Does anyone know about Krav Maga? Its the Israeli self defense system. It is taught at the black belt academy near my home. The academy also teaches TKD. Are the two related? Know anyone who trained it? Anyfeedback at all would be helpful. Thankyou.

They are not related. Realize that systems said to be used by this or that military force are, by and large, not. Hand to hand combat is barely taught in the military. Most of the military training deals with situations that a soldier will be in. Automatic weapons, handguns, bladed weapons, and lastly H2H. I have a lot of relatives and friends that are either active duty or have served in the IDF. SOme of them have taken KM. They say it bears some resemblance, but no more than that.

I would say that Krav Maga is very effective. It is a bit basic, but that's why it is useful to teach the military.

As for your question about the place that teaches TKD and Krav Maga... I think that TKD has a well deserved reputation for being the business-oriented martial art. If your teacher teaches TKD and Krav Maga, you should wonder if the teacher went to a 5 day seminar and then got certified to teach. As far as Krav Maga being the Israeli Army's primary hand to hand training system... You probably will not be getting the same amount of training by teachers who are really good at what they do. Someone else said that(can't remember who) but I completely agree with it.

[This message has been edited by Jay (edited 06-27-2004).]

If your teacher teaches TKD and Krav Maga, you should wonder if the teacher went to a 5 day seminar and then got certified to teach.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Keep in mind that although an end user can gain a lot from a week long course, the resuts can truly vary for a week long instructor course that guarantees certification upon receipt of your $$$.

Let the buyer beware.

Krav Maga is basically Kill Kill Kill, very little control is taught here. It is effective in its simplicity though. Check it out and make an informed opinion. You are not perfecting technique sitting here!

Beware of the KM in Phoenix, it is a rip-off.

Just a money making game for the owner/managers.

Cheers,

Does anyone know anything about the Phoenix Krav Maga Training Center on Greenway and 32nd Street?

My only exposure to Krav Maga is through David Kahn’s best selling book. While you cannot learn any martial art purely from a book it is a pretty comprehensive write-up. As a traditional martial artist I found some of the postures shown therein disturbing. For example, the back heel is off the ground for many techniques. While this may be effective in blade arts, for open-hand applications you sacrifice a whole lot of power and mobility that way. Perhaps that stuff works well within the Krav Maga strategy but it is inconsistent with traditional karate. Since I'm not an expert Kravist I'm not going to argue, just simply point it out. Since this stuff was originally developed as training for soldiers I suspect it is easy to learn quickly but perhaps not as effective long term as the more traditional arts.