So you’ve survived your first few weeks of Krav Maga Training. You probably still don’t know how to keep your head protected, you may or may not have mastered how to keep a safe distance from your opponent(s), you’ve discovered that you need more than your training clothes, and you’re starting to recognize some of the standard Krav Maga lingo.

Now you’re wondering what all this “drilling” stuff is about. Don’t worry, we got you?

Drilling 101

Drilling is the part of any Krav Maga training that consists of many, many many repetitions of a technique or set of techniques. The idea is that if you do something often enough, it becomes “muscle memory” and it takes less conscious effort to do it in the future.

Now this may sound pretty self-explanatory “Just do it a bunch of times, right” Well, yes, but there are some important points that you should be aware of which may not always be vocalized:

For the Love of God, Start Slow

The worst thing you can do is try to drill a technique as fast as your instructor showed it to you. The only reason they can do it so fast and smooth is because they’ve done it a thousand times already. Until you’ve spent as many untold hours on the mat and have developed the same Krav Maga acumen you’re not going to look that good. Worse, if you try to go full speed, you’re bound to skip some key steps, and you ultimately won’t learn how to properly execute the technique. So start slow, go step-by-step. Nobody’s going to think less of you for it we’ve all been there. Once you begin to get the hang of it, then pick up the tempo.

No, XX Times Each is Not Enough

Drilling Outside of Class

Drilling isn’t just an activity reserved for that 30 or so minutes during class between warm-ups and sparring. You can drill anytime, anywhere. In fact, it’s highly encouraged that you drill outside of class. You can’t possibly get your 500-5,000 reps in entirely during class hours. So find a buddy and schedule in some time an hour at the very least during the week to work on some of the techniques that you’ve learned recently and/or those you would like to improve upon. In fact, you might even get lucky and someone more experienced will happen by and give you some additional pointers.

Levels of Drilling

There’s no single way to drill. Indeed, there are levels of drilling:

Single Technique Just as it sounds, this involves doing a single technique (one strike, one kick, one defence etc.) over and over again.

Sequential This involves linking two or more techniques together, and doing that over and over again. For example: combinations, attack and counter attack or at upper levels start standing, go to the ground, roll around and wrestle, disengage and stand up to deal with multiple opponents. Then doing that series over and over again.

Responsive This takes sequential drilling to the next level, whereby your partner changes the scenarios a little bit. For example, if the sequence is to go from a standing position to the ground, your partner may present a knife at any moment during the fight. This kind of drilling is especially useful to get more creative with the learnt techniques and to help you become more adaptive. In a real fight there are an unlimited number of scenarios that can occur and you are likely need to deal with unexpected attacks.

R&D This is a more relaxed, open-ended kind of drilling, where you and your partner may do a combination of all of the above, working on a specific technique and exploring any and all scenarios that might arise. This involves a lot of discussion, and you may or may not break a sweat.

Now that you have a better understanding of the world of drilling, we hope you can see how incredibly beneficial it is to your Krav Maga journey.

Train and drill on. KIDA.

The ultimate goal of Krav Maga fighting is to neutralize your attacker or attackers because criminals rarely operate alone or fight fair and make them unable to carry on so that they no longer cause an immediate threat. As a result, there are no competitions in Krav Maga. Otherwise the loser of the match would likely be hospitalized or even suffer permanent damages. Let’s take a look at the UFC rule book:

Fouls

1. Biting
2. Eye-gouging
3. Fish-hooking
4. Groin attacks
5. Small joint manipulation
6. Hair pulling
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent (see Fish-hooking)
8. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea
9. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh
10. Intentionally attempting to break an opponent’s bone
11. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on the head or neck (see Piledriver)
12. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area
13. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent
14. Spitting at an opponent
15. Engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent
16. Holding the ropes or the fence
17. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area
18. Attacking an opponent on or during the break
19. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee
20. Attacking an opponent after the bell (horn) has sounded the end of a round
21. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee
22. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury
23. Interference by the corner
24. Using any foreign substance that could give an unfair advantage
25. Head-butting
26. Striking to the spine or the back of the head (see Rabbit punch)
27. Striking downward using the point of the elbow (see 12-6 elbow)

When I first saw this list I was thinking to myself that’s pretty much Krav Maga right there! While that thought is not entirely true, but we actively teach many of these “forbidden moves” in the form of techniques as a response to attacks by criminals. With that being said we also put a tremendous amount of focus on safety in training and practitioners progress gradually according to their abilities. Additionally a legally acceptable and adequate response is thought against each threat.

Krav Maga and MMA are not competitors in the martial arts world or in the defence industry. The army doesn’t teach MMA and Krav Maga schools don’t teach martial arts. There are no enmity between the two camps, we both learn from each other and admire each others disciplines. Just recently a former MMA champion and UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Bas Rutten, set up a school in Las Vegas to teach Krav Maga as he recognized it being the most effective self defence system.

As you see, Krav Maga and MMA is quite different in many ways and before you make your choice about the discipline you would like to enrol in, instead of asking which is better identify the goal you would like to achieve by your training and see which martial art or self defense system fits you better. Choose a reputable school or organization with a proven track record and start training presistently.