Monday, June 28, 2010

Krav Maga - Mortal Threat Defense

- Extracted from kravmaganewyork.net
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram

- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

To download the article from Special Operations Report - Click Here

This article relates to a gun threat from behind your head.

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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*

*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me

*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Krav Maga - Bad training habits

- Extracted from Facebook group
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

Common weakness of many Krav Maga schools is like jujitsu schools. They really do not teach good skills of punching and kicking.
 
Kicking on a punching pad or punching bag only develops parts of the components, and if the correct techniques are not taught off hand, students will repeat their errors and instill bad habits.
 
If you get these skills right, you can continue after the defense and counter attack, to grab the opponents' weapon hand.
 
If you really learn it right, you learn to move forward, not necessarily in front of the weapon. If you move forward, you easily catch the retracting hand of your opponent limiting any possible attempts to stab again.
 
You would not do it when someone has a gun, so why would you if he has a knife.
 
Don’t assume that he is an idiot. He could kick you and stab you too. If you do not finish him, you give him a chance to learn and become better in the second attempt.
 
If you hit your opponent good in the first time, he would be on the floor and you would have nothing to grab.
 
However, the nature of the simultaneous defense and counter attack, does not always give you the option to concentrate your energy fully in the counter attack. Chances are that the counter attack only buys you time for another continuous move. The first attack is straight.


In close scenarios circular attacks get enough momentum. You actually lean back to get more distance and use leverage in a roundhouse for sufficient striking force.
 
You get into a habit of using your opponent's body as an obstacle for another opponent, and if you can, to take the weapon out of his hand.
 
This would be a matter of judgment, but it is nice to have.
 
I rather see defenses vs. straight stab where the stab is retracted quickly and not to see an instructor assuming the opponent would not retract, or the weak position about teaching only the common top down or bottom up knife stabs.
 
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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*

*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me

*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Principles of Krav Maga - Efficiency

- Extracted from Facebook group
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

Krav Maga is not based on stamina.

While many sports build strength and stamina, if you are not going to look for the most efficient way to fight, your opponent might, and he will probably win if he does.

Efficiency is getting used to do the shortest easiest move that will end the confrontation, looking for the most effective and efficient pressure point.

If you train few times a week for years to try to choke or create an armbar, or get to the floor, these training habits will stick with you and will not easily get rid of in a time of self defense conflict which may take only few seconds.

While your confidence will be great from the training it might be false since you are not accustomed to deal with a more efficient opponent that does not waste his time on a sports confrontation and is looking to hurt you quickly with disregards to your safety and life.

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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*

*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me

*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Krav Maga - Is it the same for those learnt it in the army and those in civilian gyms?

- Extracted from Kravstation.com
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

Response to Laszlo who said he follows Mr. Immi's small printed booklet, which included 14 pages which included names of techniques, exercises divided by belts, yellow to black.

Mr. Boaz responds:

Dear Laszlo,
I do have the list of the civilian Krav Maga techniques you are talking about. It is true that Immi (I am using two m's since this is how Immi signed his name in English).

I was teaching in the IDF after Eli Avikzar, and I also went through the civilian training method on my spare time while and after I was teaching in the IDF.

What I've noted that the Krav Maga for civilians was modified by Immi. Immi felt that youngsters should not learn what soldiers did. So personally, I prefer the IDF Training Method. For some the civilian training method is preferred.

Mr. Boaz quotes this article from People Magazine.

November 15, 1976 People MagazineVol. 6No. 20

It's Called 'Kosher Kungfu' but Imi Lichtenfeld's New Martial Art Is a Deadly Affair
By Arturo F. Gonzalez Jr.

Try and strangle me, please," 66-year-old Imi Lichtenfeld of Tel Aviv politely asks one of his students. As the neophyte lunges, Imi's rigid palm shoots out and quivers at the attacker's windpipe. "I didn't want to fight," explains Imi. "Now you don't want to fight. In fact, you're lucky if you're still alive."

Imi, 5'6" and 150 pounds, is the creator of a deadly martial art called krav-maga. The name comes from the Hebrew words krav for fight and maga for contact. The irreverent call it "KosherKungfu." It has become internationally recognized, with eight black-belt holders.

But in its pure form, krav-maga is too dangerous for widespread competition.

"When a martial art becomes a sport, like judo for example, the lethal movements have to be restricted," says Imi. "This destroys the basic principle of krav-maga:

You automatically end the fight by putting an end to your opponent." Imi teaches at a gym outside Tel Aviv. Childless, he lives nearby with his wife of 16 years, Elana.

When the Israeli army was formed in 1948, he was the regimental sergeant-major in charge of all hand-to-hand combat training. "What I was teaching," he says, "was a unique combination of judo, karate, akido, kungfu and boxing."

His tactics are now standard in the Israeli forces. If the Israeli paratroopers on the recent Entebbe rescue mission had fought the Ugandans hand to hand, they would have used krav-maga.

Imi programs his students as though they were computers. "Once you have all the tapes inside your head," he promises, "you can beat anybody. Your eyes are figuring the angle your body is forming with an opponent and making calculations for you."

The essence of krav-maga is economy of motion coupled with imaginative embellishments on the other martial arts, which Imi thinks are too inflexible. Imi's pupils are taught to limit opponents' blows to the outsides of their arms and legs while striking at the throat, belly, chest and groin.

"I've developed one knife move," says Imi, "that no opponent can stop. But I don't want to put it down in print. It's too dangerous." Imi was raised in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, where his father, Samuel, was a police inspector and a European pioneer in the martial arts. "He founded a jujitsu school in 1907," Imi remembers. "He was a good policeman. He had to be tough to survive." So did Imi. "I began fighting anti-Semitism in the '30s," he says. "When the Hitler youth gangs used to single out Jewish young men on the streets, it was either hit or run. I found the hitting more satisfying." During World War II Imi served with a Czech exile regiment, which he joined after being rescued from a sinking ship in the Mediterranean by a British destroyer. Most of his family died in the Nazi gas chambers. At war's end he settled in Palestine. A civilian since 1963, Imi still puts in a full day, specializing in instruction to paratroopers, commandos and phys ed teachers.

Currently Imi is trying to modify krav-maga so that nonlethal self-defense can be taught to Israeli youngsters. "I want everybody in this country," he says, "to be ready for a fight."
*End of article


Per Boaz Aviram:

Don’t know if you have noticed but I have found something in this article to support the back cover of my book. "When a martial art becomes a sport, like judo for example, the lethal movements have to be restricted," says Imi. "This destroys the basic principle of krav-maga: You automatically end the fight by putting an end to your opponent."

And then: Currently Imi is trying to modify Krav Maga so that nonlethal self-defense can be taught to Israeli youngsters. "I want everybody in this country," he says, "to be ready for a fight."

This is the Krav Maga you generally get. (blogger's note: civilian version taught outside of the idf). This is why I was not happy with the Civilian Association and did not think that the way they taught was Krav Maga.

But now it is the time to realize that since terrorism attacks civilians, civilians have to be trained as soldiers. Sharing the secrets of training has an advantage over keeping them. It is up to us the civilians also to make that judgment of who do we want to teach and who do we prefer not to teach. It is not always a clear decision, but we need to keep it in our minds. Since terrorist target civilians, civilians should be trained!

End of posting

* blogger's note to readers:
In case you did not know, there are different sets of Krav Maga instructions now:

1.   Those taught by instructors that had graduated from Immi's civilian dojo
2.   Those taught by instructors who graduated AS INSTRUCTORS from the IDF Krav Maga school.
3.   Those taught by instructors who did a short course in Krav Maga in the IDF while doing mandatory service.
4.   Those taught by instructors who were Krav Maga instructors in the IDF and are martial artist.
5.   Those taught by ex-IDF soldiers who were schooled in martial arts who did neither the Instructor's course nor the short course in the IDF.
6.   Those taught by instructors who RENAMED their system to Krav Maga or took up the name of Krav Maga
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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*

*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me

*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Friday, June 18, 2010

Krav Maga - Instructors, the average individual and the unique combination of techniques

- Extracted from Kravstation.com
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

Question in regard to different instructor style and ability to teach...

As per Mr. Boaz
As for the Instruction, you are correct in describing the variety of talents of Instructors, however, in the IDF training method this factor was taken into account and those who could not instruct did not pass the instructor course.

Who is the average individual?

The training steps and method provided a solution to fast learning for all levels of intelligence. But at the same time the average soldier that was lucky to attend the IDF Krav Maga Instructor's Course, or just the short Hand to Hand Combat course, was at ;least high school graduate, and was in good physical health and shape, i.e. was not handicapped.

The other issue that I wanted to point out was that in Martial Arts certain originators of systems had a chance to learn from the experience of others before the developed their own and some did not.

But I do not think that kicking or punching belong specifically to any style such as Kung Fu (I've used the broad term for Chinese Arts)karate, and Boxing.

While Krav Maga punch looks like boxing more than Karate, yet it is very much different since it incorporates many principles together and is also taught faster and requires less training time to master.

Same for the kicks. While we know that every person is slightly different in his build and perception, it is possible that at least one person in another style did the exact one or two of the techniques that are demonstrated in Krav Maga.

I think overall however, that when you take all the fine points of each of the kicks and strikes and teach them all, there was not martial art that taught them the same before Krav Maga based on my years of various Martial Arts Training, and based on observation of the Great Masters of the Arts which are now available on youtube.

Parts of techniques and ideas and approaches were scattered all over the world. To combine it all in the correct perspective I would credit it to where I've found it - It was Krav Maga, where everything must make sense.

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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*
*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me
*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Krav Maga - History Lesson

- Extracted from Kravstation.com
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF

The fact that you have more than one organization could signal of many possible reasons. While not necessarily all real issues some of them might be. At the same time the fact that all these different organizations are still named Krav Maga could also mean few things.

Traditionally, when a new instructor did not want to be bound to the restriction of his previous organization whether political, difference of opinions beliefs, and the lack of willingness to pay dues or share the income, the solution was a change of the style name.

This might be one part of the cause.

There is another issue with Krav Maga. While in the last 20 years Krav Maga was spread in the world by few large civilian organizations, the irony was that the popularity was stressed much on the reputation of the IDF as a fighting army.

While here and there Krav Maga students that were formery trained martial artists won local sports competition in mma, Muai Thai, Boxing and other, yet the majority of the world accepted the name of the IDF, and some parts of the world developed demand to any export that came from Israel.

When Immi left the IDF he opened his first schools in Tel Aviv and Natanyah. He decided to "make Krav Maga Suitable to be taught to youngsters" basically mirroring the Dojo marketing system, and training system.

Immi had civilian students that after about 5 years became "Black Belts in Krav Maga". In years to come the First Krav Maga association was created, and not long after, differences of opinions and lack of agreements in running it split it.

As Immi got older, he was in a hurry to see the fruit of his Genius Masterpiece. He wanted the whole world to benefit of it. Being in a hurry, he was taking large short cuts and making it easier to foreign students to quickly get teaching degrees in Krav Maga that amounted to a civilian Black Belt degrees.

The in charge of Rank Committee at the time Mr. Eli Avikzar was in a professional disagreement with Immi, so out of respect to Immi (his teacher) he had left the Association and changed the name of his Krav Maga civilian style to Krav Magen.

Eli Avikzar was Immi's heir in the Israeli Defense Forces. So while many of Immi's civilian black belts did not know what Israeli Defense Forces Krav Maga was, Eli knew all about it.

Of course other issued such as Instructors and Black Belts thought that they were more senior than others and they all tried their best to get promoted, and Immi was a man or political peace and he tried to agree with all of them.

Then many civilian associations were created.

Years later, many Israeli Martial Artists that started with the exotic names of the Orient of Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, Ninjutsu, Kung Fu, Kyokushin Karate, GojuRyu, Shotokan and others found Immi's death as the perfect time to take pride of their Israeli Inheritance, and thought to take a ride on the reputation of Krav Maga.

Since Krav Maga in Hebrew translates to Contact Combat, and since Immi was dead, they felt it is the perfect time to switch. Some took the time to learn a little Krav Maga or as much as they could, and some did not. Over the history of martial arts, people learned from each other. They adopted various techniques that they felt would supplement their training and skills.

Over time the traditional Shotokan that was credited to Funakoshi Gichin, which developed strikes and kicks from low stances, based on his interpretation of the laws of physics, combined with what we know now as Yoga breathing techniques, and beliefs of the Ki, or the psychological and physical attempt to transform the energy into a powerful blow, evolved to a more free style boxing like stance.

Wrestling techniques, transformed to a more "civil" fighting like the Judo where you could only grab your opponent's Gi(appeared to be cleaner, but I do not think you would avoid the sweat)and back to MMA later on and others.

When students spent some time learning a Martial Art and switched, they tended to connect the dots and fill in the gaps of the lessons that they have missed. At times, they came up with an improved method of fighting, and at times the lost the advantage of the lesson they missed.

Various Instructors at various intelligence level, and don't get me wrong, I am not getting petty over here, but what I mean is that people made assumption using the knowledge and experiences they had and promoted themselves partially or truly believing in themselves had gaps of various sizes and filled them to the best of their ability.

The obvious facts that sticks out are how come a former boxing and wrestling champion trained in Jujitsu as well extracted most of the traditional training systems, creating Krav Maga, how come Eli Avikzar, trained in Aikido and Judo after he was trained in Krav Maga extracted all the long evasive motion of Aikido(tai sabaki) kept the leverages and applied the elements of Ueshiba Laws of the Universe to a practical use with the Krav Maga principles based on Immi's theory.

How come new Israeli Impersonators that tried to link their mandatory service which was not related to any position that required to learn Israeli Defense Forces Krav Maga, combined their youth Martial Arts Experience, and concluded that they can teach Krav Maga assuming that Krav Maga was all about mixed martial arts and new techniques to foil a pistol or machine gun threat.

Some of them were concentrating their efforts on a quick and forceful extraction of the pistol toiling with a plastic or wooden dummy pistol and never realized that if it was a real gun just the mere extraction while the barrel is pointed at them would have extracted a shot as well and would have extracted their lives out of them and their students in training and in real life.

So while many organization are legit as they can be, some are based on the same ancient recipe: This is a new style from a different region and a different era of China ,Japan, oh I meant Israel, lol

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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*
*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me
*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*

Krav Maga - What's the secret sauce?

- Extracted from Kravstation.com
- Posting by Mr. Boaz Aviram
- 3rd in line Chief of Krav Maga IDF


Do anyone ever ask themselves what is Krav Maga, how come it has a great reputation.

Is that because it is coming from a well known military and therefore it must be good?

Why is it then available to civilians? Does the military use a lot of Krav Maga in combat?

Really?

Do any military use Hand to Hand combat in combat? How much do they use it?

Why do they teach it? To increase confidence, or to increase survival skills?

Why many martial arts that have thousands of years of heritage, suddenly lost their demand when it comes to Self Defense and Hand to Hand Combat?

Is it just plain propaganda?

Why a human being that was born in Israel is better, is assumed to be better in Hand to Hand Combat than a citizen that grew up in Japan or China?

All three have military and police forces, and both do not use much of Hand to Hand Combat in the service, however, all three of them train in it.

Why Krav Maga is better than Karate when it comes for self defense? People are people?

Could it be than any Karate style is better than one particular Krav Maga style when it comes to Hand to Hand combat?

Any particular instructor or student better than the other?

If you break the training process to its component you get a full understanding of all these questions and you get the answers for them.

If the quest of Hand to Hand Fighting is to prevail in a confrontation which could happen once in a life time, could take few seconds, and depends on chance and reaction based on judgement that was timely executed then you need to look at the small components of the process and work to improve all of them.

If you tell a student to aim to the balls of his opponent without telling him how to move fast to reach the target before the target escapes, and how to land on the ball of his foot pointed outward to facilitate farther reach, and how to accelerate his leg to maximum speed, and all the other 20 details in a front kick, you let him fill all the gaps and connect all the dots.

Every kid will do it slightly different. If you do not understand and teach 100 percent of all the aspects of the technique you are teaching, you are creating a chance for multiplication of your students errors, that with training and repetition will multiple again.

You might get one "Champion" out of a whole school. It would be the one student that by chance connected the dots and filled the gaps in the most correct natural way.

But your instructor skills are reduced to administrative skills of running a schools. That student taught his own by observing, or by chance.

This is the difference between Krav Maga Instruction and Martial Arts Instruction, or at least it should be. I say that considering that there are all kinds of instructors under the umbrella of the name of Krav Maga. I wanted to touch down on all aspects of why suddenly Krav Maga took momentum where all the rest of the martial arts were doing the same thing they were doing for many years.

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*Self defense is a subset of Martial arts*
*Reality based self defense training cannot always be 100% real, because there may be no one left to train with! But do it real enough or else RBSD is just a bullshit term* - Me
*Train for what happens most and you will be able to handle most of what happens -- Marc "Animal" MacYoung*