Training with a Purpose
Krav Maga is considered training with a purpose. You will not see a teacher of Krav Maga asking a student to perform an exercise simply because that teacher said so. Krav Maga is not your old-school karate dojo where questions were often discouraged and could even be considered disrespectful at times. In Krav Maga, you, the student, are welcomed and encouraged to ask questions of instructors and trainers. This way, you will be more capable of fully understanding the concepts and principles that are being introduced during your training.
Motivation is often easy to come by during the first few weeks of your training. However, oftentimes it is tempting to skip a day for the usual reasons. Resist that temptation; you will regret skipping a day! While you may have to force yourself to train every now and then, you will never regret having done so.
Every movement, every drill, and every sequence has a reason and a purpose for why it is being performed. Most of these exercises have more than one purpose. When you can begin to pick out what the specific goal is for performing a certain drill or exercise, it will seem as if the exercise suddenly has depth and substance that you did not see before. The activity then becomes much more engaging to you, and will keep you motivated to continue with your program.
The most popular and obvious reason to maintain your training program is to stay in control of your body weight. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), nearly one-third of all American adults are overweight, many to the point of obesity. Sadly, NIH research also indicates that less than half of the adults in this country are at what is considered a healthy weight. Those who are overweight will often think that all they need to do is diet in order to lose weight. And while dieting does cut down calories and will help shed pounds, exercise is sometimes overlooked. This is why so many dieters find themselves back at square one, gaining back all the weight they lost during a period of dieting. Permanent lifestyle changes, namely diet and fitness, must be implemented in order to maintain a healthy weight.
Diets are temporary. Lifestyle changes are more permanent. A diet will, at some point, start to get a little old. Eventually you will get tired of counting calories and carbs. Adopting a lifestyle of a balanced diet and regular exercise is the real key to losing weight and keeping it off. There is no magic diet that works indefinitely and for everyone.
Many people think that exercising will only increase their appetite. This just simply is not true if you are exercising with moderate intensity.
It has been shown that if you perform thirty minutes of cardiorespiratory exercise at least five times a week, you can and often will experience a weight loss of twenty to twenty-five pounds in the first year…but only if your caloric intake remains the same.
What is the secret to losing weight?
There are two ancient secrets to losing weight and looking great — proper diet and regular exercise. Read the fine print on any and all products that make weight-loss claims and you will find that nearly all of them include the words “with regular diet and exercise.” Guess what? Just about anything taken or done during a period of diet and exercise could make the same claim.
Another health factor that exercise can have a positive effect on is hypertension, which is high blood pressure. Regular cardiorespiratory exercise has been shown to decrease blood pressure. High blood pressure is a prime risk factor in coronary heart disease. An increase in your systolic blood pressure, up to 150 mmHg, can double your chance of developing heart disease, which is the number one killer in the United States today. Knowing that a small amount of activity can have such a large impact on the insides of your body can help motivate you to keep moving.
Exercise is also a great way to more effectively deal with the anxiety and stress of our everyday lives. It has been shown that people who are on a regular exercise program have much lower levels of stress and anxiety. Exercise can also increase your self-esteem. The satisfaction and accomplishment of being able to do something you were not able to do before provides a good boost in self-esteem. Lastly, people who exercise feel more confident about the way they look. They usually carry themselves well, have better posture, and walk or move as if they have more energy (primarily because they do).
Many of the exercises that are done in Krav Maga involve a partner. When you have a friend with you, your training session becomes more fun. It gives you a chance to spend time together and socialize. Training with a partner or friend also helps keep both of you on track because you can help each other stay motivated and not fall prey to putting your workout off because you are too tired or busy. Find a friend to train with and work hard to keep one another in check.
