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How do men and women interact in class at your school? Do men and women partner up together regularly in class or are partners more gender segregated? Is it more on a case by case in which *some* women partner up with men while the majority don’t?
Usually at my school, it seems to be the culture that men almost always pair with men and women with women. Now sometimes you will *occasionally* see a mixed pair, but usually not… Many times even if there is an odd number of men and an odd number of women… it ends up being two groups with three men/three women instead of just having the odd out man and woman work together.
I *occasonally* work with men, but it is an unspoken thing that if there is another woman there, I need to work with her. Sometimes during stress drills the genders are mixed… but usually even those are gender segregated.
Recently, I was upset. I was working with a guy and also a lady. We were a group of three. No problem. Then we started doing ground work and the guy would no longer work with us. The instructor came over and I thought I heard the guy say about some rule working with girls. He was worked in with a couple of guys and it was just the lady and I.
I was a bit bummed inside because I wanted to do the moves on a guy. I work with guys all the time at BJJ so it seemed utterly ridiculous that he would only do stand up and no ground. I do know that mix gender ground work is ESPECIALLY frowned upon. I am one of the few women that pairs with men occasionally but during my last belt test for the ground portion my guy partner had to work in with a pair of guys instead of work with me. A lady instructor was brought over to be my partner. UGH…
HOW THE FRICK ARE WOMEN SUPPOSED TO KNOW THIS STUFF WORKS?!?!?!?! Is this typical at Krav places??? I feel like working only with women gives women a false sense of security. I am a bit strong for a woman and I actually sometimes try to be a bit more difficult either being elusive or gripping harder, a strong headlock, etc and women are like WHAT THE… I want to say to them, “Look sweetie… you have been programmed to ‘play nice’ and take it easy like ALL. THE. TIME. so when someone actually gives you some resistance YOU ARE UTTERLY UNPREPARED to cope.” I don’t say that. I just say, well this is more realistic and I am not even a man. … I only do that just a bit, not all the time as that would not be cool for them… I do it some so they can get a reality check, because most of the time they get no such thing.
I think that maybe at the higher levels (4+) they mix a bit more, but ,most women will not last that long and if Krav is something to learn quick then a woman should be able to come 9 months or a year and have had meaningful interaction with men.
Thoughts? (sorry for yet another novel)
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
Statistically a woman is more likely to be attacked by a man so it is pointless not to practice against one. Knowing this we tend to rotate partners a lot during the classes so everyone works with everyone. Especially when we do self-defense. The guys in the class seem to get really into it and make sure the women are doing the techniques correctly against stronger opponents. But I have a lot of couples and families in my class so that might change the dynamic.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
Guys and gals switch up partnering all the time where I go. Now to be honest, I’ll admit I haven’t noticed any switch-ups during ground work so I’m not able to make a comment on that. I’ve had instructors purposely pair me up with a woman during any given ugly drill and told me to “go.” So yeah, it seems a pretty regular occurrence for me to see mixed partners. I’ve partnered up with women doing hard 360’s and Thai clinches with knees, if that gives any insight. Bottom line is, there doesn’t seem to be any rules regarding men on men or women on women partnering only, where I’m at.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
We switch between partners all the time. It’s not just a male/female thing. You need to train against people of all different sizes, shapes, weights, abilities etc.
When we’re practicing, if the person running the session shouts ‘switch’ you have 5 seconds to change partners and carry on. If you’re not fully up and running with your new partner within that time, it’s burpee city.
That encourages a nice random mix as people just desperately run to the nearest alternate.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote wiccaman:We switch between partners all the time. It’s not just a male/female thing. You need to train against people of all different sizes, shapes, weights, abilities etc.When we’re practicing, if the person running the session shouts ‘switch’ you have 5 seconds to change partners and carry on. If you’re not fully up and running with your new partner within that time, it’s burpee city.
That encourages a nice random mix as people just desperately run to the nearest alternate.
Well said, we do that as well. I’ve also had women specifically request any guy partner to “go” to best simulate being attacked. Many of my female partners have straight up told me “don’t hold back.” Funny enough, I’ve even purposely partnered up with women who go harder than even some guys in my classes! It really is the fight in the dog.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote LennyKravist:I haven’t noticed any switch-ups during ground work so I’m not able to make a comment on that.When it comes to ground work we have the same rule as we do for all techniques; the smallest person has to be able to make it work against the biggest.
We always train with the assumption that your attacker is ‘bigger, better, faster, stronger, knows what you are going to do, is tooled up and has mates’. We put that into practice in stress drills and pressure testing, so it’s not unusual to have a queue of 220lbs BJJ aficionados queuing up to constantly attack a 100lbs girl on the ground.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
How do your places handle ground fighting?
EDIT: I see wiccaman and I posted at at the same time. How do other places handle ground fighting? Wiccaman, I take it you mean that the guys WANT to help the women?
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote kravjitsu:How do your places handle ground fighting?EDIT: I see wiccaman and I posted at at the same time. How do other places handle ground fighting? Wiccaman, I take it you mean that the guys WANT to help the women?
Well, as someone who occasionally instructs (although I adopt the ‘you’re a student all your life’ approach) it does give a great feeling of satisfaction when some tiny girl sends some of the bigger blokes limping off!
We train ground fighting in regular class, hard wooden or concrete floor, no mats. When we’re running through the techniques we make sure that attackers/defenders are mixed up a lot. We then do pressure testing. One way is to get the ‘victim’ on the floor. Then we either queue up and take turns attacking or stand round in a circle and attack randomly (the trick is to keep up the pressure. As soon as one attack is dealt with, the next attacker leaps straight in, any delay and it’s burpees again.)
We’re also lucky in that we have access to a derelict building. It’s got a broken concrete floor with old cut off gas pipes sticking up, rubble and (depending on the weather) various pools of water. That’s a great place to practice ground fighting. Nothing like getting a rock in you kidneys to remind you why ‘going to the ground’ can be a danger.
[I think there may be some relevant photos in my ‘profile’ bit]
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote kravjitsu:How do your places handle ground fighting?EDIT: I see wiccaman and I posted at at the same time. How do other places handle ground fighting? Wiccaman, I take it you mean that the guys WANT to help the women?
Now that I think of it more, we have done mixed gender ground work. I remember a few times partnering up, where the gal was on her back and I was on mount and would either ground and pound (hard, but safe of course) while she 360-defensed and bucked out, or I’d hold a tombstone while she attacked her way out, then got up and into fighting stance. Then of course it would be my turn to defend. Stuff like that.
And of course, we absolutely want to help not just the women in the class, but everyone. Big, small, skinny, male, female, doesn’t matter. Everyone goes home safe. I push my female partners just as hard as I’ll push my male partners.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
one of the best grapplers in my school is a 5’4″ woman. everyone wants to work with her b/c she is significantly better than they are and she grapples with everyone.
if the smallest person in class (whether male or female) can’t make the technique work against the biggest/strongest most proficient person in class then it is a failure.
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote KMKY:if the smallest person in class (whether male or female) can’t make the technique work against the biggest/strongest most proficient person in class then it is a failure.I agree and it is great that other schools mix it up. So far I have only heard from schools that do mix things up.
However, are there any other schools out there that don’t mix genders for ground or standup generally?
I don’t think there would be a Krav school that is 100% separate gender wise. Even mine isn’t… but I would like to hear from places where the general tendency of the school culture is more men with men and women with women with only occasionally mixing (maybe during a stress drill only at the end of class).Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote KMKY:if the smallest person in class (whether male or female) can’t make the technique work against the biggest/strongest most proficient person in class then it is a failure.Hey KMKY, what is “it” (regarding “it” being a failure)?
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
We partner with women all the time as well, I was working with one last night on take downs, and let me tell you, my neck is sore today, I am 6’2″ 255, and she was about 5’2-3 175ish
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote Don:Hey KMKY, what is “it” (regarding “it” being a failure)?I think he is referring to the class as a whole for that person
Re: Do Men and Women Train Together at Your School????
quote Don:Hey KMKY, what is “it” (regarding “it” being a failure)?Sorry I should have been more clear. idbl_fanatic is correct. I am referring to the class for that individual being a failure and, by extension, that I as the instructor having failed the student.
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