My name is Jesse Robbins. I'm the owner and head instructor of Krav Maga Central District in Seattle, WA USA.

A week ago today, my testing partner (left holding knife) and I passed the Krav Maga Alliance 1st Degree Black Belt exam. It was a grueling, intense, violent, brutal, exhausting, and satisfying 6.5-hour ordeal.

Ask me anything. Keep it civil.

The 5 A's of self-defense are a practical framework used to recognize, avoid, and respond to threats effectively:

Avoid: Stay away from dangerous situations whenever possible by trusting your instincts and steering clear of suspicious areas or people.

Assess: Quickly evaluate the immediate situation, count exits, check the space, and size up the threat.

Alert: Use your voice to shout, call out, or make noise to draw attention because attackers prefer quiet environments.

Act: Physically or mentally respond to protect yourself by blocking, running away, breaking free, or using self-defense moves.

Adapt: Change your approach flexibly based on how the dynamic situation unfolds

We are located in ARCA South and Bonifacio Global City Taguig City Philippines we cordially invite everyone nearby to join us get fit and learn Filipino Martial Arts. Learn and be guided by the real Martial Arts Master who understand the system NOT just in Youtube!

We have been doing drills assuming we have some valuable things like wallet.

There were basically 2 main ways: - Give the wallet and hope for the best - Use the wallet to distract enemy, then strike when he doesn't suspect anything

I see downsides of both ways: - There were cases where mugger with a knife stabbed someone after they gave him the wallet. It's dumb, but most muggers aren't smart too - Assuming I striked him, if he didn't want to stab me - now he wants. If I strike him right, I would have easy escape tho

What is your opinion? When what would you do?

please let me know, thanks

This is Master JoeLee. He is an expert at control.

honest opinion compared to other organizations, I personally believe they are all around the best, but I have heard so much criticism . Honest thoughts please

Israeli Self Defense System -realistic,easy to learn, practical,open for all ages and gender

Best for real street multiple attackers scenarios,with weapons and without weapons.

WHO IS OUR HEAD INSTRUCTOR KEVIN MACK?

Head instructor Kevin Mack is one of the top Krav Maga instructors in the United States with over 25 years experience in the Krav Maga system and 40 years experience in the martial arts including Muay Thai kickboxing, Savate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has trained exclusively with Krav Maga instructor Alan Feldman who is a direct student of Krav Maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld and who was responsible for introducing Krav Maga to the eastern United States in the early 1980’s. Kevin Mack has also trained with several high ranking instructors of the top Israeli Krav Maga organizations. He was awarded his Black Belt in Krav Maga by Alan Feldman in 2009 and is one of only 10 black belts awarded by Alan. His personal training with Alan Feldman and the other top students of Imi Lichtenfeld has provided him with unprecedented knowledge and understanding of Krav Maga from it’s early days as well as its current and more modern approach. His expertise lies in the strategies,mindset and conceptual approach to teaching Krav Maga.

Kevin Mack opened up Bucks County’s first and most authentic Krav Maga school in 2008 and he is the Head Instructor at Bucks County Krav Maga. For the past 18 years he has taught the majority of the kids and adult classes at BCKM which allows him to be personally involved with the development of each student as well as teaching private lessons to groups and individuals throughout the day. He is a full time KM and self defense instructor dedicated to teaching the system in its most authentic form and to providing his students the most advanced KM training in the Philadelphia area.

KRAV MAGA PRIVATE LESSON SALE

Self Defense

Head Instructor Kevin Mack is available for private lessons at a local park, your home or office. Learn how to defend yourself in your own environment. Get in touch for more info and availability. Check out our other posts in regards to private lessons specials and discounts.

Private message me or call 267-810-9882

GIVE THE GIFT OF SELF DEFENSE AND SELF CONFIDENCE

We are offering a special price for private lessons with Krav Maga instructor Kevin Mack.

Pay for 6 lessons up front($600) and get 2 FREE private lessons. So that’s 8 private lessons for the price of 6.

Or

Pay for 9 lessons up front($900) and get 3 FREE private lessons. So that’s 12 private lessons for the price of 9.

Learn Krav Maga at your own pace and focus on the elements that you are interested in.

Payment can be made with cash,Venmo or via PayPal.

Private lessons are an hour long.

Private lessons can be shared with 2-4 people. Even number preferred. This is a great way for families to train together in a way that fits their schedule.

Send us a message to discuss scheduling and availability or call 267-810-9882

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Hello Everyone,

I am looking for a female self defence trainer. Ever since I escaped my abusive marriage, it's always been on my mind and I have been searching for women coaches in any self defence sport.

It could be anything from, Boxing, Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, MMA or Krav Maga.

I am looking for a female trainer/coach as I am not comfortable with a male trainer/coach.

So if you know anyone or have any references ,please do comment below.

I am willing to move countries for the coaching too, if I can afford to that is 🥲

Thanks

One of principles in KM is to stay in move, and that one strike should lead to another one. I am looking for long combinations of strikes and kicks to train this exact thing, to utilize punches, kicks, various angles, hammerfists, elbows...

I feel like I am not "fluent" during sparring. I know in practice you make short combinations (2-3 punches before enemy replies) but I want to put constant pressure on my opponent. I feel like my kicks and punches are slow, and not neccessery one leads to another.

Basically I want to use creativity I struggle with to turn up speed. Idk if this makes sense. I feel slow, I want to feel fast

Hi, I'm looking to start taking classes. Im looking to gain practical self defense techniques and fitness. A bit of background I am 25F and very skinny. Never worked out before a month ago. Working on building my strength but it's going very slow.

​Do I need to build up my strength more before starting?

What should I expect in the first few classes?

Any advice would help. Thank you all!

Hey, looking for a new Krav place for my daughter (14). She was at KMW for a few years and was in the adult program. They relocated to IconFit on Olympic but IconFit won't allow her to join since she is a minor. Driving to the valley isn't an option. Looks like Alliance CC is the only other westside option. We'll do a trial, but would love to hear what you all think if you've been there!

Krav Maga class is mainly combat, but equally important are the awareness/ de-escalation/ prevention skills

I invite you to share what you learned and what worked for you

Interested in books and video which are well classified. I'm studying in a language I cannot fully understand and while practice is great I could use some material to integrate in English.

Micha here, from Forge Krav Maga in San Francisco. I've been training Krav for almost 15 years (expert certified). I've trained BJJ for seven years (purple belt), and I've put real study into Pekiti Tirsia Kali (Lakan Dalwa).

I've been thinking a lot about edge weapons, defense and counter offense. Also, grips! Which led me to writing down my thoughts on forward versus reverse grip in both defensive and counter offensive situations.

Studying Kali has been helpful. It gave me a more sophisticated vocabulary, better geometry and a more nuanced perspective on the angles of attack. Spending reps on the attacking side, on where a blade travels and why, for me, is what made the defending side stop looking like chaos. Forward grip means more reach than you'd guess and short thrusts arriving on a flat line into the abdomen and hip crease. Reverse grip means less reach, arcs coming down onto the head and chest, and a guy comfortable being close to you.

What I've come around to is that the grip isn't only telling you where the blade goes. It's telling you what's still available to you. Reverse grip usually means he's already at contact range with a hand on you, which means disengaging was decided before you got a vote. Forward grip at distance is a different situation with a different set of options. Same information, two different sets of choices.

Grappling (ShivWorks, Knife Control Concepts, Ryan Hoover) gave me what I think is a better defensive answer, and it's the same answer for both grips. Two hands on the weapon arm, wide stance, head under the chin, chest heavy over the weapon. A frontside two-on-one or "baseball bat" grip. You won't get it cleanly and you'll take some on the way in. It's still better than staying unattached and hoping.

Which brings me to the disagreement. Many Krav schools still teache the redirect, control, attack, take the weapon away, leave solution. The framework and the defenses are reasonable in isolation. That's not my issue. My concern is that the sequence is organized around staying unattached, so control is a beat you pass through on the way out rather than a position you may need to fight to reach and fight to hold (you cannot always run). I didn't invent any of this. Props to Craig Douglas at ShivWorks, Ryan Hoover at Fit2Fight and Aaron Jannetti at Knife Control Concepts, who all pressure tested it against a blade.

Maybe the important thing from a self-defense perspective is that most people don't get to pick a grip anyway. If you carry, you decided weeks ago through your knife and your pocket. If you don't, the choice belongs to the other guy, and there's a decent chance he didn't decide either.

Two things I'd like to hear from this community:

First, on grips. My argument is that knowing the grip tells you what's coming, but it doesn't change what you do about it. And that forward versus reverse is the only distinction a defender needs. Hammer versus saber, edge-in versus edge-out, all of that matters to the person holding the knife and very little to the person standing in front of it. Does that hold up to scrutiny?

Second, on control. Is it a destination in your krav curriculum, or a touchpoint on the way out? I've assumed you can't always leave, which is the premise the whole thing rests on.

Here's the full argument, if you care to read it:

https://www.forgekravmaga.com/forge-krav-maga-blog/knife-grips-explained-forward-vs-reverse-for-real-world-self-defense-1

I'm genuinely trying to make it better, and serious feedback goes into the next version.

Many thank yous!

37(M)! Not gonna get into KM effectiveness, or criticism. That’s enough of that here and in other subs. I’m in Maryland , US and particularly interested Judo, but Judo is scarce here and if it’s available, it’s beyond the distance I’m willing to travel 2-3 times a week. I’m a 5 mile radius type of guy.

Anywho, spoke to the head instructor. Seems like a solid dude. Says judo is incorporated into their curriculum and sparring is apart of the program as you level up. My purpose is to bond with my son(15), self defense and conditioning. Me and son are gonna do a trial or 2 to feel it out in the coming weeks.

With that being said, I just want your opinion on the site, what’s listed, and your thoughts.