Krav Maga

[emtlewis]

I have been training in "traditional martial arts" all my ife, and I am also a Defensive Tactics Instructor for the Law Enforcement. I have recently taken an interest in Krav Maga.

My question is, has anybody had problems going from Karate to Krav Maga.

I plan to continue my Karate training, I just thought Krav Maga would be interesting to train in.

Also, I plan in attending probably no more than one Krav Maga session a week due to work and other obligations.

What does the forum think?????

Thanks

[Treebranch]

I don't think you'll have a problem at all. I took a Krav Maga class and it seemed really straight forward. I feel that its not a very technical style, which is good for teaching self defense. It should be easy to learn for everyone.

[glockmeister]

I was training in tang Soo Do before moving over to Krav Maga. No problems at all although the flexibility from TMA had helped me somewhat and I was fortunate that my TSD instructor was very much into conditioning as this was something Krav Maga is very big on as well.

[Malldetective]

One of the great things about Krav Maga is that it was developed with soldiers who only had three solid weeks of good hand to hand combat training time in mind. In those three weeks they had to learn how to basically defend themselves. Understandably there is a limit to how far you can go with that much time, but Litchenfeld worked hard to make sure they could become as skilled as possible in that amount of time.

If anything ,your karate training will mean some simple stuff comes naturally to you. You know how to not hurt your fist when you punch etc.

But the best advice I can give is, if youv'e developed a mentallity of "Karate is the martial arts god and nothing else is correct, anything that contridicts Karate's technique principles is a hoax." Get over it. Clear your head of that thought line now, or just don't try to train in Krav Maga. Or anything else really. Krav Maga has stances that will be new to you, and is based on instictual practices more than disciplined unnatural movements. There are no forms, and you may even hear the idea of kata put in the dumpster a little. Just respect the view point and move on if you disagree. You'll be doing Retzev instead now with the same kata principles in mind really, but with a bit of a twist.

I don't think you'll have a problem with this you seem pretty together. But its an easy trap to fall into because instructors some times instill this karate is everything mentality. If you have it, its probably not ALL your fault. But you have to drop it and go into Krav Maga with a very open mind.

[bushido_man96]

Being a Defensive Tactics instructor, I think that Krav Maga will be right up your alley. Your Karate training will mean that your techniques in Krav Maga will already be solid. I think that the Krav Maga training will have more to offer you in the realm of Defensive Tactics than other Martial Arts will, because it is based more on that type of training.

[Johnlogic121]

I think that you will be able to learn the skills taught in Krav Maga without too much interference from your previous Karate training. I would expect a big conflict in training theories and practices if you were going from Karate to Tai Chi or vice versa. Even transitioning from Karate practice to Aikido or Judo can feel awkward for a while because the "softer" arts rely on nuance and subtlety rather than raw physical power. However, I have heard that it is possible to learn two styles that are radically different at the same time, it just makes progress a little slower. Because Krav Maga doesn't have fixed form routines you may find that it is mentally liberating. Karate enthusiasts sometimes get to the same conceptual position after they have exhausted thousands of combinations until they reach the "void" sense that every new combination is just another rendition of the same old stuff in a new variation. Also, since Krav Maga is designed to be learned over a short interval of time, it should be packed with useful information and have most of the extraneous material eliminated from its curriculum. I would recommend that you give it a try and approach everything with an open heart. Please let the forum know how your lessons evolve, as many of us would like to learn more about this interesting style.

[emtlewis]

Had the first class last night. It was great, very high impact. They had an intro class with three of us, then a regular class following.

The techniques are very basic and they build off of that. I do plan on sticking with karate, while I do Krav Maga.

I have goals in karate, and i will have goals in Krav Maga.

I can see integrating some of this into the Law Enforcement defensive tactics program.

The state basically says that we can add to the material, but we just can't take away from the lesson plans.

Again, I realy enjoyed it.

Thanks for the previous responses......

[yingampyang]

I think that if you have the time you should invest in as many styles as you can. They will come in usefull later. But you should concentrate on your karate at the moment.

[DWx]

I think that if you have the time you should invest in as many styles as you can.

Sometimes I don't think this is the best thing to do. Each style will teach you a different way of moving and you can end up confusing your body. Yes you should invest time covering all aspects of fighting (striking, groundwork etc.) but to invest in multiple styles of the same genre may be detrimental.

[yingampyang]

I said that he should start off with one style untill he knows it well enough to use as a basis to then develop his skill. Noone should ever start off with 2 or more styles that is a foolish thing to do.