Krav Maga Blog - Aug 2012

The next grading is coming up, which means it’s a good time to focus on improving the basic and most fundamental skills of our system. To many people see gradings as a checklist procedure where they demonstrate their knowledge of the various techniques they’ve learnt – and if they perform them adequately they pass. In the UK educational system, simple memorization is graded as an “E”; it’s still a pass but at the same time it’s a pass that’s a long way from an “A”. In a grading you can pass with an “E” or an “A” but there is...

Principle 10 - Move around your assailant, changing the angle of your attacks. Avoid being in a position where your assailants hips are facing/square to you (this is where they are strong). By changing the angle of an attackers assault you force them to “reset” their attacks creating time and space for yourself. Whoever controls the movement of a fight controls the fight. Movement both creates opportunities for attack as well as denying the same for your assailant. Power comes when the hips and shoulders are pointed squarely at the target; this means you must prevent your attacker from “lining” you...

Principle 9 - Avoid staying in the “transition zone”either be close to your attacker or far away from them One of the things that has always put me off boxing is theacknowledgement and acceptability that you are going to get hit as part of yourattacking process; something that is acceptable if in the process you are ableto score your points. Whilst I am the first to point out that in a real-life streetencounter you are going to get hit, and if a knife is involved cut, I don’tadvocate “trading” with an aggressor in order to get the upper hand and where...

One of the major differences between MMA (and other combat sports including Boxing, Judo etc) and Reality Based Self Defense, is that combat and ring sports take part in a sterile and controlled environment – this is what allows for the physical skills of the fighter to be showcased. If in the Octagon there was a liberal sprinkling of sand on the floor, which competitors were allowed to pick up and throw in each other’s eyes, we might not get to see if a person’s grappling skills could overcome another fighters striking ability etc. This is not a failure or...