Krav Maga Bristol – become a better Kravist

Krav Maga Bristol Titans coach Jim Halton maps out the 8 things required to up your Krav Maga Game.

1. Set your goals, write them somewhere you can see them, do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be fighting fit? Do you want to master a martial art? Do you want to be confident, driven and goal orientated? Decide what your ultimate goal is and then take steps to making it happen.

2. Develop a deep, driving desire to learn a valuable self defence skill or martial art and to improve your fitness. Remind yourself why you are doing this. Do you want to be able to protect your family if you had to? Do you want the long term health benefits? Constantly remind yourself why you are doing this.

3. After each lesson make brief notes and practice what you have learnt. It doesnt have to be a workout, just take 10 minutes to run through any new movements or take time to work on your weak areas that need improvement.

4. Review everything you have learnt each month. All skills are perishable so if you haven’t trained knife defence for a while or its been a few weeks since you last did any groundfighting then once a month take an hour to run through everything.

5. Try to practice your martial arts daily, even if only for 10 minutes a day, on top of your training this will significantly help you to achieve your goals.

6. Speak to your instructor, find out what areas are your weakest and what areas are your strongest. If your coach knows that you are committed to becoming the best martial artist you can be they will always gladly help guide you.

7. Review each sparring session whether it is stand up Muay Thai boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, pressure testing against multiple opponents, edged weapons attacks or if you have been working on the ground. These live testings will be one of the best ways to see how you react under pressure and to see what errors you are making. Remember under pressure ALL SKILL DIMINISHES. We do not rise to the level of our hopes but we fall to the level of our training. See what mistakes you make and train to avoid making them next time.

8. Don’t give up – to quote Michael Jordan who is widely considered one of the best basketball players to have ever lived:

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”