Curt's Krav Maga Blog on Hiatus

Our Krav Maga training center will be on hiatus from December 24, 2008 until January 3, 2009. So... I'm going to do the same. Happy holidays! See you back here next year.

Potpourri of Krav Maga Techniques

Monday night’s class started out warming up with the Tombstone Pad. Your training partner held the pad in position for you to deliver straight punches, groin kicks, round kicks to the ribs, round kicks to the outer thigh and round kicks to the inner thigh.

When the warm up was over, we exchanged our Tombstone Pad for a Kicking Shield so that we could work on some kicking combinations. Your training partner was instructed to make sure that you kicked the shield often. There was to be no lag time. In addition, he/she was to move around and change angles as well as distances.

Drill #1
Starting with your lead leg; execute an offensive front kick followed by a rear leg round kick making contact with the ball of your foot in both cases.

Drill #2
Starting with your lead leg; execute an offensive front kick followed by a rear leg offensive front kick.

Drill #3
Starting with your rear leg; execute an offensive front kick followed by a side kick with the same leg.

Drill #4
This drill involved all three kicking combinations. Your training partner would call out a number representing the kicking combination that he/she wanted you to execute.

Note: Kicking combinations are very exhausting!

Drill #5
While facing your training partner, execute a Sweep with Heel Kick. In Judo, this is called an Osoto Gari. Essentially, you grab your opponent and off balance him/her so that most of his/her weight is on one leg. As you off balance your opponent, you sweep (kick) the back of his/her supporting leg with the back of your leg driving him/her to the ground.

Since Krav Maga is essentially a close quarters combat system, this particular sweep is a good finishing move after you’ve neutralized and weakened your opponent.

Drill #6
This drill covered the Sweep with Forward Kick. In Judo, this is called Kosoto Gari. Like the Sweep with Heel Kick, you grab your opponent and off balance him/her so that most of his/her weight is on one leg. However, this sweep is applied to your opponent’s foot rather than the leg.

You might use this sweep when the dynamics of the fight has taken you to a position at your opponent’s side, with you either facing perpendicular to him/her or facing the same way. Since there is less power in this sweep, you want to sweep the foot with the least amount of weight on it.

Drill #7
We defended against the Full Nelson in this drill. A Full Nelson is a hold in which the attacker… standing behind you… slides both arms under your armpits, then up behind your neck, clasping his/her hands together.

There are three Full Nelson defenses in the Krav Maga Worldwide curriculum: Leverage on Fingers, Forward Throw and Sweep. We practiced the Leverage on the Fingers defense. Of the three defenses, this one should be used first.

Drill #8
We finished the night by delivering combination kicks to our training partner. In between combination kicking, our training partner would attack us. We defended the attack, used combatives and then finished the defense with one of the sweeps we learned earlier.

Another great night of Krav Maga instruction!

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Seminar

Wednesday… groundfighting night… our training center had Adrian Fulk, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) instructor from Mat Santos’ Fighting Academy, conduct a 2-hour BJJ seminar. Adrian is also a Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) competitor with four wins and no losses to his record.

Our groundfighting night is a mixture of the grappling arts that can enhance our Krav Maga groundfighting skills. BJJ… tweaked for Krav Maga… is a large part of the curriculum. Adrian’s style of BJJ complements Krav Maga’s groundfighting very nicely.

We started the night off with warm-up wrestling. Warm-up wrestling is wrestling without applying submission holds to your partner, e.g., arm bars, chokes, etc. When warm-up wrestling, you try to improve your position. For example, if you re in a bottom position, you try to get to a top position or if you re in a side mount position, you try to get to a top mount position.

Adrian’s first lesson was on head and arm control of your opponent when he/she is in your closed guard. If you watch any BJJ sparring, you will see that the combatants spend most of their time in one of the following positions:

1. Guard
2. Side Mount
3. Knee Mount
4. Mount
5. Rear Mount
6. Turtle

Of these six positions, the Guard has three basic subcategories:

1. Closed Guard
2. Open Guard
3. Half Guard

Adrian’s next lesson was on transitioning from the Closed Guard position to the Triangle Choke. He then showed us how to apply the Triangle Choke and then transition to a Straight Arm Bar. Next, he showed us how to apply the Straight Arm Bar. It’s a beautiful Plan A to Plan B move.

In BJJ, for every technique that is applied there is a counter move to that technique and then a counter to the counter. If your opponent senses that a Triangle Choke or Straight Arm Bar is imminent, he/she may try a counter move. So, Adrian showed us a nice little move that sweeps your opponent when he/she tries to thwart your attack.

We ended the last half-hour of the seminar by wrestling (sometimes called rolling). Partners were switched every 2 minutes with a 30 seconds rest in between matches.

The seminar was a lot of fun. During the wrestling matches, it was great to see everyone applying the techniques that Adrian had taught earlier. Once again, the benefit of live grappling.

Sports Specific Fight Gone Bad Circuit

Monday night we put on our shin guards and put our mouth pieces in and then partnered up. We started with stomping kicks, i.e., front kicks, side kicks and back kicks.

Drill #1
Kick your partner… using the aforementioned kicks… while your partner is stationary.

Drill #2
Kick your partner… using the aforementioned kicks… while your partner moves around.

Drill #3
Add to Drill #2 by starting with an aforementioned kick and then follow up with additional combatives (punches, elbows, knees, kicks).

Drill #4

• Practice inside defenses (defenses that redirect a straight attack away from its intended target).
• Practice 360° outside defenses (defenses against attacks coming at you from an angle).
• Practice bearhugs.

Drill #5
Be prepared to defend yourself against three individuals that are approaching you at different angles. You can only make a defense if attacked. You cannot initiate an attack.

Drill #6 was the “Sports Specific Fight Gone Bad” circuit.” B.J. Penn puts himself through this circuit a few times before an upcoming fight. The idea of the circuit is to simulate an upcoming fight.

First, decide how many rounds you’re going to do and how long they’re going to be. Next, you decide which drills to include in your rounds. Finally, assign drills to your training partners. For example, let’s say that you’re going to do a 4-minute round. You’ll need to gather up four training partners and assign a drill to each one of them.

Begin the round with Training Partner #1. As he/she goes all out to accomplish his/her goal, you go all out to accomplish your goal. You do this for one minute. The instant that minute is up, Training Partner #2 jumps in and you attempt to achieve your second goal for one minute. Continue with Training Partners #3 and #4. Remember, you’re still sparring as hard as you normally would; the only difference is you’re trying to accomplish a specific goal.

Our instructor put together the following 4-minute “Krav Maga Specific Fight Gone Bad” round for Drill #6:

• Training Partner #1: - Straight punches
• Training Partner #2: - Punches at angles
• Training Partner #3: - Bearhugs
• Training Partner #4: - Level 1 chokes

The trick with running the “Sports Krav Maga Specific Fight Gone Bad” circuit is not getting discouraged. Each minute you will be facing a training partner who is fresh, so expect to pretty much get dominated as time goes on. The goal of the circuit is to push yourself past your limits and develop mental and physical stamina.

Rock'em Sock'em Robots

Thursday night’s Krav class was fun. It was very similar to interval training. Starting in full protective fighting gear - here’s how it went:

• Do light sparring, but in a "Rock’em Sock’em Robots" fashion. In other words, there was no defense, only offense. And, the offense had to be continuous for 4 minutes.
  
  
• Do Level 1 defenses against various two-handed chokes.
  
  
• Deliver punches and kicks to your stationary partner. I always find this to be very unnerving because as the stationary partner, you aren’t allowed to defend or strike back. As you stand there observing the punches and kicks coming at you, the striker is practicing hitting vulnerable targets on your body.
  
  
• Do Level 2 defenses against the bar arm choke, carotid choke, headlock and various bear hugs.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 3 minutes.
  
  
• Do Level 1 and 2 defenses.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 3 minutes.
  
  
• Do handgun defense from the front.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 3 minutes.
  
  
• Do handgun defense from the back.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 3 minutes.
  
  
• Do handgun defense from the side, behind the arm.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 3 minutes.
  
  
• Do handgun defense from the side, in front of the arm.
  
  
• Do light sparring for 4 minutes.
  
  
• Bow out of class.
  
  

Phew! I survived another of Ms. K’s classes.

Krav Maga’s Basic Front Kicks

The Front Kick is one of the most versatile tools in your striking arsenal. Some have compared it to a jab in boxing – used first to find your range and/or set up your opponent for a finishing technique.

Regular Front Kick (Groin Kick)
From a fighting stance, swing the rear leg forward and upward with the knee bent. As the hip of the kicking leg comes forward, the knee extends out. Pivot your base foot slightly and strike through the groin with your instep or the lower part of your shin. Recoil your leg immediately after making contact. Place your foot down in front of you or back into a fighting stance.

This is the first kick you learn in Krav Maga. When the kick lands correctly, it is very damaging and can end a fight.

Front Kick to a Vertical Target
From a fighting stance, swing the rear leg forward with the knee bent. As the hip of the kicking leg comes forward, punch the foot, leg and hip straight out. Make sure that the bones in the foot, ankle and lower leg are in a straight line to provide support to the ball of the foot when you execute the kick. Pivot your base foot slightly and while driving forward, strike through the target with the ball of your foot. Recoil your leg immediately after making contact. Place your foot down in front of you or back into a fighting stance.

The Front Kick to a Vertical Target is a penetrating kick that is made to the midsection or chest. A greater amount of force is used when striking your intended target with a smaller surface area. Let’s say that you can deliver 100 lbs. of force to your target, and that the surface area of the ball of your foot is 2 square inches. If you strike the target correctly with the ball of your foot, you will be delivering 50 lbs. of pressure per square inch.

However, if you strike the target with the entire bottom of your foot, which has a surface area of 20 square inches, then you would be striking your target with 5 lbs of pressure per square inch. When you strike the target with a large surface area, you are dissipating the force over a wider surface area resulting in a push rather than a penetrating impact.

Defensive Front Kick
From a fighting stance, swing the rear leg forward with the knee bent. As the hip of the kicking leg comes forward, punch the foot, leg and hip straight out. Pivot your base foot slightly and while driving forward, strike through the target with the entire bottom of your foot. Recoil your leg immediately after making contact. Place your foot down in front of you or back into a fighting stance.

The Defensive Front Kick is used to stop an advancing opponent or to push a close opponent to a greater distance.

A Front Kick can be an excellent offensive or defensive weapon. When executed properly and delivered to a vulnerable target, it can devastate an opponent.

Applying a Shoulder Choke

Chokes are applied to the wind pipe thereby restricting air intake or to the carotid arteries thereby restricting blood flow to the brain. Both are quite formidable when applied properly.

In our last groundfighting class, we were introduced to a shoulder choke that is sometimes called an arm triangle. In Judo, it is called a Kata Gatame. When using this choke, your opponent’s arm restricts blood flow on one side of his/her neck and you use an arm to restrict blood flow on the other side of his/her neck. You want to make sure that your opponent's arm is trapped between your head and his/hers.

The choke can be used when you are on your back and your opponent is on top of you in full mount. If it is not effective from that position, you can sweep your opponent to their back and apply the choke from a side mount position.

Our instructor demonstrated the choke using a gable (palm-to-palm) grip. My preference is to use a reverse lever. For example, if my right arm is around my opponent’s neck, I place my right hand on my left forearm. I then move my left hand up to the side of my head and squeeze. I get a much tighter choke this way.

Now… for a street fight, I wouldn’t take the time to choke someone out. I will follow my Krav Maga principles. There is always the possibility of the person pulling out an edged weapon while we’re rolling around on the ground. In addition, the person may be a part of a group that decides to join in the fray. However, if he―hopefully, I won’t be fighting a woman―is my only adversary and my only concern is controlling him, I might opt for the choke. The situation will ultimately dictate my actions.

Scenario-Based Training at Its Best

Scenario-based training engages all three learning domains (cognitive, psychomotor, and affective), is interactive and dynamic, and requires time-pressured decisions. Learning within the domains enables students to understand a concept, perform a task, or alter a behavior.

Cognitive (Knowledge)
Cognition is a general concept that refers to all forms of knowing, including perceiving, imagining, reasoning, and judging. It is the foundation for the other two domains. Cognition enables a person to apply knowledge (what) to perform a task or skill (how) and understand and accept the reasoning (why) behind the basic concept.

Psychomotor (Skills)
Psychomotor refers to skills involving knowledge learned through the senses that is applied to physical movement. Learning is developed through repeated practice of the skill.

Affective (Attitude)
Affective learning involves how individuals deal with issues emotionally and includes traits like individual awareness and values.

Okay… enough about effective learning.

Last night’s class began with warm-up drills involving:

• Controlling and moving an attacker
• Controlling and moving an attacker while counterattacking
• Controlling and moving an attacker while defending against body strikes
• Defending against a knife threat, bursting forward diagonally delivering a front kick to the groin, and then escaping

Here are last night’s scenarios.

Side-by-Side Scenario
For this scenario, we had to have our eyes closed. We couldn’t open our eyes until the attacker said, “Hey!” At that point, we would then know who was being threatened.

Your significant other, friend, etc. is standing beside you. An attacker approaches threatening with a knife. Who makes the defense? Do you both make the defense? If you’re trained, but the knife isn’t pointed toward you and your partner isn’t trained, do you make the defense?

Hostage Scenario
Your significant other, friend, etc. is taken as a hostage at knifepoint. The assailant is backing away from you with him/her. What do you do? Do you try to de-escalate the situation by talking to the assailant? Do you throw your wallet or any other valuables in the direction of the assailant? Do you rush the assailant?

Two Attackers Scenario
In this scenario, we were attacked by two knife wielding assailants. I had fun with this one. I moved myself into a position where attacker #1 was blocking attacker #2. I immediately neutralized attacker #1 and then I used him as a shield against attacker #2. While I was controlling attacker #1 and using him as a shield, I was able to deliver a sidekick to the liver of attacker #2 driving him back. I then drove attacker #1 to the ground using a wristlock. I disarmed him and then terminated him. The termination was a no no since I had eliminated the threat once I put the assailant on the ground. I got a little carried away. I didn’t get a chance to finish off attacker #2 because it was time to change roles in the scenario.

The Shadow Scenario
This scenario had your partner holding a knife with his back towards you. Whichever direction he moved, you had to follow (shadow) him. Picture a NFL football game with a defensive cornerback shadowing an offensive wide receiver. At some point, your partner turned and attacked you with the knife. It was very stressful. Because of my proximity to my partner and the swiftness of his attack, it was hard to judge his angle of attack. One of my defenses was jamming the knife against his body and driving him to the ground. Hitting the ground took the wind out of him and allowed me to disarm him and do a little ground and pound. The technique is not at the top of my list for defenses, but it worked under the circumstances.

Our lead instructor explained that you’re going to find yourself in certain situations that are a bit different from in class. He stated that you’re not going to be able to go to “the book” and find the technique for that particular situation. That’s why Krav Maga is a system of principles and not techniques.

Anytime you’re involved in a confrontation, look at it like a pool game. Every time you shoot a game of pool, the balls are not going to line up the same way. You’re going to make shots that you have probably never made before. The shots may look the same, but they are off just a fraction of an inch. As in pool, you need to understand the underlining principles. Then you’ll be able to improvise like a Jazz musician and suit the scene perfectly.