Krav Maga TV Blog

In today’s lesson we will be mainly focusing on defending a variety of attacks from the side of the body

After an initial warm up, perform the following techniques (remember if teaching these in class show the problem, a dynamic demonstration, slow demonstration, dry run, then practice)

Defending Straight Punches from the Side

Defending Low Stab From The Side

Defending Choke from The Side

High Stab From The Side

360 Defence From The Side

Finish the class with a dynamic conditioning drill. One of my favorites is 10, 9, 8, 7 Drill

This drill is for groups of 2

The first person performs

10 push-ups followed by 10 punches
9 push-ups followed by 9 punches
8 push-ups followed by 8 punches
7 push-ups followed by 7 punches

As soon as they are finished their parner goes. First group to finish wins. This is fairly tough to do at the end of a class when tired, but if you are very fit go all the way down to 1 push-up and 1 punch.

The exercise can be suplimented for any other you wish. (Try squat thrusts then sprawls with a knee strike for a killer finisher!)

Cool down

Any comments or other variations that you use please post in the comments section at the end of the post.

Jamie

Today’s lesson will use regular Krav Maga techniques in a conditioning format, to re-enforce the techniques while getting a great workout.

Warm Up – Using mobilization and stretching exercises

Technique triplet

For the main part of the lesson, students are split into groups of 2

Chose 3 exercises or techniques that do not require much in the way of instruction (this will depend on the ability level of the students)

Briefly run through the main teaching points for each technique for a min or 2.

Next set the stop watch for 5 mins and get them to perform 5 repertions of each technique each person.

The aim is to see how many rounds they can perform in the 5 min time frame. (To keep the conditioning levels high)

Ensure good technique throughout.

Once the 5 mins is up, grab a quick drink and repeat the process with another group of 3 exercises.

The brief instruction on the next techniques will be a good time to get your breath back.

Some example groups of 3 are as follows:

Defending Front Kick
Defending Side Kick
Defending Low Roundhouse Kick

Knife Threat to Front
Knife Threat to Side of Throat
Knife Threat From Rear

Wrist Release Low
Wrist Release High
Wrist release From Rear

Push-Ups
Sit Ups
Squats

Straight Punches
Hook Punches
Uppercuts

Etc etc

Cool Down
Make sure you leave time at the end for a good 5-10mins cool down and stretch

This weeks new video on Krav Maga TV is Defending Back Handed Stab

This type of attack is one of the less common ones.

It is classed as a circular type stab and as such you would defend this by blocking the attacking arm with your forearms. As soon as possible either grab the attackers arm and gain control before counter striking.

Watch the full video of Defending Back Handed Stab

Please leave any comments you may have.

Lesson plan

show all techs from both sides and high and low speed
then dry run

warm up with 3 rounds of light fighting, then stretch

Tech 1

Defending fast slashing attack, attacker holds shield and attacks, defender kicks and moves backwards (if possible grab a common object and use it for defence / attack

Tech 2 Defend big slashing attack, as in the video laen back, then block and counter,

Tech 3 defend a close range slashing attack, arms defend in a simular way to side swing bat defence, block, trap and counter.

Tech 4 Defend and counter using a stick type weapon, defend against a slash motion and circular stabs and straight stabs

Finish with 2 1min rounds of attacking shield with kicks and punches

Stretch

Finish

Have a good warm up (especially important for ground work)

Tech 1 defending take down with a sprawl

Tech 2 Break fall – soft with a turn, side break fall, rear breakfall with foot high

Tech 3 release from choke while opponent sits on defender, try also defending punches, knife threat all from this position.

Tech 4 defending whilst in a chair, try defending knife threats, straight and circular attacks, of course you will need a number of chairs, the class should be devided between those defending inn a chair and those doing the same tech whilst standing, then keep swapping

finish with 2 rounds of sparring

stretch

Warm up with shadow fighting then taking turns attacking one another

stretch

Tech 1

Defending 2 straight punches, defend left then right with inside defence, then counter with kick and 2-3 punches

Defending 2 hook punches, defend hook as normal but keep hands high and counter with a kick to groin the counter punch

Tech 2

Defending from half side on stance against a straight punch, a full side ways stance we would do an outside defence, with this tech we are a bit straighter so we use the lead hand in a outside chopping motion

Tech 3

Defending side kick with a defensive front kick, as your partner attempts a side kick, quickly bring up your lead leg and with a defensive front kick tech, push against his upper thigh of his kicking leg to jam his kick, then counter

Tech 4

Attacking with a side kick from front on stance, normally we do a side kick for an attack to the side, it is also very effective against a large opponent who is in front of you, quickly tun to side and attack with a side kick, after some practice you can make this transition very fast.

cooldown and stretch

Apologies, it apperars that the video posted last week on Krav Maga TV for the straight and circular attacks principles had not uploaded correctly. All has been fixed now. Watch the Circular and Straight Attacks Video here

In this 2 part article I am going to explain how the majoriety of attacks that we deal with in Krav Maga can be broken down into either circular or straight attacks and the principles behind each type of defence.

Part 1 will be dealing with straight attacks.

For the purpose of simplicity straight attacks can be descibed as any type of punch, kick, strike etc that moves towards your body in a straight direction from any angle. (In reality some attacks are a mixture of straignt and circular and a slighly modified version of the defense described here may be appropriate.)

Examples of straight attacks can include straight punches at various heights, straight stabs, front, side and back kicks as well as straight bat attacks.

Redirection, Control & Counter

The basic principle for dealing with straight attacks in Krav Maga is to move your body off of the line of attack while redirecting or intercepting the attack with a limb (hand, arm, foot, leg,) or common object. Lastly counter-strike and escape.

The line of attack can be described in the following diagram:

The attacker (in blue) throws punch/kick etc towards the middle of the defenders body (this could be from any number of other angles also) The defender, at the earliest possible moment, if possible, reaches forward to intercept the attack while simultaneously moving his body from the line of attack.

The foot work for the movement is shown below:

As a general rule, most of the time the defender moves off of the line of attack by moving diagonally forward towards the direction of the foot that is furthest forward. In this example that would be the left foot. In some circumstances, such as when defending an attack from an angle other than directly in front, the defender may find it more natural to move the rear leg first. (obviously this is reversed if the right led happens to be furthest forward!)

The rear leg then follows quickly in a slight circular motion until it has also cleared the line of attack.
(A common mistake I often see is for the defender to either move their rear leg first or just move the front leg and leave the rear still on the line of attack.)

The basic steps can be seen below:

The only main difference between this attack and any other straight one is the position of the hands when defending.

We have filmed a full video of this technique which is available on Krav Maga TV

In part 2 of this series we will be discussing circular attacks

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions for new videos and tutorials so please post a comment

Jamie

Want to take your conditioning training to a higher level?

Then take your food with you!

So many people rely upon having to find food during the day, this usually results in 2 things, 1. they eat infrequently causing the metabolism to slow and 2. the eat what is convenient, usually junk food as its quick and very easy to find

The answer is get a little more disciplined and pack a lunch that you can eat throughout the day, you can then choose better food and better times to eat, try this for a week and you’ll notice a big difference with your levels of energy and mental alertness and over a period of weeks weight will drop off!

Wayne

Lesson plan 3

show all techs from both sides and high and low speed
then dry run

warm up with 3 rounds of light fighting

Tech 1
Knee strike
Grab opponent (shield) and hit with 3 / 4 knee strikes the next tech
attack with elbows after knee strikes

Tech 2
Sweep
Grab opponent, knee strike, then hook his lead leg with yours while
pushing him back, use as a take down (careful!) use fall mats
then finish with kicks

Tech 3
soft front fall, soft rear fall on fall matts

Tech 4
front / side kick, both with a slide
punch (jab) while retreating, 2/3 times as you retreat creating a safer distance for yourself,  then catch him out by launching a powerful counter attack (use a kick shield)

Stretch and cool down