I had a private student who trained multiple times per week. His dedication to Krav Maga was unmatched, as he would schedule 1-2 privates per week in addition to attending every group class we offered. As a result of this intensive training he was learning the system at an accelerated pace.
6 months into his training, he approached me to complain that he was very frustrated with me. When I asked why, he responded that I had taught him multiple answers to many specific attacks and he just wanted to know “which answer do you want?”. My response was that he needed to know them all. Suffice it to say this required some explaining on my part.
Traditional martial arts typically teach techniques on almost a 1:1 basis; every problem has a corresponding solution. While that seems to make sense in theory, it really isn’t helpful in application. Simply put, there are too many variables to consider when analyzing a potential threat/attack to just assume a defensive strategy can be “one size fits all”.
At Krav Maga Personal Safety, we emphasize that you need to know your objectives before you can decide on your course of action.
For example, if I’m by myself, and my attacker is a stranger to me, I might decide on a quick strike that quickly neutralizes my attacker so I can quickly escape. If I’m with a VIP (family member or someone I need to protect), my objective is their safety before my own. As a result, I would need to strike and then attach to my attacker long enough for my VIP to leave safely. Upon seeing them leave, I can then detach and leave too. Lastly if I’m approached by someone I do know but they are acting inappropriately due to alcohol or illness, my course of action might not be to harm them at all. I might then consider manipulating them or physically restraining them without any measurable violence upon their body. No bruising, blood or damage, just physical containment. (As a side note, I have taught this in hospital settings for the benefit of nurses and doctors to restrain an altered patient.)
Each of these scenarios created different objectives and changed the technique of choice. As we have discussed in the past, there are no shortage of considerations when deciding how to contend with a potentially violent aggressor. Add to your thought process factors like the terrain or the presence of weapons and you have even more options to sift through.
It would, indeed, be nice if all things could be brought down to a simple one-to-one basis. While it would certainly reduce the amount of brain power required, the reality is that properly trained self-defense is a process of deconstructing a problem and the application of a solution that fits the specifics of said problem. It is, therefore, important that all Krav Maga students learn all options that take you from “evading and escaping” a specific threat to “attaching and restraining/attacking” a specific attacker.
Learn as much as you can and build as many options as possible. To not do so results in you becoming a hammer in search of a nail and that can possibly leave you “screwed”.
