Krav Maga

Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art that’s maybe best known for emphasizing strikes to the groin. Well, I suppose the emphasis is more on being a practical way to defend yourself, rather than being aesthetic or having a points system (like taekwondo, which I’d taken as a kid). “Krav Maga” literally means “contact combat” in Hebrew. Remember that because they’ll quiz you on it.

This page has a picture of me during my P1 test (see under “Our Community”, or here’s the direct image).

Philosophy

Here are some philosophical considerations or tenets of krav maga:

Scanning/awareness: Always be looking around for threats, even during a fight. You don’t know if a your attacker has a buddy that’ll run in and stab you.
Project aggression: I’m not certain of the motivation behind this, but I get the sense that it’s to avoid a victim mentality of trying simply to “defend” against attacks. Instead, you defend by attacking. You can’t just keep blocking punches forever. If your attacker is projecting aggression anyway, so should you right back at ‘em.
Assume multiple threats: Similar to the scanning/awareness idea, you practice with not just having one person attacking you but many. Krav teaches what to do on the ground if you’re getting kicked.
Assume other weapons: You generally don’t hold on to people in krav, the idea being that you could be more easily stabbed. You don’t know what’s in someone’s pockets or waistband. You don’t want to grapple with someone for them to pull out a knife and you being now unable to escape.
Get out/escape: Most moves in krav end with you scanning and running towards an escape. You don’t want to stick around too long if you’re assuming multiple threats. It also means that krav isn’t really a prolonged “fighting style”. If you’re doing “krav maga” moves for more than a minute, you’re doing something else. Strike and get out of there.

Curriculum notes

These are just notes for myself so I remember how certain defenses work.

Techniques Glossary

Some notes on what certain terms mean. (Or blank if I don’t know what it is.)

Sliding (as in sliding kicks or punches): You are basically taking a step during the strike itself. Like, if you were doing a sliding kick, you would almost kind of hop on one leg during the kick. It’s not really a hop though, it’s obviously more of a “slide”. This is done—I think—to close distance.
Uppercut kick?: Not sure. P4 level. Probably strike to chin?
Scissor kick: Not sure. P4 level.
Cavalier: Not sure. Seems like P5 or G level. Some kind of wrist lock or disarm?

Stances

There are three stances in Krav Maga.

Passive: Totally unready. Arms down.
Semi-passive: This is like when you’re trying to deescalate a situation. However, your arms aren’t completely unready. Have your arms and hands kind of like a prayer gesture, seems less threatening. Legs are roughly shoulder width, but not staggered.
Fighting/combative: You are striking. Hands are head level, sticking a little out (you prefer to catch knives early, so it’s not as close to your face as in boxing). Elbows in. Feet staggered. Back leg on ball of foot (probably assists with springing forward or throwing punches). Front foot turned slightly inward (not really sure why on this one, but they seem to mention that).

P3 headlock from back

Worked on this on 2024-03-21. There are three defenses (written assuming the incoming arm is on your right):

Early timeline: Block with your outside (right) arm, turning in (left, toward attacker). Groin strike with left arm, then headbutt backwards.
Middle timeline (you could not block in time):
- Grab attacker’s (right) arm with both hands, pulling their arm forward and away from you while headbutting backwards, striking their face.
- Then, still grabbing the arm, move the arm and duck under the arm moving out (right), so the arm is on your inside (left) shoulder. Pin the arm with your shoulder in their armpit and your head tilted left against their arm. This is done to maintain control.
- Getting behind them, attack their back side and then escape.
Late timeline: Turn inward (left) in the same direction as the headlock, ducking under, striking the groin and escaping.

We also worked on how to get into a headlock from behind position. Two ways:

Using the “one rhythm inside defense” (assuming an orthodox left jab), move their jab down with your left arm, throwing your right arm over their arm and under their neck, moving behind them.
Ducking under their right arm (assuming throwing a right cross), wrap your right arm around their stomach, moving left (their right side), then “swim” under and behind them, sliding your left arm under their neck.

P3 headlock from ground

Worked on this on 2024-03-20. You are supine on the ground. If your attacker is on your right side, the attacker is laying their back against your chest, trying to headlock you with their right arm.

Prevention techniques (I’m still kind of unclear here):

You block their (right) arm with your (left) arm, striking the groin/face with your closer (right) arm.
Then you shrimp under (??), pushing off them with your legs and kicking them.
Escape using figure four getting-up-from-ground technique.

If you cannot get out, the technique is:

Again, begin with striking. Strike, hand in eyes (your left arm pulling them from behind), strike the back of their head with your (left) knee.
If you can shrimp out then, do that.
If not, bridge upward, giving you space to shrimp out from under them.
(This is the complicated part.) You then have room to throw your (left) leg over their head and in front of their neck (so the back of your knee is against their neck).
You then do a kind of “stomping” motion that ends up rolling them (I’m still not great at this).
Roll them into a prone position, pinning them with your arms in a kind of “push-up” position.
Optionally strike their shoulder (not head) with your knee.
Complete the push up and escape.

Log

2024-03-23

Full combat. Some notes.

Work on fluidity of combos and movement (I tend to just do one or two punches, which is bad). Work on having a rhythm of punching and movement with no pauses.
I’m normally okay at scanning against the rogue fighter, but I got caught by the same trick I do on other people where you look intently with your face so they focus on you and not on the world around them. Oof, sorry for the run-on sentence.
I need to watch the Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman fight because it shows Ali’s ability to clench, and it’s where “rope-a-dope” comes from.
I need to work on the ability of my muscles to engage for longer periods of time. I get way too gassed while grappling. Strikes are just short bursts of muscle activity, whereas grappling involves a kind of constant strain that drains your battery pretty quick.