Steps to take when choosing a Krav Maga school (Part 2)

   I’m writing this because the average person here in the States barely knows what Krav Maga is, and if they do know, they aren’t really familiar with what to look for when choosing a school. And so I would like to share a little about my thoughts as a Krav Maga practitioner that I think would help you when searching for a Krav Maga school to train in.

   In Part 1 of this two-part article, we covered the first step of what to look for when choosing a Krav Maga school; which is to evaluate your motives for learning the system. (If you missed part 1 of the series feel free to click Steps to Take when Choosing a Krav Maga School (Part 1)) This month, in part 2 of this series, we will focus on ways to ensure that the school and the instructors you choose represent Krav Maga well and will provide you with the best possible training.

2. Look at the instructors and have some criteria for them.

   This is a super important one! Don’t take class from just anyone. Regardless of what federation you are in, or where you are learning your Krav Maga from, make sure that your instructor is a good one. Like anything else there are good and bad Krav Maga instructors in every federation and around the world. So, it’s best to be able to look at your instructors individually and make sure they are a good person to be taking class from. Rank, federation, experience, are not as important as the quality of the instructors themselves. So here is some criteria to have for your Krav Maga instructor:

a). They must be good at Krav Maga. Seems obvious enough, but this includes:

• Staying true to Krav Maga principles (self defense on the streets, not competition in the ring)
• Having good movement
• Having good striking
• Having correct technique (stuff that actually works on the streets)

b). Have an understanding of the system. Krav Maga is not just a collection of techniques, but is a principle driven system, which must be first understood in order to be taught correctly. Nothing is ever going to go down exactly as you practiced, so understanding principles allows you to adapt to the unknown and effectively and safely defend yourself in any situation. Pay attention to what the instructor teaches and see if it makes sense in the context of the streets and stays true to the principles of Krav Maga.

c). They must be able to communicate their understanding to the students. If the teacher understands the system and is proficient at it himself, but cannot communicate it and teach it in an understandable and safe way, then they are not a good teacher. That’s also pretty simple, but you’d be surprised at how many people will take classes from someone just because they look cool, and in the end they don’t learn anything because it was not properly communicated.

3. Pay attention to the motives of the instructors.

   Is your safety on the streets and your ability to defend yourself the instructors’ top priority? Because it should be. Unfortunately it is often not, and some instructors spend more time boasting about how good they are and how they are better at teaching Krav Maga then the rest because they have had a couple of competitive fights or because they were in the military and therefore must have firsthand experience and better understanding of violence. This in my opinion, is just their ego talking. First of all, any instructor who has a big ego is not going to be as good of an instructor because it will interfere with their teaching at some point. Second of all, professional fighting, military experience, those are all showy marketing topics that aren’t necessary for a Krav Maga instructor to have. I also think that these instructors are missing the point of Krav Maga when they make a huge point to make these experiences the top assets of their teaching. Self defense is a topic in its own, and having experiences in the ring or behind a gun, does not make you an expert at self defense or better at teaching it. Furthermore, understanding controlled violence in the context of the ring, or extreme violence on the battlefield, is far different then understanding the violence an average person may face in the street where there is no referee to stop the fight, or when there is no firearm or a team of trained soldiers backing you up when things go bad.

Similarly beware of instructors whose top priority is to play a lot of pretend and make you feel really cool. If they do a lot of fancy, showy, complicated moves, be cautious. Krav Maga is a simple system, the more complicated, fancy things you add to it, the less it is Krav Maga and the more it is nonsense. Pay attention to the instructor’s motives and don’t choose anyone who doesn’t have your safety as their top priority.

4. Make sure the Krav Maga school teaches and emphasizes good striking and sparring.

   I cannot stress this enough, self defense without good striking is useless. Your striking is part of your defense. You should be taught proper striking, distances and mechanics so that you can effectively neutralize your attacker when necessary. Self defense is not a bunch of magical techniques where all you have to do is release or defend the attack and you’re good to go. You must be able to defend and attack (sometimes at the same time) in order to be successful. Striking is part of your defense and is something you are going to have to practice a lot of. It is an integral part of knowing how to defend yourself so make sure that striking is something your Instructors and Krav Maga School emphasizes. It is the difference between someone who can realistically defend themselves and someone who can’t. This goes for women as well! Make sure your instructor is teaching you and emphasizing proper striking.

    Sparring goes hand in hand with proper striking and is a great way to test and practice your skills. It is important to practice fighting in an environment that is unpredictable and where you do not know what your partner is going to be doing next. It improves your reflexes, decision making and response time. It is also good to practice what it feels like to make contact with your strikes and actually punch someone. Likewise, it is necessary to feel and get used to being hit by someone else. It doesn’t mean you should be hitting or getting hit full force. This can be achieved by practicing sparring at 30 or 40% of the power of your full strike. When sparring you should be able to effectively train without constant injuries. The point is to train and get better, not to beat each other up.

   So there it is, these are some of things that I think you should look at and think about when choosing a Krav Maga School.

1. Make sure Krav Maga is the right system for you.
2. Make sure there is a good instructor at the school and have some criteria for them to match up to.
3. Check the instructors motives.
4. Make sure they teach good striking and sparring.

Hope to see you on the mats!

 

by Shannon W.

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.