[kmyoshi]

I don’t think anyone will sue you for having a tattoo of the logo. In fact, they might even thank you for the free advertising.

[kmyoshi]

I would say there is a healthy number of L1 students (20+) in one location alone (at the National Training Center) so if you count both locations, you’re looking at least 40 actively training L1 students. Like what CJ’s Dad said, there is a decline after L1 but I see that the L2 and L3 classes are pretty full as well. The L3 class that I attend once a week has at least 10 students in there on a weekly basis. L4 I see at least 8 students. There are no L5 only classes so I cannot say for sure how many people are L5 (blue belts) but I know of at least 4 people who are testing into brown belt soon. There are not that many student black belts, but they did just have a test a few months ago. 16-20 actively training black belts is a stretch.

[kmyoshi]

I’ve moved onto another bag… works very well.

http://www.titleboxing.com/accessories/equipment-bags/title-shock-awe-deluxe-roll-bag

I fit A LOT of stuff in this bag. 1 pair of weighted bag gloves, 1 pair of Muay Thai style boxing gloves, 1 pair of boxing gloves, 1 pair of MMA gloves, 1 pair of shin guards, grappling ear guards, boxing ear guard, some change of clothes (pants, tank top, jacket) a couple pairs of wrist wraps, jump rope, kickboxing shoes. My gripe is the lack of pockets inside the bag, so the knick knacks like wrist wraps need to be contained in its own mesh bag (which is another purchase…). It can be a pain trying to find smaller pieces of gear like the ear guards. However, it has wheels, so rolling it from the parking lot into the gym is great, and since I have so many things in the bag, there is less wear and tear on the bag itself due to gravity. I give it a 4/5 rating due to the lack of additional pockets on the inside of the bag.

[kmyoshi]

This week…:

L4/5: handgun from the back (middle of the back, and off to either left or right side), defense against overhand stick both live or dead side, and baseball bat swing, long gun/knife/handgun/stick drill…!
L3: Arm drag to a take down where you’re in a position to do an arm lock (not pure Krav per se) but awesome!

[kmyoshi]

Hi Moller,

Sorry to hear that you were stabbed and attacked just recently. MMA is a great base as it deals with both stand up striking as well as ground fighting and can make you a force to be reckoned with if you are proficient in it. Unfortunately since MMA is geared towards competition, it does not include any weapon defenses, or dealing with multiple threats/attackers. A good Krav gym will incorporate a good warm up to get your heart rate up, and then working techniques (Level 1 starts with the fundamentals of Krav such as fighting stance, movement, how to punch, elbows, defense against headlocks, wrist release, chokes, etc.) with a drill at the end of class where you can incorporate the techniques you just learned in a controlled but elevated stress environment. The stress inducers could include but are not limited to closing your eyes before getting attacked and having to defend, closing your eyes + spinning in circles and then getting attacked and having to defend, or if it is night time, dim lights for poor visibility, etc. etc.. Sparring should also be a regular part of the Krav curriculum, or at least have a dedicated fight class for sparring.

A lot of the basic strikes in Krav are taken from Boxing and Muay Thai but there are subtle variations with the technique. I hope that you are able to find a great gym near you.

[kmyoshi]

Yeah, I get that. I don’t think this site has enough active membership though. We have a lot of lurkers. Good luck with the sale!

[kmyoshi]

Where are you located? You may have better chances of selling this if you also post this on craigslist.

[kmyoshi]

Amazon sells MT gloves. I know they sell Fairtex, Top King and Windy gloves. With Prime shipping, you should be able to get them relatively quickly…

[kmyoshi]

If you’re exercising, you’re burning calories which means you’re losing weight. However, if you’re eating more calories than you are burning than you will gain weight.

[kmyoshi]

My opinion might hold little weight (no pun intended) because I am height deficient (5’5″) and 120lbs. Dieting/eating healthy is probably the most important thing you can do other than exercising. I know people who were overweight and just by cutting out sugar from their diet, lost weight. Exercise goes hand in hand with eating healthy in helping you get your weight under control. Like what jjbklb said, swimming is an excellent way to get your exercise in without stressing out your joints. Here is an interesting article that you should read. For the longest time, I always associated weight loss with cardio, and weight gain with lifting weights until a few years ago. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fat_loss_training_wars.htm

[kmyoshi]

quote NiNja_Dinosaur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79JaoAk8j8g gang steals a bottle of alcohol….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhV9xTPRvaI machete fight in the hood. notice how they swing the machete in front of them side to side using a small wrist movement, instead of just hacking and slashing. how could someone burst in and control the weapon that way?

First, I have very limited knowledge of bladed weapons combatives so this is just my observations. The small wrist movements is keep the weapon in motion which allows the wielder to attack in quick spurts, but also to mask the attacks [feint], similar to how in TKD the stance has a lot of movement/switching stance to keep your opponent guessing. In this instance, there is no opportunity for you to burst in to control the weapon. With FMA (once again limited knowledge…) if you have knife on knife, you would try to attack the blade (therefore the hand) so that you can cause damage and either knock the weapon out of the hand right away, or continue to whittle away at the hand until it is no longer useable. You can do the same with the machete, although it may not be as light and quick as a knife, you have a reach advantage.

quote NiNja_Dinosaur:

another fight, but this one is more hack and slash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrKPDnjSTHA

my instructor said you cant do the baseball bat/stick defense against machetes, you can get your arm and/or ribs injured if you do. any thoughts on this?

Depends on the way the attack is. If they are quick slashes like the one in this video, you won’t be able to. However, one of the guy looks like he was able to trap the arm holding the machete, but he took a few hits before that. I’m curious how much damage he took because the resolution is bad. I thought he got stabbed through the shoulder. Again, I think the best course of action for this is to attack the arm holding the weapon. If its unarmed vs. machete, space is your friend and your enemy. On one hand you won’t get hit, but a machete attacker knows that and will keep on coming forward. Better to get something that can put space between you and the attacker or do something (like throwing a chair, brick, etc. at them, and while they’re busy flinching from it or dodging it or getting hit by it, close the distance…

[kmyoshi]

KM takes a lot of techniques from boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing for striking. Boxing as a class drill (sounds like you were sparring) is immensely important. It helps you train with a non compliant opponent and learn how to recognize the punches so that you can defend and attack effectively. Sparring/fights are fluid and organic, you are going to get hit because you are not sure what your opponent is going to do but they also do not know what you are going to do. I am 5’5″, and most of the people I spar with are going to be bigger than me in height and weight. I feel that full on sparring for a beginner is not as helpful, especially with training partners that do not have control. It would be better if you were able to ease into it with sparring drills, such as one person is attacking, the other person is only allowed to defend or I-go-you-go type sparring so that you can gradually learn to recognize the attacks that are coming your way. Other boxing drills would be focus mitt work where you work on your striking, and also having the mitt holder throw punches at you at 30% speed so that you can recognize the attacks. I would speak to your instructor to see if they can incorporate those type of drills before moving onto full sparring. You can also ask your partner to take it down if they are landing their punches too hard.

I recommend shadow boxing at home and to practice slipping (punches) and bobbing and weaving, 3 crucial techniques to make it more difficult for your opponents to land hits to your head.

[kmyoshi]

Boxing gyms are notorious for going hard on newcomers at the gym because they want to see if you have heart. Not the safest training method. Something that really surprised me is that people who compete do not spar as often as you think. They work on conditioning and pad work and spar once or twice a week. This is to prevent injuries that will set them back (hint hint…).

You can learn Krav Maga without sparring at 100% but you will still need to spar to get accustomed to getting hit, recognizing the punches and kicks, how to defend them effectively and firing back with your own. The main thing is to communicate with your sparring partner prior to starting the round about how hard you two should go and to tell them if they are going too hard for you if you get caught. Majority of the time, if someone hits you hard, you’ll want to hit them back just as hard if not harder and thus escalating and then it becomes a pissing contest. Size is also something to take into account. I’ve sparred a guy who had at least 120lbs on me say “go 50%?” and I replied with “whose 50% are we talking about, yours or mine?”
If you’re sparring at 20%, you may not be scared of getting hit but are you able to defend and throw great offensive combinations? I like sparring a bit slower because I can see (feel?) my mistakes as they happen and can correct them more effectively. If I’m unable to slip, and throw effective counters at 20% speed, than I definitely cannot do it at even 50% speed.

With Krav, you will learn how to defend yourself against soft threats (drunk guy) which does not necessarily need to escalate to physical force to a guy throwing a haymaker. However, a haymaker is usually thrown when you’re not looking, distracted/unprepared for it but that is for another thread all together… what I like about Krav’s fighting stance is that it doesn’t look like a fighting stance, so you can have your hands up ready to defend, but it doesn’t look threatening. Krav doesn’t have an official verbal judo curriculum (unfortunately) but basic social skills will help you out of a lot of situations (i.e: not taking someone’s bait of posturing.)

[kmyoshi]

Re: Structure of a typical (and good) Krav Maga class

quote justanormalguy:

Thanks CJ! I would be in a level 1 class (beginner). How much of a given class is focused on fitness? What kind of drills are typical? And what is a burn out drill?

For Level 1, there is an emphasis on *fitness* but you’re not doing your typical fitness type exercises. Sure there is a warm up to get your heart rate up such as laps around the block or class room, jumping jacks, etc.. but a large portion of the cardio comes from punching/kicking/elbowing pads and learning the proper technique.

Here is a small list of what level 1 self defense techniques entail:
defense against:
chokes
headlocks
arm drags
wrist release
360 and inside defense against an attack coming from a variety of angles
and kicks from the ground and getting up from the ground

The burnout drills (A.K.A stress drills or simply just “drill”) are derived from the techniques taught in the class. An example of a drill may be that you will be hitting a pad held by one training partner, and another training partner will apply a choke, headlock, etc. and you will need to apply the proper defense against it. It is to get you use to applying the proper defense while under duress, and being really tired/winded.

As you move up in level(s), the review portion will be more prevalent as it is expected of you to know the techniques from the previous levels.

Have fun training!

[kmyoshi]

Re: Uniform Question

Way to resurrect a 10 year old thread… :Unsure:

I think it all depends on the instructors, most instructors I know do not enforce the KM clothes only rule. I happen to like the KM gear, so I train with them. That being said, I would only recommend buying the *dri fit [dry fit]* shirts, not the cotton ones. I still have my original dri fit shirt and it is still holding up well. The care tag recommends to hang dry rather than tumble dry.

I honestly think that if you get flack for not wearing their branded clothing and threaten to cancel your membership (as long as you’re not under a contract…) they will let it slide.

[Author]

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