Wednesday, May 26, 2010

TRIAL BY FIREARMS!!!!

All,

I want to call your attention to an amazing event that will be happening in Las Vegas in a few weeks. TRIAL BY FIREARMS! This is a dynamic three day course that will focus on Krav Maga and firearms training. The three days will cover weapons disarms, third party protection, live firearms training, tactical shooting, clearing rooms and a grand finale so intense, so realistic and so crazy that I can say without a doubt that nothing has ever been done on this level in Krav Maga!

Full disclosure. This event is a Krav Maga Alliance event that Krav Maga Las Vegas (my school) are putting on in conjuction with the fine people at American Shooters Club in Las Vegas. John Whitman and I will be teaching the Krav Maga portion and our friends at American Shooters will be covering all aspects of deploying firearms tactically.

This event is open to any and all Krav Maga practioners, regardless of organization. Let me repeat that. We do not care what organization you belong to. This is about Krav Maga and weapons training. Don't miss this oportunity to train with one of the top instructors in the world (John Whitman) and one of his blackbelt instructors (me).

It has come to my attention that my friends who belong to a certain organization which will not be named here has banned their instructors from attending events that are not presented by their organization. How sad. How arrogant. How insecure. Do not be dismayed my friends, you are still welcome. I am not asking you to put your job in jeopardy. I am asking that you attend the event if you can.

For more information please go to www.kravmagalliance.com

I hope to see you there. Remember the event is June 4th thru June 6th. You need no prior experience. All you need is an open mind and a desire to learn and have some serious fun!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

What Krav Maga has given to you?

Krav Maga has given me so much. It has enriched my life in many ways. The most powerful impact that the system has made on me is in my personal relationships with my mentors, instructors and students. Truly I have been blessed.

There are times when I sit in one of our schools and I look at the walls and mats and I can hear the sounds of students training and facing their fears. I realize how lucky I have been to receive such great instruction from some of the finest teachers in the world. I have a circle of influence that boasts some of the top people in this field and I say that with great humility.

The punches, kicks, blood, sweat, tears are all worth it. To be able to pick up the phone and call my mentors and have them teach me and advise me on how to become a better instructor. This is why I have dedicated my life to learning, understanding and teaching Krav Maga. The world will need us now more than ever! Never doubt this. Please comment on this. I would love to hear what Krav Maga has done for all of you.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Source Of Krav Maga: Truth or fiction

The source of Krav Maga!

Is there such a thing? I don't think so. While the IDF and Wingate institute can certainly be considered a governing body for the system. I don't think that any civilian organization in the U.S., Israel or any other place can make such a claim. There are two reasons that organizations and their leaders claim to be the source of Krav Maga. Money! Ego!

The phenomenon of systems splitting and having multiple organizations is not exclusive to Krav Maga. In fact this is quite common in martial arts. As much as Krav Maga practioners and instructors do not want to be refereed to as "martial artists", this behavior is very typical of martial arts.


Krav Maga has been around for 60 years. Even though its existence in the main stream has been a relatively new event, the system has been exposed to people of all levels. There are so many talented instructors and practioners who have had an opportunity to learn the system, how can anyone claim to be "the source"? If you add the fact that almost immediately after Imi's death, many of his higher ranking students began to publicly claim to be his chosen successor. It is easy to see that the very notion of there being one "source", is absurd.

There are so many talented instructors from all over the world who have a unique perspective on Krav Maga. To deny that these men and women have contributed to the systems development is foolish. For whatever reason though, human beings have the need to belong to a group. They want to take the part of the system that they like and discard the rest. They want to teach those portions and build organizations and curriculum to support that process. It's funny but religion has a very similar path. How can there be that many different sects of Christianity,Islam and Judaism? See the parallel?

I want to be clear. I am not suggesting that Krav Maga is not a specific system with a specific set of principles and very unique approaches to self defense and fighting. No. All of these things are evident when we are discussing Krav Maga. I am very well aware of some instructors who have been selling their own repackaged versions of Judo and Jiu Jitsu as a Commando version of Krav Maga. Individuals like this should be exposed for being the liars that they are.

What I am saying is that the various organizations and their leaders have postured themselves as "the authority" on Krav Maga. I know because I have trained with many of these men. The problem that presents itself now is that they can't acknowledge any of their counterparts and the other organizations contributions to the system because they are fearful that such an acknowledgement would give the other instructor some sort of edge. In many cases they bad mouth the other instructors because they are insecure about the validity of their own training.


As a student. Do not concern yourself with any of these types of things. Do not become bogged down by this type of stuff. You are simply seeking your own process of learning. Take the principles. Do not allow the instructors words to become Dogma! Listen, process, question, meditate and formulate your thoughts then the road will become clear. Do not train with those who claim to be the only authority on Krav Maga. This is a sign of ego centric training which will become stagnate and ole because the chief instructor refuses to grow. He is "the source" of Krav Maga. Which means that the system is limited by his ability to implement techniques, training methods and tactics. Then, when he passes away, his top students will argue about which one of them should be "the source". That organization will disband and the same vicious cycle will repeat itself.

If you are training with an open mind and the instructor is teaching and sharing knowledge with you this is all that matters. The instructor should not need to constantly remind the students or his peers that he/ she was with Imi for so many years. He/she should just be teaching.