So I went to a new boxing gym last night and tried their Muay Thai class. I've been doing pad work for about a year with friends who know what they're doing, but I've only been to a handful of actual classes at various gyms.
Anyway, last night the class was going great until near the end, when the instructor had us sparring. He told us to glove up and get mouth guards in. I thought we'd just been doing some more intense drills, but apparently this was sparring time. I waited until the instructor called me out to spar. We were doing 1 minute rounds, and swapping one person out after each round... without head gear.
This is where it got weird. I got into the ring with him (he's at least a foot taller than me and 50+ pounds of muscle on me). After going easy on me for 30 seconds or so, he teeped me once, which knocked me down HARD. I went flying. I got back up and came back in, and he turned and did a hard side kick that sent me flying again. That round ended, and he had someone else step in with me.
The next guy was a good 8 years younger than me if not 10 and a good 20 pounds heavier than me/4-6 inches taller. He was aggressive as hell and at one point tried to clinch and dump me. He hit me hard in the head and body and seemed like he was really out to kill me. I realize that he could have KO'd me if he wanted, so he was clearly holding back. It was just a lot more intense than I was ready for.
I felt like I learned almost nothing from the experience... Other than the fact that I'm really new to sparring and suck at it. My chest is still really sore 2 days later. It feels like he might have bruised my ribs with those kicks.
Am I over-reacting here? Or was this really unsafe sparring? Is it normal for the instructor to kick a new student that hard twice in a row or to put a new guy in the ring with some hot-head kid?
Anyway, last night the class was going great until near the end, when the instructor had us sparring. He told us to glove up and get mouth guards in. I thought we'd just been doing some more intense drills, but apparently this was sparring time. I waited until the instructor called me out to spar. We were doing 1 minute rounds, and swapping one person out after each round... without head gear.
This is where it got weird. I got into the ring with him (he's at least a foot taller than me and 50+ pounds of muscle on me). After going easy on me for 30 seconds or so, he teeped me once, which knocked me down HARD. I went flying. I got back up and came back in, and he turned and did a hard side kick that sent me flying again. That round ended, and he had someone else step in with me.
The next guy was a good 8 years younger than me if not 10 and a good 20 pounds heavier than me/4-6 inches taller. He was aggressive as hell and at one point tried to clinch and dump me. He hit me hard in the head and body and seemed like he was really out to kill me. I realize that he could have KO'd me if he wanted, so he was clearly holding back. It was just a lot more intense than I was ready for.
I felt like I learned almost nothing from the experience... Other than the fact that I'm really new to sparring and suck at it. My chest is still really sore 2 days later. It feels like he might have bruised my ribs with those kicks.
Am I over-reacting here? Or was this really unsafe sparring? Is it normal for the instructor to kick a new student that hard twice in a row or to put a new guy in the ring with some hot-head kid?