The Importance Of Shadow Fighting In Krav Maga

 


As a martial artist and Krav Maga expert, I’ve always known the importance of shadow fighting. You may know it as ‘shadow boxing’, but given that we can use all our tools (legs, elbows, head, etc) in Krav Maga, it’s appropriate to call it shadow fighting instead. The thing is, as much as I’ve known the importance of shadow fighting for Krav Maga, I’ve spent a large part of my life only doing it as a warmup here and there. Later I learn that I’ve been neglecting one of the best tools available for my development!

Having been super disciplined and now being able to say that I’ve done it for more than a few years, almost every single day, I can tell you that it is probably the single most important exercise for you to develop your Krav Maga ability. Yet, are you doing it? Probably not.

Actually I know loads of Krav Maga Instructors who tell their students to do it, but then don’t do it enough themselves. This is the sad reality!

I’ve written this article to explain first the benefits and the ‘why?’ of this exercise. I will continue later with the how, the common issues and the various methods you can use, with follow up articles and potentially videos too. Please feel free to contact me to contribute, or if you need any help with your training.

For now, I’d like to explain why it’s so important.

You will own your Krav Maga techniques and form!

Far too many Krav Maga students just show up at class once or twice a week and then don’t do anything else for their development in their own time. I see students who have come and gone for weeks and months, not improving their strikes and tools each week as they should. The culprit? Not enough practice.

Shadow fighting is a way for you to really own your own Krav Maga techniques and forms. You will spend time doing the repetitions, improving your attributes and adding to your database of combat training. You know the saying that it takes 10000 repetitions to perfect a skill? Well, if you’re only training Krav Maga once or twice a week, and only end up doing say ‘200 punches’ in that time, then over a period of a year you will be close to the 10000 repetitions. However if you did shadow fighting regularly and threw an extra 500 punches a week, you would effectively reach a level of basic mastery a lot sooner.

It amazes me how people don’t see this and just rely on their classes. The more you spend shadow fighting, the more likely your form will embody you, and you will automatically perform techniques correctly and efficiently over time.

This is when Bruce Lee’s comment is true:

‘When there is an opportunity, I do not hit – it hits all by itself.’

After time, you’ll notice that you develop an autopilot mode built with good habits and a strong foundation, ready to make the kill shot if necessary! Shadow fighting is the tool to help you get there and builds a foundation ready for Krav Maga sparring, scenario drills and just general excellence in training.

You will become one with your Krav Maga!

Let’s face it, shadow fighting is hard. A lot of students have a hard time doing it because they feel awkward, like someone is watching them. Learning to shadow fight is a challenge, but I’m going to show you how to develop this skill along the way, so don’t worry.

What I tell people is this, ‘Shadow fight often and you’ll become one with your Krav Maga. Go past the awkwardness and there is light’. What I mean is that most students don’t realise that over time that awkwardness will disappear. You just need to do it often and over time you’ll feel purposeful and see the context.

To top it off the habit of shadow fighting will build muscle memory, it will improve your balance and movement and highly advance your Krav Maga attributes.

Shadow Fighting Is A Great Mindfulness Practice

Shadow fighting is a tool to practice mindfulness and it’s right up there with Meditation, Yoga or Capoeira training. Mindfulness is when you’re aware of the present moment: your surroundings, your actions, your thoughts and feelings, in this case related to shadow fighting.

In this day and age, we’re distracted by everything and ultimately a lack of focus can be bad for our lives. Shadow fighting builds the important attribute of mindfulness and this translates to not only better Krav Maga skills, but to better performance in your everyday life. You will develop a strong focus through this practice!

This mindful practice is a discipline and once you’ve learned to shadow fight, maintain it and become more and more mindful, you will feel a great sense of advancement. This skill breeds success and you might get addicted!

Mindfulness is an important skill to develop. It can do wonders for your everyday life, as well as for your performance as a Krav Maga practitioner.

Build Discipline With Shadow Fighting

Self-discipline is freedom! Being able to achieve what you want over time gives you a feeling of success. Doing the actions each day builds character and ultimately you’ll gain discipline with regular shadow fighting.

For me, it’s propelled me forward to add more and more disciplines. It’s helped me push other tasks and boundaries, always looking for more ways to better myself through this and other disciplines. Ultimately it feels amazing!

Build Your Fitness & Stamina

Shadow fighting is a good workout! Obviously it depends how you do it and we’ll get to that in future expansion to this article. However overall you’ll find that if you do this right, you’ll develop huge endurance and stamina. Your techniques will not only be sharper but they’ll be smoother, faster and more powerful.

Shadow fighting will get you fitter and help you get ripped. It’s a really solid tool for improving your fitness as it generally combines LISS (low intensity solid state training) and HITT (high intensity interval training). I’m looking forward to explaining more about this in the next advancement of this article. Stay tuned for that and enjoy yourself!

Anyhow, there we have it, some of the benefits of regular shadow fighting practice for Krav Maga!

Written by Chief Instructor, Kurt Colpan

Source URL: https://kravmagasystems.com.au/the-importance-of-shadow-fighting-in-krav-maga/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Things Every Beginner Should Know About Krav Maga

Image
  Choosing to learn Krav Maga is an excellent step towards learning how to protect your body sustainably. Although the task of improving and empowering your body can be a daunting one, and for some, it can take years to master, the payoff will be worth it in the end. Hopefully, this guide will help you begin on the path towards success as you learn more about Krav Maga. 1. You're Not Alone Krav Maga is a face-paced and effective fighting technique that has gained its fair share of supporters in recent years. But unfortunately, this martial arts style was primarily intended for the Israeli military. Still, a lot more people are interested in learning it these days, which is why we're going to show you why   kravmaga sydney  training can be a wonderful self-defense option when you're looking to stay safe. Krav Maga is similar to other forms of self-defense, like mentioned above. As previously discussed, it's great for defense and is widely used by the military worldwide.
Read more

3 Self Defense Strategies to Prevent Bulleying

Image
  The parents can do many things to help kids stand up against bullies at schools and colleges. By preparing your child in advance, you will be equipping them with skills to deal with bullies. Moreover, It will gain their internal strength and confidence. These two assets will serve them well in their later life. Self-defense is not all about hitting back or using physical force for protection. In fact, self-defense prevents problems before they happen. It involves confident and forceful behavior to respond to a bully’s attempts. You can discuss these self-defense strategies with your kids to prevent bullying behavior. 1. Confident body language. Healthy self-confidence is enough to prevent your child from bullying. Lazy kids can appear weak and can be targeted easily. Unfortunately, the kids with low self-esteem faced bullying situations. Below are helpful strategies to improve your child's body language and self-confidence.   Confident Walk. Walking with a purpose at their destin
Read more

Self-defence for kids. Why and how it should be done

Image
Why should kids learn self defence? Is it safe for them? What do they get out of it? In a culture that seems to have the spotlight on violence, from music to video games, movies and even televisions shows, the idea of enrolling your child in kids self-defence classes may rise the question: “Is it ever okay to teach your child to hit?” The reason for that is because, when most people think of self-defence, they think about hitting back or using martial arts. What most of the parents out there don’t understand is that self-defence has nothing to do with hitting or striking another person. Self-defence is about being aware of your surroundings, leaving before a problem erupts, listening to your gut, using a confident voice and carrying yourself with confidence. Main reasons to take kids self defence classes : Protect themselves against bullying If your child has been or is a victim of bullying you may be asking yourself why this is happening and you’ve even tried to give him some advice.
Read more