Have Faith in your Technique
One of the principals in Krav Maga training is having faith in your technique, believing that it will work. If you are not sure about your technique, if you are not confident that it will work; you will not give it one hundred percent, you will hesitate and the technique will not be effective. This is turn will reinforce your lack of belief or confidence in the technique. You will become convinced that the technique is not effective. You must never let this happen.
For any technique to work, it must be executed with confidence and spirit.
This principle is used not only in Krav Maga but in all Israeli fighting. In all our wars we have been outnumbered and out gunned, but we went in with gusto, with a firm belief that we would prevail. This confidence and belief is a key ingredient in our success.
So how is this "faith" developed? It comes from learning the technique properly from a qualified instructor who himself has great faith in this technique. You then practice it over and over again, each time with more aggressiveness. The confidence comes from the constant repetition. In turn, once you develop confidence in your technique your execution of the technique will improve.
In our studio we have a quote from the Shaolin Temple, it reads, "I do not fear the 10,000 kicks you have done one time; I fear the one kick you have done 10,000 times." You may learn a technique and think you know it, in fact your mind might know it but it takes much longer for the body to truly know it; thus the need for constant repetition.
Commercial schools often feel the need to teach many techniques, as this keeps paying customers from getting "bored". In IDF Krav Maga training that is not an issue, there is, in fact, only one issue; survival. As such the technique is repeated again and again. And then it is done when you are dead tired, and then it is done after you have been beaten down, and then it is done when you wet or bleeding. This is how you develop confidence in your technique. This is how it becomes a deadly tool in your arsenal.