One-step sparring drills are great beginner sparring drills to start with for newbies to martial arts and sparring because they teach you specific defenses and counter strikes to specific attacks thrown at you in a controlled manner. You learn how to block certain techniques with specific blocks and evading techniques and counter with predetermined striking combinations. These are good for both sparring matches in your sparring class as well as for self defense. One step sparring teaches a beginner to develop their muscle memory by drilling their various punches and kicks. These sparring drills are used both for sparring applications and for self defense situations.

Sparring in itself is unpredictable as most self defense situations are. Martial Arts styles such as taekwondo, where you do a lot of sparring, are more practical for self defense because you aren’t just drilling with theory. You actually learn what sparring skills and self defense skills work for you. This is a key point we teach in our self defense for women workshops.

Master Jonathan Field