The Truth About Krav Maga: Pros, Cons, and Real Self-Defense Training Explained

 

Today I'm going to talk about the truth about Krav Maga and if you should learn this for self-defense. I'm going to cover the pros and the cons.

What is Krav Maga?

Krav Maga, as most people know it, is the Israeli martial art, even though it's not really a martial art but it's the Israeli self-defense system taught to people in the IDF, the Israeli military, and been around for a good amount of time. And you know Krav Maga is everywhere in the U.S. and all over the world.

The Original Purpose of Krav Maga

So here's what maybe a lot of people don't realize: Krav Maga was initially created for people going out in the field, people going to the military. So they say, "Hey, you got two weeks to train these guys to know how to do hand-to-hand combat, to know how to fight empty hands and in worst case scenario give the best of the best." That's what most fighting systems are when it comes to the government, meaning whether it's the U.S. government, the Israelis, same thing. When I was trained, they didn't say, "Hey, we got 10 years to make these guys a super ninjutsu black belt and let's train for eight hours a day for 10 years." They say, "No, you've got a couple weeks, couple months in some cases, but really not a tremendous amount of time. So you've got to say, "All right, here's the quick and dirty of what you need to know if you have to go empty handed, if you have to go hands-on with somebody and you know you're not using your gun, whatever kind of thing." So that is what Krav Maga was initially created for. All right, again, you got two weeks or whatever and then you're off.

The Commercialization of Krav Maga

It's funny, I was just talking to an Israeli guy, he was in the Israeli military, he now runs a school. I'm not gonna name his name because he may not want me to name him for privacy purposes, but we were talking about this and he was saying like, "Oh yeah, I can't believe how, you know, Krav Maga has gotten so crazy and turning this belt system and all this." Like, "I remember Krav Maga for what it was, is, 'Hey, you've got two weeks to learn this stuff to learn how to kill a man with your bare hands or whatever and then you're off.'" But of course, when people own or open Krav Maga studios, dojos, gyms, whatever you want to call them, they obviously want to make money. Hey, I'm a capitalist, I don't mind that. And so they created belt systems and then they have to keep you going for a year, two years, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

The Benefits of Consistent Training (and the Truth About Belt Systems)

So the good part of that is, is that you're getting muscle memory. Meaning, I have plenty of friends who own Krav Maga gyms, who own all kinds of self-defense gyms, and the people that go all the time, yes, you're going to build more muscle memory, all that type of stuff, which is a plus. But the belt systems they introduce just to keep people going and going, going. So I'm not, you know, if you get it, great, but you don't need to have a belt system. I'm not a Krav Maga black belt, I'm not a Krav, you know, I'm not a whatever black belt, because you don't really need that. That's the dirty little secret.

Real-World Effectiveness vs. Sport Rules

So if you know the quick, again, I keep saying it, the quick and dirty moves, that's all you need because that's what real people use. That's what real people in the trenches use, whether it's the military, intelligence operatives, so on. They don't learn things like you can't use in tournaments, like, "Okay, you're not allowed to punch this guy in the throat, you're not allowed to headbutt him, you're not allowed to elbow him." So when you're in that sporting competition or tournament, you can't do all these things. That's not what is practical, that's not what goes in the real world, obviously, which is that's not how I was trained.

The Importance of Individualized Techniques

So another important thing to learn and remember is because there's all types of people now training Krav Maga and everybody's got their instructor they trained under, like, "Hey, I learned under XYZ ninja master and I learned under this ninja master," is they all do things differently. So they may have a gun disarm a certain way, a knife disarm. The way I learned is a gun disarm that is totally different than anything taught in Krav Maga, and you can go find gun disarm video and see that. Same thing for knife disarm. I learned knife disarm is one way, totally different from Krav Maga. There's a million and one ways to skin the cat. The most important things are what works best for you, what can you execute the easiest, what is most comfortable for you.

Simplicity and Practicality

The other thing is, is what is actually going to work? So I have seen guys that have gone so far down the rabbit hole in Krav Maga, they're like, "You do this spinning kick and then you do this, this, this, this and 30 moves later that's when you do the gun disarm." Clearly that's not practical when it comes to life and death and self-defense. It's got to be simple to execute and it's got to be fast. So there are those in Krav Maga, but I have seen people again who've just gone way again, not for lack of a better word, down the rabbit hole where they're doing this gun disarms or like, "Nobody in the right, you know, that's never gonna happen, that's impossible. Like you show me that 10 times and I don't even remember all the moves you do kind of thing."

Finding What Works for You

So is it realistic? Could it work? If it works, then guess what? Meaning you're not gonna get shot, you're not gonna get a stab, an innocent bystander next to you's not gonna get shot or stabbed, then use it. So there's more than one way to do a gun disarm, there's more than one way to do a nice disarm, there's more than one way to do a punch, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Find out what becks worse, becks came to speak today, find out what works best for you.

The Danger of Dogmatic Teaching 

Also another thing to be aware of, when I train people at our 320-acre spy ranch, I say, "Hey, here's how I was trained by the CIA, here's what I know some of the best guys in the world use, here's what I use and what works for me. But if you don't love it, don't use it. I'm only going to show you, it's my opinion, take it or leave it." So I've seen some of these guys from Krav Maga be like, "All right, this is the only way to do it. You can't do any other way. And by the way, I invented this." I love when they say that, "I invented this and it's the, you know, Jason Smith gun disarm spinning flip cake thing." Always be aware of somebody that says they invented it or whether they put their name behind it.

Humility in Teaching Self-Defense

All of us who do this stuff, we're very, very blessed to learn from others, to be trained by awesome agencies, so we didn't invent it. We've taken it, we made it, trying to make it easier and simpler and better, but we didn't invent it. That's another thing, going back to this conversation I have with the Israeli friend of mine who is very well trained, was to say what exactly what he did is he was talking about the stuff when he was doing training, he's like, "I didn't invent this stuff. I mean, I try and make it better, but yeah, you know, none of us invented it." So beware guys that do that.

Krav Maga's Place in Self-Defense

All right, I think that about covers it. So figure out if you like Krav Maga or not. For all the stuff out there, self-defense, yes, it's definitely one of the better ones. But remember, it needs to be quick, fast, and easy. If you want to train to get your black belt, you want to train for the next two years, by all means, it's not going to hurt you. But just realize, gotta be simple, gotta be easy. If some guy's showing you too many moves, it is not going to work in real life. I think that covers it.