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| Krav Maga |
What inspired you to learn Krav Maga and why did you choose it as your main style after 20 years of prior martial arts experience?
I took an interest in Krav at the end of the '90s as I was interested in the practical, "this is the problem, what is the solution" element of the style. This remains the big selling point of Krav Maga in general to me, irrespective of one's views about the efficacy of some of the solutions. I liked the ethos and the style aspiring towards being comprehensive; covering ground work and weapons defences rather than just stand up fighting.
Tell us about your school.
The founders of Urban Krav Maga can draw on many years of experience in the following fighting systems as well as various styles of Krav Maga: Karate; Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Traditional Jiu Jitsu, Aikido, Boxing, Muay Thai, Tae Kwan Do and MMA.
We continued training in some of these systems after we became instructors in various Israeli fighting systems. This training continued to inform our teaching and this, along with our real world experience led us to adapt and modify techniques, combining the education we had gained in the Israeli systems with other systems we'd experienced - we did this which we believe is in the original and true spirit of Krav Maga (hence why we maintain the name and the "this is the problem, what is the solution?" approach). We found these modified and innovative techniques were working well for our students - this was the beginning of Urban Krav Maga.
Basically we wanted to teach a system that:
Combined the best elements of the systems referred to above with the Israeli mentality of "this is the problem - what is the solution?" as opposed to the more abstract, indirect approach of many traditional arts.
Contained a range of techniques that were not dependent on punching power and/or brute strength. All techniques need to work against stronger, heavier, taller etc opponents. We also acknowledge different students sometimes need different or modified solutions. So, there is a personal development approach for the student.
Was genuinely combine and evolve our approach. There's a very wide range of experience in the Technical Committee, everybody has a say in how techniques develop and, crucially, nobody is hidebound by ego or adherence to tradition - the one priority is to make techniques work as well as possible for as many people as possible. We also listen to students - the Genesis of the system actually lay in our observations regarding what worked for them under pressure, what didn't work and our debates regarding how we could improve.
Recognised the importance of pre-emptive strikes for self-defence - action always beats reaction.
Took a genuinely scenario-based approach. In Urban Krav Maga, the core syllabus is based around the disciplines and techniques needed to defend the 10 most common street attacks. These are listed in frequency order here: http://www.urbankravmaga.com/syllabus
The core syllabus also contains a range of techniques applicable to female self-defence, grappling (stand-up and on the ground), fighting/sparring techniques and weapons defences.
Our aim is to equip the student as soon as possible to defend themselves against the most common attacks. Once the student has mastered these techniques, more difficult scenarios are addressed to build a support system that will enable the student to deal with almost any situation. By teaching concepts through techniques students are taught how to read a situation and react/respond accordingly, even if they've not experienced the exact same thing in training. Giving students the ability to improvise is an important element of our training.
Awareness, avoidance and pre-emption are placed high in order of priority - but we recognise you can't always avoid or run away from problems. So, we teach everything that is needed for self defence when it's necessary in all environments, including highly confined, crowded spaces like chip shops. "Chip Shop Krav Maga" was our working title for the new system but we thought it may look a little odd on a t-shirt and not translate well for those countries that call a chip a crisp...
We do not make any claims that our techniques are used by any military organisation. We're happy for them to be judged on their merits, not assumed to be good because of their supposedly being taught to a regular army or Special Forces Unit. We make no apologies for this civilian approach: a knife defence based on somebody attacking like they were making a committed bayonet thrust will not be so effective as one that is based on somebody stabbing with an aggressive pumping notion with fast recoil. As stated we retain the term Krav Maga as our approach reflects that on which Krav Maga was originally founded and we are of course indebted to the experiences we have gained training with the various Israeli Fighting Systems.
You mention the importance of making your class enjoyable? What are some ways you do this?
To make the class enjoyable we try to incorporate some combat games, keep plenty of variety in there and get people to do stuff like making attacks with plenty of foul mouthed abuse. This is both realistic and a source of humour as people are encouraged to use their imaginations with the abuse.
And we run the class like what is is, a place for consenting adults. We don't shout and scream at people and pretend we are in the army and if somebody gets something wrong we treat it as a mistake, not an insult to the style and all the people that have gone before.
You have a very good reputation in the martial arts community. With so many average martial arts flooding the market place claiming to be the best, how does one stand out above the others.
All you can do regarding "standing out" is to maintain your own standards, continually update the way you teach and, where appropriate, adapt and upgrade your techniques to suit people. Some stuff that will work for a fit 15 stone young guy will not do so well for a middle-aged 8 stone lady so do not expect her to do the same.
And work continually to improve your knowledge.
And remember at all times that martial arts and self defence are all about leverage, always assume the other guy is bigger and stronger.
We saw an advertisement online which states you have "spent 30 years in Martial arts - the last 10 studying all the different types of Krav Maga." We were unaware there was different types of Krav Maga. Can you expand on the different types?
There are a lot of organisations now, Krav Maga Global which emerged from the International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF) , the Federation itself emerged from the Israeli Krav Maga Association (IKMA) which sees it self as the original organisation of the founder, Imi Lichtenfeld. There are also organisations such as Commando Krav Maga, that have some good techniques but the main guy is a fraud, see here:
Many of the mainstream organisations teach the same stuff, having trained with the IKMF and IKMA I can say the differences were those of degree. I thought the IKMA had a more developed ground game. Commando Krav Maga is based around the fraudulent Chief Instructor's judo style, most other Krav styles are stand-up, Muay Thai based
The add also states, people can learn your techniques from home? How realistic is it to become an expert at home by yourself?
You can't become an expert at home, you can practice but I would never suggest you can just do this at home.
How much ground fighting is taught in Krav Maga? How close does it resemble BJJ?
My co-Chief instructor in Urbhan Krav Maga is Leo Negao, a former Vale Tudo fighter and 4-time world BJJ champion. So, we have an extensive ground game. But it's not BJJ, we use BJJ and wrestling discipline and skills but the emphasis is on getting up and avoiding somebody sticking a grappling hold onto you. So students are taught how to apply arm bars, chokes, americanas etc on the floor but as amens of learning how to counter them. Anybody who says you can survive on the floor just by being able to bite, gouge, squeeze the nuts etc has not spent enough time working with an experienced grappler, they will forestall all that and break you, so you need some techniques.
You need to maintain focus on getting up quickly however, sometimes in my class I will have to shout out "this is not ju jitsu" and anybody staying on the ground will get some gentle kick reminders that it's a good idea to get up. Conversely, in Leo's class, he has to remind people that it's not Urban Krav Maga; least they try to take out their opponent's eye.
If Krav Maga is such an effective fighting style, why don't we see more practitioners in places like the UFC?
Regarding the UFC, the vast majority of Krav Maga people do not have a good enough ground game to compete to be honest but that's fair enough, priorities are different. Regarding the stand up game, a lot of Krav is base around kicks and knees to the groin that are of course banned in the UFC. And there is a specific craft to fighting in the ring or the cage that Krav people are just not taught, and why would they be.
Having said that some of our guys have been very successful in MMA, particularly in Northern Ireland. But we do have a very good ground fighting game.
Critics claim there is no true hands on training for Krav Maga. So, there is no way to truly know if someone can use it in a real situation? Can you respond to these claims?
We have a very "hands on" approach to training, as much as you can be whilst being consistent with student safety. I'm glad to say that plenty of our guys have used the stuff to defend themselves when called upon, a few examples here:
Just recently a guy was confronted by a bunch of youths, one of whom had a knife; he took that guy out very aggressively and fronted up the rest who ran away. This guy was a very senior Civil Servant who had previously never had a real fight in his life; he had only done about 10 classes with us before this happened. He said that what helped him was the aggressive intensity of our classes, this helped him cope mentally as well as physically within the situation.
Most people think Krav Maga is some secret martial art for Israeli secret service . How does someone know if an instructor is a true master of Krav Maga.
I don't go much on the whole military gig when selling Krav or any other system; having seen some supposed "Special Forces" stuff that is really not very good. Look for an instructor who has a good background in a couple of other martial arts, keeps his style open to outside influences rather than makes a virtue of some mythical purity, understands the ground game and is able to teach as well as do the stuff. Ask him or her who gave them their first teaching qualification and who gave them their most recent.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Would you like to do any shameless self promotion? We highly encourage it.
Yes, I would like to suggest your readers visit the following links to see what DVDs we have to offer?
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