Training from “Negative”
Training from “Negative”
If you’ve trained in Krav Maga, you’ve undoubtedly heard the “we train from positions of disadvantage” mantra countless times. At some point, likely all Krav Maga instructors have uttered it, and we believe that there is certainly some value in it. However, it is not (or rather should not) be THE way of training for self-protection.
Think about it, if you always train your students from a position of disadvantage, i.e. negative, your students will always find themselves at negative. Without training that prioritizes the pre-contact phase (to include pre-emption), your students will miss any number of opportunities to recognize a potential threat, analyze the situation and take a pre-emptive action (which could be anything from extrication to de-escalation to being first). Your students will always be in “worst case scenarios”, because there was no emphasis placed on avoiding it. It’s the only thing you gave them.
In Fit to Fight® Krav Maga, we DO NOT fight in the water. We do not fight one guy with a knife and one with a tire iron and one with a chain while simulating a broken arm. We do not do gun defense while face down with an assailant on top and a pistol to the back of the head. We do not throw tomahawks.
In Fit to Fight® Krav Maga, we DO train to control variables. We do train to be first. We do train against resisting opponents. We do cross train. We do pressure test. We do train daily. We do fail. We do evolve.
While we understand that there is a certain amount of mystery, intrigue and perhaps even fun in unicorns, the truth is, they aren’t real. The best thing is, though, we don’t have to pretend. We actually have horses. The “issue” is, as long as you play with unicorns, you never have to prove you can ride. At Fit to Fight®, we ride.
So, train from positions of disadvantage, but don’t hamstring your students. Give your students tools that don’t hinge on the off chance that an assailant falls from the ceiling and immediately places his hands around their necks. Recognize that if your students weren’t good enough to avoid being taken down, put in a prone position face down and mounted with a gun to their head, they likely aren’t going to be good enough to escape this position.
Let’s ride.
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