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Augmenting Krav Maga Training, Part II: Skills

In Part I, I discussed the merits of augmenting your Krav Maga training with a strength and conditioning—general physical preparedness—program. Let’s take a look at augmenting our current training with some specific physical preparedness in the form of skills work.

In a way, we’re already augmenting on a regular basis. The Bas Rutten Mixed Martial Arts Workout is something used by almost all Krav Maga Worldwide schools with great frequency. There are direct parallels to our system, but “The Bas Tapes” are, strictly speaking, not Krav Maga. Bas also contributed to the expansion of our groundfighting curriculum.
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Augmenting Krav Maga Training, Part I: S&C

08.03.10 By Patrick 9 Comments

I often get the question (typically after a grueling drill that leaves students gasping) “How do I improve my conditioning?” More often than not, the answer is “Train more Krav.” But sometimes your personal schedule doesn’t align with the class schedule, or maybe you train every day and still feel your fitness isn’t where you’d like it to be. For the former, some of the ideas in this post can “fill the gaps” in training. The latter case can use this post to strengthen weaknesses for an overall training improvement.

For the great majority of practitioners, Krav Maga alone will more than meet their needs and desires for fitness. Krav Maga will certainly get you faster, stronger, and develop a bigger gas tank, but having a solid base level of strength and conditioning makes all of those attributes in the context of Krav easier to develop. Once you’re strong and fast in general, you can focus on coupling those attributes with the specific skills of Krav Maga instead of just trying to catch your breath between front kicks.
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27 Ninjas Questions

03.23.10 By Patrick 8 Comments

“What if I am walking down a dark alley with $20 bills hanging out of my pockets and I’m attacked by 27 Ninjas with Uzis? What do I do?”

I just read this and wanted to share:
“What-If-Monkeys” by Marc MacYoung

The article author says a lot and says it well, so I don’t want to add to the general topic. I do, however, have a few things to say regarding what-ifs as they specifically relate to Krav Maga:

One of the main reasons I believe in Krav Maga, as someone who both trains in it and teaches it, is that it applies as few techniques/solutions as possible to as many scenarios as possible. For example, we often make defenses based solely on the angle of an attack rather than the specifics of it (is it a fist, foot, weapon, etc.?). This speeds both the training time and the reaction time to a surprise attack by limiting the available options (see also Hick’s Law). That said, the system doesn’t “force” techniques to work in situations they clearly won’t. While the tools in the Krav Maga toolbox are both few and versatile by design, the system doesn’t claim to have a set of secret super moves that will work against any opponent in any circumstance. Maintaining situational awareness, training your reflexive responses, and training to see within the fight will aid you best in most scenarios.

As trainees in a “reality-based” system, we need to address both general and specific scenarios, and obviously train them as realistically as possible. So, I post this not to discourage anyone from asking any question. (Nor am I insinuating that too many 27-Ninjas-type questions are being asked in class!) We love exploring scenarios with students when appropriate, especially when we see them “get it”. It’s important to understand, though, that:

Violence is extremely mutable. Those mutations occur from situation to situation and second to second depending on circumstances. As such, attempting to micromanage and have exact pre-planned responses to every possible scenario is unrealistic. Such an attitude hinders mental flexibility and inhibits the responder’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This inability increases the danger to the would-be responder.
—Marc MacYoung

The Shirt Grab & Finishing the Fight

03.19.10 By Patrick Leave a Comment

Here’s an interesting video from Rodney King of Crazy Monkey Defense that ties into the shirt grab question that came up at the end of Tuesday night’s class:

Overall, I think the Crazy Monkey Defense stuff compliments the “fighting” portion of Krav pretty nicely. I like a lot of the concepts that I’ve seen online and even experimented with incorporating pieces into the last sparring rotation. While taking the opponent’s back as Rodney does in the video is not necessarily something encouraged in Krav Maga, the opening certainly is. Some compliance-type techniques (i.e. joint locks and pressure points) from styles like Kenpo and Modern Arnis Jujitsu, while effective in certain circumstances, require much more time to train; rely on fine motor movements that can degrade under stress; and often require both your hands, leaving you more vulnerable to subsequent attacks. Striking, however, has a less steep learning curve because it is more instinctive; relies on gross motor movements that are less affected by stress; and, if you’re hands always return to your fighting stance, offers a better degree of protection against a flailing opponent. (Keep in mind, though, that use of force issues are more likely to arise with strikes.)

This video demonstrates three key Krav Maga concepts that apply to nearly every self-defense scenario:

The “when” concept. If you can talk your way out of a scenario like this, by all means do so. If, however, you sense the shirt grab is just a precursor to greater violence, when is now.
See within the fight. Once you’ve made the decision to spring to action, don’t expect your opponent to stand there like a punching bag, and don’t get so tunnel-visioned with what you’re doing that you don’t register subsequent attacks (or attackers). Remember, it’s usually the one you don’t see that’ll knock you out.
Finish the fight. Once you’ve engaged, do not stop until A) you’ve created enough space to safely escape, or B) the threat has been neutralized.

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