A Krav Maga Experience…

In this latest article we wanted to share with you an experience from one of our students, Shannon, who has recently traveled to Israel where she spent a month training Krav Maga. Specifically she wanted to share her views about a training session she experienced abroad that involved a women only group, and how that type of training compared to how we train women and men back here at Impact.
A little background on Shannon. Shannon has been training with us for nearly three years. She is very dedicated to Krav Maga and has lately been involved in teaching the women’s courses, as well as other workshops, private and small group classes at Impact.
Please feel free to share your thoughts about her article.
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When recently traveling to train Krav Maga in Israel, I participated in a “women’s only” training. I must first say that I am not against women’s only training in Krav Maga; providing that it is either a beginner course to help women eventually transfer into a co-ed class, or it is teaching attacks that women are specifically more likely to encounter in life. Otherwise I see no advantage to training in a women’s only environment. And I am going to put one more stipulation on this “women’s only” training; the techniques being taught must be the same Krav Maga techniques that everyone else is being taught without principles being compromised and limitations being placed on fighting tactics and abilities. Since we routinely run a women’s only Krav Maga course here at Impact, I was curious to experience this similar type of training session during my training abroad. Unfortunately what I experienced was very different than what the training is like back at home.

The training session I attended was taught by a female international team member to a group of women who had already been routinely training Krav Maga for some time. What I was being taught during this training session really concerned me. What struck me is that we were taught that we as women cannot throw a knockout punch and therefore should not bother punching at all in our defenses. This was in the context of hair grabs and hair pulls. Instead, we were instructed to be “ferocious” by scratching our attacker in the face, and screaming. Things that we were told are more natural for a woman to do (debatable in my mind). We were also taught to go for the eyes and how to clasp your hands over the attackers’ ears in order to disorient them. Don’t get me wrong, screaming, scratching, hitting cupped hands on the ears, fingers to the eyes, these are all options, and having more options is always appreciated. The idea of striking someone to the eyes is a very good one, and this is something that is frequently mentioned as an option in our classes at Impact, but always as an option, and never taught as, you should do this instead of… fill in the blank. In this particular training session there was way too much emphasis put on scratching your attacker in the face and clasping your hands over their ears as the primary weapon of choice INSTEAD of punching or striking! Let me say that again, scratching and clawing to the face were emphasized and instructed for women to do instead of punching.

I could not believe what I was being taught. The women participating in this training session were discouraged from punching to the face because “girls cannot throw a knockout punch”. I have so many problems with this. #1 Who are you to say a woman cannot throw a knockout punch? This is a false statement, simply look at female boxers and MMA fighter to be proven otherwise. #2 Even if the majority of women, (hmm, how about the majority of people in general?) cannot throw a knockout punch, who says that my punch has to be a one punch knockout? I have never been taught in Krav Maga that one strike will be enough. If I choose to punch it will always be followed by more combatives. By throwing more punches, by throwing knees, by kicking. Why is it necessary to have a knockout punch if I am following up with more combatives? This is Krav Maga, no one ever assumes they can knock out their attacker in one strike. Male or female, it would be foolish to think you could do so. Your reasoning in not teaching women how to punch does not line up with Krav Maga principles or beliefs. #3 Why, would you ever limit your students? I am all for adding options to my fighting, but why take away options? Especially without seeing what the people you are teaching are capable of. Scratching and screaming may not be enough to get me out of the attack. Do not take away an option that could save my life! Why would you limit me in my training as a woman and take away options I have in a fight? Why is this something that is only being taught to women and why is it acceptable? Any person when confronted with a life threatening situation may find they need to punch, kick, knee, scratch, bite, scream, and do anything and everything necessary to get away. This is what Krav Maga is and if you aren’t teaching me how to punch, you aren’t teaching me Krav Maga. #4 If you think a woman cannot punch, teach her. This is your job as an instructor. Sure, it may be easier to teach how to scratch then it is to teach proper punching mechanics, but a good instructor should teach you all and not just what’s easiest. The instructor’s job is to empower, to impart knowledge, and to build a fighter capable of defending themselves. Not to take opportunities away from us because of a preconceived notion that I as a woman can or cannot do something because of my gender. Should a male student be limited in his learning because he is smaller and potentially weaker than the average male? Everyone should be expected to perform at their best, regardless of size, gender, or strength. Expect the best from the students, push them to reach their personal best, and you will be amazed at how they can reach and even surpass what they thought they could do. This is what Krav Maga is all about, giving everyone the same chance to be able to walk in peace knowing that they can protect themselves and their loved ones. There should not be any limiting of what human beings can do to defend their lives except whatever weaknesses they have personally. Watering Krav Maga down for us and babying us is doing nothing but making us weaker, more limited, and in reality, discriminating against us.

As I said in the beginning, I am not against women’s only training in Krav Maga. But it must be taught correctly otherwise it could do more harm than good. I have been training with Impact for over 2 and a half years and in the last year I have been very involved in assisting in teaching the women’s courses. Here we teach the same techniques that are taught in the co-ed classes and I’ve watched so many of the women benefit from being trained this way. Many of them end up in our regular classes, where they are taught in a non-discriminatory environment and continue to thrive in their training. This is the approach we take with instructing women and men for that manner in all our classes. We create an encouraging and supportive environment with no limitations placed on the students. In a supportive way we push each individual to reach their personal best. In this approach I have seen students of all different backgrounds surprise themselves and those around them at what they could achieve in their training simply because no one told them they couldn’t. Instead they were pushed to train hard and get better every time. We are all taught to do anything and everything we can with our own abilities, with no rules and no limitations placed on us in order to defend ourselves. I am continuously amazed at both the physical and mental strength that come out of our students when they are taught Krav Maga in this manner. It is truly amazing. Krav Maga is a wonderful system. It is training where everyone is learning to defend themselves starting from a place of disadvantage. And if taught this way, we can learn amazing life saving skills no matter what age, gender, strength or size.