What to look for in a good krav school?

Discussion in 'Other Styles' started by 8limbs38112, Nov 11, 2014.

  1. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    Right now I train jiu jitsu. And later I want to crosstrain in another style. I was thinking krav maga. I was wondering what I should look for in a GOOD Krav school. Are there any krav people here that can help me out?
     
  2. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    What sort of jiu jitsu?
     
  3. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    Brazilian Jiu Jiustu.
     
  4. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    I dunno man, I guess, what are the reasons you're attracted to Krav Maga? I guess I'd look for the same things that I look at in any other school: live training, at least a few members who compete and compete well, maybe some good scenario training akin to JWTs stuff. Krav's always kinda struck me as Ameridote-esque though.
     
  5. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    I'm attracted to krav maga because it has Knife and gun disarm defenses. And I watched some videos and it looks really neat. Otherwise I would just continue with muay thai as a second art but it is absent of weapon defenses. I'm just asking because I read that there are alot of bad schools so I want to make sure that when I do look for a school to train at, I will know what to look for.
     
  6. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Yeah, they look really cool. I'm always skeptical as to what sort of a percentage they'd be successful at and whether that's improved by consistently training those techniques.
     
  7. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    Just from what I've gathered, krav maga focused on law enforcement goes pretty well with BJJ.

    Krav maga focused on military is sort of the anti-BJJ :)rolleyes:) because they do a lot of biting (such as the biting the thumb off and ripping the throat) for example. I'm not making fun of this stuff, I'm serious. I still kind of have scars from rolling with one guy that just lightly was using biting so not to break the skin.
     
  8. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    [​IMG]
     
  9. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    How does one kind of have a scar? It seems like you either have one or don't. Seriously, what does a kind of scar look like compared to a regular scar?:confused:
     
  10. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    The scars were the shape of the bite marks. I only see two teeth mark scars now, the other ones have faded so I barely can see they are still there or are gone. I think it has been about seven years.
     
  11. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    through the use of gifs we have accurately described krav maga. :evil:
     
  13. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    Regardless of your intention, I have to say, this is not exactly a ringing endorsement for Krav Maga.

    I hope (and rather suspect) that it has more to offer than biting.

    I am honestly rather dubious of a claim of biting a thumb off or biting into and ripping someone's throat easily and doing so in a self defense scenario in an effective way.

    Not to mention the sort of sparring where one "lightly" scars their sparring / workout partner by biting them.

    I don't know much of anything about this style, but I know enough about MA's to recommend that the OP look for a Krav Maga school that is not like this sort of scenario.

    No offense meant Rebel, but I had to speak up about these concepts.
     
  14. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Plus the hygiene issue. If you're going to engage in that sort of training, it's a real good idea to test for STDs and blood borne pathogens beforehand.
     
  15. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    There is a lot more than biting. I didn't train with the guy to learn about biting, although he did teach me a few things. That's why I mentioned law enforcement focus krav maga being a good complement to BJJ, versus military focused krav maga which got more into battlefield combat conditions that included biting as well as fighting while bullets are flying overhead (e.g. staying low to the ground) and grabbing live blades with your hand.

    Okay that was kind of a run on dump of a bunch of training topics that we went over. Not all krav maga training is equal or as indepth. But they all have common principles around being free to attack in any way and attack at all times (e.g. no predetermined combinations or set ups).
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2014
  16. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    No kidding.

    We train biting but not that way for the exact same reasons. We use biting as the same as pinching. Always biting through clothes and not to break the skin.

    The krav maga guy was just demonstrating the use of battlefield stuff when we rolled because I was curious what kind of training they did. Some different stuff than I was used to, particularly stuff like the keeping low to the ground when rolling to avoid snipers or stray bullets.
     
  17. mdgee

    mdgee Valued Member

    I can give you a few tips. First, and this depends on where you live, find out where the instructor received his training. In the U.S., for example, there are only a handful of good, true, KM instructors and they're not all in one area. Most of those instructors are either Israeli, or they trained in Israel. Personally, after studying in Israel for a short time and studying in the U.S. I have learned to stay away from most of the instructors certified under Darren Levine. This is because it is his organization, that has become lax in getting proper instruction out to everyone.

    Then you have a few schools that are IKMF (Intl KM Federation) that should be avoided too. This is not to say that you won't find a second gen instructor who learned from a great instructor, but all the KM instructors I've seen here in the states are crap. Even the BB I studied with for a year didn't know half of the moves I showed him in private. Why? Because many of the self defense moves taught to people in Israel were removed from the curriculum that Imi Lichtenstein handed to Darren Levine. So, train with an Israeli instructor if you can. If you live in So Cal I can recommend one of the best. In fact, he was so disgusted with the state of KM that he started teaching KM his own way. If you can find someone who was taught by Roy you will be that much better a student.

    In other words, find someone who isn't just handing out belts. If you've taken any other martial art you probably know how to spot them.

    http://kravmagala.com/
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2014
  18. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    thanks for the input.
     
  19. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

  20. mdgee

    mdgee Valued Member

    One more thing that I should have mentioned. If you can find an instructor that wants to gain as much information as possible to keep you safe, like an instructor who has trained across lines with American KM and Israeli KM then you've got a teacher that is concerned with your safety. This is a good instructor because he knows that there is no perfect martial art.
     

Share This Page