“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline.”

2 Timothy 1:7

I started doing Krav Maga training for the purpose of exercise, but as you will see, it is so much more.  At the time I was looking for another way to burn calories besides running, so I took a class.  What I discovered was a workout coupled with a valuable life skill set that I encourage everyone to learn.  Our classes are about 50/50 men and women of all ages.

Krav Maga is the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), emphasizing instinctive movements, practical techniques, and realistic training scenarios.  Krav Maga, which means Contact Combat, was developed in 1948 with the development of the IDF after the birth of the nation of Israel.  The new military developed the system to engage and diffuse palestinian aggression.  The Krav Maga system is utilized globally by law enforcement agencies, military personnel and is designed for personal self defense.

The program has six belts and the classroom training is usually mixed levels which is great because it gives me an opportunity to work with more advanced students as well as provide some guidance to new students.  I typically do 3 or 4 hours of classroom training a week and commit about 2 hours of solo training to work on drills from class.

One thing I love about class is that we hear all sorts of great questions that sounds really odd out of context, so we often laugh.  Things like “once I get to this point, how do I break his wrist” or “now that I have the gun, what do I do with it” or “what’s better a punch to the throat or a knee to the groin or should I just do both.”  Trust me, it’s funny when we are simulating defense on attacks.

Below is a short description of the types of skills that I have learned in almost two years in the program.  This is in no way a comprehensive list of skills and drills, just enough to give you some flavor:

Combatives include: fighting stance, jabs, palm strikes, punch combos, hammer fist, hook punch, Thai combos, elbows, front kicks, round kicks, axe kicks, side kicks, knee strikes, mule kick, stomp and all kicks from the ground.

Hand Defenses: outside defenses, inside defenses, shelling, inside with counter, 360 defense with counters and dozens more hand defenses.

Self-defense: choking (all sides), bearhugs with arms trapped, wrist releases, ground take down, ground movement, hip escape, buck and roll, choked while driving, hairgrabs defense, headlock defense and choked on the ground among many others.

Weapons defense: gun to chest, gun to stomach, gun to back, gun to head, gun to back of head, gun to side, gun under chin, gun to head mounted, gun to back against wall, gun to head kneeling, rifle to back, rifle to stomach and much more.  Other weapons defense training are covered for being attacked with knives, sticks, bats, axes and a few other surprises.

All of the above drills are done both right handed and left-handed and against single attackers, multiple attackers and multiple attackers with multiple weapons.  We also work on live situations such as what defense to use when being carjacked, when sitting in a bar, walking down the street, etc.  Some of our real life simulations are designed to be high pressure such as attack, defend, diffuse, strike, call 911 in 30 seconds or less.

Since we do a lot of drilling and a lot of simulations, I think the adrenaline produces a better workout.  I am usually drenched after an hour class, much more than an hour on the elliptical.  If you are looking to learn a valuable skill set while getting a great workout, then I highly recommend Krav Maga.  I also highly recommend it women who run a higher risk of being assaulted.  

Some Final Thoughts:  Krav Maga techniques can be used by anyone, against any size attacker.  I believe one of the best things about Krav is the values that are promoted and an understanding that we want to “pursue peace with all men” but there are people in the world that only understand the language of physical engagement.  Krav will teach you how to diffuse a situation, disarm an attacker and have the ability to hurt them or not hurt them as the situation dictates.  The goal is not to be a bad ass, just be able to protect yourself and your loved ones, survive and advance.  I can tell you that some of the men and women I train with are bad ass, not to be trifled with for sure, but you would never know it until you tried to attack them.

So that is it, the last part of my program.  I covered nutrition, training, travel planning and now Krav Maga.  Not sure what other posts will be created under this category, but we’ll see what inspiration come.  I hope this was helpful.