Can you see how tired they are after the 4 day course. But great success! Amit and Jeff.
I recently went down to Petaluma California to attend the IKF instructor course. I completed the four-day course and was honoured to be given the IKF instructor tag. I have been training since I was sixteen in the gym and at nineteen I was introduced to Krav Maga. Due to jobs, I have had in my life I have not been able to always be in the gyms training with instructors or be there for the tests to take the next level or belt. I have constantly been held back because of this. I was getting told by instructors and fellow students I don’t show up enough, I need to make sure I’m there for the tests and put in the hours, etc. What killed me is that no one ever acknowledged that I trained every day. When I was out on the rigs for weeks or months at a time. Every day I was in the gym whether it was the small little camp gym or I had to drive an hour into town to train 5pm or 3am I was there. Putting in those hours practicing everything I learned in the classes that I was able to make it too. The reason I’m telling you all this is that it may just be another certificate or belt or badge to you, but this one means the world to me. It means that all those hours, days, months were worth it. It finally allows me to feel proud of what I had been doing and all the effort I put into my training. Yet as much as I’ve been holding this tag close to me I truly love what Amit Himelstein( IKF head instructor) said to us. He said to enjoy this day, feel proud but then go home find a nice place to hang it and get back to the gym! He said this tag or a belt or badge is only worth anything the day you receive it. After that, it’s on you to keep it up, keep bettering yourself every day. Don’t show me your belts and badges show me what you can do! This hit me hard cause it’s how I have always felt. Everyone had more badges, better belts, etc. And to be honest it sucked to see someone who can afford private classes or that had a regular job could acquire what I was chasing for years in months…. but as far as I’m concerned the belt is just to hold up your pants. What you put in is what you get out of everything in this life. People are always gonna be able to look at the wall of your accomplishments in awe, they will never appreciate all the time it took you to get them or truly earn them. These four days were the hardest days I’ve ever experienced and at times I honestly thought maybe I wasn’t cut out for this but I pushed myself to new levels and left every ounce of myself on those mats. I didn’t care if I got the instructor badge or not. I was already just so truly proud of myself, I had won the battle against myself. I am one of fourteen in Canada who have this certification and I am not one to gloat but I earned this and I’m damn proud of it! Thanks to some new found friends and a heart to heart with the brothers and sisters from my own club Urban Tactics Krav Maga I realized I needed to allow myself to enjoy these wins and stop being so hard on myself. I wish all who read this to have a challenge like this come your way that allows you to learn something new, mostly about yourself and show you it is possible and all the time you put in when no is looking means everything! Keep training, keep growing and celebrate yourself!
Written by – Jeff Dyble
@Teamg.ijacked on Instagram
www.gijacked.ca
Wanting to become a green belt with UTKM I also need to get my PAL. I don’t have much experience with firearms, back at home when I still lived with my parents firearms weren’t really something we would talk about. My dad had a traumatic experience when he was being shot at so he was against firearms (on a side note – when going through training to become a mechanic in the GDR he also had marksmanship training and got the badge – without shooting at all). Before I educated myself more about firearms I thought only crazy people own guns.
Then I moved in with my first roommate who has a PAL and who also took me to a gun range every now and then, she showed me how to hold a firearm and also taught me about safety.
I find the different mechanisms of firearms interesting but they also scared me. There were all those news about people shooting each other, wackos who would walk into schools and kill teachers and students alike. But I also started learning self defense and part of that was learning how to disarm an attacker and take the firearm away from him. You can kill/ severely injure yourself or innocent bystanders if you don’t know what to do with it. I slowly started to warm up to the thought to get a PAL myself. Not too long ago my head instructor at UTKM offered his first CFSC/CRFSC (PAL) Course and I seized the opportunity. I learned a lot, about safety, about how firearms work, law – things I now consider basic knowledge and I will also now apply to get my PAL. I still respect guns and don’t want to be standing were a muzzle is pointed at. I also think the CFSC/CRFSC (PAL) Course is a stepping stone, it provides you with a good foundation but it is up to each person to train how to shoot.
Owning a firearm also comes with responsibility – learn how to store it, use it etc. For now my next step will be to apply for my PAL (I need one more guarantor – any volunteers?). After that I’ll probably consider purchasing a firearm, but I still have to get there. Of course I still need lots of training. The courses UTKM used to offer helped me a lot already but it is like everything else – you have to keep practicing or you’ll forget things and make stupid mistakes which with a firearm can be fatal.
I would recommend to do the CFSC/CRFSC (PAL) Course. Especially if you are against firearms. I noticed that on myself – haven’t been a big fan and I was judgmental to people who owned guns but that’s probably because I met idiots who then also started bragging about their guns (sorry, did I roll my eyes out loud?). Later I learned that for every bragging idiot there are probably about ten people who don’t brag and are responsible and not to forget smart about it. It’s like the first time I stepped into a heavy metal bar with those wild looking people with whom I then had interesting conversations about Hesse and/ or Kafka. So give it a chance. I don’t ask you to go to a shooting range every weekend and spend thousands of dollars but to keep an open mind and learn. It’s easy to go through life with your blinkers on (apparently those are the things coach horses are wearing) and be judgmental, but I personally also like to be challenged occasionally to see things from a different angle. So go and take your blinkers off!
No matter what kind of hobby you have, if it is painting, repairing cars or, as in my case, self defense/ martial art – the key to be successful is to keep practicing, keep learning and have an open mind. And also be humble – everybody can teach you something.
At the beginning of June, I went with Jon (Lead Instructor of UTKM @theponderingkravist), Jeff Dyble, and Oliver M. to Petaluma, California. They drove down, for the sake of our friendship I decided to buy a plane ticket. In Petaluma, we trained for four days straight, usually 7-9 hours a day. The heat was intense but so was the training, keeping myself hydrated was only one of the challenges I faced.
I signed up for the IKF Seminar couple of months ago and kept asking myself if I really want to do that. Whenever I watched videos of previous seminars the participants always seemed to be those big special forces guys. I try to be realistic with myself – I’m not a very athletic person and it took me long enough to accept the fact that I’m not 20 anymore which means my recovery period is longer. I was worried if I survive the seminar but I also wanted to push myself to see how far I can go.
Day 1 – the four of us arrived at the gym. I was the only women in the seminar and I was aware that I’ll be watched. Then training started with a little bit of a warmup and Amit started demonstrating techniques for us to train. There was a lot of choking and eventually coughing that day. At the end of the day my throat hurt, I could barely swallow my food. The soreness would kick in the day after. And I learned that not only rugs can cause a rug burn.
Day 2 – I was sore, my thighs were hurting when I discovered the rolling pins in the gym. They use them for shin conditioning, but they also help with sore thighs. When training I made sure to switch partners and train with different people. After our regular hours of training, Amit added 2 more hours of groundwork which was a lot of fun, although getting up got harder and harder. My legs were sore and quick movements were not an option that time of day. I still tried my best – I wanted to learn as much as possible!
Day 3 – Subconsciously my body accepted that’s what it is for the next days and I felt surprisingly chipper. Another day of fun in the gym! What I really liked were the different warmups Amit made us do. That day we did a lot of punching and kicking, Amit showed us some fun combos and Jon and I are now bruise buddies. He kicked me in the elbow which then quickly gained in size and colour. And I think my leg left a mark on his upper arm. In the late afternoon, Amit made us do a trial run for the street test (it is a bit like the gauntlet for our yellow belt test but inside and without sparring). At the beginning, Amit spun us (which I struggled with, the mat almost got up and hit me in the face) and the first thing we had to do hit the pads – have fun aiming for them! After we all went through that Amit gave us shit for our bad performance.
Day 4 – I enjoyed especially the warmup. We did a lot of tumbling and gymnastics. Back when I was half my age I did a lot of that like handspring etc. I was always curious to see if I can still do that but was hesitant. Being pushed that day actually helped me to give it a try and after a couple of failed attempts, I was back in the game! Amit also showed us a wrestling drill called The Cross – you know when we always say “Don’t roll over your head!” – for The Cross this is exactly what you do. It was one of those Fu** it moments when you don’t think much about it and just do it. The big finale was the Street Test, this time we had to go twice, each time being spun before we went. This time the mat stayed down.
And then we received our dog tags.
Amit as an instructor is straight forward and will tell you honest to your face if you suck. After living in Vancouver for 6.5 years I found that very refreshing. He is fair and of course very knowledgeable. He will explain why he does things a certain way and is there if you have any questions or need help. He is not for millennials who have that need of instant gratification – you have to work hard, there is no short cut and to get good at something it takes lots of training, lots of repetition and there is not a lot of praise. I enjoyed his style of teaching a lot, I have a new technique I really like – the Russian Twist (I know, it sounds like a cocktail).
It was a great experience for me! Our group was just awesome – I really enjoyed hanging out with those guys after training, watching the UFC fights or simply have dinner! They called us the four Canadians and I’m very ok with that. Our group was very diverse – all kinds of backgrounds, everybody was super nice and I felt welcome.
The four of us also represented our school well which makes me proud and I’m also very happy with my own performance. I don’t care much if I’m the only woman in a group, I only want to be treated like everybody else, no special treatment. I worked just as hard as everybody else. It gave me an idea where I stand and what I have to work on. I also had a great time with Jon, Jeff and Oliver – thank you guys – for sharing your food on the first day with me and Jon for picking me up in the middle of the night and later dropping me off at 3 am at the bus stop.
At the end of the seminar, Amit said that we are now part of the IKF family and that we will be there for each other. It made me think – as long as I can remember I’ve been told to be self-sufficient, independent. After a shitty relationship and other disappointments, I was so busy holing up and keeping everybody at arm’s length that I totally missed the fact that I’m already part of a family – as corny as that sounds – but UTKM has become a family to me. Now I only have to get used to it.
I also feel grateful because the seminar brought me closer to my community at UTKM, I finally understand that there are people who care about me and I can rely on. I also feel grateful for my Judo background – it helped me a lot!
A big thank you to all participants of that sweat marathon – I loved hanging out with you! See you next time!
This year I awarded my 5th and 6th Krav Maga green belt under our UTKM curriculum. For the 5th (Click here for the experience) It was a special occasion as it was not only the first women to get a green belt at UTKM but also the youngest person.
If you had told me that when she first walked in our doors at age 15 she would be the first female green belt I probably would not have believed it. A non-athletic teen with bad posture who was fairly quiet.
They say first impressions matter, but in this case, my first impressions were very wrong.
Yet we did not scare her away and she kept coming, again and again. Yes, I am talking about Karis. Whether she likes it or not she has become an inspiration for many of the other women in our gym. She is always there, always training and always pushing…with only minimal complaints (lots of sass though).
So how did Karis go from point A to point B? Simple, she was consistent and regular in her training. It is no secret. If you are consistent and you put in quality time, you will get results. period.
My 6th Green belt was also given out to Quinn. When we still had the Richmond school he was one of the most consistent and regular students we had. Coming to Krav Maga, BJJ and Muay Thai. (Karis did too btw). Quinn is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Naturally athletic, Cycling everywhere, hiking all the time and living a super active Vancouver lifestyle. He too has made much improvement as he no longer relies on his strength alone. This is a challenge that many bigger stronger men have yet if they learn early to use more technique they will be even better for it.
So what does Quinn have in common with Karis? You guessed it Consistency. Even after the days he can train with us was reduced he still comes regularly to progress his training.
By the way, the previous 4 green belts also go there through constant regular training with extra classes, private lessons and 3-4 days a week of regular classes.
Yes, you guessed it, like any martial art UTKM Krav is no different. If you want to get good. If you want to progress. If you want to achieve your goals. Then you must understand that consistency is the path of the warrior. So quit talking, show up and train.
Petra Foerster is a UTKM Assistant Instructor and Orange Belt as well as a Judo Brown Belt who regularly trains both styles. Jeff Dyble, is a veteran Krav Maga practitioner a UTKM Yellow belt and works in the film industry working his way into the stunt world. He also runs Gi. Jacked a clothing company that gives back to veterans. Oliver is a UTKM Orange belt and longtime student, he works in security and regularly applies his skills in real-world scenarios.