first impressions!…from a noob :)

So, last Thursday the 28th of February 2008 I joined a Krav Maga class at the SDF (self defence force) Krav Maga centre in Hendon, North London. I rocked up a tad early to see what was happening in the kids class which is just before the adults class, get a feel for the place and to warm up a bit.
The kids seemed like they were having a blast, kicking pads and generally having fun with the head instructor Golan, who managed to keep them all in line without being too strict on them. No mean feet if you’ve ever had or taught young kids.
Anyway, so after the kidlets filtered out of class exhausted but still giggling I introduced myself, got changed and met the class and the two instructors who would be teaching us (Chris and Dean). One of the other students joked that Thursday was a good day for a “noob” to start because its a hardcore session. If by hardcore he meant the room stinks of kids farts then yes, he was right about that.

We started with a basic warm up to get the blood going (star jumps, running on the spot) followed by some duck walking around the gym and some stretches. We then moved on to our first technique the long push kick. The guys broke it down into three simple stages which really helped to highlight the key elements of how to get power into a kick. From sparring stance (one foot in front of the other, knees bent)

step 1: Turn your waist and shoulders together which will raise the heel of your back foot.

step 2: Raise the knee. How high you raise your knee determines the height of the kick.

step 3: Throw your leg out, kicking with the heel or ball of the foot, driving through with your hips.

From here we were encouraged to land with our kicking leg in front and aim for the torso of our opponent, really step into them to knock them back.
After going through these steps a few times in the air as a “dry drill” we then partnered up and tried the kick out on some pads. After some tweeks from the instructors, I felt like I was kicking like a mule! I could really feel a difference in my kicks.
We were also shown a groin kick, a roundhouse and a knee demonstrating the different ranges. Again the guys broke each kick down into the three stages similar to the way I described above.
After we had tried each of the kicks we were all asked what we thought of them, what each kick can be used for and what range they work best at, also what felt most effective: kicking with the heel or with the ball of the foot when throwing a push kick? I personally felt using the heel was the best.

We then put on some groin and shin guards for a bit of light sparring, where we were encouraged to try out the kicks with a partner and get a feel for different ranges.

We wound down with some stretches and sit ups and bowed and said “kida” to the class. Kida is similar to the term “ching” used in kung fu meaning respect for your teacher, you and your classmates.

There was a great, friendly atmosphere in the class and I was really impressed by how much I had learned in a single lesson, let alone how much I felt I had improved my kicks. Wasn’t really a killer workout, I kept up pretty well, though I was sore for the following three days, either way not too bad for a Krav Maga noob. I also thought it was great that we were asked what we thought about the techniques, we were encouraged to think and give our opinions.

All in all a very productive learning environment…and I totally didn’t get kicked in the nuts!