A:  A lot, but our techniques are very similar to real Krav taught by the IDF.

  1.   Israeli Krav is Fantastic, but unfortunately, THE VAST MAJORITY of American krav is a joke and is greatly watered

down

  2.  We teach to be offensive when someone is trying to kill up, not defensive.

3.  We understand self defense laws.  We teach and incorporate different levels of control and damage, all dependent on

the situation and the perceived threat level. 

  4.  Our training is much harder and our training sessions are longer.  We train for 2.5 - 3 hours at a time, not 45 minutes to

an hour at a time like at most krav gyms

5.  WE DON’T TEACH CHILDREN.

  6.  We don’t lure you in with a $19 intro course before telling you how much it really costs.   (Most krav gyms are over $110

per month, and that often covers only one, one hour session per week)..  Our daily training is only $80 per month and

allows you to train as often as you want. And we let you train with us for a night at no cost to you so you can see if our

training is right for you.

  7.  We don’t wait 12 months or longer before teaching defense against weapons, we teach it right away.  We also don’t wait

to teach you how to break wrists, knees or ankles.  To us, those are basic techniques and are taught from the first day. 

  8.  Krav relies too much on punching and kicking and not enough on close quarter destruction.  

  9.  We encourage the pretending bad guy to actually resist and fight back during training.  We train at 100% quite often.

  10.  WE DON’T DO BELTS,, they have white, yellow, orange, green, brown and black.  (But only in the United States,,  this

is not an IDF Krav tradition, either is teaching children)

  11.  We don’t make you wear a uniform or the same shirt as everyone else.  Yes, I have seen these classes where you must

wear the Krav shirt you were given when you started, and you must wear it every time you train.  IT’S ALL ABOUT THE

MONEY

12.  Our ground fighting training is much more aggressive and intensive than krav. 

First of all, don't get me wrong, ‘Israeli’ Krav Maga is OUTSTANDING WHEN it is taught by qualified, hardened Israeli

Defense Force Soldiers ‘IDF’ or Israeli police officers but unfortunately the vast majority of the Krav schools in the United

States are watered down versions of the real thing taught by self proclaimed instructors who have attended a couple of

Krav Maga classes and watched a few DVD’s.

Also, don’t forget, Krav Maga is a self-defense system developed for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that consists of a wide

combination of techniques sourced from aikido, judo, boxing and wrestling, along with realistic fight training.  

YES,  there are web sites advertising that you can become a ‘MASTER’ in just two years so you too can open your ‘OWN

KRAV MAGA GYM’.  All you have to do is buy the DVD’s, study them on your time, video tape your self teaching the

material, and VOILA,  you too are an Krav Instructor and now KRAV will send you a certificate so you can open your own

gym and advertise Krav..   Most of these instructors have little if any time in a gym or dojo and that is unfortunate

because Real Israeli Krav Maga is AWESOME..         

I have personally attended several Krav Maga classes and a couple of seminars and have even watched many of their

videos.  We have also had several Krav students come to train with us so I can speak of experience.  SORRY,  BUT I AM

NOT IMPRESSED.   YES!  there are a few good krav gyms out there but most are extremely over rated.  Some techniques

are good, most are too complex, unrealistic and entertaining at best. 

  As one ‘Krav’ student told us;   'We are like Krav but on Steroids’ 

It seems to me that too many ‘Amercan’ krav techniques rely mostly on strength and striking with very little ground

fighting and there is little if any resistance being offered by the student playing the bad guy.  Many Krav students have told

us that their old Krav school wouldn’t teach defense against weapons until the student has been there for over a year,,  

Sounds like a money maker to us.  We teach weapons immediately.  Why wait?

The pictures above were taken off a Krav website and can be found on many of their sites  along with similar ones.  It’s so

unrealistic that it is funny so lets use these as examples.  

Sorry, but a punch to the face is NOT going to stop the bad guy.  The threat of a knife wielding attacker should not be taken

so lightly.   If you make a mistake YOU DIE.

SORRY, Knife fights are not static!  They are furious, devastating and chaotic.  In a real fight, the krav guy is going to get

seriously hurt.  His forearm is going to get filleted like a fish as the attackers momentum keeps the knife moving downward

as it cuts through his skin, hits bone and slides down the bones of the arm.  And again, an attacker with a knife is going to

be swinging, stabbing and slashing in a very unpredictable way, NOT JUST STANDING THERE. 

Attempting to KICK a knife out of someones hands is foolish and will get you killed.  Remember,, there is a very good

chance that the attacker is not going to just be standing there like a mannequin. He or she is going to be moving around

with the intent of cutting or stabbing anything and everything that they can reach, legs included.

Exchanging a life threatening laceration of the wrist for a punch to the face is not a good sound decision.  You must control

that knife!

Unfortunately, these tactical, physical and life threatening errors can be witnessed in the vast majority of of the material

that krav and other schools teach.  All you have to do is sit back, watch it, and think logically about it.

  _________________

   US?    

Our techniques are very similar to Real Israeli Krav, like that offered in Israel and in other countries and taught by the IDF. 

We also train a lot more on the ground, and with 90% of fights ending up on the ground, why would you not train a lot

there. 

Unlike most Krav gyms,, we are a small school with only about 15-20 students and we train in small small groups of 8 or

less per night (NOT 20-30).   This greatly helps with one on one instruction, gives everyone room to move and provides a

much higher level of training.    We train harder than most gyms as we do train for 2-3 hours at a time,,  NOT 45- 60

minutes.  We want you to push yourself and to work outside your comfort zone and we want you to gain endurance. 

We stress the fact that in a real street fight there is a good chance there will be weapons and there will be multiple

attackers.  This is reflected in our training as we train a lot against multiple attackers and half of our training involves

defense against weapons.  Unlike at most Krav gyms where you have to wait at least a year for defensive weapons training,

students start to learn defense against weapons in their first week with us. 

We also know that over 90 percent of fights do end up on the ground, whether you want to go there or not, so about half of

our training is ground fighting.  However, when we fight on the ground we are actually fighting to get off the ground so we

can fight on our feet.  We have a four second rule meaning, that if the student takes longer than 4 seconds to get to their

feet, bad guy #2 joins the fight. 

Unlike other gyms, we often train with simulated injuries like broken hands, lacerated arms and busted ankles.  This helps

students understand some of the realities of a fight and even when injured, you must keep fighting until you can't fight no

more or your attacker has stopped.

We teach students that fights are chaotic and things may not go right -- but you must keep fighting.

When we train, we train slow until the student learns the technique. During this time the training partner goes along with

the technique to aid in the learning process, showing very little resistance. HOWEVER,, once the student shows some

confidence in the technique the UKE 'training partner' will start showing more resistance and more aggression.  This

resistance and aggression helps the students understand that things may not go right and that attackers will actually fight

back and may not be as easy as the submissive training partner in a lot of gyms. 

Much of our training is also scenario based meaning that students are often faced with a potential attacker but has NO

IDEA if the person is going to attack, and when he/she does attack, the student has NO IDEA how, where or what with. 

Too many 'so called' fighting schools today are totally scripted meaning, students always know when and how the UKE

attacker is going to attack.   Sorry, but in the real world, the attacker isn’t going to tell you how or when they are going to

attack,  

Then, to make it more chaotic, the UKE does it fast and with some resistance. We want the student to experience what a

fight might be like, but still train within safe margins so no-one gets hurt.  This is an eye opening experience, especially

with the Krav students. 

Unlike other gyms, every time we train we focus on mindset, mindset, mindset.  We introduce the student to a wide variety

of environment to include; very low light conditions; strobe lights; loud music; in the rain; in the snow; when sweaty and

slippery; on the ground; when exhausted and we even train in a 10x15 foot padded room with smaller rooms and hall ways

to help replicate being attacked in a bathroom stall, between parked cars or a narrow hallway.

As you can see, our training is intense and unfortunately this level of training is not too often found in many gyms.   I

greatly respect REAL KRAV and the IDF who train and teach it, but i am not impressed by most of the Krav gyms I have

experienced in the United States.  AGAIN, we offer a free night of training so if you want to come and see if our training is

right for you, please contact us.