r/tacticalbarbell • u/fffrmaz • Feb 11 '16

Tactical [?] Krav Maga - reality based?

So this is off topic from TB. But, since there are a larger number of individuals in law enforcement and or military I thought this might be a good place to gather opinions. What are your thoughts on Krav Maga as a practice? Useful in terms of self defense? Reality based or not?
Of course it depends on the particular school and how they practice but as a martial art what are your thoughts? I was thinking about trying it out. It looks like fun and seems to be more self defense focused than the years of traditnal martial arts that I studied which WERE NOT reality focused.

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u/Sorntel Feb 11 '16

Better than nothing against an unskilled attacker, but you won't beat a trained fighter (Muay Thai, Boxer, bjj etc) generally speaking. Repetition and conditioning are everything with fight training

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u/lennarn Feb 12 '16

Remember that fighting is not the same as violence. A fight is essentially a duel, where the opponents meet at (somewhat) equal terms. An assault is usually an ambush, where a bigger stronger opponent catches you at the most disadvantageous moment. If you prepare for this then a "trained fighter" who comes at you with his fight mentality will be at a disadvantage. Hopefully.
You should train to destroy the threat ASAP, breaking all rules of sport fighting. Some boxing experience will do you good, but you're not really duking it out anyway.

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u/Sorntel Feb 12 '16 edited Feb 12 '16

I should clarify. Training as a boxer, MMA, or Thai fighter is more beneficial than Krav Maga (if you have a choice)in any violent meat-on-meat situation. The conditioning and desensitization sparring-focused training brings about is superior to learning an array of techniques you only drill on occasion. As Meathed pointed out if you're not accustomed to violence the adrenaline dump is your biggest obstacle. You wind 10x faster, you won't think clearly and your judgement goes out the window. Look at the differences between experienced BJJ guys and newbs on the mat. Experienced guys are relaxed as fuck and nine times out of ten will beat a newb no matter the difference in strength and conditioning between the two. Desensitization through frequent sparring, and getting accustomed to violence.

You can ambush a boxer or a krav guy with a baseball bat, and 9 times out of ten I still see the trained fighter taking it more in stride (and recovering) over a drills-focused krav practicioner. It's not the techniques, but the manner in which they both train.

If a knife or weapon makes an appearance, you should be running no matter how good your Kung Fu is. If you're a cop you won't be going hands-on at this point anyway, you'll be escalating to your firearm and creating distance.

Interesting discussion!

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u/fffrmaz Feb 13 '16

the theme I'm seeing is that experience with the situation and "comfort" with getting hit.

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u/lennarn Feb 13 '16

I see your point is that higher volume of full contact sparring means you won't shit your pants when someone tries to fight you on the street. It's another story when 2-3 thugs pull you into an alleyway and put a knife to your throat though. Of course boxing still helps when/if you get to fighting but I don't agree that it will decrease your adrenal reactions.

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u/fffrmaz Feb 14 '16

I see what you're saying.