What\'s Your Krav Maga?!

What’s Your Krav Maga

This weekend’s seminar with Roy Elghanayan, reminded me that many people in the US (and elsewhere) have some misconceptions about what Krav Maga actually is e.g. some believe that Krav Maga is a distinct style, others that it is a self-defense system that needs supplemental training etc. Some of these misconceptions have been created and promoted by those high up in the Krav Maga community, in various associations, to further their own ends and to make excuses for their lack of knowledge in certain areas of combat.

Firstly, Krav Maga is not the name of a singular system but a term that the IDF, Israeli Defense Forces, gives to the various approaches of hand-to-hand combat that is taught to its soldiers and operatives, and although there may be many similarities between what different Krav Maga instructors teach there can also be significant differences. The important question to ask when assessing whether what you are learning is Krav Maga or not, is to ask who trained your instructor. If their instructor didn’t/wasn’t trained in Israel, and their instructor’s teacher wasn’t etc. and the line has to go a long way back before they can come up with a name of someone who was trained in Israel then it’s very likely that what you’re training in is out of date and possibly obsolete. The fact that Krav Maga is an evolving system means that anyone teaching Krav Maga needs to stay up to date with the changes in approach and techniques etc. either by going to Israel, or making the effort to train with those who come from Israel to teach.

I have also heard of one high ranking Krav Maga instructor, tell students and prospective students that Krav Maga is limited in its scope, and that it is necessary to train in other systems in order to become a complete fighter. I don’t know how limited this instructor’s training was, but when I hear such people say that people need to learn Muay Thai, to become a complete stand up fighter, or BJJ to be competent on the ground, I have to shake my head in disbelief. If you look at Roy’s Krav Maga, you see how complete and technically complete his kicking and striking is, with all the necessary technical details present. We were both amazed by the lack/absence of throwing and takedowns that many Krav Maga associations and systems outside of Israel neglect to teach – as one of my old instructor’s used to say, “Nothing hits harder than concrete” – to not teach this aspect of fighting is criminal and shows a real lack of understanding at what is effective in a real-life conflict. The mantra of Krav Maga being easy to learn (that is repeated so often outside of Israel) has resulted in many Instructors and Associations failing to teach Krav Maga as a complete fighting system, and reducing it to a few escapes from various holds, with some technically poor striking thrown in – all of which they try and hide by covering it up with a cardio workout and a lot of aggression training.

There is a new generation of Krav Maga Instructors who understand the importance of training in a way which emphasizes the development of fighting skills such as correct movement, power generation, threat recognition/assessment and decision-making in dynamic settings etc. i.e. teaching Krav Maga as a complete martial art. It was an honor and a privilege to have the best of them at our school this weekend. Sensei Roy. OSS!