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Wonder if anyone recognize this. I am getting more info about Krav Maga (KM), especially after a friend made me enthousiastic about KM. She is a KM instructor.
Besides getting stronger and getting in shape I really want to overcome my fear of hitting/hurting someone. I have practiced boxing for like 1-2 years. And during my sparring sessions I noticed that I was not really trying to hit my opponent. (Which became frustrating when he did hit me :box2::)). Is this something I have to deal with myself or does KM provide some (mental) excerise to help me overcome this.
Does anyone recognize this “fear” anyway?
Re: Fear of hurting someone
I think the easiest way to overcome this fear is to realize that you both signed a waiver. Not to make light of the pain one can inflict on a partner, and you always want to be cognizant of partner preservation, but there are times that someone will get a little hurt during our training.
If you train so as to not hit your partner, and vice versa, you are not doing either of you any good when/if it comes to real World application. I always tell newer students I work with to just start the moves in the lesson off slowly to make sure you have the motions down (defense for a choke from the side is a great example) so you don’t hurt the other person but you get the concept of what you need to do down. Then step up the speed a little, etc., etc.
Just remember, partner preservation but be deliberate in your actions. Another good tip is when you are the partner, it takes skill to be a good partner. Knowing when to turn your own head, and where to turn, during certain moves (elbow strikes comes to mind) will help your partner be able to use the full range of motion required to accomplish the goal without taking your head off.
Re: Fear of hurting someone
Paco pretty much sums it up. You are there to help yourself and help others as well through compliant training simulations and live sparring. If you are pulling your punches too much, you aren’t helping your partner (or yourself) at all. For inside/outside defenses, I try to hit my partner’s head while they try to defend against my attacks. Sure it hurts me and probably them (wrist to wrist is pretty uncomfortable for both parties) but that’s the only way my training partner will know how to defend against such an attack. For inside defense I try to target their face (loose fist). If they do it correctly, my attack will go offline from my intended target (their face), if not I’ll make contact with my target. If my attack never reaches my intended destination, why should they bother defending against it? Same with bobbing and weaving, if my attacks go way over their head or off to the side, what is the point of them doing the drill? Now not everyone is the same so you should just bring up how intense of a level your training partner is comfortable with and go from there. I try my best to to help my training partners and hope they’d do the same for me… so hit me!
Re: Fear of hurting someone
Believe me, hubby had a hard time at first with me since he was taught you don’t hit women. He also knew right away he wouldn’t help me if he didn’t. That’s what protective gear is for.:D:
We started slow and after a time the intensity increased for both of us. Perfect example is inside defenses- you don’t move you better be wearing your mouth guard:rolleyes:
You’re not there to beat the crap out of someone but at the same time you don’t want to shortchange your partner either. It’s gonna take time but I promise it’ll be worth it:wav:
Re: Fear of hurting someone
That is a fresh perspective on things: helping my sparring-partner.
“We started slow and after a time the intensity increased for both of us.”
This is something that could help me.Thanks a bunch!
Re: Fear of hurting someone
This is pretty common I think – people are a little timid at first or way too aggressive at first, either way is not good (one results in bad training habits and the other results in injuries).
Basically if you are sparring, know that if you are not extending and making accurate contact, then you are screwing up your training and theirs. You won’t understand the critical distance, they won’t get good attacks to defend and work against.
It’s more important to understand the techniques than it is to be fast and aggressive (at first); get to know the skills before you try to go all out.
This pretty much goes across the board, so slow it down so you can make good contact or make good techniques. Once you get it down and realize you won’t murder anyone, speed it up.
And if you’re going too hard or your partner is, you guys each should be communicating and telling the other person to take it down a notch.
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