Krav Maga gun disarming video

Nice video about disarming in Krav Maga style from Krav Maga Street Defence Essen.

It is also cool to see that some techniques have an ultra high success rate (did you hear the "BANG" ?).

Advanced Intructor's training session in Villingen-Schwenningen

Krav Maga Defcon association does a regular training for all of its instructors. The aim is to have all certified training personnel on one level, improve techniques and provide a better experience for those who want to learn Krav Maga.

Here's a video of our last advanced training session. Two days in Villingen Schwenningen. Special thanks to Armin Berberich for the great pizza :)

Shoes on the ground - youngster (Example spiral of violence)

Newspapers like to write about the following:

A group of teenagers sitting in public transport, yelling around and having their shoes on the opposite seats. An old person comes by and tells them to put their shoes on the ground because otherwise it's damage of public property. The youngsters do not want to loose face and insult the old person. The old person insults back. At the end the old person gets beaten up by the group of youngsters. 

Everybody is upset: How could the teenagers do that ? When asked - the teenagers cannot really say why they reacted that way.

Analysis:

The teenagers cannot comply with what the old persons said, because they would loose face. The old person also does not want to loose face because - after all - he is right. The classical start of a spiral of violence.

Conclusion: 

If you want people to do something give them an opportunity to do so by not loosing their face. The outcome of everything else may be unpredictable. 

Open hand technique vs punching

Krav Maga is well known for open hand strikes. And people often ask: "Why do we strike with the open hand - isn't punching better"?

The answer is complex. In theory punching is indeed better. After all a good punch can knock out your enemy. 

But in practice punching is more dangerous, because even the best boxer tends to injure his hand when boxing without protective gear. Additionally punching is an art. And as beginner it is quite hard to learn how to punch. 

On the other hand - striking with open hand is really simple and easy to learn.

One of the mottos of Krav Maga is that it must be easy to learn for the beginner. And the open hand technique is easy to learn. Additionally it is an effective technique when used against the head or the genitals. Therefore many teachers prefer "Open Hand" over punching. But nothing is written in stone - if you are a good boxer and know how to punch - go for it!

Summary:

Open Hand

Pro:

• Easy to learn for beginner
• From the outside it does not look like an agressive behavior
• Bigger hitting surface
• Is effective when used against  head / genitals

Con:

• Cannot knock out the enemy

Punching

Pro:

• Can knock out the enemy

Con:

• Hard to learn for beginners
• Knowledge of lethal points must be there (more complex than just "head or genitals")
• Damage of hand in real life situations not uncommon - even for trained persons