Ironically, The Best Way To Learn Krav Maga May Be To Teach It.
The advanced training group that I lead had a taste of this concept recently when the group spent 30 minutes teaching each other in a class format. While I wasn’t looking for the classic Krav Maga Worldwide teaching blue print, I was looking to see if three keys emerged from the process.
People wonder why I would ask students to teach, and the short answer is simple – to enhance their own Krav Maga training and execution.
In many ways, teaching helps to clarify thinking, re-enforce critical movements, and smooth out the rough edges in many defenses. My theory on this is simple – to clearly communicate Krav Maga you must thoroughly understand and believe what you’re saying through experiential knowledge.
As each student taught the others, it became clear that the role of teacher was not being embraced, because students lacked the confidence to fully take-on the role. At one point, I asked a business owner to treat the assistant as his employee and explain what to do – as if the assistant would need to then repeat the defense on a job representing the employer. His tone, confidence, and clarity immediately rose impressively.
At the end of the process, I summarized the exercise by asking the students to focus on three key elements of communicating information from a position of leadership (teaching). These three key elements provide a powerful concoction in communicating effectively and convincingly. These points were:
- Precision – be precise with your language to ensure there is little room for the student to misconstrue your words (this is different than the idea of providing detail),
- Clarity – your words, descriptitions, and analogies must be clear, usually thinking in this way as using the fewest words possible in communicating your point, and
- Emphasis – this concept ensures we provide students with a sense of priority and magnitude of action in the movements we utilize in making a defense (i.e. notice the difference in emphasis in using the word “burst” as opposed to “step” or “drive” as opposed to “move” ).
If you want to take your Krav Maga to a higher level, you’re going to have to learn to teach. And in doing so, you’ll ultimately be the biggest beneficiary in that process. Try it. You’ll love the results!
