Give it time

Often in classes, when people are training, they tend to rush things and miss out on some of the more vital elements. This is especially prevalent in striking combinations.  In the beginning it is better to develop your timing and accuracy and actual technical proficiency.  You can add in power later on. I know everyone hitting the pads has power, but sometimes it’s a case of disengaging that ego and going a bit slower.  Take your time to set your self up correctly and have a good base with your hands in the proper position, depending on what position you are working from that evening.  Then go through the combination a few times slowly, get the brain used to it and then increase the tempo.  Remember, the brain needs a little pause in there in order to learn, otherwise you are just working reaction.  Just think you wouldn’t get in a car on a driving lesson and just floor it would you?  Learning combatives is no different.  Sometimes it might be the case that the particular drill just involves a melee attack and we are not that bothered about form, but the majority of the time it is our primary concern.  So, focus over speed and power in the early stages. Remember, it can only go faster.  Then you can end up displaying speed like Bruce Lee in the clip below. Check him out towards the end:

Bruce Lee demonstrates some Kung Fu moves

We love the Martial

The idea behind being 'Combat Ready' is to be able to go from standstill to 100 mph at any given time. Now this could be good decision making, an altercation or de-escalation.  Your training needs to mirror this sort of thing, so if it doesn't then you need to add it in or find somewhere new to train.  In martial arts you have the art side which we rarely concentrate on unless we look at form.  Now I say form, not forms, and don't start quoting the Bruce Lee lines about form having no value as he said that decades ago and look at who he probably said it to - individuals bound by form as that was how arts were taught.  We are no longer bound by those constraints so don't get too hung up on what one guy said all those years ago.  What we do like to focus on is the martial side of things. The combatives and tactics involved in confrontations.  So take a bunch of strikes and practice these guys to death.  Get working them on the heavy bag, the focus mitts, a door frame or a training partner.  Think about single direct attacks, and then attack by combinations.  Need more information on this? Then a simple google search on Bruce Lee's fighting strategies will help you out.  Really this material is the stuff that will keep you safe far more than any of these bogus techniques you might be taught week after week in certain classes.  Remember, the strikes are where its at - the rest is simply frosting on the cake designed to keep you interested. 

Kickboxing vs Krav Maga

Krav Maga from Israel is considered one of the premier self defence systems available today.  The system has only one true purpose and that is to keep you safe.  It is a system not an art.  Now that doesn't mean it is any better than a martial art - it simply means it is all martial (war like).  With an art you are concerned with proper placement and positioning of the body has to be within a millimetre. With a system there is more room for manoeuvre.  

Typically Krav Maga is taught in two ways.  The self defence system and the fighting system.  The self defence system is more about you being on the back foot having been grabbed or punched or held hostage. The fighting system is more about being able to engage an attacker before that happens and taking pre-emptive action.  It is also about being able to fight.  At Krav Maga Edinburgh I like to emphasise the fighting system, not because we want to fight or are thugs (most of the classes are made up of professional people), I just simply think it is better to teach people proven fighting strategies rather than showing them how to get out of wrist grabs.  I don't want my guys getting used to being on the receiving end all the time. I want to help shape people who are strong minded, focussed and who make good decisions quickly.

The fighting system is essentially the strikes of boxing with knees and elbows from thai boxing.  The close quarter elements have strikes from all martial arts.  We are very lucky as well to have such a great grappling and submission coach (Scott Mellia) who has been able to create a great ground fighting curriculum - basically, MMA for the street, although most of the techniques he uses are banned even from MMA.  We also incorporate Bruce Lee's strategies of attack from Kelly Worden's 'Renegade Jeet Kune Do'.  This allows us the ability to get in there and finish a confrontation quickly.  We look to see how all the fighting systems on offer can help make your Krav Maga better.  At the end of the day Krav Maga was born in Israel but is from all over the world and it must be reflected in an updated curriculum as better ways are found to deal with particular problems. 

If you are training Krav Maga and are looking for extra training then you should strongly consider coming along to some of the kickboxing classes, as the repetition of the pad work will super charge your striking skills. Your rhythm, pace and timing will all get better and make you more effective. This has been proven countless times when some of the guys who have trained in KM for years start attending some extra kickboxing classes. Next thing their overall game has increased.  

Kickboxing classes run Monday through Thursday from 6.45-7.30pm and a Saturday from 10.15-11am and are only £5 per session.  What are you waiting for. 

TRAINING AT SPEED

Remember very little in life goes at a regular pace, certainly not training or a violent encounter. Your training has to mirror that and its often greatly over looked by many or, at the other end of the spectrum, the trainee goes too fast.  If we take a defence like the 360, where we are defending against an outside attack with a simultaneous block and counter, think about the rhythm and tempo.  The start up will have us with our hands up in a passive guard protecting our space.  As soon as we see the attackers shoulder engage we react with our arm in a strong blocking position and our attacking hand moving straight forward with either a palm strike, closed fist or finger spear.  This should all be done calmly and smoothly, but with violence of action, or what Bruce Lee refers to as 'emotional content' in the movie Enter the Dragon.  Now our follow up strikes can be crazy mad-fast, throwing everything at an attacker and bouncing around him like Zebedee.  This is acceptable in the early stages of training.  For someone who is training longer we want to slow that motion down and get quality strikes to appropriate targets. This will enhance the trainees skills in timing and tempo and also give them an opportunity to develop mindset and execution of proper techniques. Eventually this will get quicker, but just think that you will go fast, slow, fast.   For example block quickly and aggressively, counter attacks can be slower and then a fast engagement.  This is what you need to do to get good.  Its the same idea as a boxer using a mirror for shadowing boxing.  Get on this and in a matter of sessions you will seen an improvement.