What I Learned from Krav Maga

My training at a Krav Maga school has proven productive, yet incomplete.  This owes to the nature of the art as a distilled self defense method without deeper philosophical relevance.  Within the art there is a strain between full development of oneself as a martial artist and the real world applicability of the techniques.  Here are some of my observations:

* Punches are nearly useless to the beginning martial artist.  The palm heel strike is a less risky, more effective weapon for those who do not know how to throw a proper punch and may even be a superior alternative, as it allows for harder hits with less chance of injury and keeps the fingers available for grasping.

* KM, or at least my school, puts a high premium on physical development and less on sparring.  This unfortunately creates trainees better suited for defending against untrained thugs than trained martial artists.

* KM focuses on aggression before defense, which unfortunately predisposes trainees to escalating conflict in their lives, thus ensuring that they will eventually need to physically defend themselves.

* KM, to my knowledge, does not use meditative techniques nor visualization techniques to psychologically prepare students to tolerate conflict.

* KM at my school seems to train for large groups of opponents without beginning with individual opponents.  This results in a dangerous sense of overconfidence and indirectly encourages bullying and false bravado.

* Striking pads puts an enormous amount of force through the joints.  Beginners are advised to train at 50 % force until they adapt.  Chronic joint pain will harm both physical development and martial confidence.  Try glucosamine chondroitin with MSM as a supplement to prevent the development of joint pain.

* Many students appear fearful or hesitant when confronted with class drills that involve discomfort.  This hesitance demonstrates unwillingness to embrace austerity.

* Many KM students in my school goof off and play around with combat techniques, which shows a lack of respect for one's weapons.  Either their weapons are not very dangerous, or they do not show proper respect for danger.

* Many of the techniques shown in class are easy to teach, learn, and recall.  This makes the system immediately applicable to a broad range of students.

* Pad work is an important component of power development.  I have been repeatedly surprised by the amount of power I am able to express through simple repetition of technique.