Student Survey
Win a $100 Gift Certificate!

The Krav Maga Training Center is always looking for ways to improve. We are asking for YOUR input to help us do a better job to serve our students needs.

Please turn in your completed survey by the end of October and we will have a drawing for a $100 Gift Certificate. There will be 3 winners.

<strong>Announcements and Events


Strike & Fight Seminar
Saturday September 24: 1:00-3:00 Only $35

Enhancing fighting ability by increasing speed and power with strong hand and leg defenses.
Working on Counters, Defenses, Punch Combinations and Kicks

Yellow Belt Test
Saturday October 8 - 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Orange Belt Test
Saturday October 15 - 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Student Focus: Abraham


Abraham spends part of almost every day talking to people who suffer. "I deal with aging baby boomers who may have suffered traumatic injury and are also dealing with body deterioration issues, people who are suffering from back pain, ruptured disks, degenerative arthritis etc. who are 40, 50, and 60 years old and are feeling like their glory days are over, one foot in the grave!" he says, and continues, "I discuss with them how they may help themselves and the many cases of excellent recovery I have seen.I tell them I'm in their age range and train in a very physical martial arts style. This always seems to catch the interest of the men and as we talk I can hear in their voices they get some hope back that just because they are aging and going through a physical challenge they don't have to give up their activity or their dreams."

Abraham's business, energycenter.com, provides equipment and therapies to help people find relief for back pain and improve their general health, from gravity boots and inversion tables to nutritional supplements. He has also been a nurse since 1977, working in many aspects of clinical medicine, including ER, surgery, child birth, and caring for quadriplegics. He worked at the very first hospice in California, and has taught nursing in several countries.

I asked him how he got started in martial arts and got a surprising answer. After high school he spent time at a Washington D.C. ashram and began learning and teaching Kundalini yoga and meditation with a Yogi who was also a Sikh. What I did not know was that Sikhs have a martial aspect to their spiritual practice, that grew out of a need to protect themselves and their country centuries ago from the sword and the flame of occupying powers. (Mogul emperors ruled a large area of South Asia from the 16th century until the end of the 18th century. They attempted to convert India to Islam, but were unsuccessful.) This yogi made a statement that all the men and women should learn martial arts in order to protect themselves and each other. Evidently Abraham and many others took this advice very seriously. Other members of this spiritual group ended up forming a security company (Akal Security Inc.) with multi-million dollar contracts to protect resources of the United States Government, including army bases.

Abraham enrolled in a school where karate derived from Korean, Okinawan, and Japanese styles was taught, and stayed there for less than a year at which time he moved out of the area. In the years after that, he has trained a little at Daniel Inosanto's studio in Santa Monica. It wasn't until he found Krav Maga San Francisco that he was able to really continue his training.

So the martial arts roots run deep with Abraham, as well as a life long interest in healing, travel and culture. I enjoy the idea that men like him are here learning a devastating style of fighting like Krav Maga, and yet also have a respect for people, for healing and caring for the human body, and are combining these attributes in daily life. You can find him in just about any class KMSF offers, from KM self defense to ground fighting.

Shadowboxing


Shadowboxing is one of the most under-appreciated means a student can use to improve their fighting skills. Most often it us used as part of a warm-up, and rightly so. Students can move at their own pace and choose any moves they want, simulating any movements needed in a fight or in the upcoming class. To get the most out of shadowboxing, try approaching with the idea that it can be much more than a warm-up, and can significantly improve your movement and fighting skills.

No one is telling you exactly what to do and you have no opponent. Managing yourself and your movements allows you to experiment and be honest with yourself. Don't worry about looking awkward or hesitant, just mentally stay within yourself, and use imagination to experiment with various situations and sequences of movement. When you become comfortable with more movement sequences, the more smooth you become, and the more easily you can recall and rely on them in an actual fight.

Under stress, movement becomes restricted and tighter, and it is likely that the stress will interfere with the feedback loop between your mind and body. At these times it is most helpful to have good muscle memory, so that you can perform effectively even while stressed. It is also helpful to be able to remain focussed on the task at hand; ie. survival, and continue to send commands to your body with the expectation that these commands will be fulfilled capably. Shadowboxing helps keep the mind focussed and movements can be tried that over time become forged into new and improved muscle memory.


Here are some examples of how to use realistic movements in shadowboxing. There are several scenarios of movement you can expect to see play out in a fight. I've chosen 4 of them.

1: Circling and striking an opponent who is momentarily stationary.
2: Following and striking an opponent who is circling away.
3: Evading and striking an opponent that is charging in.
4: Evading attacks at an angle and turning back in to strike.

The only other one is following and striking an opponent who is going straight back, and you should work on this also but it is probably the easiest.

Using an "X" on the floor, you can set up and play out all of these scenarios of movement. Take a look at the Quicktime video to see the drills in action. Don't forget to use a variety of evasive and defensive movements mixed together with combatives. Give yourself the freedom to be creative, use correct footwork and posture, and resolve sticking points in your capabilities. Focus on the task at hand. The more often you train like this, the more you can expect these results to carry over into your fighting ability.