Training with a Purpose

Every time a new student joins the Impact Krav Maga family they receive a link to an article that we wrote many moons back, where we share tips to keep in mind when training Krav Maga. To read the article please click 6 Training Habits of a successful Krav Maga Practitioner. These are training guidelines that helped us during our Krav Maga training and still do today, that we thought could benefit incoming students. But these training tips are not only applicable to new students in the system but can be quite relevant at any stage of you training. In this month’s article we would like expand on a key component of your training and that is the concept of training with a purpose.

In class you often hear us say “slow down” or “go slower” when practicing and learning a new technique. Of course slowing down decreases a chance of accidental injuries, but it does more than just that. Slowing down allows your body to feel each component of the technique and better internalize each step. This is just as true for a beginner as it is for a more experienced student fine tuning their skills. Working at a slower speed will allow you to better understand and feel how small biomechanical adjustments and nuances affect your body and movement and what effect they have on the outcome of the technique. For example, the small adjustment to your weight distribution in a defense that keeps your body in a more balanced position allowing for better control of the attacker. Or adjusting the weight distribution during a combination of strikes thus improving the fluidity and the power of the strikes. The more you can understand and feel the difference between a correct movement and the incorrect one, or a good movement and a better movement the more likely you will be able to adapt in a real life scenario when you will not have the support and attention of an instructor by your side. This level of awareness when learning a new technique or fine tuning a familiar one is part of what we mean by training with a purpose.

The second component of working with intent involves the mental side of training. Going through the technique without thinking about each step will not allow you to analyze mistakes and make the small biomechanical adjustments needed to improve your performance as discussed in the previous paragraph. The more you are engaged mentally, the better is the physical outcome of your training. When you come into the school, forget what happened that day, and don’t let the stress outside the school affect or interfere with your training. This is your time, so enjoy it spending it on improving yourself and gaining lifesaving skills. Remember that the mental side of dealing with violence and stress is just as important as the physical and the technical abilities.

Your training attitude, mental condition and physical movement should have a purpose that is reflective of your goal; get home safe. So when you train with this purpose and by focusing both the physical and the mental capacities on improving yourself and your self-defense skills, the outcome will be amazing. You’ll find that your punches are quicker and sharper. Your defenses are stronger. Your movement is more determined. You are wasting less energy and are remaining more calm under stress, and much more.

So, stay motivated, stay focused and build good training habits that will keep you improving day by day. And please share with us any tips you feel could help others in their training. We love to hear from you.

Good luck with your training!