not our way of krav maga
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL

September 29, 2020 

WARNING; The photo below is not our system but an example of what we do NOT do. 

This is NOT the way we do it at IKI  

IKI is a unique system of Krav Maga. What we share with other Krav Maga system is the name, the country of origin and the prototypes of certain basic techniques, such as strikes and kicks, but not much else. Our philosophy, our strategy, our concepts and techniques are for the most part, very different. That is why I do not test people from other styles of Krav Maga, (although I receive requests for black belt or instructor testing on a regular basis, I turn them down. I explain that we have a different process).

On social media I make every attempt to avoid arguments, about politics, religion, life style and self-defense. I have found that it is simply a waste of time. At this stage of life I have better things to do with my time. Today I saw a photo, yet another Krav Maga advertisement, and I want to use it to explain to our members/readers/instructors, why this is not our style and why I can never "like" such photos.

The photo I have included here is a classic Krav Maga advertising photo, I have seen many models in this pose, always a female against a male. I have no intention of offending the people in the photo, my assumption is that they are not Krav Maga instructors but rather professional models. The photo is used to promote business, this I can understand. It is a professionally done photo, and well done indeed. In the event that this photo is removed, due to copyright regulations, I will describe it.

The assumption here is that the man attacked the woman. The man is not important here so let's focus on the woman. Naturally she is attractive, well built. She is wearing a stylish outfit, looks like a leather miniskirt, and high heels. Everything is in black and white other than her fancy looking red purse/bag/handbag (not sure of the correct term). Very artistic photo. Now what is wrong with it?

Simply put; everything!

It is astounding to me that any Krav Maga or Self-Defense instructor would not see the obvious flaws in this technique. Where should I begin?

The strike to the face requires precision. She is aiming for his nose and eyes, vital points. That may seem to some like a good idea. We stress that we avoid any technique that depends on Speed, Strength, Precision. This technique clearly depends upon a very precise movement. Hitting the side of the nose has little or no effect, there is a very specific point you must hit. Hitting the eyes is also problematic, it too requires a very precise movement to the eye ball. The persons' natural reaction to such an attack is to flinch, close the eyes, or move. Even the slightest move would render this technique useless as the woman would be hitting the bony structure around the eyes. Call this our natural God-given protection. If she is even a tiny bit off it is ineffective and now, she is a more vulnerable position. Now add to the fact that she will most likely be terrified and panicking, pulling off such a precise movement under such stress, hoping that the guy does not flinch or move, hoping that you hit the exact spot of an Open eye, well the odds are strongly against this. We at IKI have much simpler moves.

Our moves do not ever depend on Precision. We are a Gross Motor Martial Art using only simple moves. We are not precision martial arts. 

Lets' continue. In the photo her right hand is precisely striking the man's eyes and nose while her left hand has a very precise jujitsu grip on his hand. Presumably this is the hand that tried to grab her. So she grabbed him in a jujitsu lock (or Aikido, or Hapkido) and is controlling and manipulating his hand with his traditional hand-lock. I am very familiar with this hand-lock. Yes it is somewhat effective if...you manage to grab the hand in the precisely correct way. I practiced this for years. You have to find the exact spot to control the hand, twist it correctly. This requires...you guessed it, Speed, Strength and precision. I have written extensively on this topic, but basically I call those the Three Amigos, or the Three Unreliable Friends. Why? Because you can't count on them. When you are stress it is difficult to respond quickly, it is difficult to be precise, certainly against an opponent who is not stationary, and it is incorrect to assume that you will be able to overpower the man who chose you as his victim. Odds are the attacker is stronger and more experienced. You must take all this into account.

We continue. Not only in this hand grip a difficult technique to pull off but if the person is slightly sweaty, has cream or Vaseline on (which many gang members use for this purpose) or it is raining or he is bleeding, the grip becomes nearly impossible as you can't get a solid grip. In addition, when we look at the photo we see the woman is not holding his hand close to her body but rather away from her body. This violates her center of gravity and her center of power by taking him outside her core area. Core martial arts is better than Precision martial arts. We need to stay close to our Core, that is where the power is. With his hand away from her body all it takes is a slight movement to negate the entire hold. In addition her stance does not allow her any real power, difficult to explain if you can't see the photo but holding something away from your body limits the power you have. I learned this while working in a warehouse, body position is very important, this technique lacks it. The woman's mouth is also closed which also weakens the technique. 

The photo is artistic, professional, very well done and will probably succeed in bringing in more students but to anyone who understands self-defense this photo fails the test. 

At IKI we do not use such photos. Anyone who has a clue about self-defense will see the flaws immediately. This is a bad technique and I certainly would not teach it to women looking for easy and practical self defense. 

At IKI we say every technique must be Easy to learn, Easy to remember, and Easy to apply in a variety of situations. This technique fails in all three categories.

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