training aggression

[dulany]

i’ve been training in krav maga for a long time now but have always struggled getting the level of aggression i feel like i need. most of my techniques are good but if anyone has advice on how i can become more aggressive i’d appreciate it.

[cjs-dad]

Hi

First welcome to the forums. Really good question and great way to make a first post.

Having said that LOL I have no clue the answer. If anything I have to work on being less aggressive. For me theres just a little switch that goes off so I need to work hard on going half speed.

Maybe someone will share what works for them. Wish I could be of more help.

Thanks again for the great question.

Sean

[giant-killer]

Hmmm, good question. I suppose you could try to use images or memories, such as remembering the last time you got angry about something or were mad at someone. Think about the incident and try to use that aggression while hitting the bag. Or paste a picture of the boss onto your BOB bag and hit that. 😉

Also, sometimes if you get hit hard in sparring class, the pain might make you feel angry. Then you could use that aggression to keep on fighting, rather than to quit (but carefully, not to retaliate, just to learn to keep on going).

Also remember that KM is self-defense and that the person who is going to attack you wants to seriously harm or even kill you or one of your family members. If you are trying to visualize this while hitting the bag or mitts (imagine you are hitting an actual thug who may have come to hurt you or a friend), it might also help you to build up aggression.

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Giantkiller

[jburtonpdx]

We have some training partners at our school that this is a challenge for.

As a starter I talk about just \”putting on your mean face\”. Often I find that the student just plain feels uncomfortable or even a little silly acting aggressively. Maybe they are a little afraid that people will look at them funny if they actually try hard, or maybe they think the others look funny for trying hard, I don’t know. However I try and just get them over this by faking it. Just pretend to be aggressive and don’t worry about how it appears.

After a week or so of doing this it usually comes out.

Also as was said earlier, usually a little contact will fix it as well.

[vwr32]

I train with people who are at both extremes, and see the downside to both. There are a couple of people in my class who’s aggression replaces technique.. they are effective in stopping an attack, but it sure doesn’t look like krav. If anything, the people they are partnering with are more concerned with accidentally being hurt by the overly aggresive people swinging wildly. I don’t mind training with them because it does add a sense of realism to the scenario… but to myself I really wish the instructors would step in and at least make sure they follow the drills being taught at the time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the ones who simply will not put any power or speed behind their strikes or defenses. No matter how many times I tell them it’s ok to increase the intensity when they are my partner, it’s like I’m working with a rag doll.

So when trying to find a reason to increase your aggression, it’s really not JUST about your own training. Being *appropriately* aggressive is beneficial to both you and your partner. So ultimately, the source for my aggression in class has nothing to do with me, but with my responsibility as a good partner.

[moses]

Where I practice martial arts, when we spar together, I just get into it. It’s like something goes of in my head, and I juts start moving that much faster, with that much more intensity, I guess it’s just my love for the movement. I’m always thinking about the application of it, and how it would do if put to the test against someone who truly wanted to hurt me, and that just rockets me to the next level, at which point I need to hold myself back if it’s light sparring and we aren’t in full gear. I dislocated someone’s jaw because of a right hook I threw at them once, 🙂

[ali]

I had this problem when I first started. It was really hard for me to get aggressive. As a girl, I found it hard to really get aggressive on other girls – it was hard to be ‘mean’ like that. And, you worry that you’re going to look weird for being so serious.

I’m not that way anymore! For me, it changed when I started our Instructor Training program. That and I stopped worrying what other people thought. 🙂 It needs to be realistic, or it won’t work. How you train is how you’re going to react. Find someone who’s more aggressive than you are, and train with them – that helps, too.

I also agree – sparring helps bring out the animal in me. Even with headgear, getting popped in the noggin stings a little. And that flips a switch.

-Ali
😀

[bobg]

I’m not sure if this would help in a controlled sparring session, but it may in real life. I used this to help my wife become more agressive (or at least know how to flip the switch if needed).

This is what I told her….

Imagine walking to your car at night, alone. As you approach, you see three huge males trying to break in. They see you, and start towards you. How do you feel? She said very scared.

Then, I said imagine those same three males…now they are trying to take our son from you…now how do you feel. She said she would tear them apart.

Same males, different perspective.

I used this to teach her how to flip the switch when needed. I suppose something like this may be done in a controlled sparring session too.

[blindfold]

Well here is something I told someone to do.Read the paper and insert self or loved one into the text of victim. It worked wonders. If you have children and you read about someone taking a child or abusing a child and place yourself as venegance for that person or the \”what if\” it was your child.

My wife and I work with alot of children and to see what happens in the newspaper to children by some of these scumbags just makes me boil.

I have no problem with aggression. I am extremely aggressive at just about everything. I also have learned when to turn it down and off. My son take martial arts and his sparring is very methodical and aggressive, and he is only 8 yo. It’s genetic, but he also defends the little kids. So he got 2 things from me.

[raneman]

Not sure if this helps but it was a technique I learned in the military. I used to be the guy that was afraid of everything and let people walk on me etc. Well the Marines fixed that. 🙂

Visualization like others have mentioned is a great help. You will all probably laugh but I learned to visualize being a beast. The Incredible Hulk works. Use that visualization to focus and go through the pain or threat. Everything else doesn’t matter except your target and doing what you need to do. This gets rid of the fear component also as fear and pain is very uncomfortable for some people.

Thought it might help

Pete

[g-v]

Well then, there’s ‘training agression’ and then there’s an effective fight or flight response. That’s not always one and the same.

[kravkid510]

Hi,
thats a really good question. I have only been doing Krav for a few months so I am by no means an expert. That was something I really struggled with the first couple of sessions i went to. My instructor drills the phrase \”total aggression\” into our heads, through-out training and at first I was having one heck of time time trying to figure out what that was. Then one day e were doing front chokes, and this enormous guy (must have been 6’4 235, bodybuilding type) choked….really, REALLY hard, and that basically flipped the switch in my head were my brain was telling me \”if you don’t get out of this choke, you are going to die\”. I just reacted with that \”animal intensity\”. I realized, for me personally, it wasn’t about anger, for m it was about FEAR. Once I realized this, I faced every drill like I was fighting for my life. Every exerzise like the technuiques were the only thing that stood between life and death. Now obviously no1 is going to get killed in a class, but I pertend like the other person is some thug tryiing to kill me, and instead of the walls of the room I invision some dark deserted alley way. Now, i’m a pretty quite, shy person but I find it really easy to turn on that agressive steak when I do that visualizing. I don’t know, maybe anger is your thing, but I know for me, I am more focuesed and relaxed through fear. It’s just a personal thing, but it’s something you might wasnt to try sometime.

hope this helped,
Andrew

[giant-killer]

\”Turn on that aggressive steak\”? 😆 😉 Know what you mean, it just sounded funny…

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Giantkiller

[pandakungfuguy]

do you guys think it’s a good idea for the attackers in training to taunt and verbally insult and attack whoever is training to raise his aggression?

[kravlvr]

I love this topic. I like to make every single training session count as if I needed it on the streets tonight. That moment in time that I’m training I will never get back.

When I feel like I’m getting tired in class, I think, bull crap, push, PUSH! I’ll be stronger, better, and faster to train even harder next time. My mental pushing gives my agression. I like to push my partners too. I want stronger, better, and faster training partners. I still pay attention to technique…the instructors are very good at keeping the integrity of technique.

To me Krav and agression go hand in hand. That’s what it’s about.
I love this stuff!

kravlvr

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