A more modern approach which I would use with students and fighters who had this problem was I had about 35-40 dense foam balls, each about the size of your fist. They would square off with cheap safety goggles on and me standing about 15-20 feet away and I would throw balls at them. I would start off easy at first only throwing them so fast and hard and not in rapid succession. As they became more comfortable with things and would not flinch and only move fractions of an inch so that the balls would miss them I would then begin to throw them faster and harder and eventually in rapid succession trying to get them off balance or moving into one and such. This drill would help teach them not to flinch and also to learn how to move just enough so that a ball would just miss them and never being off balance or having things like arms and hands out of position.
You can do the splashing drill yourself by just hitting the water but it is not near as effective as doing it with another person. Most training drills require a partner in some way and so you should really consider having a friend help you with some of these things. That is one of the reasons why people should not train themselves and instead go to a gym, martial arts school, or dojo. There they have the benefit of coaching and instruction as well as others to train with.
Flinching isn't always bad. It shows that you have good reflexes. It's all in your head though, you know that the punch is coming, you know that you're going to get hit so why be scared of it? The more you fight, the more naturally this state of mind will come. Something that you can do at home is the Water Splashing drill. Look down and as you splash the water up, resist the urge to turn away. Most effective would be sparring though. Get another guy to throw punches at you, without making any contact. It'll improve over time :)
This helped me actually. Try and learn to take punches, get the feel for them. Next time you spar let the person hit you in your forehead some times and etc. get used to the pain.
Spar like 50 times a day.
In muay thai we have the newbies in my gym moderately hit there there foreheads with boxing gloves on focusing on keeping there eyes open. Helps to train there body not to close the eyes when a punch is coming.
It simply goes away the more you spar.
It'll stop when you stop being scared of being hurt, PUSS-BOY!
learn to take punches, until you are not scared anymore bc it is all fear. your doing a contact sport so expect to get hit duh!!
sometimes when i spar when i see the punch or kick coming i close my eyes and tense up. are there any drills or techniques to stop this and i am always relaxed. but even sometimes when im just lying around im just swinging this stick around through my fingers and i loose control of it and it goes to hit my face and i close my eyes and tense up, is this the same thing and again how can i stop it. also please do not include any solutions that i need a second person for. Thank You
