Krav Maga

[Soshyopathe]

I just attended a Krav Maga class and had to leave half way into it because it was such BS. I can see why it is so popular in America because it's so bull-headed and aggressive. It's great if you're stronger than they are and they don't know how to fight.

Please someone who is into Krav Maga explain the art to me. Martial Arts exist for the smaller guy to win, so how does this pass as an art? I mean instead of killing your opponent, Krav Maga would have you knock them down or away from you. It's a puss-art that passes itself off as hardcore.

For example, I was throwing perfect tiger-claws, and the instructor would rather have me hit horizontally with the entire palm. WTF? Their throwing their entire weight into the technique, completely off-balance and with no particular striking surface. They were literally trying to knock the opponent back instead of just taking them out. What good is that?

 

[bigforearms]

From what I understand of Krav Maga, it's a martial art designed to be easy to teach to regular people in a short period of time. The techniques and counters are based on what a normal person would try to do in combat against you.

I took a class of Krav Maga too. They didn't work on technique (I know how to throw a punch, but I'm sure I don't know how to throw a perfect punch). It seemed like more of an improvement on the cardio kickboxing craze (at least it did drills designed for self-defense) than a hardcore self-defense class. It's probably decent at what it's supposed to do: turn out people who can defend themselves in a short period of time. But it seems really limited beyond that.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Alright, that makes sense. It does exactly what it was developed for. Teach young men how to be aggressive in a short amount of time. Thanks.

 

[Jinn]

I think you just attended a crappy class, actually. Americanized Krav Maga is just like americanized karate. They are degraded from martial arts to cheerleading.

In Europe, where Krav Maga is taught by masters such as Bas Rutten, it's quite potent. You learn a lot about realistic street wise self defense, with heavy emphasis placed on fighting unarmed against an armed opponent. You'll never see krav maga in UFC or kung fu death matches (I dunno, I thought of that cuz you said something about tiger claws), but on the street the krav maga stylist knows how to defeat his opponent with any means he may have access to.

My advice for those in america who want to learn krav maga, screw the local classes and buy Bas Rutten's training video and train real hard.

 

[grungeman]

take kickboxing

 

[nw1512]

Yeah Jinns right
Look around for a new class or instructor, dont go for the one where most people atend. I've been training in Krav for about a year now and there is about 5 regulars who turn up week in week out. I'm in Australia and nobody has heard of it yet which is good, and the ones who have are either of martial arts background or have heard of it in the news and these are the ones who turn away because it's so brutal.

Just keep looking around for the right teacher
There's a saying that someone quoted in this forum a couple of months back "it's better to search for 20 years for the right teacher than to train for 10 with the wrong one" it's along these lines.

Also dont be turned off, Krav is an excellent Fighting System not a self defence.

 

[prosemont]

I always thought it was basically a system of teaching drunken
bar fighting.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Even for very skilled Krav practitioners, it looks like you have to be stronger than your opponent to be effective. What good is that as a martial art?

 

[Jinn]

you don't have to be stronger than your opponent, because the knowledge you attain of realistic street fighting and strategy alone is enough to give you a tremendous advantage over a large majority of opponents.

if you only went to one class under one instructor then you shouldn't disregard the style. There's a method behind the madness and if there isn't, then like I said, you attended a crappy class that was misleading it's students.

 

[nw1512]

My Krav instructor is about the same size as me 185cm 70kg and we have no trouble against the bigger guys with our training in height or weight.

It's not a martial art so to speak either

 

[seloifter]

you have to understand the roots of krav maga.

krav maga was originally created in the jewish ghetto's, where it was often every man for himself, and they had to scrape for peices of bread. It was just a method of quick effective street fighting.

I would hardly call it "***** ****"..... I mean, after all, it is the method of combat of the entire Israeli army, and if you've ever seen those guys in action, they are one bunch you don't want to fvck with (unless you're palestine )

I wouldn't call it martial art, myself, but a good method of self defense

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Originally posted by nw1512

I'm in Australia and nobody has heard of it yet which is good, and the ones who have are either of martial arts background or have heard of it in the news and these are the ones who turn away because it's so brutal.

Glad to hear its in Australia. I'm in Australia too. It isn't anywhere near Sydney is it. I'd be interested in taking a look if it was.
(I have a Taekwondo back ground myself - good for learning how to use your legs but not much else).

 

[nw1512]

Alpha I train in Newcastle

there's a guy called carl handley was instructs in Sydney, Get the latest Blitz mag it has his number.

 

[Oxide]

any links?

so is this one of the better fighting skills to have, if all u need is to take some guy down in a 1vs1 fight?

 

[Soshyopathe]

Originally posted by nw1512
It's not a martial art so to speak either

Yes it is.

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Originally posted by nw1512
Alpha I train in Newcastle

there's a guy called carl handley was instructs in Sydney, Get the latest Blitz mag it has his number.

Thanks, I look into it.