Yesterday I attended the Military Krav Maga Workshop with the IDF’s Krav Maga head instructor Ran Nakash.
If you don’t know it here is a brief description from Wikipedia
Krav Maga /krɑːv məˈɡɑː/ (Hebrew: קרב מגע [ˈkʁav maˈɡa], lit. “contact combat”) is a noncompetitive eclectic self-defense system developed in Europe that involves striking techniques, wrestling and grappling. Relative to other systems, Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations, efficient and versatile counter-attacks, and ease of learning
It was a fun experience. In my opinion Krav Maga is the go to choice if you really want to learn how to defend yourself.
Krav Maga is no martial art. There is no fancy art in it. It’s a no nonsense approach with very simple movement patterns that will teach you survival by all means necessary.
The four hours started with some group warm-up drills /games. Then we learned a couple of basic knife defense drills. These were all broken down in simple and very clear movements finishing with disarmament.
Next was defense against sticks / baseball bats. Similar approach with simple yet effective techniques.
After that it was time to put the learned to use in some stress situations.
Three rounds of 2 minutes boxing /kicking pads with random knife / bat attacks from behind. So you were gassing yourself on the pads, somebody slaps you on the back and attacks you. After you disarmed the attacker you went straight back to the pads. Repeat.
Two minutes can be a looong time.
Another nice drill under stress (similar as in the videos below) was the following:
- first gassing yourself with 6 back and forth sprints across the gym
- then breaking to a group of six with pads, who were trying to push you back
- after the break through the group you did the boxing pad / knife attack drill I described above.
- after disarming the knife attacker you ran to the next station and repeated the same boxing drill with a bat attacker
- and finally after disarming the bat attacker you finally reached the last station which was a boxing the pads and being attacked from behind with bear hugs or chokes.
- done
And I even got some souvenirs. Krav Maga gets a thumb up.
Below is a three part documentary from the discovery channel showing Ran Nakash.
This is what you can expect when attending a workshop with him.
