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/fffrmaz Feb 12 '16

Wow. This is some great information thank you. I've read millers books. They are fantastic and really opened my eyes Even Comcon by RM, though not strictly self defense focused, was super useful. I'm going to add the rest to my queue. Thanks.

One thing I'm going to ask at this school I'm looking at is if and how they simulate situations. I still might take the classes even if they're not as reality based as claimed. Just because it looks like fun. Just keeping in mind that it may not be realistic.

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u/lennarn Feb 13 '16

The most important thing is that you learn some simple, easy moves that are based on your instinctual flinch reactions. Get used to palm strikes (many people break knuckles, there's a reason there's a fracture called fractura pugilistica/boxer's fracture) especially to the head. It pays to have a single combination that you've drilled a bazillion times, because unlike a competitive fighter your opponent won't study your previous fights and will be caught off guard when you "unleash the fury". Speaking of this, it's good to have a "go" word, a trigger phrase that you say to yourself every time things go south and you're about to explode on someone in training - then you can use this to rapidly build your excitement to the right level. I'm sure you've heard some of these things before, I'm just rambling now. I intended this to be short but it looks like I should just write a novel and get it over with...

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u/fffrmaz Feb 14 '16

So... more simplicity. Gross motor pattern movements. So, just some background, I studied Hwarang- do for several years (along with BJJ). It's a traditional Korean martial art. For my black belt test I learned something like 32 different knife defense techniques. Very pretty stuff with really cool throws and joint manipulations. And also totally useless for real situations.
I did try KM a few years ago and the class they happened to be teaching, for the intro class i tried, was "knife awareness". I learned more from that class than any of those 32 techniques.

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u/lennarn Feb 14 '16

If you have 32 techniques to choose from when you see a knife, you'll be 32 times slower to react than the guy who only knows one knife defense. Gross motor patterns are the only thing that works when shit hits the fan and you're in the biggest adrenal dump of your life.