Re: Why don’t all KM schools train all out?
1. You probably shouldn’t be sparring 2 months in.
2. Krav Maga is self-defense. No debate. Next.
3. At my Krav Maga school, the use of lethal force and related issues (what’s legal, what’s not, the line between self-defense and assault, etc.) is actually covered quite a bit in class, as I’m sure it is at other Krav Maga schools of both our and the other reputable organizations/branches. Trust me, as students we’re all made very aware of certain realities when it comes to our safety and the legality of what we can and cannot do. Also, our organization trains cops, and the head of the organization is a prosecutor for the LA District Attorney’s Office (or something like that.) Point is, no one’s going around encouraging students to do anything illegal. Quite the opposite in fact.
4. Pads or no pads, slow sparring is a very important learning tool for beginners, then you can pick up speed and intensity. Yes, one also learns by going all out/being aggressive/getting housed/housing the other person (ideally with pads), but there’s so much more to it in terms of technique and mindset than that. As with anything, crawl before you walk.
5. If your instinct is telling you that your school/teacher is bad news, I encourage you to absolutely listen to it. Far be it from me to judge, but from what you wrote, I would tend to agree. In general, I prefer to avoid the Rex Kwon Do’s of the world. If someone seems like a richard, I usually don’t go back to their class if they’re the teacher or partner with them if they’re a fellow student.
6. Far as I know, most if not all Krav Maga schools worth their salt do have sparring, just not in Level 1. The fighting muscles are built by going from from light and slow to hard and fast, full contact. If you get a chance, search these forums for a description of the Krav Maga Worldwide black belt test and you’ll see what I mean. In fact, I copied something this guy who used to teach at KMW wrote about it because I think it’s awesome. Here’s an excerpt: “After about 5 hours of nonstop testing [for KMW black belt], they had to fight. They fought multiple rounds with each other until they were exhausted, then multiple rounds with a fresh fighter larger and more experienced than they. His job was to break them. Both of them got dropped (remember, they had been going for five hours and their opponent was totally fresh), but got back up and kept fighting.” Bad ass enough for you?
7. Krav Maga Denver is supposed to be very good. I’m sure they’d let you check out a class. Best case it’ll be life-changing, worst it’ll be a waste of an hour. My guess is it’ll probably fall somewhere in between and hopefully be useful information as you continue on your personal journey. (Aww, just got all new-agey on you there…)
Anyway, good luck!
Thank you. I don’t understand why no sparring is allowed at Level1? Level 1 takes 6 months to complete I have read? What am I going to be doing practicing movements, essentially katas for 6 months? If that’s the case I am totally confused. KM is supposed to be quick and easy to learn compared to other MA’s. I was able to learn the KM defense for knife/swinging right and apply it correctly in my current class just by watching instructional videos.
I guess I could see during Level 1, doing the drills for about a month then letting people do some light sparring, then a month later if ready full hard contact full padded up. From what I have seen KM is easy to learn compared to FMA or Silat techniques. Where I think KM may fall short is that when the attack doesn’t work like you expect, because the world is dynamic, then what? There is little fluidity in KM compared to Silat or FMA from my limited viewing and experience. I don’t know about the focus on proper structure in KM but in Silat it’s everything.
I was already planning on checking out KM in Denver and comparing it to the other KM schools in Denver metro.
