Why I teach Krav Maga

You only have to scan the headlines to see that the world we live in today is an increasingly violent place.  It seems hardly a day goes by without the report in the media of another youth being stabbed in a metropolitan centre in the UK or another mass brawl breaking out somewhere completely unexpected.

The Office for National Statistics Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) report for 2017 states that whilst the overall figures for violent crime haven’t changed there was a 22% increase in offences involving knives or other sharp instruments and an 11% increase in firearms offences in 2017.

Whilst these offences are disproportionately concentrated around London and other metropolitan areas it is most definitely a worrying trend and food for thought for most of us.

My purpose in mentioning the latest crime figures is not to scare you, but rather, as context and background as to why I teach a highly effective defensive tactics system such as Krav Maga.

These statistics serve to highlight a worrying trend that should concern us all, but more significantly for me as a risk manager and self-defence instructor, they show that the risk of becoming embroiled in a violent confrontation is elevated and, therefore, much more likely to happen in our daily lives.

In short, this means there is a growing need for self-defence training to counter the ever-increasing risk from violent attack.

I want to play a positive role in helping to mitigate this risk by utilising my skills and experience to teach people how to defend themselves and their families, should they find themselves in a violent confrontation situation.

I want to help people develop the confidence and skills to protect themselves and those they love should they find themselves in such an unfortunate situation.  Instructing Krav Maga allows me to do this.

Krav Maga is also very similar in its approach and philosophy to the unarmed combat I used to teach to Marines, so it has been a very natural progression for me.  Krav Maga is not a martial art, it is a highly effective self-defence system based on fundamental principles rather than set techniques, because no two confrontation situations are ever likely to be the same.

Another way to think of it is, Krav Maga gives you a ‘tool-box’ of options to deploy aggressively to defend yourself depending on the particular threat conditions you are facing.  It is because of these principles; its basis on natural instinctive reactions and the fact it is easy to learn and retain that is so effective in real life situations.

I do not wish to instruct something that isn’t effective or proven.  Krav is the opposite of these: it is highly effective and proven in real life situations on the street and the battlefield.

Learning Krav Maga also has very obvious health and well-being benefits. As a former Physical Training & Sports Officer in the Royal Marines this is natural territory for me.

I enjoy helping people achieve their fitness goals.  Krav Maga is accessible to everyone, you do not have to be an athlete to learn it, but it is a dynamic activity and as such will make demands on the bodies cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems.  Krav training will, over time, improve the 5 components of physical fitness: muscular strength; muscular endurance; cardiovascular endurance; flexibility and body fat composition.

It is also a social activity and provides social and mental stimulation through meeting and interacting with other people in a friendly class environment.  So, instructing Krav promotes a healthier lifestyle and helps promote confidence and mental well-being – I want to be part of that.

As a Krav Maga Instructor I can teach students simple but effective combative techniques that are easy to learn and have been tried and tested in real confrontation situations, but I can also help prepare them mentally to deal with conflict and its aftermath.

Mental strength is not to be underestimated and plays a very significant role in winning the fight or even better still, avoiding the conflict situation all together, through the use of good situational awareness.

Krav Maga, through its reality-based approach to training and the use of stress testing prepares its students mentally to cope with the high levels of stress of a real confrontation and to react effectively when faced with no other option.

Take Care.

Shaun.

Krav Maga Cambridge