Tapping Out?

[Illiad]

Hello fellow KM practitioners.

Here's a question: does 'tapping out' exist in Krav Maga? How far does your instructor go to make your classes as real as the street?

I was strangled by a guy of higher grade than me a few weeks ago. In the eyes of the instructor, it was my problem that I couldn't deal with a side headlock. It didn't matter that I asked the guy to get off me, and then tapped out. Does this not give licence to hurt anyone you like, in any class?

Illiad

[StanMc]

If you tap out and/or ask someone to stop, they should stop. PERIOD. If the "instructor" doesn't get that he's an idiot that doesn't care about your safety and doesn't deserve your money.

[bear34]

I would speak to the instructor privately. Are you new? Was the other student trying to help by making you work or was he just being an a-hole? I would say that if asked to stop.....stop. Curious where you were working(which org.) You are in NYC and have the choice of all of the major orgs. If you are uncomfortable try another place.

[Jeremy Stafford]

Of course I wasn't there, but what you describe is unacceptable. It is the Instructors responsibility to ensure that the student understands and can apply what is being taught before putting the student in a possibly dangerous situation. Imi himself said it in regards to training... Go home safe. If I were you I would look elsewhere for training.

[mara_jade]

I agree with the others. While KM is designed to be as realistic as possible, if you asked to STOP and the other didn't, that's unacceptable. The instructor should've stopped it immediately.

[JL]

I have to agree with Jeremy and others here. This seems to have a Cobra-Kai mentality smack to it (sweep the leg Jonny). Safety of all participating students is of the utmost importance. If you're hurt, you cannot train, if you cannot train, you could get hurt. Find a place where egos get checked at the door, and the safety of you and all those you train with, is as important as the training itself!

[TacticalTimmy]

I woudnt call it the Cobra Kai smack, because if I were in a fight and I knew the other person had an injury, Id attack the heck out of it. However, tapping out is a safety tool, and a training tool. If someone has such little disregard for your safety that they will hold past the tap, you will soon find yourself waking up, wondering what happened, or having a bone/joint held together with screws.

[rickprado]

Rick Blitstein taught me to tap before I really need to tap. The point being, not everyone knows your pain threshold, flexibility, etc.....and can go a little too far, you prevent injuries that way, especially when people are unfamiliar with each other.

Having said that, it sounds that, given the circumstances presented, that the dude you were training with may or may not have been a dick, maybe doesn't know any better, but the guy running the school is a jerkoff! Great way to lose future and some current customers

If I see one of my students go past a tap intentionally, he has to be dealt with.

While you're at it, you should approach the owner about it or go elsewhere.

If you decide to go elsewhere, perhaps you can post school name here to help out others from making the same mistake.

[t-krav]

What part of "go home safe" does this align to?

Sometimes training partners don't know their own strength or can't control themselves. Some are a$$holes trying to "win" a drill. In some cases, in certain schools, I've seen instructors call someone to help demonstrate a specific defense and then put a surprise attack on the student to illicit a shock response.

Finding good training partners is like finding friends. You aren't friends with everyone you meet. You'll quickly learn who its beneficial to train with and who you'll want to avoid or at the very least be extra cautious.

For me, and this is just my opinion, when I'm learning something new I like to go thru the steps in a controlled manner ramping up the speed and intensity with each rep until it starts to fail. Then back down and begin again. Otherwise I'm just spazzing out.

Training Krav isn't about proving ones toughness. Its about learning. You will become tougher as a result but not by getting bullied constantly.