However, Krav Maga in the military and Krav Maga street defence are very different, albeit they share the same philosophy, or SHOULD at least share the same philosophy. In the military, it’s battlefield designed, this simply means more rifle based techniques, a lot of aggression training with applied combatives and strength-conditioning with fitness based drilling.

Remember, your wearing military vests weighing around 15 kilos (potentially with an extra 30kg on top), plus your rifle which is about 10 kilos. Your also training to fight to the death if need be, after all this is war. Only when you get to the level of special forces does the Krav Maga get more detailed, more specific.

Krav Maga in civilian context is different. Your looking at everyday specific street attacks as opposed military combat and having a solid metal rifle at your disposal. However, the principles should remain the same.

Which is why when looking to become an instructor, I gravitated towards the British Krav Maga.

It’s simple;

1: Stop the threat

2: Immediate combative response

3: Disarm/Disengage

4: Move on to the next threat

I hear you ask, how can the philosophy and principles be the same, if one is predominately fighting to the death and one be designed for civilians? Very simple.

Stopping the threat means just that. In the context of war, stoping the threat means eliminating the threat as you are often unable to run to safety and need to move forward, in the context of civilian defence such as rape or being mugged, stopping the threat means removing your attackers capabilities allowing you to get away. Either way, what ever extent of legal force applied, the key is to stop the threat.

This is the philosophy of KM, no fancy techniques that look flash, no exaggerated rules or profound philosophical meanings. It’s meant to be simple, direct and highly effective. For example, if I forgot to give an elbow strike to the throat but instead gave a solid kick to the groin, have I done it wrong? Absolutely not, as long as I’ve stopped the threat.

Philosophy-check. What next? The style of Krav itself.

Paul Grey, the training director of the BKMA learnt under Eyal Yanilov and Amnon Darsa originally. They were both taught directly by Imi Lichtenfeld (RIP)- the founder and father of Krav Maga. Eyal now heads up Krav Maga Global and Amnon heads up Core Krav Maga, both highly respected and professional organisations.

Paul was also certified as an instructor with Krav Maga World Wide, under Thierry Viatour (RIP) and law enforcement under John Pascal. They were certified by Darren Levene- again taught by Imi.

It’s a good solid lineage of Krav Maga, and one that mirrored training in the IDF. I feel very privileged to have furthered my training with at the BKMA with Instructors like this.

Now that I found an association that ticked these boxes, the final step for me was to see what kind of instructors the BKMA had and what was the calibre? After all, this is the spine of any association and only high quality instructors will produce high quality students.

Remember, I came from Sayerat Golani, the tip of the sword and one of the IDF’s most decorated units. Standards therefore are not for compromise and I wouldn’t be part of anything that wouldn’t raise my own standards and those of my students.

After training alongside many of the BKMA instructors all my questions were answered. Here are a highly trained group of individuals that have the right mix of characteristics to produce top quality students.

From ex military, to those with many years of martial arts and self defence experience, these instructors are a pleasure to work and train with, and I can see why their students love training with them. I off course have a soft spot for military instructors.

Now don’t get me wrong, just because you were in the military doesn’t make you good at what you do or able to teach, after all, it takes more than a uniform to be a warrior. However, the instructors with a military background from the BKMA are fantastic and represent what’s great about the military.

They know how to get the best out of people when moral is down, whether it be from physical exhaustion or mental exhaustion. They know when to push you to you limits or when to give you slack. They will laugh with you, be happy with you, care for you but when it’s time to work, you better step up to the plate or expect to learn the hard way.

Just how it should be. Then there are those that haven’t been in the military but through their years of experience, physical excellence, quality characteristics and zest for teaching, it would be near enough impossible to divide those with elite military backgrounds and those without. This concoction of qualities are invaluable.

Finally, instead of being caught up in “industry politics” where some individuals or organisations will try to delegitimise one another, the BKMA instructors I know and train with are highly professional personalities that don’t waste their time with petty squabbles, but instead, put 100% of their efforts in bettering themselves, their students and their schools. Even when thriving, there are always improvements to make.

This for me is the right mentality and the best way forward.

There are of course other fantastic instructors with other organisations out there, but I’m extremely happy being apart of the BKMA family and can safely say I’m representing my brothers I served in the IDF with proud and true.

 

By North London Krav Maga Instructor

Jeremiah Belsky