I have asked this question many times : if you had to fight for your life tomorrow, would you change the way you train today?

some people answer right away : Yes, for sure!

some hesitate to give any answer…

and some answer : No, I am ready!

your fisrt line of defense is your training , period! If your answer was “Yes, for sure! or, you hesitated to answer…your training has not prepared you to survive an all out violent attack for the pure fact that you yourself already defeated yourself by doubting your training …or, even worst , disgarding it all together.

when I was in bootcamp at the “Bezek” base , the Golani Brogade Infantry basic school of the IDF (1985), the training I received was proven in combat by those who fought before me. It was the prerequisite preparation of a Golani Warrior. But most of the training was more mental than physical to begin with…

Up to that point I trained in 4 Martial Arts : Judo, Karate, Krav Maga and Muay Thai…those were all good, but at Bezek we learned that the 1st line of defense is not so much technical so to speak but more of an attidude: the Warrior Spirit . And that’s where I learned that “perfect intention will beat perfect technique”

Your training has to be solid, real, durable, effective to be able to stand a reality fighting test in the real world. The first seed in your training should be the mind set needed to support the tactics you are deploying at the moment of violence…if the mind set is proper then the first layer of defense is already standing strong. Mind set in training is usually related to the objective of the training and to the people who are leading the training. If the objective is real world self-defense, than the objective is very serious, and the people leading the training have to convey a very clear message of the training.

That mind set has to be one thing: Aggresive!!!!

To be agressive has been missunderstood for decades in the Martial Arts, some Martial Arts even try to teach not to be agressive…in HaganaH that is not the case. To us agression is like fuel….techniques without that fuel, is only techniques, they will fail. Techniques fuelled by a well organized agression system….well, thats a different story.