Training Tips
Equipment
For your first class you just need to show up in workout clothes you can sweat in and bring some water. Some comfortable pants and a T-shirt will do, clothes you don't mind getting roughed up and sweaty, and bring an extra shirt to change into afterwards. You do not need any other gear your first class.
Once you have decided you want to keep training, you need a few pieces of equipment:
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A mouthguard.
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We don't intentionally hit each other in the face, but we do stressful drills, and anytime we are doing an active drill it is better to just put the mouthguard in and avoid accidents. It only takes one knock to chip your teeth and that costs a lot of money.
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A simple sports mouthguard will do, the boil-and-bite kind.
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Here is the one i use if you want something a bit fancier, and you drink with this in.
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Here is a decent video about how to shape the mouthguard.
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Some gloves.
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We punch training pads very hard almost every class. We provide some gloves to get your started until you can get your own, but you will want your own ASAP for hygiene and so it shapes to fit your hand over time. You don't need anything super fancy unless you are committed to train for a long time, but you generally get what you pay for so don't go too cheap.
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You want MMA style with no bar in the palm. Ideally an open palm or smooth palm glove.
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Here is a decent product from Revgear I know to be a good mid range glove as an example.
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Groin protection
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(for people with masculine anatomy). We don't kick each other in the groin on purpose but we do aim for the groin regularly, it is a main target in Krav Maga, and accidents happen, especially under stress. It makes attacking and fully engaging in drills very difficult if you are worried about being hit in the groin, so get protection and wear it to every class - always.
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I like this simple slip over version, but any sports cup will work as well.
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Safety in Training
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Hydration.
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Always bring water, and drink it as you need throughout the class. I will not always tell you to drink. It is your responsibility to stay hydrated as we will sweat a lot. And bringing a small towel is a good idea as well.
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Take Control of Your Body.
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This is a big one, and one of the things we are learning through self-defense. You need to listen to your body, and you need to speak up about what you need. Water, rest, a moment of space to collect yourself, more or less aggression with attacks. Know your edges, define them clearly, then push them.
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You must push yourself. I will be pushing you, hard, to your limits sometimes, but only you know where that is. This is an essential part of the training, developing the mindset of survival, learning to fight through the desire to quit, to push and push until you are safe. This is one of the most important things you have to learn and grow for self defense. But the goal is not for everyone to push equally. All of our bodies are different, as are our fitness levels, abilities etc. It is my job to push you, and your job to know where your limits are, so you can push at that edge, not to do the same thing everyone else is doing. This could look like working an alternate strength exercise if you have to (like holding plank when others work push-ups). This also means communicating with your partner to ask them to go harder to softer as you practice defenses. Just avoid the temptation to take it easy, you must push yourself to truly grow your self defense.
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This also goes for injuries. It is your job to let others know about any injuries you have, and to manage your movements to make sure you protect yourself within the limits of your body. If you need more time to stretch something, come early and do that.
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Time.
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You will hear me yell "TIME" in class. This means stop whatever you are doing right away and look to me. It might be a safety issue, like you are about to trip over someone who fell behind you. Or it might be that I need your attention to address something important or to keep the class moving forward quickly. This allows us to learn as much as possible and have the most practice time, whilst staying safe.
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Trim Your Nails
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You really need short nails to train properly and safely. It is unsafe and often impossible to make a proper fist for punching when you have long nails, not to mention the danger to yourself and others as we grab and rip with our fingers in defense situations.
General Training Guidance
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Train as much as possible.
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You will advance in your training as much as you train. Once class a week is just enough to retain what you learned and slowly build on it. If you can train twice a week you will grow twice as fast, and build on your skills much quicker. Take all the classes you can, and practice at home to keep the core skills fresh. You also need quite a few skills to program muscle memory. You want to condition your muscles to react instinctively and effectively under certain stress conditions when your brain is not working. This take some time and repetition.
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When you drill, go hard and push yourself.
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Again you are training muscle memory, so when you work a defense and throw counter attackes, throw them for real so your muscles learn the full real movement. This is either to the pad or if there is no pad, just imagine your attackers head is 2 feet to the side and strike the air there as full and hard as you can. It may feel weird at first, but your muscles are learning the movements that will actually serve you when you need them to.
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Learn to throw real strikes, either to the pad or next to the attacker.
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I can't stress this enough. This is the best way to really condition your body for a real attack scenario. You need you muscles to learn the movements while your body is flooded with stress chemicals and your brain is not working. If you don't train in a realistic stressful way, when a real attack comes and your body enters that stressful state, it will feel foreign and your muscle memory will not be there. You are training your body to kick in during those conditions, because your brain will not work at first, and if you freeze it will not serve you.
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Train smart.
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Avoid injuries even small ones. This may seem obvious, but we can get so wrapped up in the moment that we can get sloppy or push through small pains as we build our determination and fighting spirit. This leads to doing silly things like not wearing gloves to strike pads, or not putting our mouth guards in for a drill. A simple graze on our knuckles from not wearing pads might not hurt very much, but it makes it hard to train next time when it hasn't fully healed, so we hold back, or we are distracted. Be smart, so you can train hard and often.
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Train with lots of different people.
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This can be scary at first and it is so tempting to stick with our friend or partner. We should definitely bring everyone we know to train with us, and training with people we know is great. But it is so important to experience different bodies, different sized people. Everyone moves different, reacts different. We want our bodies to know without a doubt that they can do the techniques to anyone of any size, without fear. This allows to walk through a crowd without worrying about particular people who may be different from those we train with.
Other Supplies and Advice
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Arnica cream/gel is the best for bruises.
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Sports tape is great to have in your bag because band-aids will not stay on with sweat and friction.
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If things are difficult or hurt a lot in the beginning, just stick with it. Things get easier quite quickly and stop hurting once your body adapts.
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The most important thing is to keep coming to class, especially when you really don't want to. That is often the hardest part, just showing up. If you really want to learn to defend yourself, commit and show up every class, no matter how hard it is. Do that and you're most of the way there already.
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Be weary of people asking you to show them your Krav moves, especially if you get the sense that they want to prove it doesn't work. Remember, these techniques are for survival, life or death situations, where no rules apply. Politely decline in this situation, and remember that it is often ego that puts people into avoidable fighting situations. Be smart, you have nothing to prove, just walk away. Krav is made to hurt and damage and we do not wish that on anyone if we don't have to. But if you are thrust into it and you feel the threat of an attack, don't hesitate - hit them hard in the groin, bite them, scratch them. These simple techniques are what make Krav so effective. If they force you to show them Krav Maga, show them real Krav Maga, don't hold back.
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Follow along with supportive materials like this Complete Krav Maga book. It covers all the techniques with step by step instructions so you can go over what you learned and see what is coming next.