Stop the muggings, learn krav maga!

richyfingers · 23 Feb 2006 at 13:57

Since I’ve joined here I have noticed that there has been a fair number of mugging/people getting kicking threads, this sort of thing really gets me going, it happened to me when I was younger but luckily I didn’t have anything of value on me at the time.

Many of my friends have also suffered from random acts of violence, one was stabbed and one was hit with a hammer, both totally unprovoked. After my mate got stabbed I thought it was time to do something about it. I read an article in the news paper about a self defence system called Krav Maga.

It’s a practical and effective form of defence that works on the principles of your existing reactions to certain situations, i.e. someone throws a punch at you, generally you throw your arms up to protect yourself, Kav Maga builds upon this and shows you how to counter attack and deck your opponents by any means possible, its not pretty, it involves eye gouging, head buts, kicks/knees in the groin, basically anything goes. It originates from Israel and has been adopted by many armies and security forces due to its effective and easy to learn nature.

I’m halfway through my second course of this and I know I could defend myself and kick the carp out of anyone that tried to mug or pick a fight with me (it’s happened). Even doing a single course or the odd lesson now and then will give you basic techniques allowing you to effectively defend yourself. It’s a quick easy system to learn and it’s a good cardio workout too, I really would recommend it to anyone that was thinking about learning some sort of martial art or defence system.

Sorry for the longish post, got a bit carried away. You can read more about it by following the links below.

http://www.krav-maga.org.uk/
http://www.kravmagascotland.co.uk/Krav-Maga-Scotland.aspx

Greenlizard0 · 23 Feb 2006 at 14:07

I think the Israeli army developed it. And well....they're pretty hard men...

panthro · 23 Feb 2006 at 14:43

Krav Maga is an amazing system of defence. It was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, a Bratislavan refugee who moved to Israel, for the Israeli Army. Its ashame that there arent that many places outside London that teach it. I would love to take it up.
The Keysi Fighting Method is also a good self defence system that should also be considered. I study this and its applications and methods are very original but effective. Its the same art they used in Batman Begins.

http://www.keysikfm.com/

Pudney · 23 Feb 2006 at 14:48

Meh, I like my amalgamation of Nijutsu, Karate, Muay Thai and dirty street fighting.

ALLI · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:17

Learn some western boxing - for punching techniques
learn some muay thai - for conditioning
learn some judo for ground work

learn to spot trouble before it happens and remove yourself from the threat before it even becomes one

learn to run like linford.

theleg · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:20

It will be useful when you have to protect yourself in prison...because thats where you are going if you use it on the street...

Its a military doctrine and should be used as such...if some bloke goes to punch you and you gouge his eyes out and crush his throat, youre going to prison...

toy_soldier · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:23

I prefer the old windmill action, and remember, "if youve got any keys, stick em in ya hand and make them count!!!"

Why do people say things like j00 will end up in pris0n etc, what would you rather do stand there and get beat up.

Mic · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:26

The sad thing is, you probably would end up in prison for defending yourself, or a hefty fine for 'damages' to the poor victim(i.e Mugger!)

ALLI · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:27

i think your just as likely to damage yourself if you use your keys.

ive been doing muay thai for a few years now, and before that other arts. the BEST defence is to not be there in the first place.

theleg · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:27

-Mic- said:
The sad thing is, you probably would end up in prison for defending yourself, or a hefty fine for 'damages' to the poor victim(i.e Mugger!)

Its not a sad thing...Krav maga was designed to maim and kill as quickly as possibly..It is not a legitimate form of self defence for the streets of england...

AJUK · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:28

Do they teach you 'real world' defence stuff or the usual mix of choke defences and guns, as per the videos?

In a street fight or attack, people don't try to choke you from the front or use a downward stabbing action with a knife. They will, however, try to ram a pint pot into your face, stab you in the kidneys with a screwdriver or sucker punch you in the side of the head. Teach people to fight their way out of that and you have a good system.

I used to train in karate and know lots of people who were damn good at it but rubbish in a fight!.

mightynimrod · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:29

Balddog said:
Its not a sad thing...Krav maga was designed to maim and kill as quickly as possibly..It is not a legitimate form of self defence for the streets of england...

Bloody well should be the way things are going

Mic · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:30

Balddog said:
Its not a sad thing...Krav maga was designed to maim and kill as quickly as possibly..It is not a legitimate form of self defence for the streets of england...

I didnt mean this particulur form of self defence. But any defense.

richyfingers · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:31

Balddog said:
It will be useful when you have to protect yourself in prison...because thats where you are going if you use it on the street...

Its a military doctrine and should be used as such...if some bloke goes to punch you and you gouge his eyes out and crush his throat, youre going to prison...

You respond to threats with the appropriate action, I’m not going to gouge someone’s eyes out because they tried to punch me, on the other hand if someone is trying to stab me and I’m fighting for my life then I am going to do whatever is necessary to get out of that satiation, be it run away to seriously harm them.

Don’t mistake me for an idiot please Balddog, and as for being a military doctrine it can be just as easily applicable to civilian’s especially with the increase of stabbings and gun attacks.

Zip · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:31

This sounds like my type of fighting

If i get into a fight and all else fail, knee to the groin it is

richyfingers · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:36

Yes AJUK it is geared towards real life situations, you don’t learn katas or any other such nonsense which is going to be useless in street fight. I can personally vouch for the use of krav maga in a fight as I have actually been in a situation like that since learning it. The techniques are simple to learn and easily picked up.

ALLI said:
Learn some western boxing - for punching techniques
learn some muay thai - for conditioning
learn some judo for ground work

learn to spot trouble before it happens and remove yourself from the threat before it even becomes one

learn to run like linford.

Fair enough but think about the time and effort not to mention cost of learning each of these disciplines, krav maga has it all rolled into one. Also when punching someone your just as likely to break your own fingers and knuckles as you are breaking their jaw, krav maga teaches you to strike with palms, elbows, forearms and so on.

mightynimrod · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:38

Zip said:
This sounds like my type of fighting

If i get into a fight and all else fail, knee to the groin it is

You need to get quite close for that though.

I prefer to snap someones leg backwards - just pick em off while they're in pain on the floor or just leave them writhing in agony.

I also used to teach and know people that're very good in the class yet have come in beaten up after a weekend because they couldnt apply what was taught in everyday situations.

Anyone see Crimewatch last night? group of 4 lads absolutely kicking the bejeesus out of 1 lad on his own, sadly this is becoming more and more commonplace in our society - to have just a bit of knowledge from a martial art increases your awareness of potential trouble and hopefully can get you out of it.

I personally would use any method at my disposal if 4 guys were "after it"

regardless of the law.

ALLI · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:40

actually, if you learn katas correctly they will. katas were originally designed for defence against multiple opponants but the way they are taught now is more for gradings and displays.

anyway.... take a look at geoff thompson's instructional dvds, in particular

the fence
3 second fighter
real punching (all volumes)

Zip · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:43

Just out of interest.
If someone came up to you and started attacking you and you managed to drop them, would you kick them while they were down?
TBH if they attacked me i would kick them a few times then i would get out of there.(ive been a striker in soccer for about 8 or 9 years now and a few kicks from me will leave them in pain)

ALLI · 23 Feb 2006 at 15:45

why kick them when they are down? what if people see you doing this and they assume you're attacking him (which you are)

if you have to pre-empt or use force for defence then do what is necessary to enable you to get distance between yourself and the attacker, then get out of there. simple as.