Training standup from home

[SNOWBALL]

Dependingo on your financial situation, you might not want to get all the gear right away. When you first start sparring, there's no reason to go all out. In fact, you might not even want to spar much at all until you develop some decent mechanics, footwork, and accuracy.

If you do spare though, NEVER do it without a mouthpiece.

[Blarg]

Mouthpiece definitely, if you don't have one already.

Working drills is very helpful, to get your form right. The difference between good and excellent often comes down to mastery of fundamentals.

Some of the old martial arts standbys are very good, too, especially the ones for accuracy. Like, hanging a tennis ball from a string and punching it or kicking it, or stopping just short of it. You can do the same thing with a sheet of paper. As you gain confidence, put the sheet of paper on the wall and come at it full force with all kinds of combinations, but without actually touching the wall/paper.

This kinda stuff can seem strange, but being able to place a shot really precisely, especially with footwork or while doing combos, is great for training discipline and balance alone, as well as precision. A miss is as good as a mile, as they say, so accuracy is really worth working on.

But be sure to mix up your accuracy when hitting something small, or trying not to hit a wall, with hitting something hard, like a heavy bag. At first, you will move much differently when just trying to be quick or accurate than you move when trying to hit hard. Eventually, you learn how to handle your body better and the way you move when you are trying to be as quick or accurate as possible and how you move when you are trying to hit as hard as possible start to converge more and more.