5 Life Lessons from Krav Maga

A couple of years ago I fulfilled my long standing dream of learning Krav Maga. For the uninitiated, Krav Maga is an Israeli military fighting system. Apart from teaching me self-defense techniques, it also taught five incredible life lessons. The condensed version of it is something as follows:

Be purposeful/intentional in whatever you do

One of the first things my trainer asked me was reason for me wanting to learn Krav Maga. My answer was something on the lines of feeling powerful and confident. My trainer was not amused, and he corrected me with – “Krav Maga is about survival. You don’t learn Krav Maga to be the most powerful person in a room, or to bully others, you learn it to make it out alive of a dangerous situation. If you are not fine with this, you should re-consider enrolling for the course”. And that message really helped me push through the rigorous training, as it gave me a greater purpose.

 You don’t need to fight every fight you are invited to

“De-escalation is a superpower”. These are the words that are etched in my mind forever. My trainer said your first reaction should not be to fight but rather not get involved, second step should be de-escalation. But when the first two fail, don’t be scared to throw your strongest punch, fight for your life.

Practice Humility everyday

It’s the strongest who are the humblest. I used to think the best fighter is the biggest or the most aggressive person in the room. But it’s often the ones who have a quiet confidence in their skills, who practice the most and who can think clearly before and during every spar who gets the upper hand. Aggression and arrogance are often preferred disguises for under-confidence and lack of skills.

 You won’t always win, but you should never be afraid to try

Once I was paired with one of the biggest guys in the class. I used to freeze and couldn’t even defend myself from the basic punches and would tap out at the earliest because I didn’t want to get hurt. And no matter how much my trainer encouraged me, I refused to fight back. After 2/3 sessions even my partner could sense my discomfort and tried to go easy on me. That’s when all hell broke loose. Both of received an earful and we were forced to spar with intensity. It was tough, I was sore, I thought I can’t do this and should give up. Although, I never won a spar against him , but I did get over my fear of getting hurt.

 You are your only hero !

And finally, You are the person who will forever have your back. So stand up for yourself, fight with all that you have got and make sure that you survive to tell the story!!