Taking Advantage of All our School has to Offer

As a student of Impact Krav Maga you get more than just access to daily classes.  The schedule also offers students Open Mat hours.  This is an opportunity for students to take advantage of a time when no classes are offered at the school, and the space is available for students to work independently on any aspect of their training. 

How to best use this time? 

1. Physical training. Physical preparation and stamina are a crucial to fighting and self-defense training.  
   1. Heavy bag work is a great way to stay in shape, improve cardiovascular stamina, and perfect striking mechanics. Simply wrap up, wear a pair of boxing gloves, pick a few combos, set a timer on your phone, and go at it for 2 or 3 minute rounds with a minute rest in between.   
   2. Strength training and strength endurance is another way to improve physical fitness. We have a small area with some weight training equipment in the back of the school designated specifically for that use.  Use that space to do pushups, pullups, dips, ab work, kettlebell exercises and some free weight work.  Set up a small circuit for yourself and get started. You can even create circuits that incorporate some weight training with heavy bag work to get the most out of your time.  Obviously be careful with excessive weight.  If you are new to weight training, we will be happy to go over some basic safety guidelines with you before you get started.  
2. Krav Maga training.  Need to practice the material you learned in class? Open mat time is perfect for that. 
   1. Meet up with another student and start drilling previously learned techniques. One way is to set a timer 2-5 minutes each round, where each round is done twice, where first you defend a set choice of attacks and next you are the attacker for your partner to drill his defenses.  Define what attacks are allowed in each round and spend the allocated time defending the random attacks, focusing on correct decision making, good follow up combatives, etc.  As an example, round one can be spent on defending any straight punches.  Next round, add in circular strikes into the arsenal of attacks.  Round three can have additional attacks in the form of kicks.  Another round can be focused on just defending any chokes, the next round can also incorporate headlocks or bear hug defenses.  Rounds can also include weapon defenses.  Just 30 minutes a week of additional training in the above format will significantly sharpen your Krav Maga skills, improve decision making under stress and in addition improve stamina and cardiovascular endurance. 
   2. Can’t meet up with a partner to train? You can always dry drill techniques independently. Pick a technique, visualize the attack and slowly do the technique with appropriate follow up combatives in the air.  Try to keep a steady pace that is fluid but not too fast.  Do this 10 times, then do the same technique 10 times more with a bit more pace, but without losing the fluidity and the technical nuances.  Then, move on to the next technique, visualize the attack and repeat the procedure.  This will greatly accelerate your learning process and sharpen your skills.  Add in some heavy bag work into this routine to also improve your conditioning and get additional benefits of physical fitness. 

The more you take control of your Krav Maga training on and off the mats, the better your progression will be.  So take advantage of everything our school has to offer.  Ongoing classes, open mat, online krav maga training videos, and in-house workshops are all there for your benefit to help you get safer, stronger and equip you with the necessary skills to defend yourself and your loved ones.