Why You’re Sparring Wrong — and How to Fix It

PUBLISHED 14 JAN 2026

Jessie Enkamp on rethinking sparring to maximize learning

For generations, sparring has been treated as the holy grail of martial arts training. If you don’t spar, the logic goes, you can’t fight. Pressure testing is essential, realism is king, and anything less than hard contact is dismissed as fantasy.

But according to karate expert Jessie Enkamp, that mindset may be holding you back.

In a recent video, Enkamp challenges one of the most deeply rooted assumptions in martial arts: that frequent, hard sparring is the best—and only—way to improve. Drawing on examples from elite fighters, neuroscience, animal behavior, and traditional training principles, he argues that most people are sparring in a way that actively reduces learning.

Even the Best Fighters Have Stopped Sparring

Enkamp begins with a provocative observation: many of the world’s top fighters no longer spar the way amateurs are taught to.

Elite competitors like Max Holloway, Donald Cerrone, and others have publicly stated that they spar very little—or not at all—especially when it comes to heavy contact. The reason isn’t fear or softness. It’s efficiency.

As Enkamp notes, countless fighters “leave their careers in the gym.” Every hard round becomes about winning instead of learning, and the accumulated damage eventually costs them their health, longevity, or motivation.

The irony? These fighters didn’t stop improving when they reduced sparring. In many cases, they improved faster.

The Problem Isn’t Sparring — It’s How You Do It

Enkamp is clear: sparring does matter. At some point, techniques must be tested against resistance. Without that, skills collapse under pressure.

The issue is that most people approach sparring as fighting, rather than as learning.

When sparring becomes about winning rounds, protecting ego, or proving dominance, it triggers the fight-or-flight response. Stress hormones rise, creativity drops, and learning shuts down. You might survive the round, but your nervous system isn’t adapting.

This is where Enkamp turns to an unexpected source: the animal kingdom.

Why Play Is the Ultimate Training Method

When puppies chase balls, bear cubs wrestle, or lion cubs pounce, they’re not just playing—they’re rehearsing survival skills. To the animal, it feels like fun, but neurologically, it’s high-level training.

Scientific studies show that play lowers cortisol (stress) and increases dopamine (pleasure)—a hormonal combination directly linked to neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to learn and adapt.

High stress impairs memory and skill acquisition. Play does the opposite.

As Enkamp points out, humans are no different. As children, we learned coordination, balance, and problem-solving through play—not through fear of failure. Growing up didn’t change how the brain learns. It just changed how we train.

Serious Play vs. Gym Wars

The best fighters understand this intuitively. That’s why Muay Thai fighters spar lightly, focusing on timing, distance, and flow. To an outsider, it may look like a dance—but those same fighters are among the toughest on earth.

MMA coach Firas Zahabi has said the same about Cuban boxers: playful, light contact, no ego—and consistent Olympic success.

Play doesn’t mean laziness. Enkamp calls it serious play. The intent is real, the focus is sharp, but the stakes are low enough to encourage experimentation.

This mirrors military training, where simulations, mock battles, and war games are used to maximize learning without the irreversible cost of real combat.

Finite Games vs. Infinite Games

To explain why mindset matters, Enkamp references philosopher James Carse and his idea of finite and infinite games.

A finite game is played to win. An infinite game is played to keep playing.

Most sparring is treated like a finite game: win the round, dominate your partner, prove something. But martial arts mastery is an infinite game. There is no final victory—only ongoing refinement.

When sparring becomes an infinite game, losing becomes data. Mistakes become information. Winning isn’t scoring points—it’s learning something new.

Or as Enkamp paraphrases: winning is playing, and playing is winning.

Five Rules for Smarter Sparring

Enkamp outlines practical principles to transform sparring from ego combat into accelerated learning:

1. See losing as winning
   Every round should answer one question: What did I learn? If you gained insight, you won—regardless of the score.

2. Be comfortable getting hit safely
   If you can’t relax enough to take light contact without fear, you’re sparring too hard. Risk is essential for growth—but only when injury risk is low.

3. Adapt to your partner
   Sparring isn’t about exploiting size, strength, or experience. Use lighter or less experienced partners to work weaknesses, switch stances, or test unfamiliar strategies.

4. Spar early, not last
   Your nervous system learns best when you’re fresh. Save conditioning for later—sparring deserves your sharpest mind.

5. Abandon your favorite techniques
   Don’t rely on what already works. Try new movements, even if they fail. Failure is the tuition fee for improvement.

The Ninjutsu Connection

For practitioners of ninjutsu and classical martial arts, Enkamp’s message resonates deeply. Historically, shinobi and warriors trained to survive long campaigns—not to win gym battles. Longevity, adaptability, and learning were valued over short-term dominance.

Sparring as serious play aligns closely with that philosophy.

Hard training has its place—but if it costs you curiosity, health, or enjoyment, it’s unsustainable. And unsustainable training leads nowhere.

As Enkamp concludes, the day you stop learning is the day you stop living. The question isn’t whether you spar. It’s whether your sparring is helping you evolve—or quietly holding you back.