I've had about 8 sparring sessions and after every one I get headaches. Well, i dont get headaches on all my spars, just the ones where I get hit quite a bit. It's not like i get totally beat up, but I do get hit. On some of them, if it was a real match, I would have won. But it seems everytime i get hit during spars, I go home with headaches that night. Is taht normal, cause the headaches get pretty bad, but they go away when I wake up the next day.

I dont get headaches after sparring but I always get bad headaches after competition fighting. I put the headaches down to a mixture of nerves waiting to be called up to fight and adrenaline as well as taking hits to the head of course. Im actually a kickboxer and cause I fight alot in sports halls I find the lighting has an effect as well.
Do you get very nervous before you spar

ye i used to get them..but wen i started to relax and was prepared to be hit, i dint seem to get them

so ye its probly a mixture of stress and nerves..if u keep gettin them tho i suggest u tlk to sum1 professional about them..ur trainer even

those aren't headaches....


they're small concussions!

advil or ibruprofen would be good for after sparring headaches.
hopefully you don't have to go to work after your sessions.
I say take an advil and a nap.

Here's the secret of not getting headaches. Don't get hit so much. When you're at home or at the gym practice defense, even make a point to your trainer and sparring partners if you have a certain thing you want to work on (e.g. slipping punches, ducking, footwork, and blocking)

There was one fighter that stood above the rest when it came to defense and that was Benny Leonard. He was a Jewish boxing with a nose that could turn a plane but in over 222 fights he never a busted looking nose or any of the distinguishing features associated with many boxers.

Here's a couple of his secrets, think ahead, talk to yourself if you have to. It's like when you're drivinh and you're thinking where you have go, in boxing terms you think like this, "after I slip his jab I'm going to come off with a hook to the outside" Benny Leonard was one of the fastest thinking boxers that beat all his opponents in a hall of fame time because he never missed any details that he'd exploit and he had an excellent defense.

Getting back to defense work on defense all the time, it should come first. Right now best choice is a shadowboxing and getting these defensive maneuvers drilled into you. You should also practice it in sparring so you can really develope a feel for it and be able to do it right off the bat from now on.

Also if your headaches are prolonging you should see a doctor. If you get headaches from something else it could be related to fatigue (being out of shape), dehydration, or something else.

I don't get nervous before my spars anymore, so I know it's not that. I know I'm not dehydrated because I drink quite a bit of water, and I'm sure I'm not out of shape. My headache that I had from yesterdays spar is gone now. The thing is, I dont get hit A LOT when I spar. Yesterday, I probably only got hit with 3-4 good shots, with all the other shots felling pretty light. And it was only 3 rounds. I didnt get a headache until about an hour after the spar. Ive tried to look up info on this online, but couldnt find any thing. Thanks for you guys reply, and I'll probably end up talking with my coach or a doctor about this.

Reading between the lines, I think a lot of the problem is bad posture with the upper back u5vertibrea and above. In the stretchs section theres one in there for the problem, hope that helps

lol scrap that's half your advice, your nickname outta be "stretch". But about your last post there, boxing stance aside how does posture help, and regards with that what should you keep in mind.

And Noodles you're doing good. You gotta build up your defense so that your opponent will be short on opportunities. Besides that are you able to see the shots coming, you should start building mental maps of what your opponent is doing and plan your shots accordingly. Sparring and shadowboxing will be your greatest friends.

I think what Scrap is saying makes sense CC.

I have upper back pain which I didn't get a few years ago.

Now I can only work bags which are moderately hard or soft - not the real old school hard one in my gym because the jarring goes up through my arm straight into my neck.

I never had this problem before I began to have back pain and i think stretching out those tight muscles so they have a bit more give could help.

Chris the basic stance taught by coaches will give headaches to novices. Once the chin drops more than 15% and into the shoulder you have unnatural posture which will tighten onemuscle group on one side more than the other and stresses the lower back over a short period of time will result in a muscle inbalance which will give headaches its a common occurance.

lol I've been there, I've never experienced back pain like that, but I found that when I was starting off on the bag a a couple years ago I'd get a headache if I was really commiting to my shots. I don't have that problem anymore, I guess unknowingly I I've become more fluid, but by trial-and-error I don't do things that will hurt me.

Yeah - you could be right.

It might be fluency - perhaps I have lost fluency with back pain and stiffness.

I know it's not the weight of the bag since the hard bag we have is only a half length bag and the full length bags which are a bit softer are not a problem.

I do feel if I contacted the bag when my shoulder was already further into the punch the jarring might not be as bad.

Hopefully I'll grow out of it