Technique drills are simply those drills designed to improve your ability to execute proper technique and form. Keep in mind that technique drills pertain to the physical mechanics of how you perform a punch or a kick. Training at a slower pace is a great way to practice Krav Maga movement during the beginning period of your training. This enables you to recognize when and where you may be losing a part of the technique. Slowing down allows you to feel your own mistakes, which you can then correct throughout your performance. Movement drills can be as simple or as complicated as you would like or need them to be for your level of training.
Repetition is another way to enhance your Krav Maga movements. Repeating a technique creates a motor pattern in you body that makes it easier to perform that action again. When you practice something over and over again with improper technique, you are accentuating improper technique. It’s key to practice repetition of movements with proper alignment in order to avoid injures and to move efficiently and effectively every time you do the technique. Remember, a solid foundation will support a bigger building. Your fundamentals are your foundation. Practice them well and practice them regularly.
Technique Drills
The Alternating Straight Punch Drill
- Stand in a Neutral Stance with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart.
- Even though you are not in your regular Fighting Stance, you will still begin by throwing (at a slow pace) alternating Straight Punches.
- Concentrate first on rotating your shoulder girdle while keeping your elbows down and in toward your ribs. Breath at a continuous and even pace.
- Once you feel you are able to do that without much conscious thought, concentrate on using your legs and lower body to rotate your pelvis and shift your hips forward with each punch. The more ability you have to use your feet to generate force from the ground up, the stronger and more solid the delivery of your punch will be.
- Feel your weight shift from one leg to the other.
- Make sure you make adjustments as needed during moments when you feel unstable or off balance.
- Continue to check that the position and posture of your body are correct. Reminder: The punches move out and back. The shoulders and hips are rotating. The legs are being utilized and are transferring weight forward into each punch. Stay loose and relaxed. With practice it should begin to feel effortless.
- Once you’ve got this routine down, change from Straight Punches to Hook Punches, then proceed to Upppercut Punches.
- Do either 2–10 punches of each type, or repeat different punches for about 30 seconds at a time. (Remember, this is a drill to practice technique. How many repetitions you perform is not the goal.)
Adding Difficulty
An advanced version of this alternating punch drill is to throw two alternating (switching from one hand to the other) Straight Punches followed by two alternating Hook Punches and finishing the combo with two alternating Uppercut Punches. Continue this cycle without pausing for a total of thirty seconds, then progress to sixty seconds and so on. To increase the intensity of this drill, at the end of each cycle, add an exercise such as dropping into a pushup position and completing a set of 5-10 pushups, then get up quickly and repeat the cycle of punches again.
Build up your level of speed only as long as you can maintain quality in your techniques and posture. Slow training is very valuable in preparing your body to work, especially when you use it as a warm-up. Training slowly is also excellent for mastering proper balance and footwork. Mistakes are hard to spot when you are executing at full speed. Whenever you slow your movements down, however, all your weaknesses and bad habits will be made far more apparent, allowing you a chance to rectify them.