Blue Belt Level 4
Date: Sunday 30th October 2022
Time: 0900 – 1300 hrs
Location: St Lukes Academy, Cricklade Road, Swindon, Wilts, SN27AS
All Krav Maga gradings are very intense. level 1 is the first grade within the grading system of 6 grades, each grade from level 1 to level 5 can take up to 4 hours, level 6 can take up to 14 hours over a 2 day period, its also more intense than the previous 5 grades. All Dan grades after 1st Dan is awarded on time severed of 3 years, however all practitioners and instructors must attend training sessions on a regular basis and seminars plus attend lower grading levels. Each grade consists of a warm up, physical fitness, self defence techniques (Krav Maga) suited to the grading you are taking at that time, Questions and Answers also certificate presentation. For many people certainly most who have never been in the armed forces, it is the hardest physical training you have ever done. It’s a tough process. It’s not for everyone gradings are strictly optional and invite only by your instructor but if you do decide it’s for you, read on and start preparing yourself
Requirements:
You must be training Krav Maga for at least 6 months or longer, also you should attend at least 1 session per week 3 months prior to the grading day. your health, level of fitness, Krav Maga skills and knowledge must be at a reasonable standard. Because you meet the requirements to grade and you have paid for the grading days it does not mean you will be successful and pass. It’s invitation only from the Krav Maga Instructor
Why do it?
It’s optional. If you don’t grade, then fine, it’s your call, we teach you the same things. The grading process is designed to push you through your limits. It’s designed to break you down and take you so far past your comfort zone that you dig in deep and find your inner self. It’s the voice in your head that tells you to quit.
Imagine this. You are involved in a traffic incident. You stop to assess the damage of your car. And suddenly you are on the floor and blinded by a strike to the back of the head. There’s pain, there’s something wrong. An untrained person folds into a ball. Covers up on the floor and takes a beating. While trying to protect yourself. You’re a Krav Maga practitioner. You’ve drilled this. You get up your vision returns. A hammer swings at your head. You use the 360 defence as taught. It breaks your arm. Your Inner Opponent shouts at you to quit, to roll up on the floor. give in to the pain. You counter react and defend yourself. You overwhelm the opponent and drop him. The next attacker comes. You carry on defending yourself. You make a run for it. You call the police and ambulance. This was a real situation.
This happened to a Krav Maga Student in the UK. This is why we train hard enough to meet the Inner Opponent. So that, in extremis circumstances like this, we do what’s necessary. Go come home.
Train Hard, Fight Easy, Go Home
Gradings are about being pushed to the limit. They’re about doing battle with the Inner Opponent. They’re about pushing the body so hard the cognitive processes begin to shut down, simulating adrenal stress, and then performing your Krav Maga under pressure. Bottom line: if you can do it here, you’ll do it in real life.
Take it from someone who knows: You come out of a grading 10 feet tall. You’re ready. You have an absolute surety inside you that if something happens, you will be ready. You will fight. You can’t ever know that you’ll win, but you can know that you’ll fight. And so often, if you know this, your opponent knows this and you won’t have to fight. And if you do fight, you’ll do it without hesitation. Without doubt, and in spite of fear.
Grading Preparation Exercise
The perfect preparation will include steady state endurance aspects and high intensity interval training. Steady state means running, cycling, swimming for extended periods of at least 45 minutes, working in a sustainable fashion (aerobically). HIIT means training for short durations around 20 seconds as fast and as hard as you can. This means sprints, preferably uphill, rapid burpees or other callisthenic exercises, or combative exercises such as pad or bag work. Steady state should be around twice to three times a week. Interval training should occur twice daily, using something like Tabatta’s, which is a 4 minute workout (15 minutes with a warmup)
You should work steadily and cease all training a week before the grading. This week is your relaxation week. You should stretch daily, keep mobile but stay off hard exercise and keep focused.
Gradings demand that you give everything you have and you get out what you put in.
Final Words
Good luck. Good advice take note
Train hard. Know your syllabus. And go in there as a team. if you go in as a lone individual, only concerned with your own result, you’ll close in as things get tough. You’ll introvert. You’ll focus in and all you’ll have is the Inner Opponent trying to kick your ass. Focus out. Give encouragement to your team mates. Take encouragement from them. We see it over and over – it’s the ones who work as a team who get through the tough spots. Finally, have faith in your training, in your instructor and in yourself. You’re worth the grade, or your instructor wouldn’t have let you in the room. You can do it. Go out there and get the job done!
Anything easy in life is not worth having
Kennie Gould