How do you replicate a real life scenerio? I like the idea of Krav Maga…but I worry about the potential for it to be ineffective because you are unable to really use the extreme force moves you learn in sparring in the same way you would boxing/thai boxing sparring etc.

I mean you can hardly elbow strike your training partner on the bridge of the nose or break his knee cap in a training session.

Most sport martial arts, do not teach that mind set. Full power palm strikes to the face, eye gouges, knee brakes, throat strikes are designed to stop an agressor and save your life, This is the main difference, you can learn those moves in Karate, however your mindset probably will not allow full force since you are trained for competion, sparring etc. Even in MMA competition there are rules. Krav has only one rule and that is to save your life with a necessary force.

This shouldn’t be the case if you’re any good at grappling.

I haven’t done any BJJ, but I have gotten quite into CrossFit over the past few months. Cross Fit is hands down the best workout I’ve ever done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjj

I find any kind of grappling is one of the best “work outs” because your always matching your opponents strength.

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

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