The Bravohood

Dunno if you watched Bravo's latest video in the armory, but I agree, find a martial art that is as close to real life as can be. RoW thinks it's a cheap style of fighting, are you fighting to impress people or are you fighting to kick ass? If your fighting to impress people go study with the Shaolin Monks.

While I have know experience USING Krav Maga, I have seen it used on some punk who knew "martial arts" and Krav Maga won easily because he wasn't doing fancy kicks and punches.

Fame wrote:Dunno if you watched Bravo's latest video in the armory, but I agree, find a martial art that is as close to real life as can be. RoW thinks it's a cheap style of fighting, are you fighting to impress people or are you fighting to kick ass? If your fighting to impress people go study with the Shaolin Monks.

While I have know experience USING Krav Maga, I have seen it used on some punk who knew "martial arts" and Krav Maga won easily because he wasn't doing fancy kicks and punches.

Yeah man I just want to learn how to fight for quick self-defense/kick ass if I ever need to defend myself. I don't have any interest in ring style/points/tournament type of martial arts. I mean no disrespect to those arts though. I just have no desire to get heavily in depth into those styles but I know that they do have alot to offer.

and I still need to watch Bravo's video!

Like any sort of fighting or martial art whether its boxing, kick boxing, jiu jitsu, krav maga, judo its only good if you spar for real. You have to practice it with someone full force or as close as possible. Really cracking each other or as close as you can without really hurting each other badly. There are so many guys who do these things and when the rubber meets the road, it won't work because they don't practice for real. I have trained a ton of guys who look like world champs hitting a heavy bag, but once they get there chin checked a few times, they completely change. I remember a friend of mine who worked for the military training elite groups, and he spoke about doing jiu jitsu and full scale fighting not just in a gym or dojo setting, but in a dumpster, staircase, pavement etc. The element of someone really trying to take your head off, or simply having an object like a parked car near you changes things completely. Anyone can learn some gay arm or wrist manipulation, but try it when someone is biting you, head butting you etc....its totally different. If you go to a Krav Maga spot and they go at it full contact, it will probably be really good stuff for you to learn.

@ lfthk1

You read my mind man. Some guys were telling me to check out some krav maga dvd's...How the hell would learning by dvd do any good?

I've never been in a fight. So I don't know what its like but I can only imagine with all of the adrenaline pumping that things aren't going to go as smoothly as they do in the dojo.

Learning on DVD could work if you had training partners to try things on. Its real common for guys to pickup new moves via book or dvd in BJJ then try them with training partners. I'm a boxing guy so the list of DVD's etc. isn't as extensive, or as practical but it can be done. Best bet is live training tho.

I'm by no means a street fighting-bar room brawling expert, best bet for that is avoiding those situations.

lfthk1 wrote: best bet for that is avoiding those situations.

I absolutely agree with ya! Thank you for the info!

not a fan useful only if you live in a neighborhood like compton where you get jumped by 10 guys every day for wearing a red hat..... but completely useless for mma or any competition

In compton krav maga might not be the best with 10 guys, you would probably want a tec9, or a chopper to mow down a whole block of homies. Shooting with the pistol sideways like they do in compton might not give you the best aim either. Best bet MIGHT be to stay out of compton, or south central completely.

I definitely recommend it. I am actually going to start classes myself next month. I had the pleasure of training with Master Sohn last weekend and I decided I want to add it to my arsenal for sure. Kali is also a great art to check out. As far as going full force, it is always better to know what it feels like to get hit, but the reality is, even in the dojo training full contact, you know the guy isn't going to kill you. There is nothing that can simulate a real time assault other then a real time assault. Having said that, you have to train your nervous system to be ready. Adrenaline or not, when you have trained moves thousands and thousands of times, your mind and body will respond as a reflex. Case in point, Professor Ricardo Almeida is one of the greatest BJJ guys out there. I have had the pleasure of training under him and his immediate students and instructors. When he fought Matt Hughes in the UFC, Matt knocked him out. Professor landed, completely unconscious, and still showed the technical lift position that you do in BJJ when you are down or trying to stand up. He trained it so many times that it became a reflex, even when he was unconscious! Incredible. The military doesn't train with real bullets because eventually everyone would die. The same goes for Martial Arts. You don't always have to get cracked in the mouth to make progress. The benefit of the dojo is that you can train your nervous system to respond accordingly by being able to program over and over and over and over. You are more safe when you know there is danger then when you think you have trained enough to be safe. You should train hard, train forever, and avoid the situations that could put you in harms way. Love me some Martial Arts! Good luck!