Conditioning out the Flinch

[everything]

Hardcore ZZ, of course, but there are a few gimmicks that you can use:

1. Have your sparring partner wear wool gloves soaked in water, and as you spar he flicks water at your eyes, ...

... your job is not to flinch.

That reminds me of another gimmick. Well now I can't remember if this is from some cheesy kung fu flick, from a friend, from some web forum or what - a drill where you stand in the water and strike down and not flinch. Anyone actually tried that? Results?

[Darthwing Teorist]

IMO, it's important to condition your flinch into something effective. ideally, you shouldn't be surprised by an attack, but if you are, you don't want to just curl up into a ball. my wing chun teacher used to tell me that if you freak and don't know what's coming, you should put up an arm and a leg (read: some kind of block and kick).

I agree with doing something useful with the flinch. This is one of the ideas behind functionalizing the flinch (it is also one of the ideas behind using the flinch). Putting forward an arm and a leg sounds a bit like out universal entry where you shield (yes, shielding again, Dmitri ) with one arm and a leg, since you can't always judge where the attack will land when you're surprised. At least not in a fraction of a second, the time required to enter into your opponent's attack.

[Royal Dragon]

Stare at ugly women.

When you can stare at Ugly women, and suppress the over powering urge to run and scream, but instead remain calm, you will no long flintch in battle.

[Kurt Robbins]

I found that sparring with basic strikes and at a very slow rythum will keep me relaxed and I can develop a tempo where I can react and counter effectively with the least possible movement. A flinch does not give you the type of control a slip and jab or any derivitive of an effective dodge/parry and lead up counter strike. If you go slow with the goal of not developing bad habits you can speed up over time and comfort to react with effective counter measures. Find a good teacher and a technical sparring partner who is patient.