I am often asked if learning Krav Maga will teach people how to be aggressive. “What if they start getting into fights, trying to be super-protectors?”
For some reason I really do not understand, people seem to think you will come out of my classes ready to get into street fights and become some sort of Daredevil vigilante who throws themselves into danger.
If someone leaves my class thinking combat is anything besides a last resort, they clearly didn’t hear a single word I said.
I work very hard to make sure students know that getting into a fight is only a good option when the other option is people getting badly hurt or dying.
I make it clear that once you enter a fight, you may not walk away from it. In the streets, there are no rules. You can be attacked by multiple people, opponents can carry weapons and the law can bring serious charges to any actions taken outside self-defense.
I say that if you study Krav Maga, you will know how to avoid a fight. You will know how to be aware to avoid danger. You will know how to de-escalate situations.
After almost eighteen years of Krav Maga study, I am committed to non-violence if at all possible. I love sparring and rolling, but that is done in training where there are rules and no one actually gets hurt.
I hate the very idea of hurting people. My goal is to walk in peace.
It’s also to avoid resting in peace. I am very open with my students that even with my training, I have no guarantee I’ll win a fight. If someone pulls out a gun faster than I can disarm or run away, I am done.
Even knowing how to do knife defense doesn’t take away from the fact that one stray slice to the wrong area could nick an artery and leave me dead in seconds. I have almost two decades of combat experience and I’m afraid to enter a fight, so why would anyone with less experience feel more confident?
If that doesn’t scare people enough, and they still feel confident, I also remind them that legally, it’s not a great position.
I punch very hard. This isn’t me bragging. It’s my job to know how to do it, and due to my job, I’m very strong physically. If I punch someone in self-defense and they hit their head on an object and die, I may face legal charges and end up in prison.
So what is Krav Maga all about?
Krav Maga is about de-escalation and the ABC pyramid.
I AVOID danger by being aware, keeping my eye out for danger so I can take a safer route. So much can be avoided just by paying attention to the world around me.
I set BOUNDERIES by de-escalating and trying to stay calm. I don’t let my ego get in the way of my safety.
For most situations, that will be enough. However, I am grateful that if it comes to it, I do have COMBAT to keep me safe.
Sometimes, you will have to fight.
I’m not a big guy, I’m Israeli and I’m Jewish, I know I can be targeted. If someone attacked me and I can’t escape otherwise, I will fight back because I don’t want to be a victim. My only other option is to be seriously injured or even killed.
If someone violated your boundaries and you can de-escalate or escape, that is ideal. However, sometimes, your back is against the wall, and you have a serious life threat in front of you. Those attackers won’t stop unless you make them stop. That means hurting them enough to make them unable to continue.
That doesn’t mean killing them. That means hurting them enough that you have time to get away or attacking you becomes too painful. My friend Alon Dagan said it very well. “You need to be willing to hurt them more than they are willing to hurt you.”
Doesn’t that mean you are teaching them to fight?
I’d like to propose a Krav Maga serenity prayer that my student wrote.
I come to class to earn the wisdom to walk away from fights I can avoid, the courage and skills to fight the battles that I can’t avoid and the knowledge to understand the difference.
That is what I want every student to leave my class with. The ability to know how to defend themselves and hopefully never use it. My colleague Shahar Or, a noted Krav Maga instructor in Israel, quotes Confucius to explain this Krav Maga philosophy: “The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget the danger may come.”
So, please don’t worry that learning Krav Maga will make you want to fight when you don’t need to, and worry more about living a life when you need to fight and don’t know how to.
Note:
In memory of the 24,068 IDF soldiers, police officers, prison wardens, Shin Bet security service and Mossad agents who have fallen in battle in defense of the state of history, including my uncle, Lt. Colonel Yaakov “Yankale” Noifeld, a tank commander who bravely led his men into battle and fell in the Yom Kippur war.
These superior men and women did not rest in safety when danger came. They fought back with everything they had. Thus, our state and our families was preserved. Our gratitude is beyond measure.
Raz Chen is an Expert in Krav Maga, teaching in New York City, with multiple certifications from the Sports Academy in Israel, and Wingate Institute. A former special operations infantry combatant and Senior military Krav Maga instructor, Raz taught over 10,000 soldiers, including top special forces counter-terrorism and US Marines. He currently teaches classes and seminars for the army, police, and civilians on topics like counter-terrorism, rape prevention, Krav Maga instructor certification, Krav Maga combat, and fitness. He is the creator of AVIIR, a company dedicated to functional training, protection, regeneration, and longevity. Credit and gratitude to his co-writer and senior student Elke Weiss, whose research, writing, and editing are instrumental to this column and all my other writings.
Raz Chen is an Expert in Krav Maga, teaching in New York City, with multiple certifications from the Sports Academy in Israel, and Wingate Institute. A former special operations infantry combatant and Senior military Krav Maga instructor, Raz taught over 10,000 soldiers, including top special forces counter-terrorism and US Marines. He currently teaches classes and seminars for the army, police, and civilians on topics like counter-terrorism, rape prevention, Krav Maga instructor certification, Krav Maga combat, and fitness. He is the creator of AVIIR, a company dedicated to functional training, protection, regeneration, and longevity. Credit and gratitude to his co-writer and senior student Elke Weiss, whose research, writing, and editing are instrumental to this column and all my other writings.
Leave a Reply