Well, did my first class last night.
Was going with a friend, so he came over beforehand, and we watched this promotional DVD they'd given him...bad news. Cheesy lit (for those into photog/lighting, think "key light only") shots of the instructors looking "tough", and an extensive portion on J-Lo's role in "Enough" (glad I missed that one) and her use of Krav Maga therein. Uh oh.
Ever the optimist, however, I said, "Well, hey, it could be they wanted a promotional DVD but just didn't want to spend a lot of money on it. This could still work out."
I got some dubious glances, but we went anyway. As we got there, the window that looked out onto the street was so fogged up that you couldn't see in. I figured at the very least maybe we'd get a good workout. So, we go in, get shown around, notice that belt tests are $60 for the first (yellow), $85 for successive (orange up), grow slightly more concerned about all the marketing stuff, but move on to start the class.
They started off with jogging around the gym, jumping jacks, etc. The warmup went on a little long, which had me concerned about paying $120/mo. for aerobics...BUT after the warmup was through, we went right into some very solid defense technique, which allayed quite a few of my fears.
They went into important basics that I've always found lacking in most of the places I've looked...it was "here's how to move, here's how you want to be on your feet, here's when to use this type of strike versus this type of strike, here's things you're going to want to train into muscle memory, etc." Lots of work using focus mitts, and some solid drills. All good, I was really enjoying myself...I knew that a lot of what we were learning was considered "nothing special, just basic self-defense stuff" by a lot of people, but my stance on that is: "Hey, you have to start somewhere." Anyone who expects to go into a gym once or twice and come out knowing sooper ninja seekrits! is silly.
So at this point in the game, about halfway through the class, I figured I'd be getting my money's worth...I was getting solid self-defense technique, and an intense workout. I hadn't seen any Krav specific technique yet, but I figured it was coming.
Then they picked up the pace. Oh.
I got my *** KICKED. Intense training, mixed drills, fast pace. No relenting. I loved it.
THEN we finally went into some Krav technique...and that's when I fell in love. When the first technique we were taught was a headlock counter that started with a blow to the groin and finished with an optional (extremely destructive) shot to the windpipe, I knew I'd found the art for me. Simple, brutal, effective, no BS.
I am VERY pleased with my first experience at Krav Maga SF.
One of the things I really liked was the fact that when they were teaching us KM specific "techniques" (such as the headlock counter) it wasn't just "memorize this series of moves and repeat" like I've seen in so many MA places...it was active "here's what someones body will be like when they have you in a headlock, here's how the balance of that works, here's where their exposed spots will be, here's a few ways to take advantage of that, feel free to experiment" which is EXACTLY the kind of training I was looking for.
One of the other things I was concerned about prior to walking into KM was "cold patterns" -wherein the partner you're training with puts you in a weak headlock and doesn't resist as you pull a bunch of fancy nonsense that looks great on a compliant partner, but would never work in real life. I'm pleased to say that that wasn't a problem either as, after a few cold runs to get the feel for the motion down, our partner was to actively resist as much as possible to teach us how to use the techniques against a real foe.
Fantastic.
The only downside was that with the intensity of the workout, I had an old untreated shoulder injury flare up, which I'm concerned might hamper my training in the future.
...Anyone have any experience with shoulder injuries? ;p
Other than that, I *LOVED* it. KM sf is no joke, even if some of their marketing is. I'm thrilled. Signed up right after class.
Thanks everyone for all the great advice :]
Was going with a friend, so he came over beforehand, and we watched this promotional DVD they'd given him...bad news. Cheesy lit (for those into photog/lighting, think "key light only") shots of the instructors looking "tough", and an extensive portion on J-Lo's role in "Enough" (glad I missed that one) and her use of Krav Maga therein. Uh oh.
Ever the optimist, however, I said, "Well, hey, it could be they wanted a promotional DVD but just didn't want to spend a lot of money on it. This could still work out."
I got some dubious glances, but we went anyway. As we got there, the window that looked out onto the street was so fogged up that you couldn't see in. I figured at the very least maybe we'd get a good workout. So, we go in, get shown around, notice that belt tests are $60 for the first (yellow), $85 for successive (orange up), grow slightly more concerned about all the marketing stuff, but move on to start the class.
They started off with jogging around the gym, jumping jacks, etc. The warmup went on a little long, which had me concerned about paying $120/mo. for aerobics...BUT after the warmup was through, we went right into some very solid defense technique, which allayed quite a few of my fears.
They went into important basics that I've always found lacking in most of the places I've looked...it was "here's how to move, here's how you want to be on your feet, here's when to use this type of strike versus this type of strike, here's things you're going to want to train into muscle memory, etc." Lots of work using focus mitts, and some solid drills. All good, I was really enjoying myself...I knew that a lot of what we were learning was considered "nothing special, just basic self-defense stuff" by a lot of people, but my stance on that is: "Hey, you have to start somewhere." Anyone who expects to go into a gym once or twice and come out knowing sooper ninja seekrits! is silly.
So at this point in the game, about halfway through the class, I figured I'd be getting my money's worth...I was getting solid self-defense technique, and an intense workout. I hadn't seen any Krav specific technique yet, but I figured it was coming.
Then they picked up the pace. Oh.
I got my *** KICKED. Intense training, mixed drills, fast pace. No relenting. I loved it.
THEN we finally went into some Krav technique...and that's when I fell in love. When the first technique we were taught was a headlock counter that started with a blow to the groin and finished with an optional (extremely destructive) shot to the windpipe, I knew I'd found the art for me. Simple, brutal, effective, no BS.
I am VERY pleased with my first experience at Krav Maga SF.
One of the things I really liked was the fact that when they were teaching us KM specific "techniques" (such as the headlock counter) it wasn't just "memorize this series of moves and repeat" like I've seen in so many MA places...it was active "here's what someones body will be like when they have you in a headlock, here's how the balance of that works, here's where their exposed spots will be, here's a few ways to take advantage of that, feel free to experiment" which is EXACTLY the kind of training I was looking for.
One of the other things I was concerned about prior to walking into KM was "cold patterns" -wherein the partner you're training with puts you in a weak headlock and doesn't resist as you pull a bunch of fancy nonsense that looks great on a compliant partner, but would never work in real life. I'm pleased to say that that wasn't a problem either as, after a few cold runs to get the feel for the motion down, our partner was to actively resist as much as possible to teach us how to use the techniques against a real foe.
Fantastic.
The only downside was that with the intensity of the workout, I had an old untreated shoulder injury flare up, which I'm concerned might hamper my training in the future.
...Anyone have any experience with shoulder injuries? ;p
Other than that, I *LOVED* it. KM sf is no joke, even if some of their marketing is. I'm thrilled. Signed up right after class.
Thanks everyone for all the great advice :]
