COED Presents: Krav Maga

Having grown up in a fairly ghetto part of Chicago and being a 6′3, 245 lb black guy, I always feel like I have the “intimidation factor” in a fight. I honestly and truly believed that, until I got my ass kicked today by a 5′6, 150 lb little white Israeli guy.

Yael, an officer in the Isaeli Army, beat me mercilessly using the technique of Krav Maga. In this part of my schooling at Anapolis we are learning different kinds of fighting techniques and styles, and I already have a strong history in Tae Kwon Do and Karate. A reasonable person would think that this knowledge would give me an advantage.

That reasonable person would actually be out of his motherfu**ing mind.

Krav Maga was designed before WW2 as a way for the Jews to protect them selves from the Germans. It is designed for close quarter, urban combat. Generally speaking, you can rely on different martial arts to focus on different disciplines. Akido utilizes energy transference, Kung Fu utilizes form and positions, Tae Kwon Do has great technical and arial kicks; Krav Maga utilizes your ability to be bat shit insane and pissed off at the world. You goal is to focus that rage and discipline against your opponent.

Krav Maga will have you search and isolate an opponents weaknesses with constant and brutal force. Unlike MMA, the eyes, groin, and back of the head is fair game and actually encouraged. There is limited angle work as far as strikes, but the key is overwhelming your opponent with strategically placed, focus, and quick strikes. If you are a grappler, avoid fighting someone with Krav Maga, because the moment you hit the ground – yo’ ass is DONE son!

I thought there would be different disciplines of strikes and holds, but it is not the case at all. Krav Maga is essentially a fighting discipline. It assumes that you already know how to punch and kick, utilize basic hip throws, and utilize balance and vision. You rarely fight one on one, but focus more on kill/knockout within 4 moves. Any longer than that and someone is probably coming to get you. Even more important, Krav Maga focuses on the usage with and against weapon attacks: knife, bat and loaded/unloaded guns.

You will never see Krav Maga on UFC; You will have a hard time trying to find any Krav Maga training outside of the military; But if you have the chance, and have some basic fighting experience, you HAVE to try this. Truth be told, you will get your ass kicked for a solid 3 weeks, but when you have passed that phase, you will find a new clarity of focus in your fighting style. Fighting is not necessarily an art. The training and technique is an art, but a fight is single-minded in focus…stay the f**k alive! Krav Maga fighters will live through 9 out of 10 fights.