Just a quick one !
I'm off to Switzerland for 1 week of Krav Maga instructor training. I'll be back Thursday 1st May and look forward to giving you guys ( my students ) some new techniques and new ideas in regards to self defence and personal safety training. I'll probably be really sore too but hey it's all part and parcel of KM training ;-)
Krav Maga Training In Switzerland
April 26, 2008, 2:35 am
by Administrator
in General
The British Academy of Krav Maga in Time Out Magazine
April 7, 2008, 3:36 am
This article appeared in 'Time Out' Magazine recently.. I have copied from the original which was written by Lucy Lord who visited our class recently....
Israeli military martial art krav maga is a no-holds-barred, combative workout – ideal for the mean streets of London....
You’d think the phrase ‘tough Israeli military self-defence technique’ would be unequivocal enough to prepare you for a krav maga class. In my case, you’d be wrong. The class starts gently enough, with jogging around the room – though dropping to the floor to do random press-ups is strangely like being in an Oliver Stone movie.
Next, we have to pair up and, well, grapple with each other. The first bit is fun, jumping up and down on the spot, trying to touch the other person’s back, while defending oneself against being touched. However this develops into getting one another into a headlock, aiming to twist the other person round so you’ve got them from behind (the most common position from which to attack). It’s not pleasant. We swap partners a few times – it must be difficult for the poor chaps who have to pretend that taking me on is any challenge. There are only two other women in a class of around 20.
Next, we are put into teams of three to perform an exhausting ‘workstation’ series of press-ups, sit-ups and an extraordinary kind of one-handed press-up dance. I cry off, pleading back problems, at which point instructor John Aldcroft tells me that he always starts the class with a 45-minute warm-up. Physical fitness, he insists, is as much a key to being able to defend oneself as knowing the techniques. This is the warm-up? Good God.
Fighting for fitness
Aldcroft has been teaching krav maga for seven years and set up the Krav Maga Centre eight months ago. ‘I’d learnt Thai boxing at university, and while it’s great for fitness and as a competitive martial art, I didn’t feel it was relevant to self-defence,’ he says. He found that krav maga was gaining a reputation in the US, mainly among certain police units, the FBI and Swat teams.
Krav maga was originally developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, a successful boxer and wrestler. He taught his special hand-to-hand combat method to Bratislavan Jews to protect themselves against the Nazis; then, on arriving in Palestine before the establishment of Israel, to Haganah, the Jewish underground army. It went on to become the official combat system of the Israeli defence forces.
Back at the class, after some stretches, it’s time for the actual self-defence. ‘The point of krav maga is not to turn you into a fighter,’ says Aldcroft. ‘It’s to enable you to defend yourself to the point where you’re able to run away.’ Thus kicks to the knee and groin are encouraged, as well as punches to the face and throat. We are taught how to escape if somebody has their hands round your throat (drop your hands between their arms and pull outwards, while simultaneously kneeing them in the groin), how to perform drop kicks when you’re on the ground and – crucially – how to defend yourself against knife attacks. T'ai chi it ain’t.
It’s all intensely – scarily – practical (‘make it a reflex always to look around as there’s likely to be more than one attacker’ is one piece of advice) and very hard work. But fun, up until the last ten minutes. Then, the majority of the class puts on knee, groin and arm shields and
gets engaged in the real deal: proper, vicious, hand-to-hand fighting.
I am initially paired with Liz, a new recruit who has joined the class because, she says, ‘the area I live in isn’t very safe’ (put that in your pipe and smoke it, Diane Abbott). However, after a few minutes, Aldcroft insists we fight some of the men as ‘in real life, 99.99 per cent of the time, you’ll be attacked by a man who is much stronger than you.’ This is really, really disturbing and quickly I want it to stop – which I guess is the point.
Krav Maga is not for the faint-hearted but if you are dedicated it is an extremely useful skill to have. I leave the class aching, sweaty and somehow emboldened – though acutely aware of how much work is needed to improve my own fragility.
Israeli military martial art krav maga is a no-holds-barred, combative workout – ideal for the mean streets of London....
You’d think the phrase ‘tough Israeli military self-defence technique’ would be unequivocal enough to prepare you for a krav maga class. In my case, you’d be wrong. The class starts gently enough, with jogging around the room – though dropping to the floor to do random press-ups is strangely like being in an Oliver Stone movie.
Next, we have to pair up and, well, grapple with each other. The first bit is fun, jumping up and down on the spot, trying to touch the other person’s back, while defending oneself against being touched. However this develops into getting one another into a headlock, aiming to twist the other person round so you’ve got them from behind (the most common position from which to attack). It’s not pleasant. We swap partners a few times – it must be difficult for the poor chaps who have to pretend that taking me on is any challenge. There are only two other women in a class of around 20.
Next, we are put into teams of three to perform an exhausting ‘workstation’ series of press-ups, sit-ups and an extraordinary kind of one-handed press-up dance. I cry off, pleading back problems, at which point instructor John Aldcroft tells me that he always starts the class with a 45-minute warm-up. Physical fitness, he insists, is as much a key to being able to defend oneself as knowing the techniques. This is the warm-up? Good God.
Fighting for fitness
Aldcroft has been teaching krav maga for seven years and set up the Krav Maga Centre eight months ago. ‘I’d learnt Thai boxing at university, and while it’s great for fitness and as a competitive martial art, I didn’t feel it was relevant to self-defence,’ he says. He found that krav maga was gaining a reputation in the US, mainly among certain police units, the FBI and Swat teams.
Krav maga was originally developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, a successful boxer and wrestler. He taught his special hand-to-hand combat method to Bratislavan Jews to protect themselves against the Nazis; then, on arriving in Palestine before the establishment of Israel, to Haganah, the Jewish underground army. It went on to become the official combat system of the Israeli defence forces.
Back at the class, after some stretches, it’s time for the actual self-defence. ‘The point of krav maga is not to turn you into a fighter,’ says Aldcroft. ‘It’s to enable you to defend yourself to the point where you’re able to run away.’ Thus kicks to the knee and groin are encouraged, as well as punches to the face and throat. We are taught how to escape if somebody has their hands round your throat (drop your hands between their arms and pull outwards, while simultaneously kneeing them in the groin), how to perform drop kicks when you’re on the ground and – crucially – how to defend yourself against knife attacks. T'ai chi it ain’t.
It’s all intensely – scarily – practical (‘make it a reflex always to look around as there’s likely to be more than one attacker’ is one piece of advice) and very hard work. But fun, up until the last ten minutes. Then, the majority of the class puts on knee, groin and arm shields and
gets engaged in the real deal: proper, vicious, hand-to-hand fighting.
I am initially paired with Liz, a new recruit who has joined the class because, she says, ‘the area I live in isn’t very safe’ (put that in your pipe and smoke it, Diane Abbott). However, after a few minutes, Aldcroft insists we fight some of the men as ‘in real life, 99.99 per cent of the time, you’ll be attacked by a man who is much stronger than you.’ This is really, really disturbing and quickly I want it to stop – which I guess is the point.
Krav Maga is not for the faint-hearted but if you are dedicated it is an extremely useful skill to have. I leave the class aching, sweaty and somehow emboldened – though acutely aware of how much work is needed to improve my own fragility.
Orange Belt Test
April 7, 2008, 3:23 am
The Orange belt test is today and I would just like to say good luck to all those students who are looking to acheive this. If you have done the training you have absolutely nothing to worry about and I look forward to seeing you now looking forward to your Green belt training.
As I have said before Krav Maga is growing at a rapid rate now ( albeit being progressed by rival clubs as well ! ) But Krav Maga Worldwide has now arrived in the UK and we look forward to spreading the KMW curriculum throughout the UK v soon :-)
Once we have reached a certain level I look forward to the first UK KMW instructor phases of training being held at our club.
As they say:
Onward and upward !
Don't forget to check out www.krav-maga.org.uk for more details !
All the best / John
As I have said before Krav Maga is growing at a rapid rate now ( albeit being progressed by rival clubs as well ! ) But Krav Maga Worldwide has now arrived in the UK and we look forward to spreading the KMW curriculum throughout the UK v soon :-)
Once we have reached a certain level I look forward to the first UK KMW instructor phases of training being held at our club.
As they say:
Onward and upward !
Don't forget to check out www.krav-maga.org.uk for more details !
All the best / John
Orange Belt Krav Maga Curriculum
April 3, 2008, 5:28 am
For those of you who are missing the orange belt Krav Maga curriculum for whatever reason, prior to the test on Monday see below. Make sure you also keep an eye on the club website www.krav-maga.org.uk for more details of revision seminars etc..
Orange Belt Curriculum.
1. Bobbing, weaving & slipping. 2. Hook punch / uppercut punch. 3. Left / Right / Left Hook. 4. Left / Right / Left Hook / Right Uppercut. 5. Left / Right / Bob / Right. 5. Left Punch / Right elbow. 6. Left / Right / Left Hook / Right Elbow. 7. Right Uppercut / Left Hook / Right Cross.
8. Defensive Front Kick (using whole foot). 9. Kicking in advance, 9. Side kick. 10. Side kick with advance (stepping behind). 11. Back kick, 12. Uppercut kick. 13. Side kick or back kick into hammer fist combination.
14. Inside punch defence with counter against straight left (jab). 15. Inside punch defence with counter against left punch (jab) using left hand. 16. Inside defence with counter against right punch (2 counters: one to chest /stomach then recoil and strike face). 17. Inside defence with counter against right punch (1 counter). 18. Extended 360 defence against hook punch. 18. Covering defence against hook punch. 19. Defence against uppercut punch. 20. 360 defence with counter attack against any type of punch.
21. Reflexive defence against front kick. 22. Outside stabbing defence against front kick. 23. Plucking defence against front kick. 24. Inside defence against high front kick. 25. Defence against low round kick using the shin / thigh. 26. Stop kick defence against front kick. 27. Redirecting front kick with shin.
28. Choke from front / behind against wall. 29. Choke from behind with a pull
30. Headlock from behind release (cross neck/arm bar). 31. Headlock from behind arterial (elbow forward).
32. Bear hug from front arms free (using space and grabbing hips to escape). 34. Bear hug from front arms free but tighter ( grabbing head rotating and attacking). 35. Bear hug from front with arms caught but with space & no space. 36. Bear hug from behind arms free. 37. Bear hug from behind arms caught (with space). 38. Bear hug from behind arms caught (no space).
39. Back break fall. 40. Side break fall. 41. Defence against punches from mount position (bucking hips). 42. Defence against choke from mount position. 43. Defence against headlock whilst mounted. 44. Escape from mount using elbow escape (shrimping into guard). 45. Attacks from mount position. 46. Popping up and out trapping opponents arms from mount. 47. Opening guard and using kicks to escape.
48. Foot grab stripping / foot grab spinning outward using round kick. 49. Foot grab spinning inward (using heel kick)
Orange Belt Curriculum.
1. Bobbing, weaving & slipping. 2. Hook punch / uppercut punch. 3. Left / Right / Left Hook. 4. Left / Right / Left Hook / Right Uppercut. 5. Left / Right / Bob / Right. 5. Left Punch / Right elbow. 6. Left / Right / Left Hook / Right Elbow. 7. Right Uppercut / Left Hook / Right Cross.
8. Defensive Front Kick (using whole foot). 9. Kicking in advance, 9. Side kick. 10. Side kick with advance (stepping behind). 11. Back kick, 12. Uppercut kick. 13. Side kick or back kick into hammer fist combination.
14. Inside punch defence with counter against straight left (jab). 15. Inside punch defence with counter against left punch (jab) using left hand. 16. Inside defence with counter against right punch (2 counters: one to chest /stomach then recoil and strike face). 17. Inside defence with counter against right punch (1 counter). 18. Extended 360 defence against hook punch. 18. Covering defence against hook punch. 19. Defence against uppercut punch. 20. 360 defence with counter attack against any type of punch.
21. Reflexive defence against front kick. 22. Outside stabbing defence against front kick. 23. Plucking defence against front kick. 24. Inside defence against high front kick. 25. Defence against low round kick using the shin / thigh. 26. Stop kick defence against front kick. 27. Redirecting front kick with shin.
28. Choke from front / behind against wall. 29. Choke from behind with a pull
30. Headlock from behind release (cross neck/arm bar). 31. Headlock from behind arterial (elbow forward).
32. Bear hug from front arms free (using space and grabbing hips to escape). 34. Bear hug from front arms free but tighter ( grabbing head rotating and attacking). 35. Bear hug from front with arms caught but with space & no space. 36. Bear hug from behind arms free. 37. Bear hug from behind arms caught (with space). 38. Bear hug from behind arms caught (no space).
39. Back break fall. 40. Side break fall. 41. Defence against punches from mount position (bucking hips). 42. Defence against choke from mount position. 43. Defence against headlock whilst mounted. 44. Escape from mount using elbow escape (shrimping into guard). 45. Attacks from mount position. 46. Popping up and out trapping opponents arms from mount. 47. Opening guard and using kicks to escape.
48. Foot grab stripping / foot grab spinning outward using round kick. 49. Foot grab spinning inward (using heel kick)
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