By Amy Horn
I think one of the reasons tragic news stories impact us so much is that we bring the situation to our own personal reality. What would I do if…that happened to me; I was attacked by; My family experienced…you get where I’m going with this. These stories become personal because we attach ourselves to them. If you were to think back to a major US story, such as the George Zimmerman case, I can personally recall countless people who called in to radio shows or commented on various news stories touting what they would do if they were in that situation. Without getting into the validity of those comments, I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing- it can make us more prepared and depending on the situation, more human. I ran a 5k for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Not because I or a member of my family had breast cancer but because I asked myself-what if I was diagnosed with cancer? Well I would want someone to raise money for my disease!
It’s this concept of mind-setting. Putting yourself into a situation and deciding on your course of action before that event actually happens, especially in regards to training in Krav Maga. This task can seem daunting as there are a bounty of situations and limitations that can appear. However if we take this approach each time we step into the training studio, I feel our likelihood of success in a real life confrontation could be higher.
Mind-setting is rehearsing and visualizing a scenario in your mind and deciding on a course of action in that case. I do this all the time. It’s a little bizarre but effective. For example, just the other night I was sitting in my car with the door open and one leg out, writing a note. I thought to myself, what would I do if someone attacked me right now? I’m in very vulnerable situation! So I quickly closed my door, finished my note, and got out of there. Now I realize this is a bit strange but let’s be honest-people are crazy and victims get attacked in much less vulnerable situations. In Krav Maga we’re trained to expect the unexpected- to get in shape, and to get home safe. That’s it. There are techniques involved to help do this, but it’s also a mind set. Execute those techniques with force-go hard and beat the idiot.
Just the other night, I was training with someone in class and we were going over gun take away techniques. I was the attacker. I took the gun and tried to think of different ways to point the gun at my opponent and he had to figure out how to disarm and get out of the situation as safely as possible. I’ll be honest, there were a few times as I pointed the gun that I thought to myself- “Well this is weird, it would probably never happen like this.” But then again, who knows? My point being that, with the help of the instructor, we were able to come up with the best option for disarming me in that situation. Even as a beginner you can adapt these thought processes as you’re learning the techniques. In my experience it can help you remember the techniques better because you are putting yourself in the situation where you would actually use it.
So again, it’s this whole mind set of “What would I do if…” I believe that if you aren’t thinking like that while you’re training, you’re not getting the most out of your time. Think about different situations and then if you aren’t sure, ask. Ask questions, ask yourself what if, and go hard.