Discipline of Movement

As I worked through my process, I went looking for other firearms reviews on YouTube, I ran across one of the true masters of the three-gun discipline – Taran Butler. I watched him work out a relatively new Ruger PC9 carbine offering and was reminded of what it means to be a professional at the top of a chosen discipline. Butler is off the charts good.

As I studied his movement, I recalled vividly how intently I studied Darren Levine’s movements across a myriad of Krav Maga defenses. As I thought back, reviewing several defenses still fresh in my mind from years ago, it occurred to me that some Krav Maga students might not know how to assess the most salient parts of movement to better understand the discipline that must be mastered. For most athletic and movement oriented endeavors, students often get lost looking at the hands or arms and confuse that movement with the key elements of a defense.

The truth is, mastering a defense by replicating the most critical motion is done by studying:

1. How the structure (hips to feet) of the person changes doing the movement,
2. The nature of the movement (linear, rotational, etc.),
3. The level of the defender during movement (watch the shoulders),
4. The angle and relative direction of movement, and
5. The change of angles and the driver of those changes (i.e. pivoting the feet).

Try this process the next time you are watching a master move through a defense, and then replicate the motion. The hand movements can simply be applied once the movement is mastered. This is the discipline of movement – study and replication of the most vital elements of motion to achieve a desired result.