# How to complement my Krav Maga training?



## gustabass (Mar 25, 2015)

Hello Everybody,

I'm starting at a school of Krav Maga in my area and would like to know how can I complement my training. This is the only KM school I can find in the area, so I don't have many options.

The thing is they do not focus on sparring and other aspects of SD (awareness, deescalation, legal enforcement, and others) which I would like to practice/learn. But I will keep going to this school for fitness purposes and I believe can fill the gaps with books and sparring with my former Wing Chun teacher.

Do you have any suggestion on how can I complement my Krav Maga training with SD aspects?

And a little bit of my background, I did capoeira when was kid (6-14 yo) then 2 years of judo, 5-6 years of wing chun and now KM.

Thanks in advance and best regards.


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## MJS (Mar 25, 2015)

gustabass said:


> Hello Everybody,
> 
> I'm starting at a school of Krav Maga in my area and would like to know how can I complement my training. This is the only KM school I can find in the area, so I don't have many options.
> 
> ...



The vast majority of schools will not teach those things you're looking for.  I'm talking about the legal stuff, the de-escalation, etc.  Many schools teach what I call the 'during' part of the fight, which is the guy punches, grabs, etc, and you defend.  Basically, just the techs to defend yourself.  What to do before and after...nope, rare that you'll see that.

Out of curiosity, who are you training KM with?  Your loc. says you're in Brazil.  I'd take advantage of the BJJ.


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## gustabass (Mar 25, 2015)

MJS, thanks for replying.

Do you have any recommendation where I can learn those things, like de-escalation, legal stuff?

Regarding BJJ, there are couple of schools around, basically Ryan Gracie and Gracie Barra gyms. Both of them are not reliable as I know the instructors personally. Also, I don't believe they will teach the after/before part of the situation and finally I believe they are too competition oriented, which is not my goal.

I'm training Krav Maga under Bukan School as it is the only school around. Feel free to express your opinion on them I don't take it personally.


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## Danny T (Mar 25, 2015)

You and start by getting your hands on and studing any material you can by Rory Miller, David Grossman, Marc "Animal" MacYoung, and Gavin De Becker. Consult with an attorney as to your legal rights and responsibilities in a self-defense physical altercation.


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## K-man (Mar 25, 2015)

Welcome to MT.

There's any amount of material available on line. I downloaded a free short book on de-escalation recently. In my Krav classes I don't sit down and talk specifically about all the different aspects of self defence. I suppose it depends on the class size to some extent. We stop and discuss issues when an appropriate time presents itself.

I think one of the problems is that martial art teachers are not necessarily teachers of self defence. I'm fortunate that one of my senior guys is an ex-cop so he gives great insight. If you know any police guys you could invite one out for a coffee and pick his brain.

As to sparring, if you look around the site you will see that I am not a particular fan of sport type sparring and I'm not sure sparring with another WC guy is going to do anything to help your Krav. If anything, find someone with some kickboxing experience but cut out the high kicks. We don't do a lot of sparring either but there is still plenty of testing  in the close range training. I supplement my Krav with Karate, Aikido and a little Systema, but that is because I was already training them. If I was going to supplement Krav from square one it would be jujutsu, BJJ or Muay Thai.


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## gustabass (Mar 26, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I have seen another thread about SD books and will try to get some of the books listed in there.



K-man said:


> As to sparring, if you look around the site you will see that I am not a particular fan of sport type sparring and I'm not sure sparring with another WC guy is going to do anything to help your Krav. If anything, find someone with some kickboxing experience but cut out the high kicks. We don't do a lot of sparring either but there is still plenty of testing in the close range training. I supplement my Krav with Karate, Aikido and a little Systema, but that is because I was already training them. If I was going to supplement Krav from square one it would be jujutsu, BJJ or Muay Thai.



K-Man I was not looking to sparring as a tool to help my KM but to help me overall. But I hear what you say .

Also I believe sparring is an important part of any MA/Combat System, and would like to do it during my Krav Maga classes, although it is not encouraged by the current instructor. So I won't put my classmates in a situation where they might get hurt. On the other hand my former WC instructor let open this possibility.

Well, thanks again


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