Don’t know if this is appropriate. The reason I’m asking is that I used to train in a “Krav Maga like” “art”, it’s basically based on what was taught in the World War II Combatives program type of stuff. Rex Applegate, W.E. Fairbairn.
Axe-hand, chin-jab, knee to the groin, elbow to the face, hammerfist, kick to the knee/shin type of deal.
I used to think it was effective although I’ve never tried it live in a full contact situation before. I still think it’s effective against an untrained person, and is a great way to train soldiers who have no time for long training, but perhaps not against a trained fighter. But the fact is I don’t know.
Now I’m having second thoughts. It has its advantages, easy to be proficient, easy to learn and retain, open hand strikes, etc.
Just wondering if anyone who has trained in Krav Maga has tried their skills on a trained “kickboxer”, and video taped it? The kickboxer could be trained in muay thai, MMA, western kickboxing, kyukushin karate, even plain boxing - basically just someone who can punch and kick well.
I’d like to see how it will look in action, as I’m considering studying Krav Maga. I’m already taking MMA classes now, so I don’t know if KM will be a helpful addition for a more street-focused aspect of self defense.
If you’re not sure if it’ll work against a trained fighter at full-contact, perhaps you should give that a try.
Personally, in a kickboxing match, I’m going to use kickboxing and train kickboxing. Asides from this, Krav teaches you responses to situations that would never come up in a competitive fight. If your back is turned to your opponent, he’s not gonna grab your wrist and try to drag you along with him. He’s not going to try to grab your gi-lapels while standing with both hands.
The main difference between fighting some untrained guy in a bar and a kickboxer in a bar is that a kickboxer will pick his shots, where an untrained guy will either a) swing everything he’s got at you or b) pretend to know boxing and try to pick shots like the kickboxer but end up crumpling once a good shot to the face connects on him.
All the “close the distance, and ELBOW SMASH KILL” crap you hear in alot of RBSD as well as Military LARPer type places doesn’t hold water when going up against a seasoned kickboxer or submission grappler. Ironically I find that, that kind of stuff works best not on untrained street brawlers, but rather Bullshidoka of Krotty schools especially that have been trained to throw comitted punches that just flow so perfectly into that stuff.
Samurai Steve
I did try it out against a trained fighter, and it didn’t work as expected. What I discovered was that I was at a disadvantage where range was concerned, my open-hand strikes couldn’t reach him but his punches could. He could keep me at a distance with his punches and kicks, and it was hard for me to get close to use my tools. If I clinched with him, realistically he could throw me or take me to the ground, again another loophole in my training.
It was also a heck of a lot harder to throw those “lethal” strikes when all the punches and kicks were flying about.
This was when I noticed that in all the clips I’ve seen of the kinds of techniques I was learning, it was always done against someone who’s not fighting back. And it looked very deadly and effective in that scenario. A light went off.
Thus my request for any clips anyone might have of someone using military style open hand strikes/elbows/knees against a kickboxer in a real full contact match. I may be lousy and my skills suck, as I only learn off video tapes, so I may be doing them wrong. I want to see how an expert does it.
To be fair though, I’ve learnt very good opening strikes from this system in a real street confrontation that I think is very useful. Also, like you said, it is useful for situations in which you’re grabbed from behind, pushed, someone grabs your collar etc. that are not covered in MMA style fighting.
LOL! Yes I understand what you’re saying. Sometimes I feel that our natural untrained fighting instinct, in which we just flail and punch and kick like a crazy man, is more dangerous than when you train in an unrealistic art and try to fight like that in a real situation.
Yes I am, but there are situations in which MT and BJJ/MMA doesn’t cover, like knife defense, multiple attackers, and I was thinking of taking up Krav to complete the education…
I think that Krav maga is good for self-defence against an untrained attacker - in some ways better than Kickboxing (weapon defence, multiple attackers, surprise grab), in other ways worse (keeping your guard up, measured attacks, contact training, taking a punch, etc.) But if you had a Kickboxer and Krav maga expert fighting each other in an MMA style match, I’d say Kickboxer hands down all other things being equal. If a Kickboxer attacker a Krav Maga guy on the street, that would be interesting to see.
But I guess this is all my unsubstantiated opinion and not a reply to your question
O rly? Because I’ve found that elbowing both kickboxers and submission grapplers in the head works quite well.
Tell you what though, if I ever come up against someone that a good solid floating petal elbow DOESN’T work against, I think I’m going to scream like a little fairy and run like hell.
“HAR HAR! YOU JUST ELBOWED ME IN THE HEAD AND I DON’T CARE.”
Actually its also highly unlikely for me to ever get into a fight with a person, not to mention multiple people or get stabbed, but I’d just like to train for “just in case.”
