Krav Maga vs Boxing: first impressions
Yesterday evening I went to my first Krav Maga class. I’ve been doing boxing for around three years now, and I like it a lot. Boxing is practical, no-nonsense and one of the most demanding sports physically. Unfortunately the location of the gym I attend forces me to drive, which I don’t like because I prefer cycling and parking in downtown SF is a costly and stressful PITA. Also, I would like to learn some more varied things - a bit of grappling, some kicks, other techniques such as disarming opponents and escapes. I thought briefly about some traditional martial art, of which I have some experience from university. However, my experience with traditional martial arts was that they are not taxing enough physically (barely breaking a sweat), that the classes are too big so you lack individual attention, and that the focus is on dance-like movements which are impractical and frustrating. I also dislike the hierarchical belt system which breeds arrogance and a false sense of security. This is all my personal opinion of course, some people love traditional martial arts and that’s great. I believe much depends on the particular club you are a member of. My experience was likely with bad clubs, but nonetheless it stuck.
It turns out that the SF Krav Maga training center is not far off my bicycle route home from work, and from the Wikipedia page the training looked very interesting to me. Emphasis is highly practical. So what is the actual training like? Having only taken a single lesson at a single place, I can’t speak authoritatively. However my impressions are: training similar to boxing in many respects. In fact instructor made numerous references to boxing in terms of stance and movement. Stance keeps the legs a little further apart than a traditional boxing stance, for increased stability in scenarios where someone can push you from the side or from behind. There were some drills similar to those in boxing - try to touch opponents stomach or shoulders while avoiding being touched yourself. An interesting twist was to add multiple attackers. Thinking about attacking opponents from behind and from the sides, and also attacking below-the-belt was encouraged. The attitude was “do what ever it takes”. Striking drills were similar to boxing, although no gloves or hand wraps were used. Strikes can also be open-palm, something I’m not used to at all. Another interesting drill was a standard “hit the pads” drill with the caveat what the striker is backed up against a wall, something I’ve never encountered in boxing - even though boxers frequently end up against the ropes in the ring. The first class ended with the teaching of a simple and highly effective technique for escaping from a choke. I think choking is an attack very frequently used in the real world, and as such knowing how to break out of it could be extremely useful. The technique is very simple, not at all convoluted, and instantly useful. Krav Maga also seems to place a heavy emphasis on fitness and conditioning. At least at this center, they separate conditioning from the classes, although the classes are a reasonably good workout. Apparently the level test process is a grueling four hour affair.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed the class and I look forward to learning more. Would certainly recommend Krav Maga to people looking for something practical and physically strenuous.
Tags: Boxing, Health, Krav-Maga, Martial-Arts
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August 8th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[...] I already wrote a bit about completing my fixed-gear bicycle last week, and since then I have had the chance to ride it around San Francisco a good bit. I live in the Inner Sunset, by Golden Gate Park, and I work downtown on New Montgomery. Its around four and a half miles from my house to the office - usually I cycle along Market up to Page and then on to Irving. If I stop by Krav Maga on my way home, I end up going along Pine to Masonic, then through the Pan Handle and into Golden Gate Park. The point to all this rambling about my bicycle route is that it has a few quite considerable inclines along it. The main thing that worried me about riding fixed-gear was the hills. Not so much going up them, since I figured if it was too hard I’d simply walk the bicycle up. Going down however, worried me. Leg braking well enough to control descent down some of these hills requires practice - and more importantly, hard leg braking is supposed to be hard on your knees and can even make your muscles weaker. According to Sheldon Brown “Heavy duty resisting is widely reputed to be bad for your legs, and to be counterproductive for building up muscles and coordination for forward pedaling […] Eccentric contraction is reputed to cause micro-tears to your muscle tissue, so it actually weakens your muscles, unlike other forms of exercise.” [...]
August 10th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Hi Niall
Just happened across your first impressions of a Krav class, and I thought I’d add a few comments.
I’ve been practicing Krav for about two years now at this location in New York:
http://www.yorktownfitnesscenter.com
Apart from a couple of years of Judo when I was a kid, I had no other martial arts or boxing training at that point, and my fitness level was, well, pretty damned awful! If your trainer has been certified by the National Training Center in LA, then your classes will probably be similar to mine: 15 minutes warmup and conditioning, 30 minutes or so drilling in combatives/grappling and/or self-defense techniques, and 15 minutes in Krav’s version of “randori” — multiple-attacker scenarios, &c.
Yes, the level tests are gruelling — intentionally so. The instructors seem to be more interested in pushing the students into that zone of fear and exhaustion where technique falls apart and something approximating the chaos of actual combat occurs. All I can say about that experience is that it has given me a new appreciation of the value of avoiding a fight whenever possible!
Martial arts purists often dismiss Krav as “mcdojo” training at its worst, but I think they just as often misunderstand the objectives of the training, which is not to become Bruce Lee XXIII, but to give the ordinary schlub an extra margin of survival in a real-world encounter. That includes what my instructors call “tactical thinking” — learning to recognize a bad situation as it is evolving, and to have more choices in those situations.
My instructors also encourage cross-training in other martial arts. For example, at my gym, the Krav instructors train with their students in BJJ and Judo, and encourage students in those disciplines to attend their knife- and stick-defense seminars.
Anyway, best of luck in your training.
sa
February 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Great Post.
I’m in Utah and took my first Krav Maga class last week with my 15-year old son.
The class lastest 1-1/4 hours and I have never been more exhausted. In fact, the couple of days following the training I was sore all over.
I’m going back tonight for my 2nd class and to signup for longterm training.
If you have not taken at least a sample class do yourself a favor and do it.
J.R. Jackson
http://www.JRJackson.com