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Is violence, Aggression, enough?
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
December 2, 2024, Israel
Training with legends, Michael DePasquale RIP, Bill D Úrso, Joe Hess, RIP
Training with legends, Moshe with British Muay Thai campion Kru Phil Nurse.
There is an old saying, which I hold to be true; fools rush in where angles fear to tread. We will apply this to Krav Maga, and the approach advocated by other styles of "Reality Self Defense". At its core this saying warns us against the impulsive nature of fools who boldly venture into situations that prudent individuals would approach with caution. It warns us against blindly embarking on a path without considering the potential risks or consequences; look before you leap
But this is not just an old folk saying, we know the origin. The source for this quotation (and origin) is Alexander Pope (1688-1744), one of the leading neoclassical or Augustan poets of the first half of the eighteenth century and a man known for his moral vision. In 1711, Pope’s first great poem was published: a didactic work titled An Essay on Criticism. It is he who coined this phrase, at the young age of only 23 years. He also coined the phrase, a little learning is a dangerous thing, also to be applied to Krav Maga.
Pope was a fascinating figure: as a young boy he was expelled from Twyford School of London (still in operation today), for writing a satire about one of his teachers. He lost many friends and created enemies as he was not afraid to speak out and criticize those with whom he disagreed. (It is said that out of fear of attacks from especially vicious rivals he rarely left his house without a brace of pistols and his dog, a Great Dane named Bounce.)
Apply Pope's lessons to Krav Maga
There are many videos out there on social media where very tough looking muscular men, with bulging biceps, (they wear no sleaves so that you can see their muscles, as you must, this is part of the show) defend against all sorts of attacks by using one basic method: Rush in and attack. There is no waiting, there is no real timing, there is no technique or strategy, just pure aggression, brutality and power. Now I am not opposed to being brutal against your enemy, not at all, but one needs to combine that with intelligence, with skill, technique. I will analyze this in the blog, (and look forward to your comments and input, please write to me). They seem to feel that "Look before you leap" is only for "timid types". Being careful and knowing when to back out, is only for cowards. I strongly disagree. Even if we take our own example in Israel and the events following the October Massacre, and I don't think anyone can say our counterattack was timid or cowardly, what we saw was that the Israeli forces did not respond immediately. They waited. They analyzed, they planned, and then they attacked in a very controlled strategic manner. They did what we call in Israel, Re'gah hoshvim, take a moment to think. i.e. Look before you leap.
Is aggression and violence enough of a defense? Is being big and strong the key factor in self-preservation? Should we devote our time to this, or to other aspects of training? Is Beat 'em Smash 'em enough, or do we need some actual skill, technique? Let us analyze this.
and remember this; poor judgment, poor timing, choosing ego over wisdom, can lead to disaster, and unlike YouBoob videos, in the real world there are NO second chances. You will pay for your mistakes. I am here to help you. Please continue reading.
The Bible warns us not to stray after our eyes and hearts. That is a very powerful, relevant, and current lesson. It can be applied to much we face in modern life. In fact, it is probably more relevant today than at any point in history. We are exposed to so much, much more than our ancestors, but we must remember that not all that glitters is gold. Our eyes and our desires will lead us astray.
I have a WARNING - Please pay attention.
If you are going to invest your hard-earned money, be careful not to fall prey to advertisements showing a fancy lifestyle, "beautiful" people and fancy cars. There is an old saying, a fool and his money are quickly parted, i.e. if you are not careful someone will come and trick you out of your money. Someone will promise you a great investment, or some magic beans. Buyer beware.
Aggressive looking violent martial arts systems - Some go by the name of Krav Maga, which is why I call our style IKI Krav Maga in order to differentiate it from other styles, some go by Street Combatives, or Urban Combatives, there are several different variations on the name. They all advocate the same idea - What we are shown are very tough, very muscular men, handling all situations with One Single Solution - Pure violence and aggression. (very little actual technique).
This is a mistake. Just as the saying Love conquers all is false, so too the idea that aggression conquers all is also false.
This will not work.
I will explain why.
First, remember, don't fall for the videos, for the presentation. These are not real street cases, these are filmed in the dojo, in a studio, these are promotional videos. I have been in such videos; I know how it works. The "bad guy", the attacker, will always be defeated, he will stab halfheartedly but make it look aggressive. If you slow down the video you will see that the attacker is actually being stabbed several times, I will address this in a minute. Thus, even in the videos the Bad Ass Winner will actually be stabbed or hurt badly. But these are not real attackers, these are not real knives, they are rubber training knives, or rubber sticks. Those are not real guns with real bullets. The trained eye, like my own, can spot these "little" points and understand that even in the promotional videos the Hero is actually being killed; If it were real, he would have died.
But it looks exciting, it looks real, and you might think, I should leave my instructor and my school and join this school, this is the real deal, these guys really know how to handle violence.
But this would be a mistake, a deadly mistake.
I will break it down and explain it.
"... do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to go after (which you are inclined to deviate after, to be seduced by)." (Book of Numbers, Chapter 15) I offer here several versions of the verse as the original of course was not in English but in Hebrew and often the translations are not accurate. The Hebrew text uses the same word as it uses for a whore. i.e. the meaning is as follows - just as a man is seduced by a whore, we are seduced by the things our eyes see and our hearts desire, don't follow this path for it will lead you to destruction.
Do not stray after your eyes and your weak inclinations...the eyes and heart will deceive you. You have to use your brain.
Let us analyze this. The streets can be very violent, I have spent many years studying this topic. I have seen a man go down with one punch, hit his head on the ground and die. I have seen a man get cut once, only once, and be dead on the street within less than a minute. I know of a girl who was pushed against a wall, her head hit the wall and she died. That is the truth, but what do we see in these Bad Ass videos, of big tough muscular men? What do we see? (and I have experienced this myself, firsthand, many times).
We see a guy getting attacked, stabbed multiple times and yet he fights back (isn't that what Krav Maga is all about, being aggressive?) He "takes a licking and keeps on ticking"(old commercial). i.e. he is so tough that he can get hit or stabbed multiple times, hit in the head with a blunt object, but he keeps on going. Therefore, you should join this tough instructor.
The female version is called Female Empowerment. The woman is usually gorgeous, and dressed to show this quite clearly, she is attacked only by big, muscled guys, she easily disarms them, guns, knives, sticks, and beats them up. So you, who look nothing like this model, should join her system.
But this is a lie. Fake News. Reality is different.
Being pounded on the ground -Reality is that when five guys are kicking you on the ground you are going to get your ribs broken, you are going to suffer a concussion, you may be beaten to death. When they are punching you in the head and you are on the ground covering up with your arms, you will still be knocked unconscious. This happened recently in Amsterdam, I have eyewitness reports. People were left unconscious on the street, young tough soccer fans. That is reality. and I don't care how big your biceps are.
Knives - Rubber knives don't kill. Usually, you don't even know you have been stabbed. In these demonstrations, the eye often does not see these stabs, but reality is different. In reality we see a guy fighting, but suddenly, for no apparent reason, he falls down. The onlookers are puzzled, but it turns out he was stabbed in a vital area. All it takes is one decent stab the big guy goes down! That is reality. Wake up. Or, if the stab is not fatal, it causes a loss of blood which weakens the person and greatly reduces their ability to fight back.
Sticks (myth)- I have participated in such drills, a bunch of guys pound you with sticks, you block, you move, you toughen up, you fight back, eventually you succeed!! Yey for you!! You have earned your black belt. (Some actually post these videos on social media, not realizing how pathetic it is.)
Sticks, Reality - The stick is made of wood, or it is a lead pipe, you get hit with one blow, once. One single blow, and you are now dead, or worse, brain damaged for life. I have seen this. I know such people. There IS NO Second chance! and no one is tough enough to take a blow to the head. I was hit in the head with a baseball bat once, I know.
Guns (myth) - I have seen the videos; the defender grabs the gun and hits the attacker in the face. Yey for our superhero!
Guns, Reality - I know of cases where this particular defense was attempted. Guess what? The gunman does not give up his gun so easily, he pulled back while the police officer (trained in that style of Krav Maga) was holding on to the gun, and the gunman shot 5 people while the police officer still had his hand on the gun trying to take it away Bad Ass style. That is reality. And listen, one bullet and you are bleeding, one stab and you are bleeding, when you are losing blood, you are no longer so tough.
Again, I know of several cases where people were shot. They were TRUE heros, not YouBoob heros, and they continued fighting but they were what I call "Dead Man Walking" because that one bullet or that one stab, had already killed them, it was just a matter of time, and no doctor could save them.
I have spent my life studying this. I Know the truth. I have seen people die from these attacks and they were tough, tougher than the so-called instructors on YouBoob, these were Israeli soldiers, military veterans, but they were not fighting actors, or martial arts students, they were fighting Arab terrorists who came to KILL or be KILLED. I have two nephews who were in this situation, I have a cousin who was killed by a single bullet. I have students who were killed by a single bullet. STOP this nonsense and believing what you see on the internet youBoob! It is fake.
One more case - a really tough Muay Thai/Boxing instructor was in his school teaching, wearing his boxing gloves and shorts. He witnessed something going on outside, he went outside and confronted the bad guy. He started punching, but the guy pulled out a gun and fired a single shot. The instructor died on the spot, that is reality.
Another Case - I was teaching a seminar in Kiel, Germany. During the break an older gentleman chats with me. He is over 70 years old, and he tells me the following story. Last year I began training with your instructor here, Toto, we learned the IKI Universal Block and follow-up strikes. I was in line at a coffee shop and a young man cuts ahead of me and the others while we are waiting to order our coffee. Everyone was upset but they were afraid to speak, but I did. 'Young man', I said, 'that is rather rude of you to cut ahead of all of us.' The young man challenged me and punched towards my face, I used the Universal Block, stopped him totally and countered with a forearm strike to his face, breaking his nose. Thank you for teaching."
That is reality.
Think Logically
Think logically - You are filming a promotional video, you want to attract students, your chosen image is "Bad Ass", fair enough, for this end you have invested many years, many hours daily, used many supplements to get that "look"; those big muscles that we all really like, and now you are ready to film. Are you really going to ask the attackers (your students, or actors) to truly try their best to beat the crap out of you? to hurt you?! what if in the process some big guy landed a punch on the back of your neck, you could be paralyzed for life! What if you got an elbow in the face, or in the neck, damage for life. (I know from experience). I had a student who was a professional bouncer in England, one punch to the mouth and he lost all his front teeth. Are you going to risk that on your video?? Of course not. The videos are not a reflection of reality, but a reflection of your fantasy. Beware the magic beans they are selling you.
Did you ever wonder why advertisements for luxury automobiles, and hotels, usually include a beautiful woman with a glass of champagne in her hand? This was the topic of my first marketing course when I was in Business School (Graduate level, honor student). Here is the answer: Perception counts, reality does not. Hear that, they are not concerned with truth or reality, they are salesmen. I am speaking from experience, I spent several years in the field, both on the marketing side and on the investment side. When discussing a product, the only factor was sales, not how useful it might be to the buyer. The purpose of the buyer is to provide profits, that is all.
I asked the professor a question; if I purchase that car, is the beautiful woman included? of course not. Then why is she in the advertisement? The answer is perception. The car, and the woman, are both trophies, they are symbols of your financial success. Now even if you have not really succeeded in business, that does not matter as long as you can put together the money, by hook or by crook, and buy the car. Then you will see yourself as a true success in life. Your goal is that others should see you as successful and be impressed. No, the woman is not included, but she too is a symbol of success. The successful man gets the beauty.
It is all marketing. I worked in the field; one word that is never used is - Truth. It is not relevant to the profession.
The same is true for those YouBoob videos with the Ground 'em Pound 'em guys. Understand that this is a sales attempt, not a documentary.
Now, What is their defense against an attack, a punch, a knife, guns, multiple attackers, terrorists? Just hit the guy. Pound him with your big fists. He has a knife, just hit him. He has a gun, simple, just grab the gun, and... you guessed it, Hit him! Brilliant strategy, only problem is it does not work.
Disclaimer - This blog is not an "anti-bodybuilding" or anti weightlifting blog. Not at all. I am a great fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he had a goal, and the means, the method, to achieve that goal was to win the world bodybuilding championship. So if bodybuilding helps your life in some way, gives you more confidence, go for it. My point is, don't think that simply having this look makes one a better Krav Maga instructor. Similarly, acting tough, using foul language, hurting students, does not make one a better Krav Maga instructor system.
Biceps - I know many professional personal trainers. They tell me all the guys in the gym want big biceps and big chests. They don't like to work proportionally, i.e. they tend to ignore body parts such as legs. The chest and the biceps get noticed but are they that useful for personal self-defense? the answer is not really. Sure, being stronger means you have more force, but plenty of great fighters were not that big and not that strong. Just look at the early Jewish and Italian mafias, you had guys who were 5 foot 3 and missing a finger or two but beat the crap out of anyone who dared get in their way. It was attitude and street smarts. Yet many self-defense instructors feel they must have huge biceps. Nothing wrong with the activity of bodybuilding but it is not self-defense. I have seen plenty of body builders get beaten up in street fights. Having huge biceps is not a defense against a knife or a gun, or much else.
Huge Biceps - In many of these videos the guys have huge bulging biceps. I get it, it looks good, you look tough. I have seen videos where the stated goal is to have bigger biceps but not necessarily to be stronger. But let us think about this logically. First, what does it take to develop those biceps? In IKI Krav Maga our philosophy is that everyone is entitled to be free, to not be molested or harassed or humiliated, therefore our Krav Maga is for everyone. Now most people do not have the time or the inclination to devote themselves to bodybuilding. If one needs to not only devote time to Krav Maga, to self-defense but also to bodybuilding, that is more time than most people can devote to this. We are dealing with regular working people, not professional athletes, who has the time for all this? My goal is for you to come to class twice per week and that should be enough to learn to defend yourself.
Not only that, but even the most dedicated fitness person may not achieve the goal of looking like those guys in the bad ass videos. Many people do not have the body structure for it. They can work out 4 times per week, 2 hours each time and still not achieve that. Just check out YouTube and you will see how many videos there are that are titled..."not getting those huge biceps? Let me show you how, sign up for my course", etc. Fact is that without dangerous supplements and steroids, most people will never look that way. Fact is you don't need to look that way to be able to defend yourself. Remember, it is an image thing. If it makes you feel good about yourself, fine, go for it, but you don't need it for self-defense. We all have limited time, limited funds, and we need to choose what is important to us.
As I always teach, if a technique depends on, relies upon, Strength, Speed, Precision, those are the Three Amigos, the three unreliable friends that you cannot rely upon.
Karate College - When I attended Karate College there was a self-defense instructor who grew up in Israel. He was very different from the other instructors at the time. He had an image to present, and he did it well, although I felt uncomfortable by his behavior. While all the other instructors behaved as Southern gentleman, this man was using coarse language. It was all part of the act. At one point, he turned to the crowd and said, "We train in the West Bank, if you are not tough, you die!" or something along those lines. My training partner looked at me and said, "Moshe, I am going to speak to my wife, I am purchasing his entire DVD course even though it is well over $500, this guy is the real deal, did you hear what he said, he trained in the West Bank?"
Note: the so-called 'West Bank'' is the part of Israel we call Judea and Samaria, it is a big chunk of Israel and contains many areas occupied by Arabs, these are very dangerous, thus it is known to the outside world as dangerous.
I turned to him, and I said, "Larry, I live in the West Bank, it is safer than most American cities. Don't fall for the hype."
All part of the Tough Guy act.
Privately this man was very humble, speaking to me as a fellow Israeli, he told me that if I am a black belt with Itay Gil, "I have nothing to teach you". We exchanged instructor T shirts. i.e. he allowed me to wear an instructor T shirt for his style, which I still value. He is a good man, but he is also a good salesman.
Remember, movies are not real, and social media videos are not much different, they are staged performances. I have seen reality and that is a different world. In the real-world people don't take such a pounding, a stabbing, or a shooting, and punch their way out of. I have done all this. I have experienced this. I can still do this, but it is not an effective method of self-defense, no matter how much we want to believe. Don't waste your time or money on that.
Now let's get real. See below to start your training with us. You and you alone will decide if that is right for you. You be the judge, it is your life on the line.
Comments - Feedback
I think training is a vital part of every situation. Learning how to identify situations to be able to walk away from is the key to survival. That being said, violence and aggression are key components to self defense. The problem with these is that training is required to use them effectively. I have found in my life that no matter how violent and aggressive I was, I was not able to stop people from hurting me. This ended up in bad situations that I couldn't get out of. However, since I have been learning the techniques in IKI, I have found that the same situations I have experienced are now effective with the training that I have acquired when paired with technique. So, in my experience, violence and aggression are necessary, but only effective when used with proper training
(female student, USA, name withheld by request)
No sir. Violence and aggression are necessary but not sufficient conditions for self defense. You must have that AND strategic targeting of anatomical targets. If you attack me and I put my thumb into your forehead full power, it may make you angry but it certainly will do nothing to shut you down. However, if I put my thumb into the attacker’s eye at full power, then that will shut the attacker down and allow me to finish my defense and escape.
Dustin Segers, USA
In response to this blog, I can say that I wholeheartedly agree.
My name is Tonya Ben Mansour, associate black belt instructor with IKI in Mobile, Al.
Mobile Alabama in itself has a plethora of violent crime with an influx of Latin gangs emigrating from the south and being named the second most dangerous city in the United States in 2023. Many violent situations that I encountered through my life beginning with a violent rape attempt at the age of 8 years old by a friend's older brother. I had no training but luckily fight overtook fright and flight and I was able to send them off. Another instance being the New girl in Town and a case of mistaken identity ended up getting me jumped by 12 kids both male and female and beaten had a knife held to my throat while I was on the ground and left for dead. I crawled to the roadway and luckily an older man picked me up and took me back to the island where I lived. That occurrence was at the age of 14 after having had 5 years of martial arts training.
Another violent instance took place when a family member who had a drug problem became argumentative and when I turned to leave I heard the gun cock and I just went straight forward my back was turned she grabbed my hair and pulled my hair back and all I could think to do was just turn my head to the side and run zigzag low through the darkness. I hid in a bush and saw her ran past me and into my house and I was able to sneak into the neighbor's house and call the police. She discharged the gun it was so loud I thought it was dead even though I was running. The bullet missed my head by inches. At the age of this attack I had 14 years of martial arts experience but no krav Maga yet. That instance prompted my interest in modern weapons defense. I had trained mostly Chinese martial arts that were very traditional and had no place for modern situations. I am grateful to have found iki krav Maga. I studied a couple of systems before that but like his blog stated it was all a bunch of fluff tough guy stuff that looked badass but would really get you killed if you tried to use it on the street. After a few years of training with Moshe I opened my own School and there was one instance where a friend from high school who is a former Marine and a combat veteran stopped by to try a class. He knew I had always been into martial arts but he kind of brushed it off because I'm a very petite female. That day we did a knife threat to the throat with the arm slightly bent. Immediately after leaving class he stopped for gas and a perpetrator tried to Rob him at the gas pump in the exact manner that he learned in class. He used the defense and was able to defend the knife threat to his throat, subdue the attacker and put his head through the windshield of the car.
I've seen much violence I've experienced much violence in my life and now having 35 years of martial arts training and experience I can say that iki krav Maga is the best in the world hands down. You can't muscle yourself through situations. Skill and technique Will trump in any situation 90%. At a certain point brute strength can be hard to overcome, but with proper skill and technique you can get out of mostly any situation. It's not going to be a perfectly choreographed Bruce Lee movie that's not how life happens. Most of the time you get hit before you can react and you just have to be able to push through that to defend yourself. It's a good idea to get punched in the face once in awhile in the dojo so it's not a shock when it happens on the street. It's never a good idea to let the ego make the decision of going for something that looks badass without being tried true tested. When the ego steps on the mat or into the fight, you lose sight of reality and can end up getting yourself killed. Buyer beware when it comes to the tough guy image where martial arts are concerned.
Tonya Ben Mansour, USA
I have the honor of being a 3rd DAN black belt under Moshe at IKI as well as being a black belt in Karate and a black belt in BJJ under Rillion Gracie. One thing all of these systems have in common is that they stress technique and have a willingness to modify technique based upon results in real time. In other words if a technique fails we change it. This is best described by Moshe's APC concept. Ability, Purpose, and Circumstance modify response to situations. Sometimes an attacker's ABILITY is your CIRCUMSTANCE.
If that attacker is large, violent and aggressive then an attack regardless of formal training skills will be very challenging. I think we may be looking at the question backwards here. Rather than asking if being aggressive and violent enough maybe we need to ask if our technique can handle a very violent aggressive attack. As you can imagine a very strong athletic attacker that is extremely violent will most likely not attack in the exact way we practiced the technique. Can our technique handle a dynamic and violent attack? Aggression CAN be a very good addition to either defending or attacking. I believe we need to train with a mindset that allows for "attackers" to resist and be more violent in order to prepare ourselves to deal with this in real world encounters. We call this in BJJ "Aliveness". Resistance within a certain amount is encouraged.
Of course you have to avoid the endless "what if" scenarios in order to train the technique. Nevertheless, pressure testing our techniques in IKI is what gives us confidence in those techniques. To an extent sport martial arts training whether rolling or sparring has value. Much like lions play fighting to prepare for real battle, rolling and sparring gives a person an opportunity to feel a 100% resisting opponent. They learn to deal with the speed of real violence and aggression albeit within a rule set. Admittedly the rules of sport are not the same as real self defense. This is where tactical training and situational awareness are needed.
For sure the martial artists that only train sport are by and large unprepared for self defense. They do however tend to deal better with physical violence and aggression than those martial artists that only train self defense but never pressure test their techniques. It is critical to test technique against violent aggressive attackers to not only test the technique but test yourself and know your own physical and mental abilities and weaknesses. When we know this we can measure our own violence and aggression needed in addition to our technique.
APC.....Brilliant concept Moshe..
Chris Cromer, IKI Instructor, USA
My name is Jeff Webb and I’m a student of Moshe Katz. I have studied many different martial arts over the past 38 years, as well as other forms of self-defense and offense. Under Moshe Katz, I have obtained the ranks of Master Instructor and a 4th Dan Black Belt in Krav Maga. I also train with a local Sheriff’s office near me and their SWAT Team. I spend a minimum of 30 hours per year training in their tactics in the event that I have to respond to an active shooter event. I am one of the few armed teachers in the US. The training I receive from the Sheriff’s office is constructed the same as IKI Krav Maga with Moshe Katz. We focus on the techniques and the basics. When people die in CQB, it’s the basics that they messed up. A close friend of mine also ran the training for CQB techniques for JSOC (Joint Special Operation Command) after his tenure with the 82nd Airborne. His training is the same. We focus on techniques and the basics. Fancy stuff will only get you killed faster. Having trained in gun fighting techniques from some of the best operators in the US, I can tell you, that technique and the basics are what works and saves lives.
All this said, there is a place for Speed, Surprise and Violence of Action. This, however, is only trained AFTER you know the basics and techniques. You cannot start there as you will simply learn how to do everything incorrectly. Fixing something learned wrong is many orders harder than learning it right the first time. An instructor who knows how to teach is extremely important. They will teach you the skills and when to use speed and aggression, not the other way around.
Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt Hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
What is the cultural background of Krav Maga? What makes it unique? What makes the Israeli military so effective? Why are Israeli security systems used all over the world?
What are the Biblical origins of Krav Maga and who was the first Krav Maga instructor?
What weapons and military strategies did our Biblical ancestors use?
How has Krav Maga developed in Israel and what are its goals?
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