Learning to fight – the Krav Maga way.

Our society often looks at fighting as being an uncivilized and brutal activity.  And in the wrong hands it certainly can be exactly that.  But in a correct environment, learning how to fight, or better put learning how to defend yourself and loved ones, is an essential skill that is unfortunately overlooked due to the stigma associated with it.  There are multiple benefits associated with learning a combat system. Besides the obvious benefits of self-defense and protection of others, there is the added benefit of health and fitness.  Additionally people that regularly train, see a boost of self-confidence that translates to not only self-defense, but also to other every day activities such as work, school or home.

So why do combat arts often get a bad reputation?  A lot of it comes from the type of environment a training facility creates to build fighters.  Currently most combat schools specialize in training fighters for the ring or the cage.  MMA, boxing or Muay Thai schools usually instill a highly competitive environment, where egos create a cutthroat atmosphere, and unfortunately students are too frequently thrown into a ring too early, leading to injuries, loss of confidence and ultimately loss of interest in training.  Additionally, ego driven, aggressive training can lead to more violence not only inside the ring, but also outside.

When Imi Lichtenfeld was developing Krav Maga, he saw a vision of a system that was easy to learn, easy to execute and accessible for all.  Unfortunately today lots of Krav Maga places do not share the same vision when it comes to teaching fighting.  Many Krav Maga schools have the same “be thrown in the deep end of the pool” mentality as many MMA schools when it comes to full contact training.  Only the strong survive, and if you quit you are seen as being too weak or too “soft”.  But the reality is you don’t have to be a professional fighter to be entitled to self-defense, and you certainly should not undergo the same type of training in order to learn how to protect yourself and loved ones.  Most Impact students are working professionals that cannot and should not take the same physical abuse a professional fighter would undergo to get ready for a bout.

Does that mean your training is inferior to what you get at an MMA school?  Far from it!  Learning how to fight should be no different than learning any other skill.  You don’t become a surgeon by immediately jumping into an operating room.  It takes schooling, training, and practice.  Same when it comes to learning how to protect yourself and loved ones.  Impact curriculum is designed to ensure that all can learn the essential skill of fighting. Our approach to teaching fighting is systematic, methodical and logical.  We build fighters over time; technically, physically and mentally.  We gradually push our students with every class to surpass their limits.  We strive to create a supportive, ego-free training environment where students are looking to help each other succeed, but remain humble and modest of their accomplishments, yet hungry for further training.  We’ve been lucky to have hundreds of students in the last three years that have shared our vision and passion for how Krav Maga is taught.  And their quality speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the school and the training program.