Quote: (12-18-2012 05:36 AM)Kitsune Wrote:
When you learn krav maga, how exactly do you learn all these deadly strikes? Presumably you don't actually spar eye gouges and testicle stomps (or whatever) so how do you know how to do it properly when the time comes?
If I go to a kickboxing class and spar, I am going to punch people in the face and get punched in the face. In a defence situation, I'll know how to punch or kick someone and at what level of force to do so. How would I learn that with krav maga?
And if you practice krav maga by doing 'demo' sparring where you pretend - how is that any different from learning to box by watching videos on youtube?
(Don't mean to step on any toes. Am genuinely ignorant and would like to learn these things.)
EDIT: This is double-so for stuff like 'fighting in a stairwell, disarming gunmen and kinfe-wielders' mentioned above. Presumably you're fighting with rubber knives and on cushioned stairwells or whatever. Or am I wrong?
There is a Krav helmet with a faceshield that is more protective than headgear, but yes, you can’t really practice all the moves full speed when you spar- most people like their eyes and trachea intact. I think the idea is that you train your muscle memory to do the moves over and over again, and then in a real fight it will just come out naturally. Anyone here who has fought MT knows that in a lot of cases you just go on autopilot with the combo’s you’ve practiced repetitively. For example, I’ve sparred MT for years, but during clinch, it has never occurred to me to headbut someone given the rules in place. Once you condition your mind/body to make that headbut a natural extension of your fighting style, you are increasing your chances for a positive outcome.
There were no padded stairwells, you trained hard and if you got injured or bruised up, so be it. We did use rubber knives. Krav also educates to real life situations. Once per week we trained in jeans and dress shoes. I can’t tell you how different it feels to train in going out clothes vs. MMA or MT shorts. Also, they taught us to quickly take glances behind us while we were engaged in fighting. According to their statistics, during a street fight many people accidently step off a curb or trip on an empty bottle, etc. and fall. The philosophy is to replicate real life as much as possible. Having said this, you have to find a Krav gym that has real practitioners. The instructors in OC are all taught under the head guy and grew up learning Karate in the comforts of America. The guys I trained with were all ex soldiers who grew up in Israel worrying daily about some sort of attack. They ended up teaching the FBI, NYPD, and some Navy Seals during my time there.
Everyone wants to believe that what they train is the best, but the fact is you have to acknowledge there’s a difference between a sport and real life practical situations. And taking the practical pieces of a few different disciplines makes sense to me. I prefer training MT, but I’m very glad that I did Krav for 2 years. IMO, it only augmented what I knew from MT. So, if I were you, I’d train MT for a few years and then fine tune with Krav. Any good Krav school should have a legit BJJ guy there and you can pick up the basics of the ground as well.
Good luck.