Once a new student learns this defense, they tend to make at least one of these mistakes. This video explains what these three common mistakes are and how to avoid them.
Transcript:
“Hello, this is Randall and Glenda with KravMagaTraining.com. With this video we’re going to cover how to do an inside defense against the right straight using a single counter attack. What I’m going to address with this particular technique is three common mistakes that people make when they first learn the technique.
All right, so Glenda and I are in our fighting stance. She throws the right straight, we’re doing the inside defense, hooking over the top and punching. Now the first mistake that I see that happens a lot is people try to hit the face but they’ll try to go underneath to hit it like they do when they’re defending on the other side, defending the left straight. The problem is when you’re both throwing crosses and you’re trying to go underneath, a lot of times what’s going to happen is her fist is going to collide with your arm and it’s going to intercept or interfere with your counterstrike. So what you need to do is when you do the inside defense that’s why you’re supposed to hook over the top and punch over the top of the arm to avoid that potential conflict. So that’s the first mistake to avoid. So remember to punch over the top. Where as if she were throwing the left straight we are going underneath with about one, which is a different video that we cover that.
The second mistake that’s really common is when they do the inside defense, she’s throwing the right straight, you’re supposed to create a hook with your hand and lower the arm down but beginners tend to drop it way too low like this. And then it becomes a contest on who’s going to land the next punch. Now I’m leaving my face open. Yeah, I can hit her but now it’s, like I said, it’s going to be who’s going to hit first. So instead, when you hook the arm, you’ll only need to lower it down just a little bit. So I do my inside defense, when I hook the arm down just enough so I can see over the top, see her face and hit it. Anything more than that is slow, excessive, but and is starting to leave yourself open. So one thing that will help is, instead of moving your hand down like you’re doing a 360 block, think about taking your elbow and move that down. Like this. That tends to keep your arm more vertical and you tend not to lower the arm down excessively. Just enough to see over the top. So one more time on that please Glenda. Inside defense, and lower down just enough. So think that you’re hiding behind the arm, peekaboo over the top, “bam” and then punch them. But just a little bit. Avoid this mistake, I see this a lot with beginners. This is unnecessary and is going to leave yourself open for her punch as well. Remember, hide behind her arm, and just hook it down just enough. Notice I’m using more the elbow instead of the hand to drop it down. That helps a lot.
Now the third mistake that I see is that once they do the redirect properly, is that their counter punch has no power. They’re not rotating their body. So what I mean by that is they defend, they hook, and once they get good at lowering the arm down just enough, they do this. Notice that I’m just arm punching. I’m not twisting my hips. I’m not putting my whole body into this. Two problems with that. One is I can’t even reach her face if I don’t rotate my body. And even if I can hit her face, there’s no power. So just like we’re taught, make sure once you drop this hand to make your punch count. Twist your hips, pivot on that back foot just like we learned in Level 1, anytime we throw that cross or that straight punch with the rear hand. So here’s the wrong way to do it. Arm punch. Here’s the correct way to do it. Notice how my fist is now going right through her head. Not just hitting her head but going through it. Regardless of which combative you’re using, if you’re hitting something you don’t hit the target, you hit through the target.
All right, so let’s review one more time the three mistakes. Okay, the first one is trying to go underneath. Don’t do that because you’ll end up colliding arms. Make sure that you go over the top. Second is when you hook the hand down, hook it down just enough so you can punch over the top. Avoid the unnecessary big movement of doing this and leaving yourself open. And the third mistake, don’t just punch with your arm. Twist your whole body. So think about as you pull this shoulder back to do the inside defense and hook it, you’ve loaded this side up, “bam” rotate right through it.
So those are the three common mistakes that people make when they first learn this defense. Hopefully, now that you’ve watched this video you’re not going to be that guy that’s making those mistakes. So be aware of them while you’re training and it’s going to go a long ways for your technique.”
“Krav Maga is an easy-to-learn yet highly effective self-defense system.”