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Krav Maga

Krav Maga

By Joey Karam

The Official Krav Maga Podcast. Listen in on the best strategies, theories, and interviews of Krav Maga.
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038 Freeze Series Wrap up

Krav MagaApr 08, 2019

00:00
15:24
Train Sloooooooow

Train Sloooooooow

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May 01, 202021:34
Can you do Krav Maga Online?

Can you do Krav Maga Online?

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Apr 28, 202014:18
Advance 3X’s Faster
Jun 15, 201906:54
044 Let’s Talk About A Fight Scene

044 Let’s Talk About A Fight Scene

In this episode we go over a video with a passenger being attacked by the driver with a shank like weapon. To follow along with the video check out kravmagaxd on facebook! As the attack is going on, listen to Joey dissect the attack and break it down krav style. 

May 23, 201910:02
043 Wanna learn submissions? Don't take Krav

043 Wanna learn submissions? Don't take Krav

In this episode you get to hear my little response to other martial artist commenting on our videos that believe their technique to be superior. When it comes down to Krav, we don't claim to be the best at anything, we claim to be the most practical. We don't box a boxer, we don't wrestle a wrestler we Krav everybody. We don't talk about which is the best, our duty is to make sure our students make it home safe. If you're in the orange county area and want to check out our program hit kravclass.com

May 02, 201903:50
042 Educational stop

042 Educational stop

We're back! We took a little break from so much work coming in from one of our new programs and its unreal the response its gotten. In this episode we go over the educational stop and when to use it. For more info head to kravclass.com 

Apr 30, 201901:55
041 Choke against the wall

041 Choke against the wall

Getting choked has its own defense but when forced up against a wall it gets a bit more complicated. 

Apr 29, 201902:23
040 Gun Defense

040 Gun Defense

In this episode Joey goes over a live demonstration of how to disarm a gun. The audio goes better with the footage for demonstration purposes so follow us on facebook or instagram @kravmagaxd if you don't already. If you are in the orange county area and want to learn this technique hit kravclass.com 

Apr 11, 201903:39
039 How To Win any Fight

039 How To Win any Fight

The one thing you can do to win ANY fight. Check out kravclass.com to learn more

Apr 09, 201910:13
038 Freeze Series Wrap up

038 Freeze Series Wrap up

In this episode we go over the freeze series, what they are, how they affect you, and how you can use them to your benefit. 

Apr 08, 201915:24
037 Freeze Series Pt.4 Overwhelming Freeze

037 Freeze Series Pt.4 Overwhelming Freeze

THE LAST FREEZE IN THE SERIES. Fighting can be overwhelming, make sure you stay cool calm and collected to come out on top

Apr 03, 201908:27
036 Freeze series Pt. 3 non-cognitive mental freeze

036 Freeze series Pt. 3 non-cognitive mental freeze

This freeze is when you have a plan or vision and something happens on the way to that goal to disrupt your plan and make you think when you should be full of action. To avoid this freeze train for action with repetition so when the time comes, your body naturally knows what to do. Your opponent can also get this freeze and you can utilize it in a deadly scenario to save your life. 

Apr 02, 201908:60
035 Freeze Series Pt. 2 Tactical Freeze

035 Freeze Series Pt. 2 Tactical Freeze

There are 2 types of people in a fight. Those that panic and those that stay cool, calm, and collected. The tactical freeze is on the collected side and will help you plot out the scenario to be better prepared for what is to come. However it can only be obtained through experience and training. 

Apr 01, 201904:44
034 Freeze series pt. 1 Social Cognitive Freeze

034 Freeze series pt. 1 Social Cognitive Freeze

If you're not a seasoned fighter and you get in an altercation that requires you to defend yourself, chances are you're going to hold back and be less effective. This is normal, it means you're a nice human that doesn't enjoy causing harm but it can cause YOU harm. 

Mar 31, 201909:11
033 Invest in yourself

033 Invest in yourself

The only way for you to grow is for you to take new experiences and try new things. Invest into yourself as you are your biggest asset. 

Mar 29, 201905:45
032 Why I Chose Krav Maga

032 Why I Chose Krav Maga

This is my story of why I chose Krav Maga. try a class at Kravclass.com

Mar 23, 201907:33
031 Defending a straight punch

031 Defending a straight punch

In this episode we utilize using your natural reaction to help you defend and counterattack a straight punch. To see the demonstration check us out on instagram or facebook @kravmagaxd 

Mar 21, 201902:20
030 Make A Plan With Your Loved One

030 Make A Plan With Your Loved One

It's important to have a plan! 

Mar 19, 201909:09
029 Strike with your Palms or Knuckles?

029 Strike with your Palms or Knuckles?

try a class kravclass.com 

Mar 16, 201907:13
028 When to fight and when NOT to fight

028 When to fight and when NOT to fight

try a class at kravclass.com

Mar 16, 201909:43
027 The ONE thing to avoid being attacked

027 The ONE thing to avoid being attacked

The ONE thing to avoid being attacked. May not be what you think...

KravClass.com

Mar 15, 201909:45
026 Simple strategies to NOT get into an violent situation

026 Simple strategies to NOT get into an violent situation

One of the most simple strategies to NOT get into an violent situation. kravclass.com

Mar 12, 201909:27
025 What comes first, combatives or techniques?

025 What comes first, combatives or techniques?

kravclass.com

Mar 11, 201909:29
024 Visualization Training

024 Visualization Training

How to better your training and overall self defense without even lifting a finger! kravclass.com


Mar 11, 201909:29
023 VIP Protection and Screening

023 VIP Protection and Screening

Our VIP curriculum has a lot to it. But today I wanted to give you 1 tactic and 1 principle. 

The tactic will show you how to screen the person your with if/when your are holding hands. 

And the principle will be how to position yourself when doing VIP protection. 

So let’s demo straight… 

We have X and Y standing there holding hands. There’s a threat so X needs to screen Y. What he/she will do is use their wrist to leverage themselves and simultaneously screen/move in front of Y. 

That’s the tactic. 

The principle is whenever protecting a VIP you need to put yourself between the vip and the threat at all times. So if there’s fighting going on… or a weapon… the idea is that you are always a human shield to this person.

Mar 10, 201902:24
022 survival story - college student alone in dorm

022 survival story - college student alone in dorm

A real life example of a Krav Maga practitioner who used what she learned to survive a scenario others in her place may not have done. 

Mar 09, 201909:13
021 How to defend a Choke!

021 How to defend a Choke!

But back to the point! 

What you should learn FIRST! Combatives or Techniques! A lot of times people come in and want to instantly go to the pretty stuff - like a gun disarm. 

While that IS going to help you in that specific situation it’s not the FIRST thing you should learn. 

In fact.. You should not learn anything else until you can be effective with combatives.

Techniques (while awesome) are really designed to PUT YOU IN A POSITION to fight.

And if you can’t throw a punch - you’re going to have a difficult time FIGHTING. 

Most of four techniques (if not all) have combatives baked into them. 

That’s why when we teach classes here at Krav Maga XD, your earlier levels are more combative focused in the classes. 

AND we teach the combatives FIRST then the techniques after. 

So if the technique has punches and knees. We’ll work on those first for a good 40 minutes.   Then, after you know you to throw a good punch and knees, we’ll teach you how to do a self defence technique, like choke defences etc. Or a gun disarm.  

Part of our strategy is to dismantle the attacker as quick as possible.. And the only way to do that is to know how to HIT HARD, FAST, and ACCURATELY.

When I was training and testing in Israel a few year back we got to train in wingate and also got to see some IDF train. It sparked my interest and I started to research how the IDF trains. Turns out they focus primarily on aggression and combatives and less on techniques. I was blown away because I figured the IDF would be super hard core technqiue driving people but they werent. My technique at the time was a LOT better than they were. But there level of aggression, combatives, and ability to fight was off the chart. After asking people about this they told me that mostly in North America people like fancier stuff because of hollywood. So we tend to be more fancy technique focused.

But I know at the heart of a good technique is a  warrior who can fight. And being a good fighter starts with good combatives.      

Mar 08, 201902:48
020 How to make a proper FIST and not break your hand

020 How to make a proper FIST and not break your hand

Krav Maga XD Expert Joey Karam walks you through how to make a fist. Krav Maga XD is located in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach area in California. Go to Kravclass.com to learn more. 

Mar 06, 201904:53
019 Fix Your Body

019 Fix Your Body

Nov 01, 201806:45
018 Perfection is Myth

018 Perfection is Myth

Yep I said it!
Oct 25, 201808:52
017 My Story

017 My Story

Oct 24, 201816:41
016 Overcoming Fear

016 Overcoming Fear

Fear drives all of us... time to take cotton.
Oct 24, 201808:03
015 Repetition

015 Repetition

Soooo important.
Oct 19, 201806:01
014 “Self Defense”

014 “Self Defense”

One of the hardest things to under help people under stand is that they aren’t learning self defense. They are mastering violence.
Oct 18, 201804:51
013 What Weapons Should I Buy for Self Defense?

013 What Weapons Should I Buy for Self Defense?

I get asked this one a lot... many don’t like my answer.
Oct 17, 201808:39
012 Redirection and Blocks

012 Redirection and Blocks

May be a small tactic but has huge application to most of the techniques you’ll learn.
Oct 17, 201806:30
011 Understanding the “Chanel”

011 Understanding the “Chanel”

Latest episode of Krav Maga
Oct 15, 201807:43
010 Cause and Effect

010 Cause and Effect

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Many courses teach that self defense (or fighting) is only to be used if you need it. One might argue that once you need self defense, it may already too late.
My own interpretation of Sun Tzu is that you must prepare to take the mindset of a villain and strike with unrelenting force. Act quickly and efficiently to put down your enemy.
Causality is the connection of an action (the cause) to a reaction (the effect) of any causal factors.
To put it more simply, for every action there is a reaction.
In relation to fighting, there is always a person in the cause state and another person in the effect state. Or another way of putting it, an action and reaction state.
This can change at any moment in the fight. When an attacker throws a punch, he is then the cause and you are the effect. Even by reacting to the punch thrown, either redirecting it or taking the punch, you are still in a effect/reaction state.
No one is immune to this. When something happens to you, you must react in one way or another.

“The best defense is attack.”
— Italian Proverb

What is interesting about this law is that it’s easy to switch from being the effect to the cause.
Let’s keep this in the context of self defense to stay on track. It’s really easy to get into metaphysical debates about this type of stuff which would be a entire side conversation. Feel free to email me or comment if you’d like to get deep about this.
But for now, in terms of self defense, the instant you decide to do something, you are now the cause. You can chose not to fight back, and the effect of that is continuing to allow the attacker to attack you.
Or, you can fight back, becoming the cause and putting the attacker into the effect mindset, forcing them to react to what you are doing.

“Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.”― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Don’t misunderstand me by thinking that all an untrained person must do is take on the cause mindset and they will automatically win. That would be far from reality. However, if you can be efficient, dark, and strike with unrelenting force, you may very well have a chance.
Let me explain “dark”. Sometimes this throws people off… Violence is dark. Causing harm to someone (even if they deserve it) is a violent thing to do. We need to accept that and be okay with the darkness required to be efficiently violent at the time we need it most.
It’s not about how many fancy techniques you know. It’s about your willingness to be the cause and not the effect.
I teach many people Krav Maga and self defense skills. I can tell who’s there for the techniques and the cool factor, and who’s there to become a warrior. The warriors are much more capable of surviving an attack. Even with fewer skills and techniques.
One of the hardest parts of my job (which rings true for every self defense instructor) is to teach people to release the warrior that’s deep inside, to unleash our primal instincts on cue. Instructors can create drills, make people sweat, and feel confident. But what’s hardest to instil in a student is that they have the ability to be, as Sun Tzu puts it, “dark and impenetrable”.

“There’s only one basic principle of self-defense - you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.”
— Bruce Lee

Here’s some ideas to help you better become the cause while training.
Don’t always wait for your partner (who is playing the attacker role) to issue an attack which you then have to defend. This is creating habits to always be in the effect position. Try to instead attack them while they are preparing to attack you.
As an example, one of the many issues with sparring is the very beginning, touching gloves (along with there being too many rules).
It is taught that out of respect you much touch gloves, create space, and then start fightin
Apr 24, 201809:11
009 When it is time for Unrelenting Violence

009 When it is time for Unrelenting Violence

When It’s Time for Unrelenting Violence

Aren’t we supposed to “turn the other cheek” or take down a bad guy with “just enough” force?

Isn’t teaching violence a “bad” thing to do?

As a Self Defense instructor I am put up against these types of philosophical questions daily. It’s a constant tightrope walk between what’s socially acceptable and the taboos of violence.

Unfortunately there is no escaping that there may come a time when one must channel violence to fight violence. This isn’t about war, or ”fighting” for peace with sticks and guns. I’m talking about that one situation that we all fear, the one that makes your stomach churn even thinking about it.

Imagine waking up with a shadow above your bed, and a gun to your head. An intruder is preparing to do unspeakable things to you and your family.

In such situations, we must forget socially acceptable norms and channel our inner violent monster.

Being as close to law enforcement as I am AND from teaching self defense to 100s of victims of violence, I have heard many stories of both victory and defeat.

One in particular comes to mind, and for the sake of privacy some minor details and names have been altered.

In LA a few years ago, a rapist and murderer was targeting women, first raping and then killing them, and local law enforcement were at a loss to find him.

One night, a woman in her 20s was jogging. At night. Alone. With headphones on. (Sigh… limiting your awareness like this is always a recipe for disaster.)

As she was jogging, someone came out of nowhere and slammed her her head against the wall, pinning her down with unrelenting force. He tore her clothes off as the blood ran down her head. In a daze, she had no clue what was happening. Until she did.

Luckily, she had a decent amount of self defense training behind her, and as that training kicked in, she fought back vehemently. The attacker slammed her to the ground and shoved his fingers into her mouth to shut her up. With the force of a pit bull, she clamped down. The attacker, shocked and paralyzed, took off running.

When the authorities finally showed up, she gave them his finger.

He is now in jail.

I have other stories, but they don’t have happy endings, so for now, let’s stick with this one.

See, there are two different types of encounters: social aggression and asocial violence.

I stole this idea from Tim Larkins new book, “When Violence is the Answer.” The book is a great read and a great incentive to understand and embody the monster we have deep within us — to summon him/her when the time is right.

Think Hulk.

Social aggression is the “Monkey Dance” as Rory Miller would describe. It’s a social status situation, just like when two guys at a bar pumping their chest, trying to be “bigger” than the other.

Usually there’s talking involved, posturing, and sometimes even flipping the bird.

The social cues start to escalate and a fight breaks loose.

OR maybe someone’s holding a knife to your throat, demanding all of your belongings.

These are, for the most part, social aggression situations that can settled in a non violent manner.

In fact, I would argue that 99.9% of social aggression situations can be avoided completely.

How? Simple. Use your head! Not your ego.

Walk away.

Don’t go to certain areas.

Don’t cause a stir by eyeballing people.

Use verbal Jujitsu and common sense to talk your way out of a fight.

Avoid violence at all costs.

Ready for another couple stories?

Two similar true stories with vastly different outcomes.

Story 1:
There were two guys on a street corner. Cue the monkey dance routine. They were puffing out their chests and calling each other names. Guy #1 struck the opponent and caused him to fall to the cement. Guy #1 then kicked him in the head, neck, and back. His teeth were falling onto the sidewalk and blood was splattering everywhere. It was absolutely terrifying to watch. No one around was help
Apr 10, 201814:41
008 Why Navy Seal Jocko Willink is Wrong (about Krav Maga)

008 Why Navy Seal Jocko Willink is Wrong (about Krav Maga)

Hello everyone!

It’s been awhile since our last podcast and I apologize for that. But come on… How can you beat that last Podcast with Eyal Yanilov. It was just too good.

Today I’m going to fight a navy seal. Not physically, or in person, but verbally, and far away.

Jocko Willink is a Navy Seal, author, speaker, and an all around badass. He’s written amazing books such as Extreme Ownership and Discipline Equals Freedom. As a business owner, I must say Exteme Ownership was a game changer for me. I LOVED IT and I use many of its principals today.

When promoting his book he did an awesome interview on the Tim Ferriss Show Podcast. After that, he did a follow-up video that answered questions from fans. One of the questions asked which self-defense training he recommended, even with limited time, for men and women.

I must say I was let down by his response.

He started off by saying that he thinks you should learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu first, that it will teach you how to handle yourself when the combative situation turns into a grappling situation. You’ll be taught how to fight on the ground and get up.

Next he says that Western Boxing will show you how to punch people in the face.

Then Muay Thai so you can learn how to clinch.

Then wrestling to learn takedowns.

THEN if you want to get involved with sticks and knifes… to find martial arts that specialize in it.

Lastly he said that there is no magical system that will teach you how to fight multiple opponents, or an instructor that can solve all the problems, but that Krav Maga deals with these extreme situations more closely.

And to use Krav Maga as an augmentation of Muay Thai and other practices.

Afterwards, he goes on to say that you have time and that you won’t be attacked tomorrow or next week. You have your whole life to train to prepare for an attack.

While I will be providing some arguments on why he is wrong about this, I do want to say that his assessment is correct if you aren’t planning on getting attacked for a few years.

AS if any of us PLAN to be attacked…

Here’s the deal… I have a really strong suspicion that Jocko has very limited or poor Krav Maga experience. Otherwise, I think his answers would have been a little different.

Ok, here we go!

#1. Starting off with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: BJJ is a great system! I train it as well. However, I would argue a few things about using it as your first system. #1 - it’s a sport. It has rules. By learning a system based on rules first, you will teach your body to abide by those rules. Even in a real fight. Teaching people to fight on the ground and use submissions is in no way something I would recommend to any beginner. In the cage, you are matched up by weight and size. In the street, you are not matched up at all. Your opponent will most likely be larger than you, and taking him to the ground may not be your best move, especially for women or smaller men. I have a student who is a Black Belt BJJ. He got into a bar fight… and took his opponent to the ground with an arm lock. Good for him! Until the opponent's friends came to help. They started kicking him, breaking multiple ribs, his eye socket and jaw. All while he was stuck on the ground holding someone in an submission.

#2 Western Boxing - Love it! I train this as well. Boxing teaches you how to effectively punch with gloves on, but punching with a boxing technique and without gloves can be problematic and you need to adjust. Another issue with being a beginner and learning boxing is that your opponent is only giving you a single problem… punches. No kicks, knives, chairs, ground, multiple attackers, etc. So it does teach you striking but lacks in a lot of other areas. Again… it's a sport… with lots of rules.

#3 I’ve combined Muay Thai and wrestling. Both are awesome. See, I wasn’t lying when I said I partially agreed with him. All these systems are awesome. I just disagree with the order of learning he suggests. M
Oct 13, 201707:18
007 Krav Maga Global's Eyal Yanilov - The Man Behind the System of Krav Maga

007 Krav Maga Global's Eyal Yanilov - The Man Behind the System of Krav Maga

Train Krav Maga Global techniques with Eyal here!Max Krav Maga
Nov 09, 201558:31
006 Self Defense Law - Krav Maga Podcast

006 Self Defense Law - Krav Maga Podcast

Todays podcast is about Self Defense LawsIt’s important that you research and find what laws govern your country and state. I’m my experience in different counties is that they widely differ in self defense. Once, I was in a place that required you by law to flee the situation and not fight back. Basically it was illegal to defend yourself. In another country I visited recently, if the threat had a 9 cal bullet that he was shooting you with, you could not have a higher caliber gun then the threat. Pretty crazy!Each states varies in some aspects of the law of self defense so do your self a favor and know your states laws. Simply search your state + Self defense laws and you should be able to find what you need.In the USA, we have a basic right to defend ourselves and others if it’s lawful..What is Lawful?California self-defense law requires the following “elements” of the defense to be true:When you committed your crime, you reasonably believed that you were in imminent danger of being killed, seriously injured, or unlawfully touched;Some one coming at you with a knife is “imminent”.Some one saying that someday they will get you and you decide to be preemptive and kill them, that is not imminent.Reasonably believed that you needed to use force to prevent that from happening, andThe force has to be proportional to the threat...If some one punches you, you generally cannot shot them.BUT if some one is punching you to the ground repeatedly and are about to cause you to die or major harm, it may be proportional to use a gun. As long as you can convince the prosecutor that the use of force was reasonable.Used no more force than was necessary to prevent that from happening.STOP the attack. Go no further. If you hit the person and they are on the ground crying san begging you to stop. STOP. Once the threat is eliminated you no longer can lawfully attack them.The threat (person about to harm you) must show three things; Intent, Means, and OpportunityIntent: You must be able to explain how you knew the threat was intending to harm you. For example, a threat running at you yelling "I’m going to kill you!" or more subtle ways of eyes glazing over, reaching into his pocket walking towards you fast. No matter what the situation, you need to be able to articulate HOW you knew he was going to hurt you.Means: They must have the means to harm you. For example, if a threat yells I’m going to shoot you! but is wearing a bathing suit at the beach then they don’t actually have the means to carry out the intent. Opportunity: The threat must be able to reach you with the means. If they are locked up in jail with a knife want to kill you, they still don’t have the opportunity because they are locked up.You can use the same force and laws of self defense to defend others.We are a stand your ground state. Under CA Law there is no law saying you must retreat even if you have an opportunity to do so. Not all states are stand your ground states. You must understand that if you did hit some one on the head with a brick, you committed assault with a deadly weapon. There’s no denying that… Your job now will be to prove that it was justified, because…… You must prove that you had NO CHIOCE. Prove it. Beyond reasonable doubt. You will be found Guilty or Not Guilty. Guilty beyond reasonable doubt or not guilty because some doubt was achieved.Reasonable belief in threatIn order to plead self-defense successfully, you must have had an honest and reasonable belief that you faced imminent harm and needed to use force to defend yourself. 13 It does not matter whether that belief was correct or not, as long as it was reasonable.In deciding whether or not your belief was reasonable, the jury is supposed to use what is called an objective standard. This means that they are supposed to ask themselves whether a reasonable person in your shoes would have believed they were in danger – not whether you personally believed you were in danger.Now, that was criminal law. Just
Jul 19, 201509:57
005 What is more dangerous, gun or a knife? - Krav Maga Podcast

005 What is more dangerous, gun or a knife? - Krav Maga Podcast

This is a semi loaded question. Obviously, if there is gun to your head or a knife to your throat it doesn’t matter which is more dangerous at that moment. All that matters is that you survive no matter what.

But if we decided to break down knife vs gun threats, or attacks we can really see deep inside the problem and discuss certain theories.

Let’s start with the pistol and lets not talk about rifles at the moment sense they are long range and not typically close hand to hand range like a knife or even a pistol are.

Guns are amazing tools. They allow you to shoot a target at a close, medium, and semi far distance. They don’t need a lot of skill to be fired or used as a tool of intimidation.

Knifes on the other hand you must be close. But knifes are amazing weapons to because they never jam. They never need to reloaded. They are easily concealed. And they a cheap and easily to get.

Pistols are “less” personal as a knife is a very personal attack. What I mean is, you have to be up close to stab some one with a knife. You have to manually push a knife into someone while they are screaming in your ear and pull the knife out and do it again. A gun you press a trigger. I’m not saying it’s easy to press the trigger...

This is my opinion and the opinion of some o my colleges, students, and LE officer I work with and you may disagree and that’s fine.

But I would rather have a gun to my hear then a knife to my throat, any day.

I am competent at defending both of them pretty equally. But I would rather NOT have the person who is mentally willing/able to jam a knife into my body repeatedly in front of me and the person who would take a more impersonal approach of a pistol.

When I redirect a pistol, the pistol will MOST likely be jammed. Especially if a shot goes off. I make sure to keep the muzzle pointed away from me while establishing control and all is good (kind of).

When I redirect a knife, there is no “dead” knife. It’s always “hot” or active. Who knows how the struggle will go…

But stil, the person who hold a knife and if willing to use it is, in my opinion, more dangerous then the person holding a gun.

Now, obviously there are a lot of situation and aspects we can look into to debate this but I’m trying to make this as general as I can for the sake of comparison. Can a knife attacker take out a crowd of people as easily as a gunman? Probably not. So in that sense, a gun may be more dangerous. And we can argue the things all day long. But the main factor was to bring up the phycology of the person who is attacking and I think we have.

Now, to go even more in depth. What is more dangerous, the knife, the gun, or the person?

I would argue strongly that it’s the person. Let’s refer to the attacker as the “computer” and the weapon as a program or app.

If we take out the computer, we take out the weapons as well. A knife laying on the ground isn’t dangerous. at all. zero. Knifes cannot, stand up, run at you, and dive into your stomach by them selves. So therefore, knives (or guns) are NOT dangerous. It’s the person who is using them.

So, here’s my point. Take out the computer.

Don’t put 100% of your focus on the weapon. Now, obviously, not getting shot or stabbed is a great bonus. But if like many Martial Arts, you only concentrate on the weapon and grab on, while flipping the attacker in the air, and doing a spin while disarming the attacker, you are going to fail. However, you you focus on attacking the attacker, you will survive. You may sustain injuries. But you have a much higher chance of survival.

Put it this way… If a had someone come to me right now and say, “I’m going to be attacked today by a knife welder and I only have 10 minutes to train with you!!!”
If I couldn’t give him a gun… or a knife.. or police backup or anything else I would teach him violence of action and the idea of “turing off the computer”. There’s no way he would be able to learn and be proficient and knife disarms and techniques in
Jul 03, 201510:55
004 Fighting Back (and why we should) - Krav Maga Podcast

004 Fighting Back (and why we should) - Krav Maga Podcast

The Truth about fighting BackFor more go to www.kravmagaxd.com

Is resistance an effective strategy for preventing crime?



Almost all studies show that resistance is successful in preventing the completion of a personal crime. This holds true in rape, robbery, and assault (23). Resistance is an especially effective tactic in preventing most rapes. A woman who physically resists a rapist doubles her chance of escaping rape (24). and that even includes NOT having proper training.

Woman with self defense training have outstanding odds. In fact,


sociologist Jocelyn Hollander did a study and looks at the outcomes for 117 college students who received this self-defense training versus a control group of 169 students who did not. Of those, seventy-five from the first group and 108 from the second agreed to take part in a follow-up survey or interview.


The results are clear: a much lower percentage of the women who took the self-defense class reported incidents of unwanted sexual contact than the women who did not take the class






These are some statistical percentages of victim’s success in avoiding rape during an attack with different methods.



– Victims crying or pleading were raped 96% of the time
– Victims who loudly screamed were raped between 44% and 50% of the time
– Victims who ran were raped 15% of the time
– Victims who forcefully resisted (without a weapon) were raped 14% of the time
– Women who resisted with knives or guns were raped less than 1% of the time

Now, lets talk about if the attacker has a firearm.

Most criminals don’t have very reliable high end guns. Most don’t even have the money to buy ammo for it as they would rather buy drugs with the money they are trying to steel from you then ammunition.
It’s even known that if a criminal steels or acquires a high end fire arm they would rather sell it for the money then use it.

The article states that thirty percent of robberies are committed with unloaded guns. An additional ten to fifteen percent of the firearms used in crimes are replica, toy, or BB guns (3). That means that almost half of the guns used in crimes are unloaded or fake! They also show that 41% of the guns seized by the police from criminals don’t even work or are fakes!



Guns are extremely load and even drugged up criminals know that the sound of a shot is an easy way to get noticed. Most criminals are reluctant to fire the weapon as only 4.6% of victims in a violent crime with a firearm were actually shot.

Knives are a different story. They are quiet and easy to use, cheap, no reloading or ammo and extremely dangerous.
Knifes were used to cut or stab victims 12.7% of violent crimes.

If you are shot the studies show that 92% of gunshot victims are discharged from the hospital alive. 47% of them are discharged the same day.




Overall, firearms assaults have a lethality rate of 5.4%. Knife assaults kill victims in 1.1% of cases. These statistics can be compared with a .06% lethality rate for assaults using bodily weapons (hands, feet, etc) (11).


- See more at: www.activeresponsetraining.net/resistance-to-violent-crime-what-does-the-research-show#sthash.Tmp02kRe.dpuf


1) U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Weapon Use and Violent Crime”, September 2003.. NCJ 194820.
2) Wright, Richard T, and Decker, Scott H. Armed Robbers in Action. Northeast University Press. 1997. Pg. 97.
3) Hockheim, Hock, Unarmed Versus The Knife. Lauric Press. 2001.
4) U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Weapon Use and Violent Crime”, September 2003. NCJ 194820.
5) U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Weapon Use and Violent Crime”, September 2003.. NCJ 194820.
6) U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Weapon Use and Violent Crime”, September 2003.. NCJ 194820.
7) Wright, James D. and Rossi, Peter H. Armed and Considered Dangerous, Aldine de Gruyter,
Jun 03, 201511:32
003 Freezing in a Fight - Krav Maga Podcast

003 Freezing in a Fight - Krav Maga Podcast

Freezing in a fight is one of the biggest fears I find in myself and my students. We train hard to try and eliminate the fear of freezing but when it boils down to it, we can’t eliminate freeze but we can decrease it’s power over us with proper training, understanding, and knowledge of this topic.

Let’s cover the different types of freezes there are according to Rory Miller in “Facing Violence”.

Bye the way, I did not invent these ideas. This is my interpretation, research, and takeaway from Rory Miller’s Facing Violence and my own experiences.

Types of Freezes

Tactical Freeze.This is when you freeze on purpose to not expose yourself (you freeze to not be noticed) or to gather more information (you feel something is wrong so you freeze to gather information to find the problem. Also a strategic way to use this freeze is while in a situation where you freeze (or stop interacting) with the threat to let them cool down. But not if the fight has already started. This is more of a pre fight strategy. You must be aware of this freeze and be able to snap out of it at anytime when the situation starts to progress or change. For example, if you freeze to be unnoticed (which is very instinctual, just look at animals when they are “caught” in the act of seeking up on you during play, they freeze hoping you don’t notice.), you must be able to recognise when situation has changed so that you get out of the freeze. Sometimes we don’t know if we are in this freeze on purpose or if our body is doing it automatically.
Physiological Freeze.
This is the time when your body is switching form passive mode to fight mode. Some people transition faster then others, usually depends on training and previous encounters. This is why when we train we train techniques and counter simultaneously or near simultaneous to shorten time to transition to fight mode. It is important to turn into the fighter as soon as possible.

Non-Cognitave Metal Freeze.
This is the freeze where you think you know what to do or what is going on and it suddenly changes. For example, you're walking someone you know out of a heated argument and you suddenly you find a knife in your stomach with the attacker repeatedly stabbing you. This freeze is similar to you needing to switch gears again and into the fighter. The situation is not what we were expecting. We were expecting to walk out calmly when instead we are fighting for our life. This is a tough freeze to get out of but can be done. Miller says from his studies it usually takes two actions to snap out of the freeze. Any actions that you purposely do can regain your mental function and enable you to break the freeze.

Cognitive Freeze.
Too many attacks happening at once. Our brain is trying to analyse each swing coming at us and decide an appropriate response. But if what we are analysing is disrupted by another attack we can’t finish the analysis and continue to try to analyse what is happening. Causing us to freeze. Too many things happening at once and we can’t figure out what’s happening causing a sensory overload. It’s our thought process that is causing us to freeze. Sometimes, asking ourselves what is happening or why is it happening is another cause of this freeze. This is a critical time to try and STOP your thoughts and instead ACT. Once you are acting, then you can think, but every second spent thinking about what is happening or why it’s happening is allowing more damage to ensue on yourself. Sometimes, a problems occur with MA training. If a fight isn’t going exactly how we trained it to go, our brains automatically try to make sense of what is happening, causing us to freeze. One way we try to solve this is by having the attacker always act differently when you are defending in training, expanding the possible scenarios and not creating a habit.

Social Cognitive Freeze.
I can see this being a very common freeze among typical people. We are raised and conditioned with rules and laws of violence. We get pu
May 31, 201510:33
002 We Should Start Self Defense Training at an Early Age - Krav Maga Podcast

002 We Should Start Self Defense Training at an Early Age - Krav Maga Podcast

If I were the president of the United States my first order of business would be to start a mandatory self-defense policy at age 12. In the beginning, people would probably oppose this idea and want to rebel against it. But the long term the results would be astounding. Imagine the statistical anomaly that would happen if every kid learned self-defense techniques and concepts at the early age of 12. Did you know that 1 in 3 females are estimated to be attacked or molested in some way? Mostly this occurs between the ages of 12-17. That is terrible and shocking thing to consider. What do you think the number would be if every child had the self-confidence, knowledge, and understanding of self-defense, and knew how to stand up for themselves? I think that the statistics would change dramatically.Next, let’s talk about predators and prey. Most attacks on adults (and kids) are premeditated. Attackers scope out the “kill” and plan their attack. They look for the odd person out of the herd. The person that is timid, shy, and weak. The person who doesn’t make eye contact and who would never know they are coming. The person who wouldn’t put up a good fight. Is this you? Training in self-defense fighting not only teaches you how to carry yourself but it gives you confidence that you would never get from anything else. Knowing that you CAN fight back and have options would make you walk a little different, wouldn’t you say? Knowing that you can fight 3 people at once, defend knife stabs, gun threats and tackles will undoubtedly make stand taller. You would make more eye contact, abolish your timidness and gain massive mental and physical strength.In Israel, every citizen, man or woman, must serve in the army. Something interesting shows when we compare their crime rates and statistics with ours.The crime rate in Tel Aviv, Israel (the Los Angeles/Orange County of Israel) is 33.56% when in Los Angeles it’s 51.96%. And Israel scores a higher safety scale of 66.44 when LA gets a 48.04 in safety.Interesting? Every woman and man has had fight training to some extent and can fight back. This makes the attacker’s odds a little lower. Just knowing that anyone who gets attacked knows how to fight back automatically decreases the crime rate. In fact, most of the crime happens to tourists. Why? Because THEY DON’T TRAIN.So yes, I believe if we were able to get every person into some sort of self-defense training, we would dramatically decrease child molestation and adult crimes in the USA. It could be as easy as making it part of the PE class requirements in middle school and it has the potential to help many young people gain the skills they need to stay safe, right through to adulthood.
May 25, 201505:46
001 Mental Training - Shortening Reaction Time - Krav Maga Podcast

001 Mental Training - Shortening Reaction Time - Krav Maga Podcast

Krav Maga XD in Costa Mesa's Joey Karam is podcasting on the subject of Mental Training.Title: Mental Training and Negative Visualization- Shortening Reaction Time—Episode 001Date- May 24, 2015You may not have the time every day to physically train, but you do have the time every day to mentally train. It is essential to master the way we think and prepare for attacks. If we are not mentally prepared, it is going to be difficult to perform well when beingattacked no matter your level of physical skills.HOW do we mentally train?We call it shortening freeze time. The Stoics called it Negative Visualization.It is a very good drill to perform because it allows you to anticipate mentally the steps you need to be successful in ANY given situation. You can use itin physical training, in your work life, in your relationships….Freeze Time-the time you are literally “frozen” in a situation without knowing what to do.Basically, what you are doing is taking any given situation and imagining it from absolute worst- case scenario to absolute best-case scenario outcomes.The more that you visualize and mentally prepare yourself, the better composed you will be when you encounter the actual situation.Example Drill:Imagine you are in a doctor’s office and are the farthest person from the exit. There are people between you and the exit. A knife-wielding crazy personcomes in off the street and is going to attack and kill everyone.Through several steps, your worst-case scenario starts with the criminal killing everyone, including yourself.In each successive reiteration, you imagine then that you fight him but he still kills you, then you fight him and he runs away but kills everyone else,then you fight him and keep him from killing 2 people but you’re still injured, then you fight him and you save everyone but you’re still injured, then youfight him as soon as he walks in, save everyone and you’re on the news as a hero. This last one is your best-case scenario.You can break this down further into tinier and tinier steps and really drill down to mentally prepare yourself for every step you would need to take toresult in the best case outcome.Recommended Frequency:As often as you can. You can do this silently in your head at any time, such as in the grocery store line, while waiting on hold, while walking yourdogs, etc.Recommended Reading:A Guide to the Good Life-The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (Wm. B. Irvine)Recommended Reading in this show: A Guide to the Good Life-The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy (Wm. B. Irvine)People Mentioned in the show: Eyal Yanilov
May 24, 201513:26