Krav maga 360 defense disadvantageous?

[guird]

I've seen and heard a lot about krav maga, and I went and attended a lesson of it. Overall, I'm very impressed, but I have a question about the 360 defense.

when you do it, you lower your hands to block low attacks. I recognise that this is important when knives are involved. Unarmed however, I've found that this is very disadvantageous against e.g. an experienced kickboxer. dropping your hands mean's you'll be hit by any follow up in the combo.

How do you deal with this when you spar? Is the disadvantage in unarmed fighting worth it for the possibility of knives?

[Harkon72]

When I spar I make sure I'm not an easy target. Awareness of space and how you move within it and how you use the relative area of contact is very important. As Mr Myagi says, rightly; "Best Block, not be There." Blocking is an opening to your own combination and sometimes the block can be the decisive technique.

[Wastelander]

I've seen and heard a lot about krav maga, and I went and attended a lesson of it. Overall, I'm very impressed, but I have a question about the 360 defense.

when you do it, you lower your hands to block low attacks. I recognise that this is important when knives are involved. Unarmed however, I've found that this is very disadvantageous against e.g. an experienced kickboxer. dropping your hands mean's you'll be hit by any follow up in the combo.

How do you deal with this when you spar? Is the disadvantage in unarmed fighting worth it for the possibility of knives?

I don't know, for certain, what you are referring to by "the 360 defense," as I don't train in Krav Maga, but I think I have an idea. Krav Maga wasn't developed for fighting kickboxers, it was developed to fight insurgents and soldiers as a hand-to-hand complement to the IDF's weapons training. Yes, keeping your hands down can leave you open to combinations of punches, unless you have good footwork and head movement. Generally, though, an insurgent or soldier ambushing you before you can draw your weapon is going to be attacking you with a weapon, not their fists.

[sensei8]

Everything, and I mean everything has its disadvantages whenever it fails, even if it's just for that moment alone!

[guird]

here is an explanation of what the technique is,

the 360 defene is carried over to the civilian self defense branch of krav maga as far as I know. I suppose it is better to get punched in the mouth than stabbed in the liver.

I'm guessing preventing combos is what the simultaneous counterattack is for.

[bushido_man96]

Well, if you are getting attacked low, then you need to defend low. Both hands aren't going down at the same time, from what I could tell. One was still up. And once you block, you bring it back. I think it would probably work ok. But if you fight an experienced fighter, then they will have an idea of how to set up certain things to work around some of your defenses. Just keep training!

[Alan Armstrong]

The 360 Krav Maga from the video is just a drill. If being attacked by many opponent from all directions the the 360 concept makes perfect sense.

[tallgeese]

I agree with Alan, it's a drill. Take it as such and you'll find it's not a bad concept. Others have pointed out that when we look at mid level weapons attack we have to be able to orient our forearms to intercept. Then, they have to come back up. I see no problem here.

There was a time that I really bagged on ever dropping the hands, then I started working in FMAs and dealing with weapons. In these instances, you HAVE to drop hands to control the weapon. Stopping it's motion and gaining control are critical and you just can't do that mid-line without dropping the hands.