How does Krav Maga compare to any other hand to hand combat tactics???
It seems to be a good solution to real world situations. Anyone have experience or know much about it???
Some hand to hand combat tactics just dont look practical, Krav Maga on the other hand looks like one of the best ways to get through a very bad hand to hand situation…
I studied Krav Maga for three years and it had more real world applications than any other martial art I have studied over the past 20 years, but that should come as no surprise as it was designed to be that way from the beginning. It takes a bit from boxing, judo, ju jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling and others and rolls it into one nice tight package.
The nice thing about the system is that it is dynamic in nature. By that I mean that it is constantly being used in real world situations by the IDF and is constantly being refined. Things that work stay the things that don’t either get tossed out or modified. You won’t be learning how to defend yourself against an attack from a katana.
Having said all of that there are limitations to the system. The biggest being that it really doesn’t put an emphasis on being able to fight from the ground. The idea behind the system on the civilian side is to do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time and getting away from the threat. Rolling around on the ground doesn’t really fit into that concept but it should as that is where most fights end up. A good BJJ student will eat a Krav Maga student alive if he can avoid the initial onslaught and get the fight on the ground.
Agreed.
BJJ is great if you’re only taking on one attacker. Once you start throwing in multiple attackers, you’re pretty much done. Kind of hard to put someone in a lock on the ground while his buddy is kicking you in the head. Krav Maga will help you defend against multiple attackers as your goal is to engage and get the hell out of dodge, but like rubberneck mentioned, if you go to ground with someone who is good there, your’e done as well. Both are great martial arts to learn and each has it’s own application. Another tool in the toolbox and use accordingly.
I’m a Krav Maga instructor. You can PM me any specific questions but in a nutshell: KM is based on instinctive motions from the human body that makes it fast to re-act and for any body type. You don’t have to be a cage fighter to defend yourself in the street.
KM emphasize the self defense part, this is not a sport, there are no rules and no tournaments: just go home safe is our motto.
we teach stand up fighting ,weapons disarm, VIP protection ( higher levels) and basic ground fighting ( arm bar, escape, triangle chokes…)…we are looking into adding more ground to our toolbox. Km always change, we pick what we like and what works from other martial arts.
depending on your location, I can steer you towards a good school.
Maybe you can offer more insight, but from the searching I’ve done there are unfortunately no schools within a 60-120 minute drive of my house (I live in the Lynchburg, VA area… it seems all the schools are in NoVA).
I’ll paste my answer to No6:
[i]KMW instructors need to be certified by us at the L.A. National Training Center ( where everything started in the US, over 20 years ago). They all go through the same grueling training phases in order to be certified from Krav Maga Worldwide and to keep the training/curriculum identical. They go through phases so they get certified to certain levels each time i.e you cannot be green belt certified and teach brown belt material, you need the correct accreditation.
As you can imagine, some people will claim themselves as KM “experts” with no official diploma so beware.
The schools listed on the website are the official ones.
have fun and stay safe. If you are LEO, we offer special classes for you guys.[/i]
also please note different classes for LEO/mili and civilians.
More Force on Force training for the LEOs: we train FBI, Air Force, Air Marshall, various PDs and mili units…
I have been an admirer of the latest wave of mixed martial arts and the skill, talent, and dedication these guys have. One thing that has crossed my mind is when was the last time you were in a street fight with just one adversary? Every street fight I have been in (thankfully few) has involved multiple people. I did not want to go to the ground for fear of getting my head caved in so I did everything to stay on my feet. I see BJJ as being a great skill but I want to do everything possible to avoid going to the ground unless there it is one on one. From one of the posts above it sounds as if KM is designed to avoid this and fight multiple attackers. I have never taken a KM course but a there is a gym only 4 miles from my house and I thought about giving it a go.
I have NOT studied Krav Maga, nor any other legitimate H2H school of fighting. If I were going to I think it would be KM though, because it seems much more simple and to the point.
An example of it from a friend who lives in the gym was a bar fight. Say a guy is going to start a bar fight with you. Step one, throw your beer bottle at his face. Step two, kick him in the balls while he’s dealing with the bottle. Step three, knee him in the face if required, or preferably just RUN.
I think the Israelis incorporate concealed firearms into the equation as well…something that would seal the deal for me if it were offered here in that format.
ETA They also say that the workouts leave you absolutely thrashed, and that you need to be in some decent shape before showing up.
Impact, I just noticed that you’re in Houston. Can I come by and watch a workout to see if it’s for me before signing up? What are the differences in your LEO classes and civilian classes?
I’m not in Houston, just posted the link. Houston has great instructors.
I’m in L.A. where we see all the instructors coming for certifications. I myself hold a brown belt in KM and have been studying it for over 10 years now. Some of my senior instructors have over 20 years of Krav Maga.
LEO classes involve training in full gear, weapon retention, police holds, using your own weapon…
Exactly what Im interested in, though I enjoy watching the fights on PPV and Im sure theres place for MMA in todays street fights. With that said, Im not interested in brawling. I like the idea of rendering a would be attacker and his weapon useless quickly and effectively, then boogy out.
Thanks guys for the replies, much appreciated.
I do enjoy watching UFC and training with some MMA pro fighters as well…as a matter of fact, couple of our instructors fight in the cage as well.
I also understand average Joe/Jane does not need nor want or can train like a MMA stud and Krav Maga is perfect for them…straight to the point.
Im sure there are benefits of training, even in Krav Maga. Hard core conditioning for long periods of intense fighting, no thanks. I want to be done with the situation very quickly. So maybe there is some conditioning that must be involved for just being quick/fast and agile.
Watching some of this on weaponology (I know, :rolleyes:), but hey thats as close as I can get right now. A very skilled and well known instructor, his name escapes me, was showing some scenario’s, ie.- gun to the head/knife up close. The aquiring/apprehention of that weapon and the disabling of the “bad guy”, very cool stuff and extremely practical. Moving yourself or the weapon so your not the obstruction to the line of fire or your not in the blades path.
One of those was the gun to the side of the head, with hands by your face, palms facing forward, simply spin yourself and the blade of your hand pushes on the side of the gun getting you out of the line of fire. While the gun gets closer to the palm as you spin, aquiring the gun with that hand and producing a detrimental blow to his elbow is well within reach. I love it, thats what sold me.
that was probably Amir.
Is he the one that was with Israeli Spec-ops in the 70’s, was a professional fighter for a number of years and now an instructor??? If so, that guy is bad-ass man. The scenario where he aquires the knife by simply interlocking his wrists with the attacker, the attacker pulling to free himself and the knife ends up in hands of the victim is very cool and again, extremely practical.
that’s him but I believe he was in the IDF commandos in the 80’s then a muy thai fighter for IL. He is good buddy with Bas Rutten ,they always hang out together.
He has been doing some movie stuff lately as well 
his website:
That’s pretty ironic. I work right across the street from that place and have been meaning to check it out during lunch, but I always end up forgetting, or get caught up with something else. I will definately check it out next week.
I did a little surfing and heres the guy I was thinking of, Moni Aizik.
http://www.commandokravmaga.com/html/index.html
different guy, different KM organization.