For the Beginner Krav Maga Student
A new Krav Maga student should begin training for an average of sixty minutes, two to three times per week. This time frame should include all of the basic components of the training session:
Warm-up
Strength training
Stretching
Krav Maga combative drills
Cool down
Don't try to do it all when you are at the beginning stages of your training. Overdoing things in the beginning will lead to soreness, fatigue, and possibly injury. There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself, but be aware of your limits when you first begin training.
New Krav Maga students have to remember to keep their exercises simple in order to learn the correct movement patterns of their joints and muscles. At the outset of your experience with any martial arts or fight training, learning how to punch, kick, block, or even how to just stand up properly can make you feel quite awkward. (For some it can be the most awkward feelings they have ever experienced.) This can cause frustration for beginners, which can lead to a lack of motivation to continue with their training. There is a secret to overcome this first and often most difficult hurdle in your Krav Maga training: Don't give up!
How do I overcome the temptation to give up when things get rough in the beginning of my Krav Maga training?
Try to always keep in mind your reasons for wanting to train. It also helps to set goals, because when things get tough you can think, “If I quit now, I'll never reach my goals.” Motivation and intensity are big parts of Krav Maga training, and your mind is going to be taxed just as much as your body in order to assure that, when the time comes for you to stand and fight, you do not panic.
Krav Maga does not require any particularly difficult or unnatural movements. On the contrary, its whole premise is using natural and instinctive movements. With just a few days of practice on any given technique, the movements will become less awkward for you. Your body will begin to adapt to movements that at first had felt very foreign. You will begin to feel yourself becoming considerably more comfortable, executing your techniques better and better with each Krav Maga class and training session that you complete.
Newer students often have a tendency to become fatigued far sooner than more advanced students. This is, for the most part, simply a matter of conditioning as new students adjust to the mental stress and energy required to learn and practice Krav Maga. Less-experienced students have not yet learned how to execute these movements as efficiently as those who have more training time and experience under their belts. In just a short time, you will be able to relax your mind and body as the movements become patterns in your nervous system, requiring less conscious thought to perform.
Breathing may seem like an obvious necessity, but it takes some practice to do properly while training or performing under stress. Expelling air as you expend energy helps relax the body and, more importantly, forces you to breathe in. Nothing will fatigue you more quickly than the lack of oxygen. So if at any time you begin feeling as though you are short of breath while working with intensity, focus on making your inhales deeper and controlling your exhales. Learning to do this will help you to stay calm, recover more quickly, and continue moving. Proper breathing patterns are discussed in Chapter 5.
Avoid tensing up your body! Rigidity in the body means slower reaction time and may cause you to telegraph your movements, giving your opponent cues to dodge and/ or block your attacks. A crucial element to becoming an effective fighter is learning to maintain a relaxed yet aware posture. The more rigid your body is, the more unnecessary energy it is going to exert and the higher your risk of injury will be.
For all these reasons, beginners often have a hard time maintaining a high level of intensity during their first few weeks of Krav Maga classes. Rest assured that your body will adjust quickly to the new demands you place upon it, as long as you are willing and able to remain consistent for a month or two.
Your first class or training session is often the most difficult because you may feel awkward. Everything is new and you could tire out very quickly. The second class can be equally as difficult because you may be sore from your first workout. However, by the time you finish the warm-up on day three or four, you will have worked out most of the soreness and, as long as you remain consistent, you should be through the worst of it.
