One of the most under practiced yet important techniques in Krav Maga is Movement in the Fighting Stance. One of the best ways to practice this is while shadowtraining. This video gives multiple tips on improving your footwork while shadowtraining.
Transcript:
“Hi, this is Randall with KravMagaTraining.com and this video I’m going to give you a quick tip on how to improve your movement in your fighting stance.
Lesson number one for all of our beginners is after we teach them the fighting stance we teach them how to move around in it. However, what a lot of beginners forget to do is to practice that movement. They practice the punches, the kicks, their knees. But you need to remember is your movement in your fighting stance needs to be something you need to practice as well because, just like anything, if you don’t practice it you’re not going to get better at it. And one of the best ways to practice it is when you’re shadowtraining. Which is a common warm-up that we use in all of our classes.
So this is what I mean. The biggest beginner mistake that I see is this: ‘Okay class. Let’s warm up with some shadowtraining.’ and this is what they do. I’m not moving! Yeah, I’m throwing punches, and elbows, and knees, and all that stuff but I’m not moving around. So instead, watch what I’m doing now. All right, so I’m constantly moving.
So one thing that you can do is, think about every time you throw a couple of combatives make sure you move somewhere. Or if you throw a combination make another movement. So this is what I mean. I’ll throw a combination and, before I throw anymore, I move somewhere. I move somewhere. I’m moving. So think about doing that.
Another thing you can do is think about adding advanced steps or retreat steps to any combative. So for example: Here’s a straight punch. Well why not add an advance step to it while we’re shadowtraining? Or a retreat step. And you can do that with anything. It could be my elbows. It could be even my knees or kick and how you do that is you just take a step first before you throw it. So if I’m throwing a knee, instead ofjust thowing it like this, take a step first. Take a step back. Same with my kicks. Take a step back. And also don’t just think forward and back. Think about moving three dimensionally. Another common mistake is they just move forward and move backwards. This isn’t fencing. You’re not just working on one line. Move three dimensionally. So sometimes side to side. Circle around. Pivot. Consciously moving directions. Do those things.
Another benefit of constantly moving around is not only do you get a better warm-up, but if you’re shadowtraining in front of a mirror, you can get different perspectives when you’re monitoring your technique. Most beginners just do this. If the camera was the mirror, they’re just looking straight at it. Well sometimes turn sideways and see what your technique looks like. You’ll get a different perspective and you’ll see different parts of your technique that you might be doing wrong. So sometimes I’ll turn sideways like this. Sometimes I’ll turn sideways like this and actually watch myself in the mirror to see if I’m doing anything incorrectly.
So add all those things. Not only will your footwork get better but you’ll actually improve all the rest of your combatives because you’ll be training in a more realistic fashion. A fight isn’t where you’re just standing there in front of each other and not moving. A real fight and sparring sessions you’re constantly moving around. And that’s why footwork or movement in your fighting stance is so important. So add these drills to your shadowtraining. Your footwork will improve, and a matter of fact, all your other skills will improve as well.”
“The Krav Maga system should be integrated so that movements learned in one area of the system complement, rather than contradict, movements in another area.”
