Hello from Israel

[imike]

Hi All,

I’m Mike, 24, from Haifa.
Have been training in krav maga for about 3 months now and loving it :D.

[mara-jade]

Re: Hello from Israel

Welcome to the forum!

Great – glad you’re enjoying your training. If you got any questions, please feel free to ask:wav:

[sonnymate]

Re: Hello from Israel

Mike, Does your training centre do krav ongoing, like 3 or 4 times a week all year? I would like to spend a summer doing krav in Israel but don’t want a week’s instructor course, just one like I do regularly in Edinburgh. Grateful for any leads.
John

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote sonnymate:

Mike, Does your training centre do krav ongoing, like 3 or 4 times a week all year? I would like to spend a summer doing krav in Israel but don’t want a week’s instructor course, just one like I do regularly in Edinburgh. Grateful for any leads.
John

Hey John, my group has trainings twice a week, but if you want 4 times a week you can train in two groups – 4 different days a week. Basically you can join and leave at any time, we have many people joining in, some stick, others leave after one or two visits. Then we have exams every 2-3 months, so once people reach a more advanced level – yellow belt, after about a year – they move up to a more advanced group.

If you don’t speak any Hebrew might be a bit of a problem, but the instructors will probably be able to help by translating certain important phrases etc.
What city are planning on staying in Israel? Netanya is the center of krav maga (it’s not much a tourist attraction though), but I think all other major cities have regular classes and experienced instructors. Feel free to pm if you need any info on krav centers in certain cities, can check that for you 🙂

[coda-vex]

Re: Hello from Israel

Hey Mike,

While Krav Maga here in the states has just really found a home in main stream popularity, can you give me a picture of how Krav Maga is portayed and expressed it’s native country?

Thanks

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote Coda Vex:

Hey Mike,

While Krav Maga here in the states has just really found a home in main stream popularity, can you give me a picture of how Krav Maga is portayed and expressed it’s native country?

Thanks

Many people go through short basic krav maga training in the army (military service is compulsory in Israel – 3 years for men and 2 for women), but while it’s similar to the regular krav it mostly consists of defenses and attacks you can do with an M16.

Being an Israeli invented fighting system I think it should be relatively more popular in Israel than in other countries, however it seems that most of the traditional martial arts like karate, judo, kong fu etc. attract more people here than krav. :dunno:

Frankly I’m quite surprised it became rather popular in the US. I frequently meet Americans who did some krav training. How popular is it in the States compared to other traditional martial arts and defense systems?

[mara-jade]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote iMike:

Many people go through short basic krav maga training in the army (military service is compulsory in Israel – 3 years for men and 2 for women), but while it’s similar to the regular krav it mostly consists of defenses and attacks you can do with an M16.

Being an Israeli invented fighting system I think it should be relatively more popular in Israel than in other countries, however it seems that most of the traditional martial arts like karate, judo, kong fu etc. attract more people here than krav. :dunno:

Frankly I’m quite surprised it became rather popular in the US. I frequently meet Americans who did some krav training. How popular is it in the States compared to other traditional martial arts and defense systems?

Hi Mike,

What you said about how military service is required and the kind of techniques learned is what I heard when I saw the TV show Fight Quest when they profiled KM in Israel. I really liked what I saw. Anyone wondering what I’m talking about, you can get the DVD set here (pretty cheap too)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013XZ6HU/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001L4L8RI&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0AK57P9T1V2XS3DPCSZ4

I don’t know myself exactly when it became mainstream but shortly after joining our center, my hubby and I went with some of the instructors to promote KM at a theater when the movie Troy opened in 2004. KM was used by Brad Pitt for training for his role.

So what have you learned so far?:wav:

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote mara_jade:

So what have you learned so far?:wav:

thanks for asking 🙂
Just the basics. Passed my level 1 exam recently. :woohoo:

[mara-jade]

Re: Hello from Israel

Oh how awesome! Hubby and I were heavier back then when we first took our level 1. We were nuts but hey we passed and this past month we finally passed Level 3. Took longer to get there than we wanted BUT don’t let anyone tell you it’s a race. It’s sure isn’t and you’ll know when you’re ready to test up againthumbsup

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

yeah, I lost some 4-5 kgs (8-10lbs) since I started training 4 months ago. But I also do some biking and try to do the stretching exercises at home. Still have some more extra weight there, but it doesn’t bother me much.
Due to local holidays will have to miss 2 lessons this week 🙁

Mara, how long did it take you and your hubby to pass level 2 and 3?

[mara-jade]

Re: Hello from Israel

level 1 was 3 months, level 2 was 6. Due to injury and life getting in the way, it took several years (about 3 I think) till this year we finally passed 3.

There are no hard or fast rules on how long someone takes to go to the next level. Yeah, it’s nice to learn more cool stuff but if your foundation isn’t solid, what’s the point in racing to get there, you know?

For us, we’ve been at our place so long, we’ve seen alot of level 4 due to periodic seminars and our center having combined 3/4 classes. Now it’s time to go back to basics and work on fitness for us. We’ve got diabetes on both sides of our families and each side (Mom and Dad’s ) have it, so time to work on this weight

Best wishes on your continued training:wav:

[oasktf]

Re: Hello from Israel

Hello iMike.

What¥s the organization that you train with?

Regards,

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote oasktf:

Hello iMike.

What¥s the organization that you train with?

Regards,

krav-maga.co.il (click the English sign)

[skibum]

Re: Hello from Israel

Mike, where in Haifa is the Krav training place? I visit usually once a year, and would like to see (participate in?) a training session if possible.

[imike]

Re: Hello from Israel

quote skibum:

Mike, where in Haifa is the Krav training place? I visit usually once a year, and would like to see (participate in?) a training session if possible.

Don’t know if I’m allowed to “advertise” it here, but the addresses/phone numbers are here.
First lesson is free so you can come and join the training any time. :wav:

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