of hooks? You might be landing them wrong. This happened to one of my sparring partners because he wasn't landing his hooks right. It could also be tendonitis (make sure you stretch really well).

 

It's Muay Thai Sparring. I don't throw many hooks....a lot of jabs though. I think you might be right when you say I am landing my punches wrong. Sometimes if it's a hard punch that lands, I feel almost like a shock to my elbow. When I throw hooks, I throw them with my thumb facing up (that's most comfortable for me). Do you think this could be the problem? Also, I get elbow pain in Jiu Jitsu also, but it's not nearly as bad.

 

I used to spar with a guy about 7 inches shorter than me AND had stubby little arms (but he was strong as hell and fast as sin). He used to throw out jabs CONSTANTLY to keep the distance. There was enough snap and extension on them to hurt me if I didn't respect them, but they were meant purely to keep me at the right distance for him to jump in and beat me up inside (worked well) or take me down (worked embarrasingly well).

Anyway, he developed really bad elbow pain in his left arm after a long session, and the doctor told him he essentially had tennis elbow (is that tendonitis?)

So, if you are sparring standup and throwing a ton of "long fakes" that don't connect, you may be putting strange strain on your elbows that they arent' used to. Do you develop the same pain after a heavy pad session? If not, you might be having the same problem that my buddy was.

 

I do throw a few "fakes." The only time I can make it through with just a little pain is if I take 800mg of ibuprofen before sparring. This is fine, but I don't want to keep putting that in my body. When I do pad training, it usually doesn't hurt too much. That may be because when I am sparring, I am more aggressive. Thank you for your input.

 

Came here to post what Smokelaw posted. You're probably over extending when you jab, happens to basically everyone when they're starting out.

 

Could it be keeping your arm too tense when you throw punches? Keeping the elbow rigid and tight rather than keeping it loose?

 

It's funny you should mention that because 2 of my instructors tell me that I'm too tense. I will remember this for Monday. Thanks.

 

well i cant disagree with that many high level fighters. With boxing gloves on i do know that throwing it palm down allows more whip force as it truely gives you the angle to make it come down a bit and put more body behind it. Also in boxing you dont want to hit a bigger area of the face like palm inward does, you want to put all the force in the smallest area possible, preferably the chin and palm down makes this easier from close range.

Not to mention i just feel palm down feels biomechinally better and natural but that maybe because ive been throwing it like that since a young age. I will say i do throw palm inward hooks aswell, its always good to come from different angles and styles but if somebody were to ask me to throw my best, hardest left hook, it would always be palm down and most of my hooks that i would throw would be palm down.

Interesting, i was considering taking up Muay Thai since they teach it at my gym for no additional charge and im already doing BJJ. I fig since i have a boxing background i should do ground work 1st but perhaps its time to learn some new striking techniques. I do miss hitting bags but damn if my flexibility for kicks doesnt suck.

 

The low kicks in muay thai are the second best stand-up tool in the world IMO and you don't need much flexibility for it. Learn them and make them fluid after your boxing combos and you've got a good striker.

 

The whole debate in vertical/horizontal hooks is sort of gray area, as khov says. I tend to throw my low punches vertical as it feels more natural and the surface area really doesn't matter when you're hitting a target thats bigger than your hand no matter where you hit (AKA the surface area is the same either way). I never throw hooks to the head vertical though, but I can see how it's possible to use it in an advantageous way when thrown to the temple. The temple, being a high target, is easy to mis judge height wise. Throwing vertical gives you m ore room for error on the punch and it will still connect correctly. Using it to the jaw though means you're trying to hit more of a lateral target, so throwing it horizontal (palm down) give you more room for error. Also, as far as MMA goes, throwing them vertical makes it easier to clinch on a missed shot (like Fedor does all the time). You can throw them both with the EXACT same technique as well, the wrist is almost a completely independant joint of the elbow and if it's done correctly can it can be done with very little to no rotation on the forearm and elbow (you can throw both of them flat very easily).

EDIT: Khov, whats the first? Jab?

 

Jab if you're fighting a righty, cross if you're fighting a southpaw. I'm sure sonofzion would agree. :thumbsup:



edit: what Fedor does is not throw a vertical hook to clinch, he throws a casting punch, it's much different and not taught basically anywhere outside of Russia.


I can do it really well with my right hand but it's a steep curve. Until you get REALLY good at it, it's totally useless.

 

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