It’s funny how long I’ve been a student at UTKM and yet this is my first time writing a blog post. I don’t know, it could’ve been a lack of confidence, not wanting to stick my neck out early on, it could be that I didn’t feel qualified to say something while I’m only 23 and still have a lot to learn and experience in life. It could’ve just been laziness, honestly, it probably was laziness… better late than never I suppose. For those of you who are newer to UTKM and haven’t had the chance to train with me due to my on-and-off schedule: Hi, I’m Lucas. At the time of writing I’m a relatively new Orange belt. Nice to meet you, I look forward to seeing you in class and training with you. I promise I don’t bite (hard) during sparring, I want to see others improve as much as the instructors, so ruining someone’s day isn’t a goal of mine during class time. In fact, despite my fighting experience prior to Krav Maga, my default setting for sparring is to “play defensively” and look for counters and openings rather than overwhelming others and making them work (although I can turn up the pressure when needed most of the time).
Funnily enough that just so happens to be the topic for this post. Fighting passively/defensively and why you shouldn’t rely on it ESPECIALLY if you’re newer to the concept of fighting. If you are new to UTKM and the Warrior classes, maybe you’re going through your first few sparring rounds ever, if so I cannot stress the importance of learning to be aggressive during this time.
I’m sure you’ve heard Jon talk about being aggressive in class, how sometimes the person more committed to violence is the person more likely to win a self-defence encounter. When it comes to sparring that couldn’t be more true. Sparring is hard. It’s exhausting, frightening, and the helmets we wear can make it really hard to see what’s going on between the flurry of strikes coming our way. You may be up against someone who clearly outmatches you, maybe they outweigh you by 50+ pounds, and even their arms and legs are longer than yours. You’re trying not to fall over your feet as you figure out how to move without tripping over others when there’s ten sparring matches going on at once, and, above all else, it hurts to get hit if you’ve never been hit before. If this sounds anything like your first experience with sparring, welcome to the club, we’ve all been there. It’s a lot to take in all at once even if your partner is nice and not bullying you for the next 2 minutes. With so much going on it can easily to fall into the mindset of avoiding the fight, constantly backing up, maintaining space from your opponent, basically doing anything you can to not get hit. It makes sense, I mean, have you ever taken a liver shot before? I have, multiple times, and it hurts… A LOT! I give it a 0/10 review, would not recommend.
But therein lies the problem of “playing passively,” you aren’t really doing anything. If you focus too much on not getting hit, you aren’t learning how to control the pace of the fight, your opponent is. They’re able to push you around, back you into a corner, overwhelm you with constant attacks (think retzef). Now, sure, there are some people who can get away with being overly defensive in a fight, but those are professional fighters who’ve been training their head movement, reflexes, and strategy their entire lives. If you’re just learning how to fight you probably aren’t that person. I’m not that person and I’m guilty of doing this as my default fighting style (I really, really don’t want to get hit in the liver again if I can help it). Unfortunately, you’re going to get hit in sparring. No, you won’t die, but you’re not getting through your first couple of rounds without someone landing a strike on you. It’s just a fact. So what should you do? Hit them back, more times than they hit you if you can help it.
If you make your opponent not want to hit you, ultimately you are more likely to drive them off both in sparring and in a self-defence scenario. But if you don’t, if you just keep retreating, then what reason do they have to stop advancing? Obviously, there is a limit to this, being aggressive doesn’t mean trying to give your training partner a concussion. Technique is important, there’s no need to go home covered in nasty bruises every week, plus slow sparring has it’s place, but learning how to control the pace of the fight will make your life so much easier when it counts. Without getting into the nitty gritty of future Orange and Green belt tests (come and watch, help out if you can), but speaking from both personal experience and having watched several of these tests at this point, aggression is a skill you really need to learn how to turn off and on as needed. Because if you don’t, you’re going to learn real quick just how much more difficult these already demanding tests can and will be. Might as well kick that habit early. After all, we aren’t sparring in the Warrior class to kill each other but to learn and improve. So don’t be afraid, take a hit, throw some combos, tell your partner to lighten up if needed, but get used to not running away and “turtling” the entire time. (Unless you’ve taken a liver shot, then I understand. But you still have to fight through it, and try to be aggressive some of the time at least.)
Sources:
Stop Trying to Hit Me and Hit Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdy8bFiyzY
Retzef https://utkmblog.com/2018/01/30/retzef-constant-continous-attack/
Written by: Lucas Cossenas – UTKM Orange Belt
Audio by Jonathan Fader
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