is Krav Maga really effective

[jimike]

YouTube - IMPACT Women's Self defense (fighting sexual assailants)

You could get a suit like this and prob go full contact cant imagine the guy with the suit could do much though.

Quite a mental picture this video paints, of a marshmallowman sneaking in windows at night. lol

 

[50inches]

Krav Maga really really sucks. I tried it for a while, its terrible stuff all their techniques are garbage. We had a big discussion about it a while ago, I think in the standup technique forum. Its really seriously overrated garbage with a major marketing machine behind it. They pump you up when you train there to make you think you are a total badass, but you are really training in complete horse shit. When I was training there I thought I was so badass. When I moved and changed to a Muay Thai gym it didnt take me long to realize that I had been wasting my time. If you wanna defend yourself take Muay Thai classes.

So if you got into a real life threatening fight tomorrow, would you kick the person in the nuts like you learnd in krav maga, or in the leg like you learned in muay thai?

 

[krazylarry]

its all hype. Go learn to box, it will be cheaper and will actually teach you something.

 

[Jooba]

So if you got into a real life threatening fight tomorrow, would you kick the person in the nuts like you learnd in krav maga, or in the leg like you learned in muay thai?

Ive totally unlearned all the Krav Magarbage. All my natural reactions are Muay Thai now. There was a half year in between the time I quit Krav and joined Muay Thai and I forgot most of it during that time anyways. I had a horrible job with super heavy work schedule so I had no time to think about martial arts or anything else in that time. My natural reaction would be to punch someone before I kick them either way. My cousin kept taking the classes at Krav and when I went to go see him training after I had been doing Muay Thai for a couple months everyone there looked so retarded to me.

Muay Thai is the shit for self-defense. The difference between the power, speed, technique and effectiveness of the techniques is like Grad school vs. Pre school when compared to Krav. Ive never looked back.

Sorry if Im kind of not making sense Im half paying attention to my class lecture and half paying attention to this post.

 

[pimpstrocity]

Well you have to keep in mind that he could not do many of the techniques because its just friendly sparring. He couldn't kick you in the nuts or put his fingers in your eyes, or bite you etc.

people need to get over the whole fingers in eyes thing. In a true fight where someone is attacking you i find it hard to imagine that your gonna be able to strike out your attacker with your fingers and find his eyes with everything going on without taking serious risk trying to do it. You want to avoid getting hurt on the street? Track at high school or learning how to sprint is a good choice. Other than that save your money and go with the three step system.

Kick to the balls, soccer kick to head, run.

 

[James Keith]

I've done it off and on. It teaches some stuff they don't teach elsewhere like knife defense. You practice with a partner who tries to stab you with a rubber knife and you try to block hi and get away. Who can criticize that? And there's basic stuff like simple choke escapes that you try against a dude trying to choke you.

There's also some stuff I don't like, like how they force you to use subpar versions of the stance and strikes, which I assume were changed to allow for LE and military to be able to use while in gear. Great for them but I don't need that stuff.

 

[Jooba]

I've done it off and on. It teaches some stuff they don't teach elsewhere like knife defense. You practice with a partner who tries to stab you with a rubber knife and you try to block hi and get away. Who can criticize that? And there's basic stuff like simple choke escapes that you try against a dude trying to choke you.

There's also some stuff I don't like, like how they force you to use subpar versions of the stance and strikes, which I assume were changed to allow for LE and military to be able to use while in gear. Great for them but I don't need that stuff.

I never really believed that the knife and gun stuff would work, and Im with you on the subpar stance and striking. I think they just put together an easy to learn program to teach to soldiers really fast. I think Krav is more about the mentality, because the techniques are piss poor. Students who have been doing Muay Thai for 3-4 months strike better than my old Krav instructors who had been doing Krav for years. A student whos been doing Muay Thai for a year would tear apart my old Krav instructors so violently it wouldnt even be funny.
The martial arts I favor these days are Muay Thai, Boxing, and MMA for grappling mixed with striking. I think alot of knife and gun defense techinques are bullshit so you shouldnt really focus on them. Focus on fighting hand to hand.

 

[James Keith]

I never really believed that the knife and gun stuff would work, and Im with you on the subpar stance and striking. I think they just put together an easy to learn program to teach to soldiers really fast. I think Krav is more about the mentality, because the techniques are piss poor. Students who have been doing Muay Thai for 3-4 months strike better than my old Krav instructors who had been doing Krav for years. A student whos been doing Muay Thai for a year would tear apart my old Krav instructors so violently it wouldnt even be funny.
The martial arts I favor these days are Muay Thai, Boxing, and MMA for grappling mixed with striking. I think alot of knife and gun defense techinques are bullshit so you shouldnt really focus on them. Focus on fighting hand to hand.

I agree gun defense seems pretty silly. people should practice talking their way out of things for that one.

But the knife techniques teach you some good stuff. Also the practice makes you better at telling if someone has a weapon in their hand by their body language. You get to see firsthand how well it works or not with the rubber knife. I'm sure there's lots of bullshit knife techniques out there too, maybe even in the KM curriculum but I haven't done them. Also note there's a lot of bullshit calling itself KM that shouldn't.

And sure, if I had to pick one martial art I'd take MT over KM. That isn't really what this thread is about though.

 

[Jooba]

I agree gun defense seems pretty silly. people should practice talking their way out of things for that one.

But the knife techniques teach you some good stuff. Also the practice makes you better at telling if someone has a weapon in their hand by their body language. You get to see firsthand how well it works or not with the rubber knife. I'm sure there's lots of bullshit knife techniques out there too, maybe even in the KM curriculum but I haven't done them. Also note there's a lot of bullshit calling itself KM that shouldn't.

And sure, if I had to pick one martial art I'd take MT over KM. That isn't really what this thread is about though.

I think we just have a difference in mentality here. I just dont believe training for knife defense extensively is a good use of time. People will try to slash or stab you at such crazy random angles. I know Krav does try to teach a lot of variety of where the knife will come from and positions but I just dont see it working for real. Even when I was a fan of Krav I used to not be crazy about knife/gun defense. I did have a knife pulled on me once, before I ever did Krav. I just talked my way out of the fight. I dunno how I did it either, I was drunk as hell lol. I was at what was considered a good Krav gym. I asked about it at a discussion on the Krav Maga forum before I signed up. I just see it as a poor quality MA. I put it down there with the TKD and Karate I did when I was a little kid... no joke. Its just something simplistic and easy that they slapped together so that they dont send out soldiers with nothing.

If you cant train/compete for real, you cant fight for real. Then you are just wasting your time. This is the downfall of martial arts that base themselves on "dirty" or "deadly" techniques. I say train in proper technique for striking, grappling, etc... Then drity tricks can be added as an afterthought.

 

[50inches]

people need to get over the whole fingers in eyes thing. In a true fight where someone is attacking you i find it hard to imagine that your gonna be able to strike out your attacker with your fingers and find his eyes with everything going on without taking serious risk trying to do it. You want to avoid getting hurt on the street? Track at high school or learning how to sprint is a good choice. Other than that save your money and go with the three step system.

Kick to the balls, soccer kick to head, run.

I never said that you should try to put your fingers in someones eyes from a distance, but if you are in a clinch, it's not very hard to stick a finger in an eye.

 

[lee_gallagher]

krav maga sux

 

[Dan Koong]

kick to the balls and running away for the win!

although if they have a gun it's QQ time

 

[Flexwave2003]

Is Kravy Maga really effective? Depends on what your idea of really effective is, really.

This will also depend on where, and in what kind of situations you as an individual are imagining needing these type of skills.

Are you wanting to fight professionally? Krav Maga would be shit useful to you if thats the case.

But are you wanting to know because theres a chance you could be suddenly attacked for robbery, rape etc. That kind of thing.

Because if so, training for quite al ong time in Krav Maga could be useful in those kinds of situations. Maybe even more so than other styles or philosophys of self defense.

Does taking someones eye out work? You betcha.

How about punching them in the throat? Yep, classic technique.

Groin strikes? See Overeem vs CroCop, Kongo vs CroCop for futher clarification here.

A few months training in Krav Maga wont do you any good, its got to be something you invest your heart and soul into. And even then, if you dont keep a realistic head on your shoulders it will never be of use to you.

Often times, it will be when you least want to fight that your martial arts training shines through the most.

 

[JSN]

what are the most effective martial arts? boxing, MT, judo, wrestling, jiu jitsu, savate, catch. what do they all have in common? they allow you to spar in a manner that is directly applicable to fighting. krav maga, not so much.

i think if you really wanted to train for getting attacked by 10 dudes, you should practice wrestling, some effective standup style, grappling, spar, and think about nut grabs.

 

[Apachai]

First of all, I never trained Krav Maga.

In my opinion, the best martial art for self defense would be MMA, with full contact sparring, and in addition, all the dirty techniques you're not allowed to use in competition.

But this kind of training is not for everyone. Almost every boxer, kickboxer, MMArtists can fight, and can defend himself just fine, but not only because this kind of training makes you a good fighter, but also because all the weaker people just quit after the first week. Or maybe they don't have the time/will/drive/physique to train like this.

For them, stuff like Krav Maga is a great way to defend themselves. Not as good as an amateur MMA fighter that trains hard Monday to Friday, that's for sure.

 

[KILL KILL]

Israeli special forces use it to a great degree. That's proof for me that it works

 

[Payak]

israel special forces train in it but when do they actually go hand to hand, they carry weapons.
hey all you hamas guys wait one minute whilst i put down my fully automatic rifle and use my far deadlier krav maga.yeah right.

 

[matt_w]

In theory, I definitely believe that Krav Maga is effective. If the goal is to teach someone simple, practical self-defense techniques they'll be able to remember during stress, I think it's excellent. However, in my opinion, it only teaches you to defend yourself, less emphasis on offense or learning solid fighting skills. If I remember correctly, the purpose of Krav is to do as much damage to your attacker as quickly as possible until you can escape. So, I'm skeptical as to how an average student would do in a prolonged situation against someone they couldn't take out right away that was bigger, stronger or faster than them.

Yes, like many of you, I'm a harsh critic of some of the people that take Krav classes at the school I go to. It's like a fucking cult, like it's the new Tae Bo or something. Sometimes, I'll joke around and say things about "those Krav people," and I swear I get dirty looks! There's a 9am class Saturday mornings right before my MMA class, and there has to be 20-30 people in there every weekend. So, it's a big cash cow for the school. Granted, if this is the only chance Mr. and Mrs. Suburbanite have to get out of the house, away from the kids and get some exercise, they could certainly do a lot worse.

I've taken 2 very basic, introductory classes and helped out w/ a green and orange level belt test. Based on my experiences, I feel like the range in skill level is much greater than what you might find in a typical boxing, kickboxing, MT, BJJ, MMA class, etc. Especially if you would compare beginners in combat sports vs. those taking Krav. As w/ all martial arts, I think the quality of the program and experience level of the instructors is a key factor, too. Thankfully, the instructors at my school make people spar and practice techniques against a resisting opponent instead of just hitting pads or doing drills. The more advanced the student, the more they bust their balls about technique. It seems like they do a lot of conditioning, too.

 

[R. Flagg]

There are a lot of misconceptions about Krav Maga. A lot of people who post about it have never done it and don't even know what it consists of. I've done it for a few years (along with BJJ), so I may be able to clarify a couple of things.

First, if you have any interest in this topic, it would make sense to at least take a few seconds to look at the standard KM curriculum, which you can see here:

Krav Maga DFW Curriculum Main Page

The curriculum consists, for the most part, of very basic strikes and defensive techniques taken from other martial arts. The goal is to fend off a sudden aggressive attack as quickly and efficiently as possible and get out of there. If someone becomes proficient at these techniques, I think it could serve them very well in a self-defense situation. And herein lies the problem. Like with any other martial art, it is not easy to become proficient at these techniques. It takes years of good, hard training.

A very reasonable criticism of Krav is that there are likely many schools out there that have poorly skilled instructors who give their students a false sense of security. There are students who train one or two hours a week for a few months, skip sparring classes (if they're offered), and think they'd be able to defend themselves. On the other hand, if you have skilled instructors and train hard over an extended period of time, I think these techniques can be very effective.

My progression has been the same as it has with other martial arts (like BJJ)--after a few months of training, I think I'm getting pretty good; after one or two years, I realize how much I suck, and the real training begins.

On a final note, people frequently criticize Krav, saying you can't test the techniques in class at full speed in realistic situations. This is hard to address because, it's true, you can't elbow your training partner in the face full force, or kick them in the groin if they're not wearing a cup. Where I train, we do the best we can by doing some boxing/kickboxing sparring (with gloves, headgear, etc.) to practice movement, hitting moving targets and feeling what it's like to be hit, and by doing some of the Krav drills with attackers wearing protective suits so you can defend at full force.

If anyone has questions about Krav training, I'd be glad to try to answer them.

 

[bassboy]

Here's my .02

I've been training at a Krav Maga school for about a year now. On top of Krav Maga, we are trained in Muay Thai. My school also offers a grappling class once a week.

To me, this seems like the best way to go for self defense. Whoever thinks Krav doesn't teach ground fighting is mistaken. We don't do ground work as extensively as a BJJ school, but I don't think we need to. The ground fighting curriculum in Krav Maga Worldwide was developed by a BJJ black belt who put in the techniques he felt would be useful on the streets.

As far as sparring goes, everybody at my school spars after a few months. Theres no such thing as Krav Maga sparring really, because all of the strikes in Krav were taken from MT and boxing. So basically our sparring is similar to what you would see at a MT gym.

Its bascially a hybrid system that never claimed to be the originator of the techniques, they just wanted a universal system in the IDF.

I've trained with people that have used it successfully in the streets. Krav works, whether people like it or not. It gets a bad rep from its increased popularity. I'm sure there are tons of Krav McDojos out there, but when theres money to be made, thats what happens. The trick is to find a legit school, instructor, and put in the time. Remember, Krav Maga is a system entirely of techniques from BJJ, MT, Judo, Boxing, and some Aikido for joint manipulation.

As for the weapon defense, sure the risk you're going to be successful is low, especially against a knife. The best option is running, but sometimes that isn't an option. I'd rather have some idea of what to do then "wing" a knife fight. We learn knife fighting as well to learn how to properly use a knife (stances, strikes etc..). The club defenses seem the most effective to me. We train them full speed in class and I havn't been knocked out yet.

That's my take. Hopefully it sheds some light on Krav Maga.