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Why Women’s Self-Defense Is Not Enough
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 17 Jul 2018 0 comments Tags: , , , , , , ,

Straight Talk on Women’s Self-Defense and Domestic Violence

How big a concern is violent crime for women in Texas? Late last year Texas DPS released a Texas crime analysis with chilling statistics.

In 2016, there was one murder every six hours and a rape every 40 minutes. Every 16 minutes someone committed a robbery, and every 7 minutes a Texan was the victim of violent assault. Add those numbers together and you have one violent crime every four minutes. Just in Texas.

Those statistics provide a compelling case for Texas women to learn to defend themselves, and they should. At East Texas Krav Maga we teach individuals to respond aggressively and decisively when there’s a threat, even if that threat includes a knife or gun.

We don’t just offer routines and rituals because we know sometimes that type of women’s self-defense is not enough. The threat involves the mind as much as the body.

In this article, we want to focus on the danger of violent assault to women. Our self-defense for women and men doesn’t just focus on curriculum, but on developing a mindset that turns individuals from potential victims into confident weapons.

Violent Assault and Women – Statistics

Government agencies just released in 2017 what happened in 2016. An FBI report showed there were an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes that year in the United States. Of those, 95,730 of them were rapes. In the U.S., one in five women will be the victim of sexual assault. Overall property crime has gone down, but rape, murder and aggravated assault has increased.

Texas Women and Violence

The national numbers are staggering, but when you think about the whole United States, those women seem far away. Here are some of the numbers from the Texas Council on Family Violence:

• In Texas during 2016, a man killed his wife or girlfriend every 2.5 days.
• One in every 10 murders in Texas overall happened when a man killed his female partner.
• 68 percent of the time, the killer used a gun.
• Murdered women ranged from age 15 to 92. The majority of those killed were between 20 and 39 years old.
• 146 women died in Texas, plus an additional 24 children and adults.

East Texas Women and Violence

Of the 146 women who died in Texas, eight of them were from the East Texas area. KETK published a list of their names to honor their memories. Most died of gunshot wounds. One died two days after her assault from severe head trauma. In several cases there were children nearby when the assault happened.

The Biggest Threat

Women’s self-defense scenarios often focus on what might happen when a person is walking to her car in a dark parking lot or shopping on the wrong side of town. Pictures show an assailant who jumps out of the shadows wearing a hoodie to mask his identity.

The problem is, that’s not often how it actually happens. Let’s look again at the Texas statistics.

• When experts analyzed shootings across the nation, between 2009 and 2015, 57 percent of them involved someone killing their intimate partner.
• In Texas 35 percent of the women murdered were wives killed by their husbands. Another 12 percent were separated from their spouse.
• 32 percent of the murdered women were girlfriends.
• 68 percent of assailants shot their victims, 15 percent stabbed them, six percent strangled them and four percent beat them.

That’s just murder statistics. Women are also much more likely to be raped or assaulted by people they know than by a stranger hiding in the shadows. The biggest threat to women, the one that might end their life usually comes from someone she knows.

This creates a problem. Women often say they might be comfortable using violence to protect themselves from an outside threat, but they’re unprepared when assaulted by someone they care about, someone who is supposed to love them back.

What can a woman do when she is caught off guard, overpowered by someone stronger and facing a threat? Women’s self-defense classes rarely take on this complex problem.

Every woman’s situation is unique, and we don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we do acknowledge the problem and encourage an environment of respect and support. As a result, some of our female students have been courageous enough to share their stories in the hope of helping other women experience freedom from abuse.

Understanding The Heart of the Issue

Women of all races and socioeconomic groups are equally likely to be hurt or killed by their partner. Nonprofit organization Domestic Abuse Shelter says in most cases, domestic violence doesn’t happen because one person loses control, but because they’re using anger and pain to gain control. It seems on the outside their temper takes over, but that’s because they are excellent at manipulating others.

Domestic violence is a pattern of behaviors. The point is to achieve compliance or control.

The problem is in the heart. The woman might feel emotions like love, fear, guilt, dependency or inferiority. Sometimes their emotions keep them from taking responsibility for their own safety. Then when things go terribly wrong, they don’t know how to react.

Developing the Right Mindset

If you talk to students at East Texas Krav Maga, especially the ones who came for women’s self-defense, you’ll hear these recurring themes:

• ETKM training leads to increased confidence. We regularly expose students to physical and mental stress and coach them on how to fight through. They learn their own persistence and find inner steel. That spills over into other areas of their lives.
• Self-defense classes at ETKM replace fear with action. When you practice an aggressive response over and over again it becomes automatic. You don’t freeze, even if you’re in a less than advantageous position or you see a weapon.
• Women’s self-defense lessons from ETKM teach students to protect others. If they experience an assault that involves their loved ones, they already know how to respond.

We also teach students they’re too valuable to lose. When people of any gender truly know their worth to their family members, the community and the people at our gym, they realize no one has the right to harm them. They turn that outrage into aggression. Even if an attacker catches them off guard, they will turn it into a very bad day for that attacker.

Domestic violence and violence against women is a very real problem in East Texas. We want to help in any way possible. We’re committed to raising awareness, to providing information and resources and to training women who might be assaulted, but will never be victims.

New Student’s Guide to Krav Maga Training
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 16 Apr 2018 0 comments Tags: , , , , , , ,

When you take your first few classes at East Texas Krav Maga, you’ll most likely feel exhilarated and empowered. Students leave their very first class with knowledge they could use if they were choked, picked up or dragged. Krav Maga is the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces because it works, and training makes regular people into powerful weapons in a very short time frame. Here’s how to make your training as effective as possible.

 

Specify Goals

In Krav Maga, as in the rest of life, people are more likely to achieve their goals if they are specific about what they are. Take a few minutes to think through why you want to learn. Write it down and post it somewhere you’ll see it often, especially on days when you feel like staying home. Some of the goals we most commonly hear are as follows:

 

  • Learn real-life self-defense – Krav Maga is useful for anyone, no matter their size, strength or fitness level.
  • Improve physical fitness – Each class is a whole body workout. It includes a warm-up, drills to develop skills and bursts of activity that are intense cardio. Students who attend class regularly almost always report greater stamina, improved muscle tone and core strength and reduced body fat.
  • Develop confidence – Some of our students have been victims of violent attack, and they refuse to ever be a victim Even if you’ve never been in a violent situation, most people have felt physically threatened. Krav Maga changes your perspective on fear, makes you more willing to face new challenges and instills a confidence that spills over into other areas of your life.
  • Increase awareness – Because we consistently train for real-life situations in which the unexpected happens, training makes students better at reading situations and reacting with both their body and head. As you teach your body to respond decisively and inoculate against a panic freeze, your mind begins to focus even when you’re stressed. We also train students not to ignore those warning signals you feel when you face threats. They’re there for a reason.

 

Understand Aggression

You won’t train long before an instructor watches you practicing and says to repeat what you just did, only with more aggression and more violence. Sometimes students feel confusion, because the act of striking an opponent or a pad is inherently violent.

However, aggression in Krav Maga means understanding you are too important to lose, you have confidence from your training and no one has the right to threaten what matters to you most. Read How to Prepare Your Mind for Physical Aggression if you haven’t already.

 

What to Expect During Level One

Your first class an instructor will help you learn several Krav Maga basics. Here are a few fundamentals:

Fighting Stance

Stand in front of a mirror with your feet shoulder width apart and weight slightly shifted forward to the balls of your feet. Raise your hands to about eye level. This is your neutral stance. Now, take a half step forward with your non-dominant leg and a half step back with the other. If you’re right handed, your left foot should be in front, and for lefties step forward with your right foot.

Make sure your toes are pointed forward toward your attacker. Bend your knees slightly and distribute slightly more weight to your back foot.

Unless you’re striking, your hands should be up, about where you would be able to touch your cheekbones with your thumbs. Round your shoulders in slightly and tighten your core. Keep your chin down and eyes up, almost like your eyeballs are in your forehead instead of your eye sockets. John Whitman demonstrates a correct fighting stance here.

 

Palm Strikes

We often teach palm strikes because they are extremely effective. The bones of the hand are fragile, and effective punching requires training. Palm strikes reduce your risk of injury.

Start in your fight stance. You’ll actually make contact with the fleshy part of your palm just above the wrist. Flex your wrist, allowing your fingers to curl slightly. Forcefully drive your palm into the target.

This isn’t just a hand movement. Picture the power coming from the ground, traveling through your core then running down your arm as you send the palm strike. Your core is engaged, and your shoulder should rotate forward as you strike.

 

Straight Punch

Punching starts with the same stance and motion as the palm strike. Close your fists with your thumbs folded over your fingers. Always hit with the two knuckles on your index and middle finger. Don’t bring your fist out and then swing in, or you will telegraph your attack.

Punches should shoot straight from your core, with any hand rotation happening at the very end just before you make contact. The elbow stays down, with the hand leading the way. See a demonstration here.

While videos are helpful for practicing at home, there’s no substitute for the input you’ll get from a live instructor. Videos show what a move should look like, but they don’t identify what you might be doing wrong. Make sure you’re practicing correctly so you don’t fossilize mistakes.

 

Common Hurdles

New Krav Maga students report facing challenges in the following areas:

 

  • Developing stamina – Even if you’re in good shape when you walk in the door, Krav Maga is different from any other class that develops fitness. It’s normal to find yourself out of breath, muscles begging for a break. With regular practice, you’ll quickly improve and soon find yourself in the best shape of your life.

 

  • Bruising – Krav Maga means contact combat, and we train for real life situations with real violence. If you punch incorrectly or do so repeatedly without gloves, your knuckles will show it. When we practice inside and outside defense, sometimes students bruise on their arms. It’s impossible to prepare for real violence without making contact. Your body will adjust and you’ll notice less bruising as time goes by.

 

  • Frustration learning new techniques – New students often want to soak everything up like a sponge, and that’s great. However, there’s a lot to learn in level one alone, and sometimes the brain gets tired. If you hit the wall, know that’s common. Ask an instructor to walk you back through what they just demonstrated and help you make better sense of what you’re seeing.

 

  • Fear during stress drills – One of the biggest challenges you face as a new student is the anxiety you feel during stress drills. Most of the class you’ll work on developing stamina while learning a new technique, but almost every class provides an opportunity for you to practice that skill under stress. Sometimes you’ll face multiple “attackers.” Other times we’ll ask you to spin with your eyes closed so you don’t know from which direction to expect a threat. It’s uncomfortable for a reason. Stress drills help you understand your body’s natural response to stress and respond even when you’re outside your comfort zone. They might be the most beneficial and critical aspect of your training.

 

If you haven’t already started, show up at your first class well hydrated and wearing comfortable clothes. You don’t need any equipment or previous knowledge. We’ll help you learn at an individual pace and get you in the best mental and physical shape of your life. Contact us for more information today.

How to Prepare Your Mind for Physical Aggression
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 13 Apr 2018 0 comments Tags: , , , , , ,

What does it mean when an East Texas Krav Maga instructor tells students to act with more aggression, more violence? If as a student those instructions have caused you to feel confusion, you’re not alone. You’re punching the pad as hard as you can or sending endless knee strikes, and that seems violent enough. What exactly are they asking you to do, and why do they stress it so often?

Krav Maga isn’t just about training the body in self-defense techniques. It is powerful in real-life situations because it also trains the mind. Doing one without the other is useless. No tactic, no weapon, no training will be enough to protect you if you’re mentally unprepared and facing people who are more aggressive, more violent, more committed to causing you physical pain.

Mind Training 101

This article is written with the intent of helping you begin that mental training. How greatly it benefits you depends on the time you take to walk through each portion in your own mind and how often you apply its principles. The process is highly individual, because only you know what you most fear and what you treasure.

If you’re training at East Texas Krav Maga, you want to learn to protect yourself. Sure, you might also be there because it’s great for weight loss and we have a fantastic group of people, but you could pursue fitness and personal interaction in a variety of ways.

You’re primarily there because you realize we live in a violent world where bad things happen. You want to have the best possible chance of going home safe if they happen to you. Here’s what you need to know about turning your mind, not just your body into a weapon.

Define Your Threat

You may not have thought it all the way through, but there are scenarios running around in the back of your mind you want to defend against. We’re not talking about a time when you could hand over your car keys and walk away, but a time you know you might not survive.

At Krav Maga, we always counsel students if there’s an option of giving the attacker what he or she wants or using reason, do that and avoid violence. But right now we’re talking about when that’s not a possibility.

For the rest of this article, assume your life is at risk and logic no longer applies. Take a minute to look inward and identify what those scenarios are, what you most fear.

Let it form in your mind like a hologram. Fill in the blank.

  • The attacker or attackers look like ____.
  • They say _____ (be specific).
  • I am at a disadvantage because _____ (they have a weapon, they’re bigger etc).
  • They threaten to ______ if I don’t ______.

Allow that scenario to fully load in your mind not to be morbid or to cause yourself stress, but to truly understand what it is you fear. What are your surroundings like? What shoes are you wearing and what does the ground sound like beneath your feet? What’s the temperature? How well can you see? Hang on to that scenario; we’ll come back to it in a moment.

Understand the Body’s Response to Threat

Everyone feels fear at one time or another. Fear causes an automatic reaction in the body. You’ve heard about the fight or flight response, which is when your brain’s reacts to fear by sending signals to your nervous system.

Your heart rate spikes, your blood pressure rises and your breathing speeds up. Adrenaline and cortisol flood your system. Blood flows to your arms and legs.

In cave man days, that response was helpful. Cave man didn’t need to think things through. He wasn’t going to stand and fight the sabre tooth, or reason with it. There was no need for complex mental processing.

The bad part is, sometimes the body’s response to fear or stress can actually be detrimental in a violent confrontation. Some people experience tunnel vision and their thoughts become jumbled. Processing slows down. You may feel you’re having trouble getting enough air and that in itself causes panic. Violence often causes people to freeze. If you freeze, you lose.

Ask yourself how you felt when you pictured your attack scenario? If you truly allowed yourself to visualize it, you probably already have a hint of the stress you might experience if violence actually occurred.

Compare Rage with Aggression

Sometimes students think being more aggressive means getting angry, but that’s not what we mean at all. Here’s the difference.

Rage is white hot anger that floods your senses and takes over. You’re ready to smash, annihilate and demolish everything in your path. Rage goes off like an explosion in all directions, consuming everything. Your brain isn’t in control, your emotions are. It’s a powerful emotion, but it impairs decision making. It also burns out quickly, leaving you exhausted and vulnerable.

Aggression in Krav Maga is the commitment to do whatever it takes to keep your attacker from being successful so you are able to go home safe. It’s like a focused weapon you’re trained to use with precision and directionality.  It is determination paired with violence. Aggression doesn’t quit until the battle is over, but it never involves the loss of mental control. Even when you’re tired, aggression helps you re-focus again and again.

While your attacker may feel like you’ve turned into the Hulk, there’s no mindlessness to the type of aggression we’re training for. Rage happens when someone flips your switch. Aggression is a mindset you choose, cultivate and focus.

Find Your Motivation

Go back to the scenario you pictured earlier. Find some time and space to look inward again and ask yourself the following:

What do you want to live for?

What would you be prepared to die for?

Don’t accept the quick, obvious answer, look deeper and again allow the answers to those questions time to develop. In answer to the first question, most people say they want to live for their families. Your answer might have involved your spouse, your parents, your children or that person you’ve fallen in love with.

The first question establishes what brings you joy and gets you out of bed every morning. The second touches what’s closest to your heart. Most of the time the answer involves people, but it might also involve your beliefs.

You have years you want to spend with the ones who matter most. You have a responsibility to them, and they rely on you. If you were gone, they would suffer emotionally and possibly physically. You would die to protect them.

Recognize the Cost of Failure

At this point you have mentally defined a threat and uncovered why failure isn’t an option. If your attackers win, you might lose your life or your ability to enjoy it as you currently do. This may be the most difficult part of mentally preparing yourself, but it’s a necessary step.

Imagine you fail. There’s pain involved for you. Everything you fear becomes reality. Your body becomes broken one piece at a time. You experience crippling violence like you’ve never experienced before. Your attacker gets what they want. They win at your expense.

Now take time to think what comes after. You’re gone, but your family isn’t. Envision your loved ones’ reaction when law enforcement tells them what happened to you. If you have children, picture your spouse having to tell them their parent is gone.

It’s difficult, but don’t change the channel. Allow to unfold a future without you. Your loved ones face financial challenges. They are devastated by grief and loss for a very long time. You leave a hole that will never completely heal. Their grief is compounded by the thought you died in pain and were taken by evil people.

In time, they move on. You are a memory. There is a stone with your name on it that stands under the elements year after year until the letters wear away. Failure cost you everything.

Again, don’t just read the words. Close your eyes and allow those emotions to build inside you. Feel it build in your gut. Recognize if you’re facing a violent attacker, they are trying to take from you unless you stop them.

Determine not to let that happen and allow that determination to build like a battery charging. We’re about to tell you how to turn them into something useful.

Go to the Dark Side

We’re raised to avoid physical violence, but in this one situation, it’s okay to find the part of yourself willing to do whatever it takes. When you fight you do it not out of hatred or the desire to harm others, but because someone dared threaten you and those you love.

Find that part of you willing to stop them. You’ll hurt them until they don’t get up. You’ll kill if necessary. Make peace with that.

Develop Your Power Base

Three beliefs will make you strong. Study them, you’ll practice during class.

  • I am too important to lose, I must prevail.
  • I have trained for this. I have confidence I will stand.
  • My indignation is a tool I can use as a weapon.

Worth. Confidence. Indignation. Drill those three into your mind so that you default to them when you feel stress. While you’re still inside your mind, fuse the emotions you’ve been cultivating with your worth, your confidence and your indignation. Wherever you feel those emotions, whether it’s in your chest or your stomach, picture them forming a powerful sphere.

That is your mental aggression, your starting point. When you come to class you’ll learn specific techniques, but every time you must train from that perspective. You are too important for your loved ones to lose, you have training that gives you confidence, and no one has the right to try and take that away.

Inoculate Against Stress

At Krav Maga, we do stress drills because it’s the best way to train your body not to freeze. No one looks forward to them. The more you train, the tougher we make them, because our goal is not to make you comfortable, but to make sure you go home safe.

When you come to class, devote the hour you’re there to training your mind alongside your body. Analyze where you’re afraid and use that to get better.

When you participate in drills, do this. Gather worth, confidence and indignation inside of you like a ball. Allow everything else to fall away and draw power from that sphere. You can still practice safety in training because your mind will be clear. Go there again and again to train your mind.

Start Today

At East Texas Krav Maga, we hope none of our students never face this type of threat, but we know people do every day. We’ve never been about fancy fighting techniques, rules or rituals. We give students the tools they need to face real life threats. Start training your body and mind when you try a class today.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymJY_TWgOy4&feature=youtu.be

Punch Defenses and Knife Defenses
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 19 Mar 2018 0 comments Tags: , ,

Written By: John Whitman

I was teaching punch defenses in a Krav Maga class recently, when a guest, who trains in Muay Thai, asked why we don’t simply “cover” or “shell up” against punches. It was an excellent question.

Krav Maga prefers to intercept and redirect straight punches a short distance away from our face, and to block hook punches with an extended defense that is farther from the head. While these are not radically different from defenses you might see in sport fighting, we emphasize these extended defenses more than a sport fighting coach might.  We do also teach students to shell up and cover (by which I mean shielding the face or side of the head with our arms pressed close to the skull), but we rarely introduce covering defenses as our primary technique.

Are we right about this? After all, the covering defenses have serious advantages: they are simple, and the attacker might damage his knuckles on your forearms.  Also, there is a downside to teaching the extended defenses — I see many beginning students who fall “behind the curve” of the attacker’s combinations, and expose themselves trying to catch up while doing extended defenses. So why not simply teach covering defenses and be done with it?

The reason: edged weapons.  One of Krav Maga’s concepts is that punch defenses and knife defenses must be similar, because you probably will not see a knife and you’re likely to treat the movement like a punch. If you use a covering defense, you will get stabbed (although possibly in a less vital part of your body).

Why this emphasis on knife defenses?  One of the influential eras of Krav Maga’s history was the First Intifada (1987-1991), when knife attacks in Israel were quite common. I had the honor of meeting and talking with Sheike Barak, one of founder Imi Lichtenfeld’s lesser known but highly respected students.  A retired Lt. Colonel in the IDF, he told me about the Krav Maga organization’s efforts to develop techniques that worked for different types of civilians, including children, during knife attacks prevalent at that time.

Given this history, it’s easy to see why Krav Maga places such a premium on defenses that work against both punches and knife attacks. But is the emphasis still appropriate? I teach students in west Los Angeles in 2018, not the West Bank in 1987. Is it so likely that my students will be attacked with a knife that I should emphasize knife defenses rather than a much simpler covering defense?

My own conclusion has been to continue teaching the “extended” defenses as Krav Maga’s primary techniques against punches, especially in surprise situations. I rate the risk of taking a stab higher, even if stabs are less common than punches. At the same time, we are dedicating additional time to teaching students to use covering defenses when necessary.  But for initial reactions, especially in surprise situations, we still teach the extended defense. Maybe it’s my inherited bias as a Krav Maga instructor, but I think the consequences of failing against a knife are worth worrying about first.

KRAV MAGA IS ABOUT A LOT MORE THAN JUST FIGHTING.
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 09 Mar 2018 0 comments Tags: , , , ,

Krav Maga was developed by the Israelis in the 1940’s to train their soldiers to protect themselves in some of the most dangerous environments on the planet. The Israeli’s needed something that their soldiers could learn in a relatively short time and that was devastatingly effective against a wide array of threats. Their answer was Krav Maga.

In the 1970’s Krav Maga spread beyond the army and was adapted for civilian use. It proved incredibly effective for civilian self defence because of it’s focus on surviving violent encounters rather than winning fights within a limited set of rules.

Once it spread beyond the Israeli army, Krav Maga was quickly adopted around the world by military and police forces, as well as civilian martial art schools. Its popularity was largely due to its logical approach to real violence and it’s effective techniques which are based on the body’s natural instinct and reflexes; this is what also makes Krav Maga quick to learn and practical to use.

Today Krav Maga is taught exclusively in every branch of the Israeli protective services where it continues to develop. It is the the number one choice for military and police forces in the world. And it is taught in civilian Krav Maga schools in virtually every country on the planet.

Krav Maga is a system that continues to develop. As knowledge grows and as the nature of threats around the world change, Krav Maga as a system adapts and grows to meet those threats.

Women Sculpt Body and Mind at East Texas Krav Maga
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 07 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: , , ,

What do you feel when you walk alone in the dark? That unsettled prickling at the back of your neck is because you know if you’re a woman, you’re vulnerable. You can change that. Krav Maga gives you not just solid self-defense training, but also a steel core, strong legs and shapely shoulders.

Fight Like a Girl

When someone says you fight like a girl, it’s usually an insult. It says you’re weak and ineffective. Boys grown up wrestling and hitting. Girls don’t typically engage in types of play that teach self-defense.

Women are smaller than men and typically have less muscle mass. Even the most athletic women know there’s someone out there bigger, stronger, and full of malicious intent.

Learning Krav Maga gives women tools to fight that anxiety. It changes the way students evaluate potentially threatening situations and teaches immediate proactive response. When you fight like a girl, your attacks are deadly.

Become a Lethal Weapon

Anyone can use Krav Maga to defend themselves. Krav Maga was developed in Israel, where everyone is required to serve in the military. In Hebrew it means “contact combat” Defense forces needed techniques that weren’t dependent on size, strength or physical ability. It was designed with instinctive movements that allow anyone to defend themselves.

Krav Maga prepares you to respond to real-life threats. Learn to deal with muggings, sexual assault and other dangers.

Never Freeze

When most people are attacked, they flinch, panic or freeze. Krav Maga trains you to do the opposite, to respond decisively and explosively. You’ll learn the defense for specific attacks, then practice under stress.

We’ll yell at you, push you with pads, or have you spin in a circle before you’re attacked. Practice your response in tough situations over and over until you’re inoculated against panic. If attacked, you’ll automatically detonate.

Shape Problem Areas

Arms – Punching, elbowing and palm strikes sculpt strong biceps, triceps and shoulders.

Core – Everything about Krav Maga engages your core. Round kicks and other combatives make your abs into steel.

Legs and Butt – Front and round kicks strengthen your legs. Side kicks sculpt your inner and outer thighs. Back kicks slim and shape your butt. Repeated front and back movement makes your calves strong and shapely.

Weight Loss – Krav Maga’s high intensity cranks up your heart rate to incinerate calories and burn fat, both during and after class.

Increase Confidence

Knowing you can fend off an attacker increases confidence and independence. You’re not afraid of freezing up, and you know you can hit like a freight train. That idea of not being a victim will flow into other areas of your life. You won’t just have confidence when you feel physically threatened, but in other situations where you previously felt weak or at a disadvantage.

When attackers look at you, they see someone small, feminine, weak. They see prey. Develop the confidence that comes from knowing your body is a powerful defense weapon. Start training today. Contact East Texas Krav Maga to find out more.

 

About the Author: Melissa Ticer offers blogging and SEO content for East Texas business. She has over three years of training as a student at East Texas Krav Maga.

 

Sources:

https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/krav-maga.aspx

https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Reasons-Do-Krav-Maga-37289760

https://infinityhousemagazine.com/why-women-should-learn-krav-maga/

 

How Krav Maga Fundamentally Changed Me
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 07 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: , , , ,

Article written by: Holli Barron

For those of you who have known me both prior to and during my Krav Maga training, you probably have recognized a change (or many) in me as a person. It is my desire to help you understand the changes that I have experienced, the heart behind why I am so thankful I started taking classes, and why I feel that you, too, could benefit in the same ways that I have from Krav Maga. For those who did not know me prior to Krav, let me give you a quick synopsis of who I was pre-training: timid, fearful, frail, and basically crossing my fingers that no one chose to target me (again).

As many of you know, I was targeted and ultimately raped by an internet predator in my teen years. After trials in court, he was sentenced to only eight years in prison. However, he was released on parole after only serving about two years. When the news reached my ears that he was up for parole in the near future, I began to feel more fear than I was comfortable living with. I realized that I was an easy target not just for him, but for any predator seeking to do harm. Thus began the process of researching self defense classes in my area. Krav Maga was not only the first option that popped up in search results, but also the most intriguing. After researching the system, I decided to give it a try. East Texas Krav Maga (the Krav training center nearest to where I lived) offered a free trial class to anyone interested in beginning self defense training. That first day, I sat in the parking lot for a good twenty minutes fighting with myself internally. I was so nervous to step foot inside the building for a few reasons: 1. I have never thrown a punch or taken any form of martial arts/self defense in my entire life and I don’t like looking like a fool. 2. Walking into that class meant facing the frightening realization that I was prey for predators seeking to do harm and that I was presently incapable of adequately defending myself. 3. I hated exercise and felt like I would be falling behind the entire class due to not being an avid gym-goer. Regardless of these hesitations, I walked through those doors and it was by far one of the best decisions of my life. Here’s why:

  1. First, and probably most obviously, Krav Maga has given me the capability to defend myself (and others) should it be necessary. I now have the physical capability that I previously lacked. I know the techniques, and I am confident in my ability to implement them should my life be in danger. Physically, I gained muscle I never had before and got in the best shape of my life. I am no longer a target… I am a fighter.
  2. Krav has given me a confidence that I didn’t know was possible. This confidence has poured over into all areas of my life, not just my ability to defend myself. I am more apt to accept new challenges and to pursue goals that once seemed out of reach. One of these goals that I was able to accomplish was becoming a certified instructor of Krav so that I could pass these benefits on to other people.
  3. Krav has given me a renewed perspective on fear. Rather than running away, I have learned to confront my fears and to overcome them. I no longer am someone who is incapacitated by my fear. This change is evidenced most clearly by my decision prior to the offender who assaulted me being released to go meet with him face to face in a mediated session. I wanted the opportunity to look him in the eyes and to let him know that I am not afraid of him and that I am no longer his victim. Prior to Krav, I absolutely (one hundred percent) would have never had the courage to go and do this.
  4. Krav has been the catalyst for me to pursue further training in firearms, and emergency medicine. It has shown me the importance of training and preparing for the worst. The combined training I have received has prepared me to handle situations that I would have at one time deemed my worst nightmare. I didn’t quite realize how big of a change I had undergone until one of these “worst nightmare” situations happened to me. Sitting in class one day taking a quiz on a university campus, an alert came across our phones that there was an active shooter on campus and to shelter in place immediately. Prior to my training, I without a doubt would have been hiding in the corner crying my eyes out and having a full blown panic attack. However, while people in my room either stared wide eyed at each other or began to panic/cry, I let my training take over. I directed students to barricade the doors, I made sure my tourniquet and other emergency first aid were easily accessible, helped students find weapons of opportunity, and had my firearm ready to go should I need it (yes, concealed carry is legal on the campus I attended, thankfully). Ultimately the all-clear was given, and it was determined that it was a false alarm. I almost didn’t recognize who I was after that incident. How I was able to handle a situation that normally would have broken me legitimately shocked me. I only have training, practicing over and over and over again, and excellent instructors from East Texas Krav Maga and Freedom Defense Training to thank for this change.
  5. Krav taught me to not only look out for myself, but for others as well. I have transformed from a helpless sheep into a sheepdog looking out for those I love and those who are less capable of protecting themselves. I know that when our baby arrives in May, I will love him or her more than myself. Their safety is more important than my own. I now train not just for myself, but for others as well.
  6. Lastly, Krav has given me the ability to stand up for myself, and to make hard decisions. Not far into my krav training, I made a couple of life changing choices that I never would have made if it weren’t for Krav. I ended a relationship that wasn’t right for me in the long run, and I packed up my stuff and drove across the country to move back home to where I truly wanted to be. I am forever thankful that I had the courage to make these choices because ultimately they led me to my wonderful husband, and gave me the opportunity to have a family at East Texas Krav Maga that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I would not have gotten certified as an instructor, or seen so many people overcome obstacles just like I have. (Also, I never would have gotten my tattoo… lol).

All of this to say, some hard decisions really did change my life. Krav Maga really did change my life… and it can change yours too. Take that first step. Walk through those doors. You won’t regret it.

How 30 Days of Krav Maga Will Change Your Life
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 07 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: , ,

One month of Krav Maga will change your life. Regular training at ETKM will rapidly reshape the way you think, feel, and evaluate the world. Most people feel different after just one lesson.

Sharpen Your Mind

You’ll get fit and learn to defend yourself against any kind of attack, but the most important thing Krav Maga will change is your mind.

You may not have realized your low-level anxiety from knowing we live in a society where bad people do bad things. Every day you’re in situations part of you recognizes could go very wrong. You feel helpless.

Classes are like therapy. They name a specific problem like being choked up against a wall or attacked with a knife. Then they give you the tools to know you can cope. You learn to analyze the situation, identify the threat, and take immediate, decisive action.

You go from feeling helpless to feeling powerful. You develop an aggressive instinct that’s quick to take charge.

Every class you push your body to the max and find yourself smashing through personal barriers. The surge of confidence you feel from overcoming obstacles carries into every other area of your life.

Strengthen Your Body

Almost everyone loses a significant amount of weight the first month. Depending on what you weigh, Krav Maga classes could burn between 500 and 900 calories each class. Sending punches, kicks, elbows and knees is intense cardio unlike anything else. Even if you’re already extremely fit, you’ll find yourself out of breath with your heart pumping.

Everything we do builds lean muscle, which burns more calories even when you’re not being active.

Try this. Wherever you are, make two fists in front of your face. Tighten your abs. Notice the feeling in your biceps and across your shoulders. Each muscle you feel will be completely transformed your first 30 days of Krav Maga.

Now slowly extend your right fist like you’re sending a punch. Notice how every muscle in your forearms, biceps, triceps, and shoulders is engaged. If you did it right you also used the muscles in your core.

That was one movement. Picture repeating it explosively again and again. Think if each of those parts of your body became hard muscle.

The difference between training at ETKM and going to the gym is that here, you’ll want to go. Classes fly by and you learn valuable techniques that don’t just make you more leaner, they make you safer.

Relieve Your Stress

If you live in planet Earth, you encounter idiots. Frustration builds, and when the pressure isn’t released, you either blow up at your family or live on the emotional ragged edge.

It’s extremely satisfying to smash things. After a tough day, come punch and kick until your body is exhausted. Project what’s driving you crazy onto the pad or heavy bag and completely obliterate it. Don’t hold anything back. At Krav Maga it isn’t just okay to hit, we encourage it.

Build Relationships

One of the things that most surprises students when they train at ETKM is the sense of community. Each class offers new situations and tough challenges.

When classmates see each other struggle again and again, but refuse to give up, it fosters a deep sense of respect and friendship unlike anywhere else. Our students are all ages and from all walks of life, but they come together to make each other better.

Don’t wait to start reshaping your body and mind. Contact East Texas Krav Maga today.

 

About the Author: Melissa Ticer offers blogging and SEO content for East Texas business. She has over three years of training as a student at East Texas Krav Maga.

 

Sources:

https://www.kravmaga.com/how-krav-maga-can-benefit-the-mind-and-body/

http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-10-health-benefits-knowing-self-defense/

http://krav-maga.com/blog/the-benefits-of-training-krav-maga-self-defence-for-women/

http://www.mycaloriesburned.com/calories-burned-krav-maga/

7 Krav Maga Techniques that Make You a Weapon
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 07 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: , ,

Right now, if someone attacked you, could you get to your weapon? Carrying a gun or pepper spray isn’t a bad idea, but it can create a false sense of security. Most violent attacks happen suddenly, so time is a luxury you might not have.

Your attacker isn’t going to wait while you dig around in your purse or vehicle. Often you would have to take your eyes off of or turn your back to an attacker to retrieve your weapon. The valuable seconds you waste could mean the difference between life and death.

Regular Krav Maga training makes you a weapon. Learn how to react instinctively to overwhelm your attacker and keep you and your family safe. Here are some of the situations you’ll learn to defend against.

When Someone Takes a Swing

  • Inside defense – When your attacker comes straight at you and sends a blow toward your face or upper body, inside defense teaches you how to deflect the punch.
  • Outside defense – If the attack comes from above, to the side or down low, Krav Maga teaches 360 degree defense.

If You’re Restrained

  • Choke defenses – If someone tries to strangle you from the front, back, side, or against a wall, even if they’re pushing you, Krav Maga teaches a quick escape and counter-attack.
  • Bearhug defense – if your attacker restrains you from any angle, whether your arms are caught or free, even if a much larger attacker lifts you off the ground, Krav Maga trains you how to get away.
  • Wrist releases and arm pulls – If someone grabs you by the wrist or the arm and tries to drag you places you don’t want to go, Krav Maga teaches you how to escape their grip and follow up with an attack that makes them wish they hadn’t tried.

When Your Attacker Has a Weapon

Gun, knife, and stick defense — For many people, their worst nightmare involves an attack with a gun, knife or blunt object. Krav Maga trains students to redirect the weapon, control the weapon, attack violently, and take it away in seconds.

On the Ground

Ground fighting — Krav Maga never trains you to stay on the ground, but sometimes you don’t have a choice. Krav Maga teaches moving, kicking and grappling so you can get up as quickly as possible.

Would you know what to do if you were faced with the attacks listed above? Regular training at East Texas Krav Maga will make you lethal, so you never have to be afraid. Sign up for your free trial today.

About the Author: Melissa Ticer offers blogging and SEO content for East Texas business. She has over three years of training as a student at East Texas Krav Maga.

 

Sources:

Print Resource: Principles of Krav Maga

 

First Time At Krav Maga: What to Expect
Posted by: In: Uncategorized 06 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: , , ,

Do you want to try Krav Maga, but find you keep putting it off because you’re nervous? In the back of your mind you picture a place where everyone is either a super ninja or an MMA fighter.
What if it’s totally awkward and you don’t know what to do? What if it’s physically too difficult?
You fear everything from wearing the wrong clothes to getting hit by someone who looks like The Rock. Here’s what actually happens in a typical self-defense class at East Texas Krav Maga.

When You Walk In the Door
A staff member will be at the desk to get you signed in. You’ll fill out paperwork similar to what you see any time you visit a new gym. Then we’ll show you where you can put your things and help you find a partner for the class.

The Warm-Up
Class starts with a 10-15 minute warm-up to get your heart pumping. Every class is different, so your warm-up might include pushups, sit-ups, lunges or other basic bodyweight exercises. Once your body is warm your instructor will lead you through active stretching.

The Class
It takes intense training to be a Krav Maga instructor, and we’re pretty proud of ours. They excel at providing Krav Maga students the most powerful and effective learning experience possible.
The instructor will start with basic upper and lower body strikes. Here’s what to expect:
• The instructor demonstrates the technique with another instructor or higher level student.
• Instructors walk the whole group through the technique, breaking it down into a series of steps and practicing each step one at a time.
• The group gradually speeds things up, practicing movements on their own in front of a mirror.
• Individuals work in partner groups to practice with live partners.
After you get comfortable with basic combatives we’ll devote the rest of the class to self-defense techniques. We’ll let you practice with a partner, then drill to train speed and accuracy. The class culminates in a stress drill to solidify your knowledge in a tense situation.

Safety in Training
Krav Maga is training for real life violence. From the very first class you’ll be sending real punches, kicks, knees and elbows. You’ll practice live on pads, heavy bags and other equipment.
We put a heavy emphasis on safety in training so you can train aggressively and still go home safe. No one will ever just walk up and hit you. We don’t do that until the second class. (Kidding. Mostly.)

What to Wear
Guys usually wear gym shorts and a T-shirt. Ladies wear shorts or leggings and a tank top or T-shirt. Wear athletic shoes and if you have long hair, you’ll want something to pull it back.
When you leave you’ll feel exhilarated. From your very first class you’ll do things you didn’t think you could. You’ll walk out with new confidence and new friends. Don’t put it off any longer. Click here for more information or call (903)590-0085.

About the Author: Melissa Ticer offers blogging and SEO content for East Texas business. She has over three years of training as a student at East Texas Krav Maga.
Sources:
https://easttxkravmaga.com/contact/#faqs
https://easttxkravmaga.com/contact/#faqs
https://easttxkravmaga.com/contact/