New Krav Maga students have to remember to keep their exercises simple in order to learn the correct movement patterns of their joints and muscles. At the outset of your experience with any martial arts or fight training, learning how to punch, kick, block, or even how to just stand up properly can make you feel quite awkward. (For some it can be the most awkward feelings they have ever experienced.) There is a secret to overcome this first and often most difficult hurdle in your Krav Maga training: Don’t give up!
Krav Maga does not require any particularly difficult or unnatural movements. On the contrary, its whole premise is using natural and instinctive movements. With just a few days of practice on any given technique, the movements will become less awkward for you. Your body will begin to adapt to movements that at first had felt very foreign. You will begin to feel yourself becoming considerably more comfortable, executing your techniques better and better with each Krav Maga class and training session that you complete.
Newer students often have a tendency to become fatigued far sooner than more advanced students. This is, for the most part, simply a matter of conditioning as new students adjust to the mental stress and energy required to learn and practice Krav Maga. Less-experienced students have not yet learned how to execute these movements as efficiently as those who have more training time and experience under their belts. In just a short time, you will be able to relax your mind and body as the movements become patterns in your nervous system, requiring less conscious thought to perform.
Breathing may seem like an obvious necessity, but it takes some practice to do properly while training or performing under stress. Expelling air as you expend energy helps relax the body and, more importantly, forces you to breathe in. Nothing will fatigue you more quickly than the lack of oxygen. So if at any time you begin feeling as though you are short of breath while working with intensity, focus on making your inhales deeper and controlling your exhales. Learning to do this will help you to stay calm, recover more quickly, and continue moving.
Your first class or training session is often the most difficult because you may feel awkward. Everything is new and you could tire out very quickly. The second class can be equally as difficult because you may be sore from your first workout. However, by the time you finish the warm-up on day three or four, you will have worked out most of the soreness and, as long as you remain consistent, you should be through the worst of it.