Let us dive into some of the details of hitting and getting hit while training. What importance do they have? Is there good and bad contact? Can it be an important factor in your training?
Getting Hit
I understand this is not going to be most people’s favorite part of training. This may be the reason some of you had started training, to avoid getting hit. The reality is most people who train will never need to use the physical aspects of their training. Does that mean we should ignore or discredit it? No! There is no guarantee that you will not need it.
When it comes to getting hit, you need experience just like anything else. Not saying you need full contact blows to your body and face but you do need enough force that you are uncomfortable. Your body needs to know that feeling and understand it will be okay. When you get hit, your mind goes through shock. What was that? What just happened? What should I do? While that is transpiring the other person is likely still attacking you. That is not a position you want to be in. The more you work on getting hit, and taking on more contact, the faster the mind processes those questions. The easier it becomes to be able to react. Decreasing the likelihood of you getting hurt.
A Few Starter Drills
I recommend doing drills without gear. Start out soft and gradually go harder. A few basic drills you can do to help you get started:
- Do some of your basic blocks making contact with another person’s arm
- Kick shins with someone (something like round kicks crashing into one another, highly recommend starting soft and slow)
- Have someone keep a slow pace and punch your stomach (breathe out as you get hit to help tighten up your muscles and control your breathing)
- Light kicks to the leg (thigh/quad area)
- To yourself, knock softly on your chin, philtrum, eyebrow, jaw, etc. anywhere you practice striking on the head/face.
Understanding what these things feel like also gives you a stronger understanding of what happens to an opponent when you strike them. How they would react. What they would feel. That type of understanding can only benefit you in knowing what you need to do to defend yourself efficiently.
Hitting Your Partner
Just like getting hit, it is necessary to hit your partner without your gear. That same process of “OMG What was that?” happens when you hit someone. Your mind processes it differently than when you hit a pad, bag, or put on your protective equipment. Your mind creates its own safe space when it knows nobody can be hurt. We also tend to have a fear of hurting somebody. That is a rational thing. But if you never train outside of your comfort zone, real-life scenarios become a lot scarier. It is harder to comprehend what is going on and maintain control when you have not experienced these types of situations. Everything I mentioned above, just flip the roles for you to experience the striking side of things.
Final Thoughts
You never need to like hitting/hurting someone. Just like you never need to like getting hit. However, you do need to understand that they can be beneficial things to help you in your training. You need to know, it will be ok. The more you can understand, feel, and experience the “uncomfortable” parts of training, the easier it will be to translate them to a real-world scenario.
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I travel a lot for work and sometimes when it has been a while since my last class, I will attend a Krav Maga class as a ‘drop in student’ in another city. Some studios talk tough but every punch is pulled and I question if this training is effective for a real situation.
Other studios I’ve visited, 90%+ students are wearing a mouth guard and cup (some times head gear and gloves too) for training. No one is looking to hurt their training partner, but if a defense involves a groin slap, you know what to expect. You give as good as you get and as long as there is communication, it makes for quality training,.
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