Thoughts on My First Krav Maga Test
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| Mr Nick Masi Offers Post-Test Feedback |
I'd like to share a few thoughts on the experience. I'd also like to thank one of our instructors, Pat, for asking me after tonight's Friday Fight Night "How's the blog doing?"
I promised myself I would capture these thoughts before any more time elapsed!
I'm no stranger to possibly stressful situations. I've spoken to audiences numbering in the hundreds. I've testified to Congress ten times. I've appeared on television programs, and even sat with Wolf Blitzer in his "Situation Room" as he practiced saying my last name, Ron Burgundy-style: "Bate-lik... Bate-lik..."
I think of speaking, testifying, and broadcast as "cerebral" exercises, however. In some ways they are academic performances, or mental theater. If I make a mistake, it's likely few people will notice. I might freeze, but I have techniques to make it look like I am just thinking really deep, important thoughts. Over the last 20 years, I've learned to perform on a speaking stage, and think quickly enough to at least keep up with whatever challenges I might face.
Martial arts testing is different. It's a combination of mind, body, and even spirit. If you are not in sync, prepared, and ready to execute, the results will be painfully obvious, in visual and temporal ways. When you freeze, your body literally stops, when it should be moving. The result could be a smack in the head delivered by your testing partner, or at least a questioning look from the examiner.
Beyond freezing, you might just execute the wrong technique. I'll admit to doing that during my P1 test. About one hour in, we were performing a multiple-attacker drill. Person 1 is striking a pad held by person 2. Person 3 applies a choke. Person 4 attempts a strike. I had just been person 3 prior to assuming my turn as person 1. When person 3 applied a choke to me, I didn't execute a release. Instead, I first choked him back! I instantly realized my mistake -- partly based on the look in person 3's eyes -- and executed the release. (Let's hope there's no demotion for writing about one's failures during testing.) I made other errors too, but the test went well overall.
Despite the stress of the situation, I felt I was prepared. I credit my instructors, the defined and written curriculum they provide, and the supplemental materials available for subscription and study. Before the test, and especially when travelling the two weeks prior, I repeatedly watched and studied the videos published by our system's head instructor at MaxKravMaga.com. These videos, although not free, gave me a chance to review what we had covered during classroom instruction, at my own speed. Videos are certainly not a replacement for classroom training, but in this case they let me review the entirety of the P1 requirements in an easily digestible format.
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| The Old Guy Who Passed, with Mr Nick Masi |
If I had to sum up my thoughts on the test, I would share this with you: I enjoyed the experience, and I was glad I had accomplished a goal I had set for myself. The last time I tested for a martial arts promotion occurred over 15 years ago, in February 2001. I was studying American Kenpo in San Antonio, Texas at that time, and had just left the Air Force days earlier. I tested with a broken wrist, although at the time I did not know it was broken. I passed but I remember the joint locks being exceptionally difficult. Only when I visited the doctor several weeks later did I learn I had broken my wrist before the test and that it was healing on its own, without being set. While I enjoyed the Kenpo school, I found the experience unnerving!
P1 was more than a promotion for me, but it's definitely not about the rank. (Krav Maga is probably the least rank-conscious system I have ever encountered. We wear tiny rank patches on our pants, for heaven's sake. This fits my interests perfectly.) Rather, this test showed me that it was possible to get off the couch and get something physical -- not just mental -- accomplished. Sure, I had been lifting weights for several years, but no external pressure ever tested my commitment to fitness and learning. The P1 test required me to execute, or flounder, in a way that could not be hidden, from others or myself. For that reason, I was glad to have the experience, and perform at the level I needed to pass.
What are your thoughts on testing in the martial arts?
For me, tests are about discovering how far I can go when I need to. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for civilization, but my life doesn't give me many opportunities to really push myself. (Writing for sixteen hours straight doesn't count.)
ReplyDeleteMy last test was five hours long, in August. I did the math afterwards, and estimated we did five hundred falls in a row, back and forth, as just one part of the test.
My school is very careful to protect a student's health, both during tests and regular practice, but you quickly become very tired. And the most mentally-intensive parts of the test are at the end, where they should be.
It requires not just physical prowess, but skill, concentration, and most important, willpower. Sheer pig-headed cussedness won't get you through. If you let yourself get frustrated, you'll blow your technique and fail.
But making that calm decision to continue to perform proper technique, despite exhaustion and heat, despite your body's desperate desire to give up... there's really no other way for Joe Average Civilian to get that these days.
After a test like that, a difficult meeting at work or dealing with some random shouting jackass is easy. No matter what happens, I can deal with whatever happens then.
Wow, thanks for sharing Michael! How long have you been studying? In other words, how long did it take you to reach the point where you could survive a test like that?
ReplyDelete14 years. I would say non-stop, but there's been conference trips and such.
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