Hello from Alaska!

[whitewolf2025]

Hi,
To introduce myself: I am a 21 year old female, married to a US army soldier. But I am not your typical "army" wife. I don't have kids, I like to anything outdoors, including such things as hunting, shooting (shotgun and rifle mainly), fishing, backcountry travel, dogsledding, etc... I am going to the University of Alaska Fairbanks studying wildlife biology, I want to be a wildlife biologist and stay in AK when I graduate. My husband is gone now in Iraq, so I live alone, and I really want to learn krav maga (well, not just cause my husband's gone, but it's a good skill to have nonetheless), but there is no one here who teaches it! So I am going to try and learn it myself, we'll see how that works..... I just bought an intro krav maga book and was wondering if anyone who reads this knows about the Bas Rutten DVD's I've been hearing about on here? Is that something you can do yourself, do you need any equipment? I have absolutely nothing.....thanks!

[MagaMike]

Howdy. The Bas Rutten DVD/workout CD set (guess there is a new one coming out, so you might want to wait to buy) can definitely be done by yourself. The DVD will give you some idea of correct striking technique and the the workout rounds will give you great endurance and power training.

To do the Bas CD workouts without contact with anything, you don't need any equipment - you can just "shadow box/kick." But you'll get more out of it if you actually strike something. If you want to do that, then you'll need to get a heavy bag and some way to suspend it securely (or get a stand for it) and some boxing or "bag" gloves to protect and cushion your hands so you can really go all out when striking. Your local sporting goods dealer can give you some guidance on that, or you can research it on line. Alternatively, you can purchase a standalone punching bag (or human like dummy such as the Century "Bob"). They are usually more expensive, but are good if you can't hang a heavy bag. The standalone bags have bases you fill with sand or water so they don't tip over when you strike them. Again, some on line research of martial arts supplies stores will give you options.

I think you can learn basic Krav techniques from a book with good illustrations if that's your only option (Complete Krav Maga is good), but you really need to practice with a partner to get the feel for the self-defense moves - maybe you have a cooperative friend? In a real Krav Maga class, we kick and punch pads that our partners hold when practicing combatives (the kicking and striking after a self-defense move), but you wouldn't really need to do that. It's hard on your partner who has to absorb all that striking energy and unless they are really into learning it with you, they probably wouldn't like it. But with a heavy bag to practice striking on, you'd be fine.

[alfakrav]

I will be opening a school late this year when I transfer up to anchorage AK at elmendorf AFB. Looking forward to seeing you out there

[Psyops]

AlfaKrav,

I want to wish you well in Anchorage. My family lived there for 30 years! I attended grade school there. It is the perfect place for Krav Maga! The winters are long but the summer is majestic and beautiful. Elmendorf is a fantastic post. Ft. Richardson is also there and the Law Enforcement community will eat it up!

If I can help you at all please don't hesitate.

[whitewolf2025]

I would LOVE to go, but it's an 8 hour drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage....a little bit far. Good luck to you though!

[alfakrav]

Hey ops, any help would be great. I've had lots of great feedback and interest just looking for a place to teach out of right now