Regarding fast punches

[Aaron tuckwell]

Question? how would you defend against blur punches, apart from covering up & keep moving.eg;which means I have seen drummers use this same idea when playing one stick in each hand when moving it looks like one stick also another drummers term use is fan, next time you look at a electric fan 4 blades look like one, I have experienced this with two friends that can do this when punching using rolling & straight punching & all I could do it cover up & try get a kick in which I found draining from a defending point of view, has anyone experienced this before.

[Fabian Patino]

this sounds like one of my top five movies... is your mate neo or agent smith?

but seriusly,

Covering up and moving is a start, but these three basic suggestions can help...

kicks is very effective tool, front leg front kick, front leg sidekick or a plain front kick are good show stoppers if performed correctly. The trick is timing and keeping the right distance, with practice you can improve on these aspects.

have you considered basic takedown techniques? the faster you close the distance between you and the opponent the less effective his strikes will be. There are many different ways to take someone down one simple way is you can throw a combination (jab, cross) then quickly perform a takedown then follow with a finishing move that will keep him down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takedown_(grappling) this link will explain 3 basic takedowns. When you learn the basics you can move to other concepts and trying other combinations.

if you reach the point when your mates are connecting punch after punch and it distracts your focus, compose yourself by covering up then side step with punch combinations and maybe a kick until you gain you distance. you can also move back while throwing jabs and covering to gain a little distance but be aware of your environment you don't want to walk back into a wall.

anyways thats my 5c worth... any critique will be welcomed

[Markus Santi]

Against continuous punches easiest is like Fabian said to kick from a distance. This however requires that he hasn't actually started punching yet. If the situation is that the other guy is already in punching range and really throwing many punches your best options in my opinion are:
1. counter punch, there are lots of good drills to practice counter punching. The thing to remember is that you don't have to knock the other down with the first punch you just want him to stop the onslaught. The easiest version is just to throw your jab right after he has hit your guard.
2. keep your guard up and move forwards with your guard up, until you can grab his arms or neck and then just try to keep his arms pinned and knee him until the punching stops. After you can push him back and attack yourself or throw/sweep him/her.
3. you can also attack his legs with either a shin/stomp kick (not for dojang practices) or take him to the ground like Fabian said. if you go for a takedown remember to distract him high somehow or he will just evade.

One last thought is that if you keep your guard up and back away try to move to either side rather than backwards. This forces the opponent to redirect his force and he won't be able to come at you as hard.

There are many counters to strikes but they all work best against the first strike, and this is an important thing to consider. You should always stop the punching at the very beginning or you will be in trouble. No matter how good you are at parrying if you only defend eventually punches will come through.

-Markus

[Aaron tuckwell]

Sir thankyou very much for both contributions it is very helpful I will try these ideas out when I spar with my friend at the end of this month

[Reno Leuc]

Interesting question, and even more so since it's a friendly environment.
Your question is regarding Sparring, right?

So no mean, cheap or dirty techniques allowed - Which makes it much harder of course
I have to agree with all things said above (Sir Markus and Fabian) plus really would focus on takedowns.

Since your attacker focuses so much on strikes is a pretty good indication that they're bad with distance and/or kicks.
Use that as your advantage by either attaking first, from a distance with good timed closing-range kicks.
OR if you're already attacked with punches, duck and reap their legs and tackle.
Very underestimated. The more complex techniques someone knows the less focus on simple techniques will be layed.
So tackle is a pretty good option, unless you're bad at it

Another showstopper would be a rising front SNAP kick under the arm pit or into the rips.
You can either "slightly" lean back or even hop "jump" back with this technique (gotta be fast though), that will teach 'em to keep their distance >)

Aaron, you're green belt so now would be a good time to start getting good with your low spinning hook kick, when they're closing in (Danger). Or a simple but fast executed turning back kick will do the job just as good.
There you go, you got tons of options - the matter of fact is you gotta pick a few, practice and then perfect them in order to use them properly. Otherwise your opponend will figure it out and read you like an open book.

Good luck and have fun, sparring is awesome fun.