Krav Maga is a self-defense system created based upon the street fighting skills of Hungarian-Israeli martial artist Imi Lichtenfeld. He used it to defend the Jewish quarter where he lived against fascist groups in the 1930s. Later, in the 40s he moved to Israel and began to offer combat training lessons to what later became the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). The IDF has used, and continued to develop the system to this day.
The basic principle of Krav Maga is inflicting maximum damage to the opponent(s) in order to end the fight as quickly as possible. Brutal counter-attacks using your most effective tool (knees, elbows, weapons, etc.) to target your opponent’s weakest area (neck, throat, eyes, knees, ribs, solar plexus, groin, etc.) are the focus. For this reason, it is not a competitive martial arts, like Brazilian Ju-Jitsu or Muay Thai, because people would die.
When I heard that Jason Bourne uses Krav Maga (which I later found out was, in fact, not true) and that it teach gun defenses (i.e. the most alpha technique ever), I immediately signed up. I just finished 6 months of training. It is indeed awesome. Here are the top 5 reasons you should sign up for classes today:
1. You will become a badass.
Nothing boosts confidence and testosterone levels like knowing you are legitimately prepared for whatever. Very few people have any formal self-defense or fight training. As a result, in tense situations where most people lose it, you will keep your cool. If something ever does go down, you’re ready.
2. It is practical and intuitive.
Most martial arts are strongly based in ritual, and as a result often incorporate different forms or strange techniques. Krav is different. Brutal efficiency is the only concern. For this reason, many of the strikes and defenses utilize the same basic motion (e.g. the straight punch and many of the defenses against punches and knives). Moreover, all of the techniques are built upon the body’s natural instincts (e.g. bringing your hands to your neck during a choke defense).
3. It is great exercise.
Between the drills themselves and the conditioning, you are guaranteed a hell of a workout. Three minutes of throwing punches or knee strikes is exhausting. So is three minutes of burpees. Side note: The level 1 Krav test was the single most intense physical event of my life. Seriously. Three hours straight of punches, kicks, choke defenses, and groundwork is no joke. I consider myself to be is great shape and I almost vomited on multiple occasions.
4. It relieves stress.
Sure, so do most workouts, but pounding a kicking shield, or throwing your partner to the floor is a whole different ball game.
5. It is the perfect hobby.
I came to my first class with no idea how to throw a proper punch. After a couple weeks I thought I was Jason Bourne. After a couple months I realized that I wasn’t. After 6 months I look back and I am amazed at the progress I made. Experiencing this progress is extremely satisfying.
Clearly taking up Krav Maga has many benefits. One word of caution – make sure you train somewhere with certified, experienced instructors. I have seen locations that turn it into a strictly cardio exercise experience, with little focus on technique – not good. So go take advantage of that free first class, now.
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Krav is good, but combine it with BJJ to be a real bad bwoy
^.
It is gd to train, but, as hv bn said earlier, it is best to avoid altercations. Some countries, places, situations, or people will see you (the foreigner) as or say you were the aggressor and lock you up (which is no gd), if you defeat, especially, one of their people.
hmm, I never considered a blow job as a way to disarm an opponent..but then again, considering the state of male female relations these days…
Yes it’s called a submission.
Then you spread your legs and let him roll around on top of you.
Not Jason Bourne who uses Krav Maga, it’s Sam Fisher, the Uber badass from the Splinter Cell series. http://splintercell.wikia.com/wiki/Sam_Fisher#Background
I took a Krav Maga class in Brazil of all places. I really don’t think it’s equipped to handle someone much larger than you, compared to BJJ.
Can this be used in real life? kick in the groin, defend from guns? I think muay thai and bjj will help you more in real life situations. However, I think it’s cool
The whole point of the Krav is real life situations.
yes but when will you defend against a gun? are you really kick somebody in the groin? that’s war situation -when it comes to being dead or alive, not street situation
No, what most people call a street situation is a Mickey Mouse fight over a girl at a bar.
You’ve lived a sheltered life is what it boils down to.
Adult fighting often involves, firearms, knives and bats.
What part of “it is not a competitive martial arts, like Brazilian Ju-Jitsu or Muay Thai, because people would die” do you not understand?
It’s all about real life situations.
Bullshit? we don’t all live in countries with ready access to fire arms. Fortunately I can afford both martial arts training and a gym membership…..
Krav Maga is great at a very high level. A random boxer can knock out any krav maga newbie pretty easily.
If the point is to feel like a man and get stronger, go boxing, at least you are into real fighting situations at some point. It will be the hardest sport you will ever do, but also the more rewarding.
Krav is probably more effective than boxing IF it is practiced the same way. Which is pretty much never is. For any self defense “system” to be effective, it needs to be practiced realistically. Which means sparring. And sparring. And sparring. Against opponents that WILL hurt you if you blow it. If you can find a Krav school that relies heavily on sparring, I’m sure you will indeed become pretty badass if you stick with it. Or crippled.
So much of “martial arts” are being marketed to the suburban yoga set (which, after all are the ones with money……) And as a consequence, is softened up to the point where it gives very little preparation for what to do when your nose is broken and you’re groggy enough to be less than entirely aware of what’s going on.
Boxing, with it’s roots on real mean streets (as did Krav originally, but rarely aymore), often don’t have such hangups. I once trained at a boxing gym in a hispanic “part of town” where dads would send their bloodied up and beaten 12 yo sons back into the ring until they wobbled visibly even at the start of a round. And not just a few. Hundreds of kids. By the time these guys are 16-18, they are ready to fight for prize money, sometime several bouts a week for what is pretty much chump change. You’ll never, ever, find some suburbanite trying to “boost his self confidence” by learning some martial art get even remotely the same realism in training. Which is why they will be leveled in about a punch or two by most any boxer.
In Thailand, MT camps are run the same way, producing what is possibly even more effective pound for pound street fighters than boxing, but again, most MT in the west is rather tame by comparison. UNLESS you progress to the point of competing in MMA. If you make your living (even par of it) in MMA, you are badass by any standards. I’m guessing Krav may be taught similarly in Israel. And i’m sure there are places in the West where it is as well. But if you compare a graduate of your average air conditioned, high rent Krav dojo with his colleagues from an average inner city boxing gym, my money would be on the boxer every time.
All the boxer really need to pick up from Krav to be a real handful, is to not present his groin, and to throw punches with his palm instead of fist when targeting hard parts, like the head.
Still, since most people reading internet sites probably have more in common with suburban yoga dads than inner city prize fighter wannabes (I know I do if someone takes my guns and knives away), Krav may well be the most time and effort effective martial art out there. But very few practicing it should harbor any illusion about their badassness compared to some diminutive looking, 5’6″ “illegal”, that has a dad who wants his kid to be the next Julio Cesar Chavez.
Most of the time people don’t expect you to fight back so you will have the element of surprise that you don’t have in a match.
Krav techniques won’t work really well if both people know there will be a fight.
You don’t agree to fight someone, you knock their block off in mid sentence.
This should be the “Quote of the day”
Yeah Krav Maga is good stuff…but there are other arts like Muay Thai, Sambo, Judo, Escrima and others that are really useful and rewarding too. IMO it just depends on which schools/gyms are the best in your area.
Systema – trained for several years now. Unparalleled.
From what I understand this is similar to Krav. I’d like to hear more about your experience. Do you spar?
BJJ is fine if you only fight one opponent who isn’t armed and is alone and on a clean carpeted floor with no broken glass. BJJ is 100% grappling done on the ground. Is that real life? All martial arts can be effective if you are good at them. Krav is an open system that uses parts of all martial arts systems. It incorporates “bits and pieces ” of each martial art. Example: who kicks and punches the best- Muay Thai and Boxers ergo their techniques are taught in Krav. Who grapples best- Jui Jitsu but it is well known that fighting on the ground, in real life , is dangerous so this is not stressed. Krav techniques are simple … Check it out is all I’m saying. Plus there is no bowing and scraping like in the asian martial arts…
People get hung up on which Martial Art is “the best”. Any of the major arts have the potential to put you miles ahead in a skirmish.
The most important consideration when choosing a style/instructor gym? Sparring.
Most academy’s offer great training sessions. But in order for it to sink in and become part of your muscle memory and innate reflex you must use it while fighting – over and over and over. If you have the opportunity to regularly face another person who is actively resisting and counter attacking, you will indeed become a bad-ass quickly.
Ask if there are “open mat” nights before signing up. Otherwise honestly you’re missing the biggest component that would allow you to truly progress. You may as well be taking a Tae Bo !
Brazilian jiujitsu and muay Thai is all you need
a pretty good mix would also be freestyle wrestling + boxing
A pretty bad mix would be Aikido + Tae Bo.
An exotic mix would be Capoeira (Brazilian Dance of War) + Shuaijiao (Chinese Wrestling)
Or
Sambo (Russia’s National Martial Art) + Eskrima (Phillipines’ weapon-based fighting system).
krav maga is an effective fighting style. it incorprates western boxin judo karate blocks to be effective along with firearms. but dont see too many kicks in this style or much ground work its punches elbows knees and locks an possibly throws. would love to see this style against mauy thai and boxing.
think its good learn krav maga street fighting but keep in shape with boxing or muay thai since youll have active sparring an continually goin against skilled oppennts
after all the negative sterootypes …..jew fighting i mean krav maga is best for self defense ….but seems like a 101 ways to hit someone in the groin an pull a gun…like womens self defense class
techniques seem to be easily learned or natural to the point that your attacker may already be aware of these weak points
I agree with everyone who mentioned the importance of sparring. Running through drills at anything less than full intensity does not accurately simulate real life situations. The place I take my Krav classes at has a once a week sparring class that teaches techniques outside of Krav (eg. BJJ mounts and passes on the ground, and boxing punch defenses).
Echoing what Sundance said, no martial art is “best”. Find somewhere that has quality instructors and allows you to spar and you are good. I am going to try Muay Thai next.
Krav Maga is just re-constituted Defendu which was dropped from the British Army training because it was useless.
Assuming you are correct, that probably says more about the motivation of British Army recruits than about Krav. I do think, for the average dude with average motivation, even Krav is too “high end” and complicated, despite it’s supposed reductionist and practical approach compared to other martial arts. But for those willing to put in the effort required to be good at it, it is hardly “useless” in a fight.
You are absolutely stupid
Nah, not really.
Nice try.
@David, Nice enthusiastic post. I’ve practiced Kungfu for almost 4 and a half years now. I remember when I was a year into my training, I thought I was very skilled, but these past two years I have realized I am actually just starting to learn kungfu. There is a proverb about Karate: You start to learn karate once you have obtained the black belt.
So, stick with it, keep doing the Krav, after all if you wanna be a PHD you need to study for at least 6 years + all the years you already spent in ground school and high school.
If you’re ever in Denmark write me and we’ll have a friendly sparring session.
Regards, Kris
“You start to learn karate once you have obtained the black belt.” Thank you, this is an awesome quote.
It is an awesome quote, but also highlights the practical uselessness of karate for most people. After all, even Karate does not trump the laws of economics; including the law of of diminishing returns.
Krav, and other less exalted schools, try to focus on techniques that give relatively rapid bang for the buck. Instead of requiring one to obtain the equivalent of a PHD before one can reliably beat up grandma. Not t disparage karate, as I’m sure most practitioners could kick my ass any day of the week, but there is an awful lot of high-falutin philosophical mumbo-jumbo surrounding it, that can be a bit off putting to someone who just wants to be able to pick up some biker dudes chick in front of him without risking ones life 🙂
Ridiculous quote. If it take you 4 to 6 years to learn to defend yourself, you should clearly reevaluate your system and your instructor, paying and training for 4 years for a black belt and then, only then learn the style is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The MMA destroyed a lot of misconception about classical martial art. We now know what work and what doesn’t, Krav maga has been proven to work on the battlefield.
At the core the system is a mix of boxing and jujutsu with some other element added later, in can be learned in basic training and be mastered in 3 to 6 months with diligent training.
Whatever you learn you need a combination of striking and grappling, a mix of boxing and ju jutsu or judo and muay thai, or any combination, you also need to practice live with realistic drill, otherwise you are paying a guru who is clouding your judgement and feeding you lies. Don’t be delusional or caught in there cult like mentality,
Karate is a physical art for the development of character.
Unless you attend a McDojo.
The Jewish brothers [and sisters!] rock!
They are one tough trained army and military group
“Your head is part of your armoury”
Interesting. I took judo over 40 years ago and I tried a bit of American Kenpo Karate 20 years ago. I’m not interested in competition and I’m not really interested in sparring. Forms and exercise are my main interest. Maybe I’ll check into Krav Maga.
The BJJ school I attend has 1 hrs classes 5x /week. After each and every class there is an open mat where the students of all skill levels grapple for 1-2hrs. It’s intense, instructive and exhausting. New guys rotate through all the time. I recall after just 6 months new guys didn’t provided scant little challenge – regardless of their size, strength or conditioning. I now find myself going easy on them helping them learn the basics.
With that in mind I’m pretty confident that if I ever faced someone who had no professional training I would have an enormous advantage.
Some say BJJ is focused on ground work, which is somewhere you never want to be in a real fight. This is true and I consider it 1/2 of what you need to know to be a complete fighter. However for what it teaches there is no parallel IMO. Also, understand that in real life situations you’re gonna end up on the ground a majority of the time and this is THE MOST vulnerable and life threatening place to be.
Incorporate striking with BJJ and you have a deadly combo.
If the fight lasts more than 4 seconds you are in trouble.
What do you think of Wing Tsun guys?
Wing Tsun has some good techniques, but there are lots of bad instructors out there who let the style degenerate. My biggest concern regarding Wing Tsun is that if not taught properly to the student, he/she will never learn how to put power into the techniques. I fought a lot of those guys but so far I have not been impressed, not because their techniques were that bad, but I simply did not feel that a punch from them would drop me to the floor, except for one student who had practiced for 9 years, I must admit he gave me some serious resistance. And his master was of course powerful as well but him I didn’t get fight (I would have lost quickly no doubt).
In 2013, focusing on specific style or set of techniques can be unnecessarily limiting. Find an MMA gym with a good set of fighters, go there, and learn a little bit of everything (primarily boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, and wrestling). Figure out your body type and what works for it. Spar and roll a lot, no substitute for live drilling. Work in a strength and conditioning program. Stick with that for a few years.
The most important thing you end up with isn’t necessarily a mastery of specific techniques, but an understanding of the fundamentals of combat. Things like distance, angles, leverage, etc. That’s probably more valuable for self-defense for anything.
Krav Maga certainly sounds cool, but honestly I think people are better off just training at a solid MMA gym. I don’t know how someone could keep up training with self-defense as a primary goal for years. Honestly, that sounds pretty depressing. Plus, good MMA gyms will likely have some great athletes, and that’ll force you to confront that, often overlooked but hyper-important, aspect of combat.
MMA is bullshit, just listen to Master Kent 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syYsxVUQeV4
As long as MMA generally remains heavy on real life sparring, while Krav generally does not, MMA will be the most effective teacher any day of the week.
The problem with learning MMA for self defense is that it does not deal with real life threats. You must train situations involving weapon threats, or third party scenarios if you want to survive them.
i’ve talked about krav on my site numerous times. learned from my Marines. it’s VERY easy to pick up.
as for handling a larger opponent, those stating such, i’d have to doubt they fight much. i’m 5’4″, weigh 132lbs, and dropped a 5’10 160-70 dude who got in my face a few months ago. it was over after the first strike. krav isn’t about looking cool, it’s about sheer brutality. from a military perspective the philosophy is “drop opponent ASAP, get back to the mission”.
there’s no such thing as “fair fighting” in krav. eyes, throat, groin, knees- all go to targets. which is why it’s illegal in MMA.
lastly, let me make this point. most guys won’t even go to the gym, you REALLY think they’re going to spend all that time learning MMA. sorry, but i’ve been fighting since i was 5. all this MMA fad stuff is fucking hilarious. odds are, of all the “MMA” comments .5% will actually take it up and become proficient. as for BJJ, not knocking it, but i’ve seen mediocre krav WOMEN destroy MMA guys in dojo sparring matches.
but whatever floats your boat. i hear that randy couture home gym is pretty solid.
I’m sorry, I can’t disagree more with this post. First off, successfully defending yourself in a street fight isn’t a major accomplishment because most people have zero training. Second, saying that most guys won’t do it is pointless. This is obvious if you’ve spent about a year or more at a decent gym and is common with any difficult self-improvement task.
There are certainly a lot of idiots that wear ridiculous Affliction clothing and like to tell people they “train UFC bro.” But, for those of us who’ve put in our sweat equity, it’s certainly been useful in a lot of areas. Like you, I’ve been involved in combat sports since I’ve been young (wrestling), and I don’t think that MMA is a fad. MMA, at the very least, provided the world with a bunch of data points on semi-realistic combat and how to blend various combat techniques together. I’m sure even Krav Maga has adapted since MMA began. That’s really the problem with fighting systems, it’s hard to get empirical data legally. MMA, to some degree, has mitigated that problem.
+1.
Lots of wannabe, pretend to be, Krav guys go on about gouging eyes, while I’d venture very few have much experience dong it. Try it sometime, and you’d realize human males evolved eyes that are pretty well protected against other non-armed males. And it’s not like your kick-someone-in-the-groin skills are exactly diminished by practicing the kind of MT inspired kicks that is the staple of MMA fighters.
The attacks it seems to me MMA fighters may be less prepared for, are traditional jiu-jitsu small-joint manipulations. Breaking fingers and toes and such. Highly effective back in the day where “losing” at ji-jitsu meant being killed, but hard to incorporate into a sport without upping the attrition rate to the point of impracticality. On the street, though, grabbing a few fingers and breaking them, may be just the surprise attack required to demotivate an aggressor. While leaving him less able to pull the trigger on a hidden gun to boot….
well, agree to disagree.
oh, forgot to mention. “jason bourne” uses Kali. a phillipino fighting system. VERY brutal and effective.
you know how you tell- spetznaz uses it.
anyone else has any questions about fighting, i’ll be in the back banging yer sister. lol.
you’re right danny in a way, but I think guys really reduce themselves by learning only one ‘art’.
That’s all well and good, but it’s impractical. Please tell me how many guys will actually put in the time and effort to “master” 4-5 disciplines?
Krav is one stop shopping. It’s quick and effective. AND can be learned quickly.
I don’t give a fuck how many arts you studied- I’ve ended fights in less 10 seconds because of krav training. And I had 2 last year.
You want fighting validation- get into the red and try to talk him down because you know what you’re capable
I totally agree, takes all life to master one discipline. There is only a few MMA fighters who I would consider a true master, Andersson Silva is among those. Another master who just do one discipline is Rickson Gracie, he has become so efficient that it doesn’t matter what you throw at him. Of course he is retired now, but he seems like a guy who will train all his life.
Sure but is learning martial arts purely about fighting? Or can it be used for other aspects of your life? Many people are not disciplined, rigorous training leads to them becoming disciplined in other aspects of their life.
@bojangles
You can use it in many other aspects. Once you know that you can come out on top of a fight, there really is no need to engage in the fight to begin with. Martial arts teaches you confidence, discipline, how to better rest in yourself. You go through a lot of pain and suffering, but once you know you can suck it up, you can transfer that confidence to education, relationships etc…
of.
The new wordpress app sucks donkey balls.
Go to youtube, search for Krav Maga. One of the first clips is this one /watch?v=xnZ0sfOiuIM . Looks pretty sick right? Now search for Krav Mage sparring, and you’ll see videos like this /watch?v=NCnaHIu6ELM . In any real fighting scenario, all those techniques get thrown out the window, and it all starts to look like kickboxing.
If you want to become a ‘badass’, take up some form of striking(boxing, kickboxing, muay thai) and some form of grappling (judo, bjj, wrestling). Don’t waste your time with systems that promise you the best of everything, that doesn’t exist.
Hey Don
Do you know that Krav Maga takes techniques from boxing and kickboxing, right? This is what we use for sparring. So of course it looks like kickboxing – its because we are using the same techniques.
But contrary to Kickboxing and Muay Thai, Krav Maga will train you according to specific scenarios. This will include 1 against many opponents, fighting when exhausted, fighting when getting hit from behind, among many others.
It is this particular scenario addition that makes Krav Maga so very effective in preparing for real-world situations, where usually there are little coward bastards getting in fights just because they have you outnumbered.
Dumog is a better for of grappling and wrestling.
Excellent timing, I was just about to head to my first Muay Thai class this evening, but I’ve cancelled it and am going to Krav Maga instead.
I think as long as people get some sort of self defense training and some personal self defense weapons training then that’s a great improvement.
Nothing boosts confidence and testosterone levels like knowing you are legitimately prepared for whatever. Very few people have any formal self-defense or fight training. As a result, in tense situations where most people lose it, you will keep your cool. If something ever does go down, you’re ready.
If something ever goes down, you may be relatively ready, relatively more ready than the next guy who doesn’t train.
Thinking of yourself as the ultimate badass is a major mistake that will get you hurt, killed, or, even and especially if you “win,” in trouble that will set you way back.
Relative advantage is key. The average Joe doesn’t know anything better than throwing a sloppy haymaker punch that is easily countered with a basic punch defense.
And as Kris put it: “Once you know that you can come out on top of a fight, there really is no need to engage in the fight to begin with. Martial arts teaches you confidence, discipline, how to better rest in yourself.”
Being badass in this sense is keeping your cool because you have nothing to prove, not talking trash and picking fights. That is classless.
Correct. I qualify what you say because I feel it is, on balance, correct.
How can anyone not understand the importance of being able to defend yourself with empty hands. Especially when you are traveling, you cant carry a gun or knife to protect yourself & without training you just offer the bad guy something to take from you and use against your worthless wimpy untrained ass, compounding a bad situation. Having some skill and a little strength can go a very long way, you will exude that confidence and don’t mark yourself as an easy victim (bad guys do profile people, looking for weak, easy targets). I have trained for quite some time in Karate & Jiu-Jistu and get to put it to practice being a bouncer (smallest one on the team) & I have never had a problem with personal security. Having the ability to think clearly, under pressure with adrenaline flowing is an incredibly valuable asset to have. Plus chicks dig a guy who is not a big puss. I highly recommend spending any time you use to train learning useful art forms like Krav Maga, Jiu-Jistu, Judo, Aikido & staying away from showy useless martial arts like Taekwondo, or you’ll end up getting your ass kicked if you come against anyone who knows what they are doing.
If you are serious about self defense, carry “something” that gives you leverage. Even those resin knives are waaay better than nothing. As is a piece of hardwood, or even a keychain with one long, strong key. Against an unarmed opponent, almost anything can be incredibly effective.
That is no excuse for not practicing unarmed, but at the same time, practicing unarmed is no excuse for going unarmed unless you absolutely have to.
I used to work in center city Phila., there was this Korean merchant that worked in a resturant across the street used to practise his kicks one day, two of his workers went on a rampage smashing glass doors in the store. When one of the agitators confroted him with a baseball bat. He snatched the bat from his hands, fired a hook kick in front of his face (missing by less than a inch), grabbed his neck and pushed him back.
He more likely trained in Lorea at a very young age, he could have destroyed both of those nuts, buy he chose restraint.
as a martial artist myself, this post is just tosh. want to know why not to train in krav maga? just look at the picture of the supposed “knife defense”.
Compared to what system of “knife defense”? Do you know a better way of dealing with someone thrusting a knife your way than what Krav teaches?
Or are you insinuating that Krav should be more realistic, tom make sure some 6 month student doesn’t think he is prepared to stand up to a knife wielding assailant because he now knows some “badass fighting system”? If that’s the point you’re trying to make, I’d certainly agree with you. But that has more to do with the way Krav is sometimes marketed, than Krav itself.
Oh, and BTW, the practical man’s fighting system to deal with a knife attack, is to carry a gun, or barring that, a bigger knife. Failing that, run away looking for something long, and hard to hit back with.
Sharp knives are nasty. Even if you end up nominally “winning” the fight, you’re still likely to be badly cut up and marred, if you spend any time at all in close proximity of someone wielding one with aggressive intent.
I took Krav for several years, I was qualified to be level 5 but got lazy at the end and didn’t take the test which I’m sure I’d have passed. I’ve been out of it for a few years now. The knife techniques CAN be effective, but if someone pulls out a knife, you really want to get the hell out of there. It all goes well in training and the videos, but a real street confrontation is sloppy. On the streets under pressure, wearing regular constrictive clothing, you may only be about half as efficient as you were in the training center. That’s one thing they always stressed in class. Be 100% in the gym, because you’ll only be about half of that when you’re in the street. If someone has a knife and they know what they’re doing, you’re gonna get cut, period. Even if your disarming technique is tight. You may prevail, but expect to see some blood. Best to not fight a person with a knife unless you are corned with nowhere to escape.
i compare everything to eskrima.
yes of course, if someone has a knife and you don’t, the best thing to do is get out of there. but empty-handed, holding up your arms to block the knife with them? that’s suicide. using an x-block? even more suicide.
what you need to do is “defang the snake”.
@David
could you post a link with the one you mean? lots of videos with “knife defense”
just look up paul vunak knife defense. the master shows you how it’s done.
Krav Maga is excellent, your hormones just boost and you feel ready for game.
” I have seen locations that turn it into a strictly cardio exercise.”
This is when women have control over the process.
By saying that, you include all of the women in the world. Not everybody is the same. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt8w92ilbVM. The guy said it himself that the woman is a total badass. She is considered the best among israeli krav maga teachers.
Nobody choses their gender. If some women are interested in martial arts and they practice them well, there is no reason to judge them based on their sex.
P.S. Both men and women can be good or bad at what they do at almost everything, it depends solely on the character and person in general you are dealing with.
Its quite obvious that most of you have never tried KM.You have no idea what you’re talking about.
damn this popcorn is good.
i can trump every fighting system simply. with……
my concealed carry 9mm. bang bang. no fight. winsauce me.
I’ve been training in level one Krav for the better part of 8 months now on an almost regular basis (As in I drive my ass out there whenever I can, for at least two hours per session). Now I love it and I love the exercises. And even though I’m happy and willing to put all this hard work in…like Danny above, I often think to myself, “Man, I’d rather just end it with one of my guns, if it came down to it.” Usually that thought comes to mind during the more challenging drills.
In the end, the discussion about which system is better will never end; it’s like Ford vs Chevy or 9mm vs .40 vs .45 Auto, etc. I think it’s just best to go with one of the “proven” ones and stick with it. Remaining in “condition yellow” IMO is still the best foundation of any self-defense strategy. One should be able to maintain situational awareness and bounce if the need arises.
So we can agree that most belligerents that want to start shit on the streets aren’t looking for someone to fight back, right? It means that for us guys who train have some element of surprise if the altercation got to that point. (*Shit, I’d say even just having the mindset of not being a victim would help). Before I get into a stream of consciousness post about self defense and other shit, let me just spit out my points:
*People that start shit generally pick on those whom they perceive to be weaker and won’t resist.
*If someone that had training in any decent “system” got to the point in the altercation where things get physical, I’d argue that this person has the element of surprise with him. (Because I doubt the aggressor would have gone there if he knew what his “victim” was capable of).
*So if the would be victim has knowledge of a reputable “system” and the element of surprise, it won’t matter whether those were Muay Thai strikes or Krav strikes or whatever the aggressor gets hit with. He’s getting hit and the defender can GTFO.
My main point is that aggressors aren’t expecting a throwdown. So just pick any reputable fighting system and practice it. When the unlucky aggressor gets hit because he decided to fuck with you, it’s not gonna matter in which continent that technique originated.
I chose krav as my “system” because I like the rationale and simplicity behind it. I think it is like the AK-47 or the GLOCK of hand to hand fighting. (I mention those guns because both are well know for their dead nuts reliability and simplicity; these things get to the point immediately, like krav).
I hope my post makes sense, it’s late at night.
Amatures look at body type, proffesionals look at how a person moves.
Until your feminized government decides to outlaw civilian ownership of guns. Any type of gun. It’s not going to take long.
That thinking will land you in prison where you will probably showerdance with Bubba and Earl.
those of you who claim to train and then claim to have been street fights recently are doing it….wrong.
proper training will make it so you avoid situations in which you are having street fights.
i have trained muay thai for the better part of a decade now and as i gain in proficiency there is a direct inverse correlation to confrontations i encounter in the street. people just know to leave me the fuck alone.
Krav Maga you never go full speed. BJJ you will continually get your ass and ego handed to you when just starting it.
Funny that because when the Gracies brought BJJ to the masses and were challenged after publicly denouncing Krav Maga they refuse to this day to settle the score ;), must be something up there eh?
Site your source. I’ve heard this story, but have yet to see ANY evidence of this happening. Therefore I call BS.
You are all fucking retarded
It’s about the dumbest self-defense class you can take. When the aim is to end fights quickly and bloodily, you will not want to use these moves in a situation that isn’t dire. If you get into a stupid bar fight, possibly permanently wounding your opponent is not the ideal way to go about it – a safe submission without ambulance and cop involvement is a hundred times better than gouging their eyes out.
And when in a situation where it’s really justified, do you want to risk it? Chances are if you’re unarmed against someone with a knife, gun, pepperspray or just unarmed opponent(s) who knows what they’re doing, you’re risking retaliation if you go and try to do those Krav moves properly for the first time ever.
Just pick about any other style to train and it might actually be useful outside of unarmed to-the-death duels.
Re BJJ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u51zm59805U
It’s probably not a bad idea to learn martial arts, if for nothing else it’s good for fitness and coordination and it’s better than sitting around watching tv all day. But I don’t think it’s something you can completely rely on no matter what, to get yourself out of any sticky situation or to play the hero.This is not realistic. For one thing, even if you were the best, you have to get old, and then what? Now you can’t move your body quickly enough to use your skills, and you’re stuck. The people that cause problems have so many problems of their own. Massive issues is what they have. A day’s never going to come when you get attacked by a normal person. So you have to overcome troublemakers with your inner strength, psychology, spiritual strength and sometimes even compassion. Sometimes you can be nice to an aggressor, try to understand them, and they melt, and then you realize you are dealing with someone in a lot of pain, and you realize it would have been bad if you’d kicked their head in. These are the things to develop, that can be used for your whole life, and that don’t leave you vulnerable to any revenge attacks.
Uh, the only good point you make is about getting old. I already am, and have no lifetime training, etc. This Krav stuff might help me in a pinch.
Fro those advocating BJJ highly, think about this: gang surrounds you, you get one to the ground/one gets you to the ground. The others? They’ll be all over you while you’re BJJ’ing the hell out of the guy on the ground. Krav Maga emphasizes the reality of fighting MORE THAN ONE person because of how common sense would tell anyone that people are more likely to gang up on you as a group.
Now, to make things clear, I’m not saying BJJ is useless. In fact, I’m trying to look for a certified instructor in my area, JUST for the sake of being prepared for anything. Hey, if a lone guy loses it on me, I know how to get myself out off the ground and incapacitate him in the process. But realistically, Krav’s teaching to defend, fight, and escape as fast as possible is everyone’s best bet in real life.
BJJ teaches you positional dominance in a fight. If you look at Gracie tactics (or just try a legitimate bjj school that teaches a self defense curriculum as original bjj was intended to be) you will find a system that provides many identical moves for creating space and getting away. Hell, the first thing you learn as a white belt on the ground is how to shrimp– which epitomizes CREATING SPACE AND GETTING AWAY. BJJ isn’t about picking fights with multiple people and then expecting to square off with one. But when push comes to shove, if things go to the ground, you will need it to survive, be it against one or many opponents. BJJ also teaches general control and range– so yes, you can wrap up one person and use them as a shield, or take them down and immediately disengage, or throw them down and run like hell in the other direction, and do so effectively as more people try to enter the mix. Realistically though, there is no magic switch that makes you capable of beating multiple people at once. If you engage them, expect to come out injured no matter what martial art you know.
Having said that, my problem with Krav is this– it is derived from a system that was dedicated to get people that had no fighting experience to learn to fight with aggression and real force very quickly. It is not particularly technical, and most of the “deadly” moves cannot be practiced at full speed anyways (or at all), making them on par with their equivalent counterparts from other styles where they aren’t emphasized as being what makes them special (IE, in BJJ self defense classes, we learn 12-6 elbow strikes to the back of the head of a downed opponent once we’ve taken back control. We don’t make a big deal about it because the getting to back control is the much harder and more technical part of the equation). So when you actually look at krav live training sparring, it looks just like MMA sparring minus the technique. Every demonstration I’ve seen involving that block/shoulder grab to multiple knee strikes looks borderline ridiculous when you consider the physics of the equation and the fact that none of those knees hit with any particular power. I’ve simply been unimpressed with what I’ve seen generally taught. So from my perspective, If you have 0 fight experience and feel the need to gain something quick to train your motor skills to GENERALLY react to the stress and realities of fighting, and want to learn to hone aggression under those circumstances, then Krav is for you. I cannot understand for the life of me why anyone would train Krav for the long haul though once you’ve gotten past that initial “from 0 to fighting” phase when you could train at an MMA school to really edge out your techniques at all available ranges. This is why I personally stay away from Krav. After so many years in an MMA school, I feel like it has little to offer me outside of situational drills that I could practice with my other trained friends elsewhere.
My understanding of it, is that it’s one advantage is that it has a solution for every possible situation. Note, that isn’t necessarily a good solution or the best, but it gives a solution.
If you want to look like a bad ass and learn to how to really defend yourself, take up Silat, Pekiti Tirsia, or any branch of the Filipino Martial Arts. Krap Maga is a joke and will get you killed.
KRAV MAGA-AMI NIV
Ami Niv is the only selected pupil of
Imi Lichtenfeld, the founder of Krav Maga. Ami Niv carried on Imi Lichtenfeld’s
way in form of Krav Maga School named “Aiki Krav Maga”. Ami Niv started with
training on judo and jiu-jitsu until he resivd black belt. At the age of 16 ,
he took up training in Krav Maga style popular in Israel among youth, army and
special detachments. Ami Niv is Master of Krav Maga (10 dan), Aikido (4 dan),
Jujitsu (6 dan).
The best demonstration of Krav Maga, EVER: http://www.thisiskravmaga.com
Krav maga its really great self defense system, i tired several already. its give you the best solution to a real violence situation you may get into the streets.
i learned it in some kind of GYM, while been in colombia, but as well saw there is some good courses online such as the one of 972kravmaga. this course its by krav maga insturctor guy dar, its really great explaining the krav maga tecniques and as i read, he developed like a sub catagory of the krav maga called maleh or full contact, so its kind of cool, i recommend you give it a try.
krav maga? that kike shit.
a 10 year old girl could kick one of those pussy kike’s asses
Jason Bourne doesn’t use it but the goddamned batman does! At least in the dark knight trilogy
I train in Krav Maga and get more skilled at it every time i go to class. Highly recommended for anyone looking to learn a multi purpose fighting style that emphasizes doing the most amount of damage to multiple opponents in the least amount of time and space.
Great article.. here’s a great resource for Krav Maga training videos: http://www.maxkravmaga.com it’s by Eyal Yanilov.. one of the most respected names in Krav Maga..
I’m new to this martial whatever. I think it is going to help me with my ADD and stuff but I am interested in something that’s doing actual damage. Yes obviously I’m responsible for that but I have read in many web sites that some martial arts are let’s say “dirtier” than others. I don’t give a shit about the mind/spirit crap I just wanna learn how to punch decently and defend myself if I ever have to. Is krav maga gonna do the job or not?
Believing that the best form of self defense is using a gun, is for pussies. Sure it will end things quickly but anyone can use a gun, even the low life gangsters who hold the gun sideways.