Throughout my Krav Maga training I’ve began to realize that Krav Maga can help you in so many ways. Obviously, as a self-defence system it can save your life and I could spend hours explaining techniques to you, but in this article I’m going to explain a few ways that Krav Maga can help you, sometimes without you even realizing it.
I’ll start with what I consider to be the more obvious things, and then look at the more complex ways it can help you.
- 1-Stress and confidence
Let’s be clear, this is a fact. Exercise will help you to feel better, your body will release endorphins and you’ll have improved self-esteem. This can help with depression and stress, the hardest part of beginning to combat stress or depression is taking a step forward, that first step is insanely difficult. What you’ll find at KMG clubs is that the majority of people have had hardship, they’re willing to listen and help and will never, ever judge you.
No Fear Academy’s head instructor Jose is really good at working with his students to build up their confidence, he pushes but doesn’t force. All the No Fear Academy instructors are happy to work with you to build confidence and will even take a moment out of the class to chat to you about any problems or issues you may be having.
And looking a little less indirectly, the exercise gives you a better quality sleep, that’s according to a study from the National Sleep Foundation. It’s worth noting though, that after a session you’ll need to try hard to relax as you’ll probably walk out feeling like you want to smash something from the adrenaline.
- 2-Fitness
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine while we were at the gym, he said to me “I imagine Krav Maga doesn’t offer fitness, or at least the same was as a lot of those kinds of things”. Basically what he meant was, he had done some martial arts and he thought that because Krav Maga was all about actual defence we wouldn’t spend time on fitness. Understand this, Krav Maga is a combat system originally used by military which means that there’s a big emphasis on PT.
That doesn’t mean you have to be a huge guy, after all in the country of origin everyone is request to join the military in some way or form, so having a system based solely on your size simply wouldn’t work. However, basic science says that to be able to swing your body around you must be fit, and in order to hit hard you must have some degree of strength. It’s fine to have one or the other, Krav Maga teaches you to use all your body to gain the most out of every strike. But all the time we’re doing push ups, sit ups, or weights, another reason for this, is to try keep your heart rate up to imitate the pressure your body will feel in an actual confrontation.
- 3-Other Martial Arts
In Krav Maga we study what works in reality, so we have to update our methods. As things like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA get more popular so does the chances of running into a guy that studies them. So in order to defend ourselves against a hold or choke, or even strike our partner must know how to properly perform that technique, otherwise should we run into someone that does the technique on us, we won’t be able to defend ourselves.
Bit of a disclaimer here: I’m not saying BJJ or MMA practitioners are particularly aggressive, it’s just that I’ve seen these two grow a lot recently.
- 4-Psychology
I would say this is probably the most interesting, during my Krav Maga journey I’ve found myself learning so much more about psychology, and as the FAST guys put it how the “Predators” of the world work.
In school we’re taught to ignore people and never “rise to it”, but what exactly does that mean? Your first line of defence is to try and get out of the situation without making any sort of contact, verbal or psychical. If you can walk away, or even run away, there’s no shame in that, in fact I believe it takes a real man (or woman) to be able to do that. But let’s say just for the sake of this piece your exit is blocked, you’re ignoring the guy, what can happen? He could give up, because he/she isn’t getting a reaction from you, or, they might see you as an easy target and begin to get more and more physical. I’ve seen plenty of cases of someone ignoring an attacker who simply gets more and more frustrated.
So now what can you do? Your next step should be verbal, start simple “Leave”. Say it normally try not the choke, and if he persists you begin to get louder and louder. People are animals and the louder and more command you have the better. It’s almost a brainy way of showing muscles and puffing out your chest, which works great for me being as I have neither.
This is different from rising to it, rising to it would be insulting the guy back, not commanding them to leave.
I always say that a fight takes place in the mind as well as the psychical. KMG work with psychologists, including world famous Rory Miller who studied criminal psychology.
- 5- Driving
Okay, so a little background on me now. I’ve absolutely terrified driving instructors. I’m currently on my eighth instructor, and he’s actually seeing me through to my driving test. I’ve taken countless lessons including a week long intensive course.
However, I’ve managed to transfer skills and logic from Krav Maga over. The most obvious being “scanning”, this is looking around for danger, exits or anything that you could use to your advantage (Or indeed the attacker). But more in depth is that in Krav Maga we train for the worst case scenario, so say you begin a technique and you fail to perform it correctly, you carry on until you do your best to stop the issue. This could mean you end up rugby tackling a guy with a knife, not ideal but better than standing there getting stabbed 5 times.
Now, I’m not saying that if you crash your car into a wall you should carry on smashing the wall up, but if you begin to do something, like move out to get around an obstruction it’s important to commit to it, at least then other drivers know what you’re doing, instead of you changing your mind.
- 6- Business
This is probably the strangest way Krav Maga can help you, I can’t speak for long on the matter as I’ve never attended a course on this. KMG offer a tailored course for business, called “Board Room Warriors”, the principle is that violence can change instantly, a fight can instantly change, as can business. So they take Krav Maga logic and apply it to your business.
Your employees can learn self-efficiency, mental training and teamwork.
They also offer guidance on how to deal with various levels of conflict, and more importantly, how to avoid them in the workplace.
- 7- Friendship
I wanted to end this on a happy note, I’ve made some friends for life during my Krav Maga training, and it’s amazing the effort they’ll go to to help each other. From the people you meet once every six months for a grading to the instructors, you’ll find yourself having a lot of new friends.
You gain a very special bond with someone you spend hours kicking in the groin, trust me.
No Fear Academy was founded by Jose Silva, a Graduate 5 level instructor with a military background. We also have another Instructor, Adam Holms who holds a G1 level.
Between them they cover a huge area of Hampshire and Wiltshire, covering Amesbury, Southampton, Swindon, Hythe and Sailsbury.
No Fear Academy are also looking at branching off into different areas in the near future, so be sure to check back if you can’t make lessons at those locations.
Kidá,
So what are you waiting for?
