Yours,

  

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all... You can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side."

Thomas J. Watson, 1874-1956, Chairman of IBM

 

What is the difference between reality and training?

In reality what matters is winning the confrontation. Sometimes winning will be without any physical confrontation, sometimes with very hard and devastating results. In KMG it is very clear that self defense is about not getting hurt. As Imi (KM founder) used to say "the first rule is - don't get hurt". So the optimum outcome is that nothing will happen. Not to you and maybe even not to the opponent/attacker.

In combat, however, we are talking about defeating the opponent. How do we defeat him? The wanted result is that the opponent will not be able, either physically or mentally, to continue. Physically means his body/structure will be broken. Mentally means his spirit and mind will be "broken". The opponent/enemy will have no desire or will to continue - He has practically surrendered.

 

In training however, there are ample opportunities to improve. The main goal is to reach a Win-Win situation. What does winning in training mean? It means that you learned and improved. How do you improve yourself? By trying, repeating, making mistakes, failing, correcting the mistakes and improving yourself. For this you need to have a good partner who will not cause you any harm, but still will be a "good attacker". The moment the attacker/partner manages to "hit" you, i.e. - punch you, grab you, kick you, throw you, etc., you have the chance to exercise your solutions, your defenses, releases, break-falls and so on.

All of the above applies for the practice of self defense as well as for fighting, combat and VIP protection drills, techniques and scenario training.

 

                  

 In the "Mental Training", offered by KMG, we have specific drills that can improve one's mental strength, courage and the way you deal with stress and fears. This includes, among other steps, the understanding, accepting and even visualizing of failure and defeat. I will elaborate on this fascinating subject in another article that will talk about mental training.

 

You should learn to "enjoy" failure as it will take you to the next level and that is the real goal.