This Is Why I Quit Krav Maga And You Should Too 

Join the Martial Arts Journey tribe and watch the full talk with Jeff Phillips! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fblLbC6oRKQ.html Check out Jeff's RU-vid channel here: ru-vid.com

Fist rule: If questioning the art and methods causes your instructor to shut you down, it's time to walk out and never come back.

I did a year at a “Krav Maga Worldwide” gym in Phoenix before I joined the Army, and they had some good training (much better than Army Combatives), but when I met an Israeli soldier during some medical cross training, he explained that Krav Maga isn’t a style, it’s a mindset to condition their soldiers to become violent and recondition their stress reactions

A few good apples in a barrel of bad ones is a very apt analogy. I have met and trained with many Krav Maga instructors. Only two of them were any good, and even then I’d describe those two as athletic, aggressive white belts.

Two years to become a krav instructor? *Mcdojo intensifies*

As a Krav instructor, I agree with a lot of this. One of the things that I have benefitted from is that our school is mostly BJJ and MMA guys. Some really good strikers and grapplers. This means that we have the opportunity to test some of our moves under stress and get the input of some folks who are actively competing in combat sports. I look at my Krav classes this way, I am never going to make my students competitive with the guys who train Muay Thai and BJJ a lot, but Krav can give them a lot for the folks who train once or twice a week. Give them the best techniques that you can for self-defense in the limited time that they have and push them to try these techniques under pressure. I constantly tell my students that if they want to get better they should be cross-training in BJJ and Muay Thai

I studied Krav for 10 years after doing MMA. I achieved a 1st dan black belt. I had to fight full-contact for my rank, and it was intense and injuries would occur. That was with wearing full protective gear. It was like MMA training, but we did knife, gun, and multiple attackers. Most Krav schools now however are a joke. $ eventually ruins all martial arts.

I came here to poo poo the video based on the title, but what the guy says is totally on point.

Krav Maga, like most arts, have been co-opted by the “black belt store” business model. When I started Krav Maga 20 years ago, it was more about the mindset and keeping technique simple and effective - weeding out the bullshit from the “arts”. It was a ‘what ever works/no rules’ mentality. Calling it an art was a misnomer.

As a Krav Maga practitioner for 10 years with Kickboxing & No Gi Jiu-Jitsu background. To be honest i trained under some Krav Maga centers that are so commercialized with a unrealistic approach. I have a training group that focuses on realism we would do scenario based training, sparring/milling, situational awareness. Guys i considered real Krav Maga are Ryan Hoover of FTF and Jeff Phillips of Western Combatives and there more guys like them the list is long. Their ideas improved my Combatives & Self-Defense skills I owe them alot of credit. I mean their content saved my life and also helped avoid possible violent encounters. Greetings from the PH 🇵🇭

Being an avid self-defense enthusiast, my rule of thumb is that I would look at every fighting style, take at least one good thing that stands out and incorporate it into my arsenal.

I got my P3 in KMG and honestly I got very tired and disillusioned with it. I thought I wanted to join a Martial Arts club for the fitness which tbf Krav Maga is very very good at. But when you are the only 19 year old in room full of guys in their 30's/40's there comes a point you want to hang out with kids your own age; and being a broke 19 yo already paying £30 a week for one lesson that I often couldn't get to because of work commitments and seeing a classroom of guys pay extra money for more classes from the same dude in different towns it got kinda exhausting tbh. I think though the main thing that made me quit was that no-one really got to know each other, so here I am now 10-ish years on in a TKD school with a lot of people who are honestly very supportive and all get along, I don't care that TKD is a "less effective" Martial Art because I'm honestly enjoying it a whole lot more.

Agree 100% quality control is important. Biggest problem for commercial schools is that they gotta pay the rent and put food on the table and if you train people to fight to a level that would equip them to do it for real as Krav Maga schools claim they do then you will only get small numbers which means you won't make rent or put food on the table. But I don't think instructors who can deliver the real deal need to change their name just let the right people know what they are all about and simply don't sell out for $$$$$$. And one last thing it's really only a small percentage of society that can really make the system work in real time the rest are just for paying someones rent and putting food on the table.

You have to remember: most people who do Krav have never done any combat training at all, they don't want to compete or be some ninja, they just want some basic tools they can use if they get into a dangerous situation. For them, anything is better than nothing.

Krav Maga isn't the problem it's b.s. instructors who's only concern is money but bjj isn't always the answer

This channel keeps getting better and better... good (and specially honest) job man

Live, unscripted drills and sparrring are always the focus in effective martial arts schools. Scripted, pre-rehersed drills have their place to refine techniques but if they're the core of training they almost always reinforce bad habits and fail to give people any confidence in their ability to actually fight (you know, the entire point of studying a "martial" art).

This is why I love BJJ - walk in the door, your shit works, or you are owned so badly. Talk or think about it all you want, but if it didn't work, it didn't effing work.

I have a lot to say about Krav Maga. I think it is great self defense system (if taught correctly) .it is a farely easy to learn at it's basic level, which is good for the common person. However, many schools do not pressure test what they teach. When sparring, it looks a lot like sloppy MMA. I like the way I was taught though. We did random scenarios, or random attacker drills. This gave a sense of realism. Also we did circle or clock drills as well. I will say that as a former corrections officer, there were quite a few times that I had to rely on my training in real life, and I was able to make it home safely. I am a huge fan (and an open minded practitioner) of martial arts, but I can honestly say that Krav Maga is very effective as a self defense system, and it is considered to be one of the most battle tested hand to hand combat systems in the world. However, I wouldn't say that it would necessarily hold up in competition agaisnt a well trained MMA fighter. My over all advise would be to learn MMA, but draw some from some of the combat and tactical aspects from systems like Krav Maga.

Amazing video as always

Thanks Rokas for making these videos. Keep it coming

So, I've been training in Krav Maga for many years now and here are my comments: Some reviews on Krav Maga are legit, some not. Lack of sparring is in many Krav Maga schools is a legit point. Having good fighting skills is essential to win a street fight! However, when a boxer says: "I've had a sparring match with a Krav Maga guy and I destroyed him" I'm like: Dude, what did you expect?! A Krav Maga practitioner is never as good in boxing than a boxer, same goes for wrestling and BJJ. Fighters from combat sports can only focus on improving their fighting skills. Obviously, they are better at it than Krav Maga students, who have to study everything, from striking, to defense against typical attacks, to weapon defenses, fighting multiple attackers. Even though Krav Maga is my N°1, I'm still open minded and therefore I'm also training in Muay Thai to sharpen my fighting skills. I also trained in BJJ for one year.

Well done. Keep it up

Good stuff guys. Thanks.

thank again for sharing your hard work

I have to disagree on getting others to quit. Go find yourself a quality instructor and learn for as long as it takes to get it down and spar to put it to the test

I think krav maga is pretty effective, if you are a soldier, I mean if you also have the strenght, stamina and other complementary combative training krav maga technique can be very beneficial, but for us civilians just casually drilling some exótic technique, wont do much to teach you fighting

Great interview. Thanks Rokas🙏

Nice research, it's really educative. I have been looking for a good martial arts to train pls can you recommend any. Thanks in anticipation.

Awesome interview!

Krav is just one piece of the infinite puzzle. Most arts have something valuable to learn.

Thank you for the honesty. Quality control is a challenge in all combat training unfortunately. ATVB

A question for Mr. Jeff Phillips: How long did you train to be a krav maga instructor? Regular weekly training or through seminars? What degree did you reach and with what association / federation?

He explains what happens when you paid to have a belt or diploma (the fast way, 2 years). Instead to training the right years (5-6 years or regular practice), and understand the system to become a legit krav maga instructor. Also, a SENIOR instructor was a person who has achieved a 5th or 6th dan (or upper), and he has +/- 15 years of teaching experience. Mcdojos and mcfederations exist in KM and in others martial arts or combat sports; it's nothing new.

I train in Krav Maga, I'm hardly an expert, but in general, I feel like I'm training in a decent place-- I've watched a few videos like this, and in the cases where someone points out some version of "if you're doing A, B, and C, in your training 'good'. If you are doing X, Y, and Z, then 'bad'" I can honestly say the place I train at has at least ~70/80% of the stuff on the 'good' list, and in the case of the 'bad' I haven't come across anything yet. In any case, my mindset is that 1) it's a convenient place to train because it's close by, 2) it's a good workout, and 3) I am not 'married' to either Krav Maga, or the place I train-- they work for me, for now, and I can reassess as needed.

Imho the whole idea that civilians who have never had real fight teach other civilians who become instructors themselves and teach others blindly is not working. There is no feedback in the system, can't try anything on a non-compliant partner, no evidence of anything is actually working. Yeah, there was that guy who figured out some techniques 20-30-40 years ago and you have to believe he was right. Anytime I asked my trainer what if the attacker won't do what we are expecting the answer is always 'you have already pucnhed him in the face so he will', but of course it can't be tested. And it applies to any self defense system where they're selling this magic techniques...

Hi there. Nice channel, and nice Vídeo. I am from Brazil, but I can understand you clearly , your explanation is great. Thanks

*"A few good apples in a barrel of bad ones...' is a great analogy; I am lucky to have found a good apple at my current KM gym. I definitely think you need a good background in MA (boxing, kickboxing, BJJ, etc.) to really take advantage of the KM techniques.*

So true. In every case it comes down to pressure testing. If you don't work against realistic pressures then you will never know if you can actually perform when it matters.

Yes and No. Krav Maga was initially formulated to get fat out of shape conscripts up to some level of aggression during a short basic training cycle. The instructors teaching it were fit for sure (army PT instructors usually are) but certainly weren't champion fighters - most probably never actually fought hand to hand for real. So the moves are simple and big muscle block based, and the theme is a relentless "hit and move forward - attack don't defend". It works great for that and if you stick with the basic techniques and drill again and again padded up against resisting opponents then you end up with something that would be pretty useful in a street fight (just like Sykes Fairburn British Combatives, Marine Corps Unarmed Combat, etc etc). Where things went wrong was when it started being markets really heavily in the USA - totally unrealistic claims were made and people started pretending that it had belts / levels - you needed to be a "master" or that you could be effective without actually learning how to hit hard. It became like a Tae Bo with a Killer Rep. Nothing wrong with that - just dont expect to learn to fight at all. Not even nearly as well as the guys who stick with the same 10 - 15 basic moves. Any systems which features "unarmed defense against a hand grenade" - really cant be taken seriously any more.

I don't care who you are when it comes to real self defense. To survive is to realize the LESS you do is better. Stay away from fine motor tactics on the street. Stick to gross motor tactics. Keep your feet balanced and on the ground. Limit all that bouncing and spinning and kicking. Stick to low and mid level kicks. Expect a fight to turn from punches to bats or knives or guns. Most real altercations only last a few minutes. So finish as fast as you can and get the heck out of the area. The successful fighter is the one who practice situational awareness and avoid altercations in the first place. A true martial art skill. If you cant avoid or deescalate the encounter then NEVER use your fancy chops and spinning back kicks when there is a brick or pipe nearby. Skip all the chokes and triangles. While you are snaked up like that your attacker is pulling out his knife and trying to saw off your leg. Or his gun and emptying the clip in your crotch. Its life or death. The survivor will emerge in a couple minutes. That's how long these altercations take. And never forget your endurance. You get exhausted and weak real quick. Then you are really in trouble. Avoidance and situational awareness are your go to tools. Learn basics and fundamentals of krav or bjj or muy thai. Learn survival on the street. A quick example from my past ( i am 71 now). A guy was hassling me in a supermarket. Wherever i would go he would come behind me running off at the mouth. So i rolled my cart down the hardware aisle. I was looking for drain cleaner or wasp spray. I grabbed the wasp spray. Allowed the guy to walk up on me. I took the wasp spray and lathered his face. Then calmly walked out the store and drove home. Fight over.

I was not a rookie when I tried Krav. From what I saw, Krav was great for self defense against weapons and generally how to learn to defend yourself if you don’t wrestle, don’t do jujitsu, don’t kick, don’t box. Good all around style for the above reasons and if you are not into forms or kata. No you won’t become a master or professional fighter but you can get very good at what you do learn which is Urban warfare or combat, quick and dirty fighting that could save your 🍑. When someone titles a video or commercial with a black and white absolute maxim like, this is bad or this is the best or this never works or something, I automatically don’t trust it. Carry on. Train well whatever your poison is.

I tried to get my buddy to come learn Muay Thai and BJJ and he joined a Krav school.🙄

Thanks for doing more on Krav

The thing I've always said about KM is that is doesn't make a good first art, but it is great for tying together skills you've gained from other arts with a focus on self-defense. Every good KM practitioner I know has a solid foundation in atleast one other fighting based system. The vast majority of those have cross-trained in multiple disciplines. I have also seen a lot of bullshit is the KM world as well. I laughed in the face of an "instructor" once after watching a bullshit seminar that did nothing but give the participants a false since of security. Who your instructor is plays a huge role in nearly every martial art and KM is no different. Just be aware: good KM instructors are rarely ever KM purists.

Any self defense system or martial art will have holes. BJJ and Wrestling suck on concrete and against strikers etc. Some Krav associations still train hard and instructor training takes years and to be certified, it takes a lot of time, bruises, and swear equity. The problem is that Krav has become a term similar to "karate" or "king fu", which can mean almost anything. Pick the right Krav org, and you will not be disappointed.

right. i recently switched also to an online-training. and now, after 2 weeks i already feel very confident. in 6 months i can earn the opaque belt. i am so excited.

I live in New York City. What martial arts schools would prepare you to fend off multiple attackers with weapons. What combination of martial arts training do you suggest would help you survive in a big city like New York City. Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you may provide.

I studied Krav Maga for just over 2 years and I was very impressed with it. Our class was mostly ex-soldiers and nightclub bouncers. They were all long term members and I think that speaks volumes.

I’m not saying there aren’t Krav instructors that suck or need more training but I trained with Sam Sade and I have zero complaints. He taught me a shit ton and I’ve used it when I had to. Thanks Sam 🙏🏻

I sont think you found real krav maga. I trained krav maga years ago as my first martial art and we sparred alot even with training knives sticks and guns. You've seemed very biased in your videos I've seen since you've switched to mma.

If you're going to do Krav just make sure your instructor is advanced in other martial arts... With evidence.

I would love to see you review the Fight Quest Episode of krav maga, those were two MMA fighters who traveled the world exploring different martial arts including Krav Maga

I think it might suffice to check out the instructors credentials first to see if he actually is any good.

What marshal arts are good if you want good self defense training?

The editing was quite interesting

tl;dr: For most people, martial arts as a means of self-defense probably doesn't make a ton of sense. Argument below. I'll say something really controversial that I've been thinking about for a decade or so: I think many self-defense-related desires are fantasy-based. The vast majority of people practicing martial arts are very unlikely to ever be in a physical confrontation (at least, in the modern first world countries in which martial arts are most likely to be practiced), and you're wildly more likely to be injured practicing any serious martial art for several years than you are if you just didn't do martial arts at all. From a cost benefit analysis, martial arts rarely make much practical sense from a self-defense perspective. If you want to minimize your risk of harm suffered at the hands of an opponent, just don't do martial arts and you'll actually come out ahead of a jiujitsu black belt or Muay Thai fighter in your overall likelihood of being hurt by someone. This is especially true because the kinds of self-defense situations you're most worried about probably aren't going to be drunk fist fights after someone mouthed off about your woman; those you would probably escape with some bad bruises. Chances are you're worried about guns and knives, but martial arts are very ineffective versus either of them. I tend to find that self-defense motivation trends (although not always) along two basic lines: the self-defense "hero" fantasy where the martial artist easily defeats a bad guy, saving himself and an invariably beautiful Japanese girl, thus winning her love, or perhaps the sadder (if because it's more relatable) desire to have control over our own fate and mortality. For the very unlucky, no matter how good at jiujitsu you are, someone's going to pull your card and there's just nothing you can do about it. Martial arts may provide the comforting illusion that in any possible scenario, you can get out alive. Don't get me wrong; there are specific people that, due to the nature of their life, their job, their residence, or so on actually probably ought to learn martial arts for self-defense (as opposed to carrying, or just engaging in a safer lifestyle). Lawyers, for instance, basically can't carry guns even in the US because they're never allowed in courthouses, meaning most lawyers spend a large part of their day unarmed (including going to and coming from court). Teachers are another good example. People who work in repo are another good example. People that live in genuinely unsafe areas are another good example. But generic middle class guy in the US, Canada, Germany (etc.) that has a full-time job in a nice suburb and isn't also a drug dealer on the side is unlikely to be a special case, and this, I find, is your average krav maga or wing chun or aikido practitioner. This isn't to say that anyone should stop doing martial arts; it's merely to calibrate the value of self-defense in martial arts training.

I have been training Krav for 6 years now and at my school it is required to do a lot of sparring and fighting and also against multiple attackers. Then we apply the techniques in stressful situations. But there are too many schools and instructors and organisations that do not put the techniques to the test.

Does Karate work? Planning on enrolling at a Shotokan dojo

10 years ago I spent a few months learning KravMaga in Stockholm Sweden. It was an excellent experience. Besides self defense techniques, one of the few lessons I still remember were avoid fight, fight if you have to but escape whenever the opportunity arises, use any method to overcome the opponent even as simple as scream right in the ear or bite it off to get out of their hold and run. The most common drill we used to do was palm strikes on the face (punch pad instead of real face :)). My first day I remember one of the instructor was asking every new arrival “why you chose Krav Maga?” my honest response to him was “there is no belt system in KM”. After moving to US, I’ve been looking for a proper KM gym in DMV region, went to one but that was nothing like what I learned before. The gym I went for trial told me about the belt levels among other things, I developed doubt in their KM authenticity at that moment, unfortunately it turned out to be true after the first class. All the gyms I’ve found online are teaching KM in addition to Japanese or Korean M.Arts so I’m not sure whether they are genuinely teaching KM or just added that to their inventory of services to attract customers. Really looking for a good place, please make recommendations.

Dont study krav maga as the main martial art..study boxing, judo, mma then add krav marga..then it will be super effective

Im a former IDF soldier and I trained krav maga, kickboxing and some mma in Israel for close to 6-7 years and I have to say, God I hate videos like this because it shows a total lack of understanding of what Krav Maga is. His main problem is that he comes from a fighting background and that like he said himself he focused "on teaching it exactly how he learned it". Many people from martial arts and in general make this mistake they think that Krav Maga is a martial art and focus on technique instead of the concept.KRAV MAGA IS NOT A MARTIAL ART. It's a philosophy of street fighting, Krav does not tell you this is how you block a knife attack. Krav Maga is telling you that when someone has a knife, your first priority is to get control of the weapon, the punching, kicking and blocking is secondary and is used only to help you gain control, the "technique" is just a way of trying to do it unlike boxing or judo where how you do the technique is really important. Krav is about adapting to a given situation while having a rough idea what to do. A great video I saw was someone in Israel stopping a knife attack. He didn't bother trying a technique he kicked the guy once and then collapsed a bookshelf on the attacker. It was amazing Krav Maga again no technique, what was important and the Krav Maga here was his situational awareness and his use of anything around him as a weapon. It is the same with people who send in sparring videos, why do people spar in Krav Maga classes doing kickboxing or whatever it's not because what's important is the kickboxing techniques, what's important is learning how to get punched In the face as they say, everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face. In a situation requiring real Krav Maga it shouldn't end with me trying to punch someone in the face it ends with me wacking you over the head with the bottle on the table next to me while you try punching (for example, people truly underestimate the advantages having a weapon gives you). What I will admit I see alot of here in the States that makes Krav maga ineffective here is two fold: a teaching of Krav Maga as a martial art (which it is not and as such ineffective) and a lack of intensity which prevents students from really developing aggression which is a cornerstone of Krav maga (aggression can make up for alot of lack of technique). This all makes sense when we put Krav maga into its historical context as a fighting system built for soldiers who do not have years or even months to learn bjj or whatever effectivly, ( the truth is as a soldier you have a gun ending up in a situation where youre doing hand to hand combat means that you have messed up really badly and as such soldiers are generally proficient with guns and spend a surprisingly small amount of time training hand to hand) it was developed to give these soldiers useful fighting skills in as limited time as possible in a non octagon setting and that's what it does.

What do you think about Nick Drossos? he has a self defence channel. I think he is good. Would love your opinion on it. Thankyou

I do wrestling and BJJ, right now I been doing 2 month in of krav maga. Should I stay or should I go to something else?

One thing in love about BJJ is that it teaches hyper realistic group attack and weapons based scenarios where spending too much time on the ground or focusing on pulling off an extensive technique can get you killed.

I've had several people that have come over from Krav. They couldn't fight very well. But their spirit is always solid.

Good video! Before signing up with any instructor, watch a class and ask yourself, is this fluff or will I be learning how to put multiple injuries on the human body that will render the attacker non functional? (Think ruptured knee, ankle, windpipe, eye groin, kidney, liver, etc, etc). Injury is the great equaliser, doesn't matter if you're 250lb of ripped muscle or a 100lb woman.

Good to hear an Aussie instructor :-)

Good to see Krav Maga being called out for how it commercialises quick training to become an instructor. I also never trusted the block and strike simultaneously that Krav Maga teaches. You can't put full power into your strike if your focus is on blocking a full intent strike.

Like all styles there are good and bad schools. I studied Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu back in the eighties when they were serious about what you were taught and the goal was to be street effective. I truly cherished my black belt and felt I’d earned it. As a police officer, I only used my ninjutsu techniques, much to the disapproval of my superiors, as police approved techniques were often ineffective against those with knives, glass bottles or who were high on meth. I now see the Togakure Ryu dojo’s don’t exist anymore and one dojo who having trained with Masaaki Hatsumi offer a one year black belt course, which to me is not possible. No wonder ninjutsu is now considered a joke martial art.

Krav Maga isn’t about winning. It’s about leaving the fight without getting injured. Sometimes you need to knock out the other person so you are safe but there is no win in Krav maga

How about training Krav Maga for about 6 months and than go to MMA? Observing 360`? Perhaps there are more than 1 attacker ? Cooling situation with guard up instead lower arms? Finishing quickly and walking away? Than you can use boxing, MMA .....?

The Krav Maga classes I took ten years ago originally sublet space from Taekwondo studio after hours. We worked on cardio and staying in the fight. Punching the pad to the point of exhaustion getting up from the ground and when you could run away at the first opportunity. I loved it. We did contact sparring in padding with control, focusing on practicing blocks and countering in short bursts. The school moved into a larger building, and the classes grew in size. Suddenly people that I had trained with for a year or so were taking trainer classes "invitation only" and going off to be ranked or tested at World Wide Krav coming back to teach classes. Wanting to enroll my son in the children's class that was unavailable at the time, I went to (hold your breath) a Gracie BJJ and MMA academy. After a month of watching adults train and roll while waiting on kids' classes, I knew the techniques and drills I learned as a Green Level Krav Maga student paled compared to the talent in front of me. I resigned from Krav and put on the white belt of BJJ with great humility. My opinion of Krav Maga is it doesn't have enough depth of training to warrant black belt status ( Many of the KM students had a black belt within three years of training where I had advanced to blue belt in BJJ ). I feel Krav Maga is a great two-year program for basic self-defense and getting in shape. My complaint is KM instill a false sense of bravado in the students, especially with women feeling with their deadly IDF Commando fight tactics go toe to toe on the street. I see pictures of the old school on FB, and the classes are composed of chubby women and overweight men in black teeshirts and I think of Cosplayers. No disrespect to people enrolled in KM, and I did benefit in the early years training, but I know after 10 years of BJJ and MMA, with a few tournaments behind me, you may want to explore other schools.

I am a krav maga instructor but i was a competitive martial artist for a long time i am 100 agree with him on the quality control point and yes krav maga is not a martial art its just a way to condition your mind to react under stress and not panicking . Quality is the ultimate key and yes its just a cherry on top if you are well trained in martial arts and ppl who think they can train for a month or two and become untouchable are just naive . you have to spend years and years of training as a martial artist and then you can incorporate krav maga .

Hi, I like your journey, but I'm lost. I don't know where to start, I want to practice something that really helps in real world. What do you recommend for a beginner?

Thats very Nice. But what can we do instead?

I've been practicing combat sports for years, and I never, ever, ever confuse it with ''self-defense''. In fact, in my opinion real ''self-defense'' doesn't exist beyond COMPLY and do what the bad guy says. Give the bad guy what he wants so he doesn't try to kill you. I think it's because I grew up in a country where no amount of kungfu or karate could help you from the bad guys who were routinely shooting people, cutting people's heads off, or hanging people off bridges. Heck, every now and then they would throw grenades into police stations, or drive by with machine guns and shoot hundreds of rounds into them. In Mexico you let the military handle the bad guys with armored vehicles, helicopters and BIG machine guns. There was once a Krav Maga-like instructor who famously started teaching self-defenses courses to prevent getting kidnapped, and partially as a joke the Cartels proceeded to immediately kidnap him. When I was kidnapped in 2011, I defended myself by doing exactly what the kidnappers told me because they were four guys, I was one, they had guns I didn't. They were literally like 5'5 130 lbs each, I was painfully aware I could destroy them in a fight; but if I had tried that I'd probably be dead right now. On a different occasion when I got pointed at with an AK47 because I watching a few guys doing something illegal I stared at my feet until they went away because otherwise they would have shot me from 40 feet away. Krav Maga, Aikido, MMA, BJJ, Muay Thai, etc isn't going to do SHIT against real bad guys with real weapons. Combat Sports are for sports, street fights are for hobos, bar fights are for rowdy drunks, but nothing is for real bad guys with real weapons; and the fact that Krav Maga pretends to prepare you to superhero your way out of that shit is ridiculous. I think most people who want to learn ''self defense'' are retroactively trying to prepare themselves for beatings that bullies gave them in high school. No one on the sidewalk is waiting to fight you one-on-one with his bare fists, my guy. Do Muay Thai because it's cool, do MMA to do amateur competitions, do Aikido because you like the robe and Japanese culture, but don't fool yourself into role-playing scenarios where you kill three terrorists and save the day.

As someone who trained a few years in krav maga - I don’t understand the problem with it. It’s useful against knives, baseball bats, guns, in do or die situations. Which could arise in our “wonderful” world.

martial arts are martial arts if you keep an open mind and learn as much as you can.

Question: Do you think combining Krav Maga Training with Karate 🥋 training would be a beneficial combination?

Hi. Great stuff. I think you should do more videos on interviewing people that have “defected” from their brain washed beliefs... this could be from corrupt governments, religions, companies ... might be fun.

Krav Maga most of the time is just a mix of Karate, Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Japanese Jujitsu etc. Most of top Krav Maga instructors have black belts in various martial arts.

I studied in China, Philippines and Korea with self defense. I tried to learn from each experience. I personally learned and felt my greatest experiences and results came from Korea. I had a slot to believe it or not to go to North Korea but then COVID hit. I'm 64 years old and can run circles around most people half my age in Hawaii.

Lots of misconceptions with arts that has no tournaments or competition. But since you were once an aikido practitioner, the video iaido tsume by Philip greenwood is an excellent reference on how one should think about fighting.

It really is a shame about Krav Maga. I did it for about 3 years and I had a brilliant instructor, but he had a strong background in both BJJ and Muay Thai which made his lessons very well rounded.

Back in the 90’s I attended a Krav Maga class. I had been training in martial arts for 3 years. But I Always respected the Israelis military and Kray Maga was theirs. By the end of the class, I was really Disappointed, walked out, never to return.

I did Krav on and off for over 10 years, went to 4 or 5 different schools, but reached a similar conclusion. I started training Urban Combatives, which seems to me much more functional. I saw people in krav classes that had been for years, but felt they would have no hope if attacked in the street. I got my striking skills from Muy Thai training and was doing BJJ and wrestling before covid days. Need to get back into it.. just hitting the punch bag atm. you should take a look at some UC videos and offer an opinion. :)

How does one start with the premise that the fundamental principles of a system are bad -and then conclude quality control a.k.a good teachers can make it useful somehow? Perhaps there is a third explanation. You.

I've mostly done American Kenpo and from what I've understood there's a lot of overlap with Krav Maga, both in the intended applications and philosophy. Arguably the biggest issue in Kenpo was that we'd spend 90% of the time training things that would work, or indeed be relevant, 1% of the time or less. The yellow belt self-defense techniques were the most applicable, simply because they were the simplest. Whenever there's a Count Dante style sequence of moves that look all flashy and devastating, one must remember that the odds of every single strike landing the intended way and having the intended outcome is increasingly unlikely for each strike you add to the sequence. But the difficulty of mastering the technique increases exponentially. So the whole thing just gets harder AND less useful, and this is a pattern that repeats for each new belt (because each new belt came with 10+ new techniques one needed to master in order to level up). I actually became much better at applying what I'd learned in Kenpo after taking up Thai Boxing, including - and no disrespect to Mr. Phillips - blocking and striking at the same time. But that's not how it's supposed to work, is it? And it's definitely not what they advertise in those styles. Never do you see a disclaimer that says "warning, this style only applies in the specific circumstances you train in our dojo - you'll get your ass handed to you in a boxing ring". I think that fundamentally, self-defense styles like Kenpo or Krav Maga or Jeet Kune Do need to do two things to "fix" their curriculum: 1.) Build your striking fundamentals on the moves you can do at full power on focus mitts. Heavy Thai mitts, ideally. Practice them a lot. AND 2.) Build your striking funtamentals on what you can do in sparring with boxing gloves, headgear and leg protection on. Yes, it'll ultimately become a lot like kickboxing. But whatever the merit there may be to eye pokes, open-hand strikes, groin kicks and all the other specialized moves your style brings to the table, they are all dependent on, and will benefit from, the timing, range and so on that you learn from simply doing kickboxing. And then flip the time-spent-ratio around. Do those two things - focus mitts and sparring - 90% of the time, and spend 10% on whatever esoteric techniques you want, and you'll produce much better fighters. And much better self-defense practitioners too.

Good video! I had good fortune of training with an Israeli army veteran during my JKD training in yesteryears. That guy was literally hardcore. He mentioned that apart from army wherever he went to so called Krav Maga institutes, he was hugely disappointed. He made a logical argument that krav maga techniques are mostly aggressive and taken from other martial arts to apply in a life threatening situation. This is the main reason why it is chosen for mostly defense forces along with few other like kali, silat. When it comes to civilian training, this very basic essence is missing. it is like any other martial arts. People need to understand it is not a martial arts, it is a defense system. But anyways, all in all I like this system a lot along with Systema (Russian). Just wished there would be more authentic training facilities.

The military fight with guns and rarely expect hand to hand combat. Why people are attracted to military self defence styles I don't know. The whole point is that they're trying to provide some level of effectiveness from very limited training. If you want to train seriously, you'll want to spend much more time in hand to hand training than the average soldier, and over.more than 2 years.

Hello Rokas I am a huge fan of your channel I was just like you tricked into thinking that aikido was effective, I was wondering if you have seen the tv show samurai spirit where they have an episode focused on aikido if you haven’t I think you should do a review on it there they make aikido seem like it is effective self defense and it fooled me. Now when I have started to train in real effective martial arts i can’t believe I was fooled by it and the worst thing is that the shows host Nikolas petaz is a legitimate kickboxer and he just goes along whit it and pretend to try to fight them, it is really insane I think you should look it up iti is on RU-vid sorry for this long rant keep up the good work you are an amazing person greetings from a Swedish jujutsu practitioner.

I went to a few sessions with a no-nonsense scottish guy running it. One session for example we were shown how to get out of a headlock. The technique worked but he said you will likely need to use this in the real world stressed and probably drunk. So we had to wail on a punch bag for a whole minute while slayer/pantera was blasting out to the point of exhaustion then your partner got you in a headlock. disorientating, and it showed if you really understood it. Some huge guy almost slammed me into an exercise bike in the corner of the room. Overall cool but a bit scary, which i think is how it should be if you are learning FIGHTING which is what it is

I got into Krav around 2006-7 and boy things have gone down hill since then. Way too many Krav organizations, no sparring, less focus on combatives and more on self-defense like taking guns from people etc (When I started most schools didn't teach it until later grades). Krav is mostly aggression training and most schools now don't teach it the way it's supposed to be trained. The only way to get any krav maga that's any good (that focuses on combatives and aggression) is to go to Israel and get trained directly by the government and IDF at the WIngate Institute.

Which martial art should one take then? Which martial art is the most perfect one?

can you make a video on silat

Awesome video. Seen these videos too but after seeing Matt's video with the created environment with a knife trying to escape or disarm its scary to see how many times he got stabbed. I like watching most martial arts for my own journey to see what works. Really wanted to practice karate coz first art I did years ago and wanted to make it work and so confused which other arts to train but my mind is clear now for blocks and kicks I like Muay Thai and MMA as main and other arts more as fun but pressure testing definitely important

You could’ve made this video about 10 seconds long by simply stating, you didn’t do any research before signing up for a martial arts program so I quit a garbage dojo after I realized I was stupid for not doing my research. Bam! Video done. Can’t blame the system when you’re the fool for not doing your homework on what you look for. See that was easy. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this video is as useful as your Krav dojo you attended.

This is really interesting, I've done a few styles.. But, I feel like I need to find the most efficient style still. Something that isn't wasting time doing something that doesn't work.

2 moves for ground defense? Wow, I don't know which school that was with. The one I've trained under has around 10 to 15 ground defense techniques. I do think that the principle of simultaneous hit and block is definitely possible, but it has to be highly trained to work in a real and adrenaline-filled situation. My school has students padding heavily, and we progress from compliant to very non-compliant partner training. Yes, there are too many over-complicated moves in some Krav Maga schools, but not all are equal for sure. Great video interview!