Auckland Krav Maga Blog

Affordable Krav Maga & Self Defence Classes

2020-01-06T20:06:45+13:00

Our memberships are reasonably priced and affordable for most people looking for effective Krav Maga Self Defence training in Auckland. With the weekly membership cost being less than the weekly cost of 'small luxuries' such as coffees, drinks, takeaways, scooter/taxi rides etc, training Krav Maga with us is within reach of most people. However, the affordability shouldn't be looked at only through the paradigm of the cost, because in Self Defence, similar to other areas of life, you get what you pay for. Ever heard of the saying 'pay peanuts, get monkeys'? This cannot be more true than in Krav Maga and Self Defence training in general.

Unless you don’t intend to use your Krav Maga training for actual Self Defence, you cannot afford to be complacent and seek out the cheapest or closest training option without giving thought to whether or not what you train in has any chance of being useful when you end up being confronted by violence. The truth is, going to a regular gym fitness class won't result in a false feeling of confidence about your abilities to defend yourself. And, if you enrol in classes at a 'McDojo' Krav Maga gym, where the intensity of training and techniques used are 'dumbed down' to make them appeal to a very wide audience, you'll likely to get a very rude awakening the first time you're involved in a conflict where the aggressor is intent on seriously hurting you. To avoid this, anyone who cares about whether what they learn is actually effective under stress in a real life violent situation, will do their research and look at the affordability in terms of the value they get for their training.

The value of training starts with the quality and experience of instructors, their ability to pass their knowledge to their students and whether or not these instructors are still actively training. One of the key differentiators of Krav Fighter is that with our instructors, the day when they earned their instructor certificate marks the beginning of their life-long commitment to self-betterment and continuous training in Krav Maga and other hand to hand combat systems with the most experienced and leading experts in the field of self-protection. We simply have to keep training and developing Krav Maga so that it can continue to provide answers to new criminal behaviours and the ways people fight. We keep our Krav Maga evolving so that everything we teach is current and applicable in modern times. When we find a better defence for a particular situation, we absorb it into our training programme and replace obsolete techniques that no longer have a value in today's world.

Another important thing that determines the value of the training being offered is the lineage of Krav Maga instructors and the people who trained them. It's easy to get lost in various "Expert Levels" of Global Krav Maga organisations, but what is important is the person who actually trained and certified your prospective instructor. Was she/he just a cog in the wheel of a Global Krav Maga empire, or the person who has field experience in combat and more importantly survival during violent encounters? All of the experts we are trained by and learn from have earned their reputation in the line of their work in military, police, counter-terror and other security fields and have had to rely on their skills to survive. They do not have to make up the titles of "Grand Master" to sound impressive to someone who is new to Krav Maga. All it takes is to see them in action to realise that what they teach is extremely effective. They've been there, done that and know what works and what doesn't. They have been shot at, attacked by knives, punched, kicked, had all sorts of aggression and weapons directed at them, so they understand the dynamics of violence very intimately.

An essential component of the total value of your Krav Maga gym membership is obviously the classes you can access. One should look at the number, type and duration of classes available and whether you have to travel to different parts of the city on different days of the week to partake in training on different days, or if all of the training sessions are provided in the same location, making it easier to plan your travel and parking. All our nine weekly Krav Maga & Self Defence classes are available in a single, easy to access Central Auckland location. As most street fights start with strikes and many end up on the ground, it should be clear to anyone looking for Self Defence training that solid striking and grappling skills are necessary for their Self Protection ability. Imi Litchenfeld, renown for bringing Krav Maga into the civilian domain and for making it popular worldwide was a successful boxer, wrestler, and was awarded his black belt in Judo by Gadi Skornik, Israel’s judo champion for many years, and expert in karate and jiu jitsu. However, over time in attempt to make the syllabus look easy and therefore extend their reach worldwide, Global Krav Maga organisations slowly eroded solid striking and grappling principles, and instead shifted the focus towards techniques that look fancy and are unique to their 'flavour' of Krav Maga, but offer little or no value in real conflict. We beg to differ, and in addition to striking and grappling during our Krav Maga classes, we also offer dedicated Combat Striking and Combat Grappling training sessions. These classes are accessible to all members wanting to fast-track development of their striking and grappling skills that we use in Krav Maga, or improve their existing skills in these areas.

Furthermore, all our memberships include access to dedicated sparring sessions in addition to the sparring that we do in Krav Maga classes. As sparring is very important for the development of fundamental self defence skills, we have striking and grappling sparring classes suitable for members of all level of skill, and also two advanced classes during which we train Krav Maga and MMA sparring. Sparring allows you to apply what you've learnt against a live moving target and prepares you physically and importantly it prepares you mentally. As boxer Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze." If your Krav Maga training is to be of any use, you do need to train to manage fear and not freeze when attacked. Sparring is one way we can learn to understand our fear, so it doesn’t take over our actions when our life is at stake. Another way we help our members overcome their fear/freeze response in Krav Maga classes is via stress and determination drills.

While the primary value of Krav Maga training is Self Defence skill development and conditioning to increase our chances of survival when confronted with acts of violence, there is another very important benefit for those who train regularly - great physical fitness. Over the years, we've helped many people get into the shape and reach their weight loss and functional fitness goals in a matter of months. With unlimited classes for all memberships, achieving your fitness goals is just a matter of turning up consistently and training as much as you can week after week. As our training is dynamic and challenges you not only physically, but also mentally and at times emotionally, even when you're repeating a technique you've trained before, there is no place for boredom that some people get when working out at cardio or resistance machines at a regular gym. By the same token, there is that sense of belonging, similar to one people get when participating in team sports, and the whole club atmosphere is positive, with members being supported by one another in their pursuit of self defence skills and awesome fitness.

By now you probably have a pretty good idea of the affordability and value you get by training Krav Maga at Krav Fighter, but there are few more things you can do to get even better insight in our training. Check out our Facebook and Instagram posts with videos and photos of our members training, as well as videos on our Youtube channel that are also on our website. Even better, to get a valuable insight into what to expect once you start training with us, why don't you try a class or two? This way you can experience the class dynamics, intensity of training, level of resistance we train with, club culture and so on, and get a pretty good idea whether you'd like to pursue further training first hand. Click HERE and start your very affordable Krav Maga journey at Auckland's premier Krav Maga Self Defence training centre!

Krav Maga Self Defence in Auckland

2019-11-28T13:05:09+13:00

When you start looking for Krav Maga Self Defence in Auckland, come along to one of our classes in Pt Chevalier at 126 Pt Chevalier Rd. We open a limited number of places in four out of five weekly classes for people interested in experiencing the authentic Krav Maga that we learnt first-hand from Israeli counter terror and security experts who have extensive real life experience in surviving violence. We are confident that our Self Defence training is the highest quality Krav Maga available in Auckland and are happy to show you what authentic Krav Maga training is about.

If you want to learn how to protect yourself and your family, trying a class or two with us will give you a valuable insight into our specialised way of training. You'll also get to know our other members and instructors in our great team. The whole purpose of us opening the classes for trial is to provide people from our local community who are motivated to learn Krav Maga an opportunity to experience training with us. If you're permanently residing in Auckland, you can take advantage of our 2 trial classes package where your 2nd class is free. We also have two conveniently priced introductory options for visitors, so just make sure to select the right option at the check out and buy a preferred pass to train at our club while you're visiting Auckland.

We believe in offering a 'try before you buy' option to our community because some people who need our training the most would not come otherwise. For many who have experienced violence and bullying, it is hard to get into an unfamiliar environment where people are taught to fight back and survive. Especially if they've been in one or more situations in the photos of training throughout our Krav Fighter website, they may find the whole idea of coming alone quite intimidating. Often, they bring a friend, a partner, or family member to train with them during their trial, so not charging for the first and making a second trial class very affordable makes it a bit easier to get a 'support person' to participate even if that person doesn't have any interest in Krav Maga. This is also why we introduced buy 1 get 1 free deal for our Krav Maga Basics introductory course, once both people commit to 6 month membership, which is very popular with women and female teenagers alike.

From the experience we have gained through hundreds of people training with us, I have prepared a few suggestions for getting the most out of your trial classes with us. While most are common sense, sometimes people don’t know how to prepare for their trial and may find it useful to have the most important things outlined here.

It is important to read your confirmation email and ensure you follow it. Everything you need to know about the trial class is in it, including how to find us, where to park, what to bring and wear. You don’t want to be that person who turns up without essentials like a water bottle and a towel or wear an inappropriate clothing for intense close contact activity (like a skimpy yoga outfit).

Please don’t be late. Remember, this is not a general fitness class where you can be half an hour late and then just blend in by following the steps of the fitness instructor on the stage. It is very important that you are briefed upon arrival, and also to get properly warmed up during the first 15 minutes of the class so that the potential for injury is minimised.

Confirm that you have the time for regular training on a consistent basis at the times when our classes are scheduled. We can't change our timetable to adjust it to everyone's personal circumstances, so if you're busy most nights when we train, booking a trial class one night when you happen to have a 'hole' in your busy schedule is just a waste of time. Learning to protect yourself takes time and a single class simply won't cut it.

Don’t turn up with a totally empty stomach or straight after having dinner. You need energy for any physical activity, so if your last meal was quite a while ago, have a banana an hour before the class. At the same time, you don't want to train with a full stomach. Trust me on this one.

If you suffer from any health conditions, please consult your treatment provider about whether intense close contact physical activity is safe/recommended for you. We are not health professionals and are unable to provide you with such advice. Where such conditions are disclosed to us during the briefing, we may err on the side of caution and recommend you do not partake in the trial before you get an approval from your health practitioner, so please do not be offended if this does happen. Your safety and the safety of our members is of utmost importance to us, so we are not discriminating against you, but looking after your best interests.

For some, trying a class before going overseas might seem like a good idea as a way of ‘learning some self defence’ for the trip. The reality is that while you may feel more confident at the end of the class, you'll be lacking many skills that need time and practice to be developed. If you do want to get some skills to keep yourself safe on your overseas trip, come to our Krav Maga Basic introductory course instead. In this course, we teach basic skills that are useful in avoiding/preventing violence, in addition to training drills covering distance management, stances and movement patterns, offensive and defensive strikes we use in Krav Maga and sensitive areas we target. Our specialised monthly workshops are also a good way to focus on a single topic and since they’re 3.5 hours in duration, you’ll get to do more drilling than in a single regular class.

Turn up to the trial class that you booked. First impressions last and the trial class is sort of a matchmaking, you're checking us out to see if we're the right fit for you, but we are also checking you out to see if you're the right fit for the club and our team members. When you don't show up or try to cancel just before the class starts, someone else will miss out. If this does happen for whatever reason, you do have a discounted second class from your trial pack, which can be booked within 7 days of the one you missed. If you let your second trial class lapse too, you can still buy an introductory 2-class offer that is available to visitors, so you can try two classes another time. We have a strict 24 hour cancellation policy to ensure the places we open up for trial are available to those who will make it to training. We are not pursuing massive memberships with a big turnover like global Krav Maga organisations. Our members are like our family, therefore the culture of dedication to training and mutual respect is very important to us.

Please don’t bring someone to record you during your trial class so you can 'practice at home'. Our members need to feel safe, and having a complete stranger with no relationship with the club or authorisation from the club management film them is not acceptable.

When you try a Krav Maga class with us, you enter an environment where you're looked after not only by our instructors, but also other club members who embrace you, like they were embraced during their trial. To ensure that both our members and people trialling the class have a great training experience, our policies and recommendations are designed to minimise disruptions, thus being a great place for people genuinely looking to train and develop solid self defence skills over a period of time, rather than just looking for quick fixes.

If you do follow my suggestions, you'll find that you'll greatly minimise the usual sources of self sabotage I wrote about in the Master Krav Maga, Overcome Your Obstacles article. Your decision making on whether to join us after the trial class will be a very straightforward process, especially when you compare the standard of our training to that of the global Krav Maga franchises. Decisiveness and determination are the key qualities of a Krav Maga practitioner, and at KRAV FIGHTER we teach you to be both from your first class. So don't delay, BOOK your trial class with us and discover why we're Auckland's favourite Krav Maga Self Defence training centre!

Master Krav Maga, Overcome Your Obstacles

2019-02-05T13:47:14+13:00

When people ask me for an opinion as to whether I think they have what it takes to train Krav Maga, I often feel they are missing the point of Krav Maga & Self Defence training altogether. Although Krav Maga originated from the Israeli Defence Forces and is used by military and law enforcement around the world, you don't have to pass a special forces selection before you can train at Krav Fighter. There are no entry criteria to start training, other than minimum age, good character and a reasonable standard of health that would be required for any intense physical activity. However, many people are so focused on the physical side of things and worrying their bodies will let them down, instead of taking a close look at self-imposed obstacles that are not only making it hard to start or progress in training, but also causing difficulties in other areas of life.

In this article, I'll try to point out the most common thoughts and self-doubts that impose serious limitations on how much you can progress in Krav Maga training, and in some cases prevent you from starting altogether.

I am not fit enough, I'll join the gym first and get fitter and then start training. I am overweight, I'll lose some weight first and then train hard. I feel embarrassed as I wouldn't be able to do your warm-up exercises.

I've heard this more than once, and I have never seen a person that said it come back to start training and be any fitter. In fact, I have witnessed a few people who came twice in the space of 6 months to a year and the second time they were even less fit than the first time around. In some cases, these types of excuses may point to the possibility that that person may not be prepared to work hard for a reasonable length of time to get results. In other cases, there is a genuine lack of confidence and misunderstanding of the fitness level a person should have before being able to train Krav Maga successfully.

So if you do get an urge to think this way, maybe reading this will stop the negative thoughts sabotaging your progress. The only way you get better at something is by doing more of it. You don't get better at swimming by running. Or running by powerlifting. Fighting fitness is quite different from the fitness you may get at your local gym, even if you are committed to daily fitness classes. I am not ashamed to admit that I've been there myself as a beginner. And I was embarrassed that I found it so hard to get off the ground with tactical get-up at my first class. I felt muscles that I didn't know existed for a week afterwards. Yet, I was running and lifting weights at my local gym regularly, but I couldn't get my butt off the ground fast enough, which is an essential skill for survival. I realised, as I recommend you do, that I needed to start Krav Maga training, and keep coming to training, until my fitness wasn't an issue any more. The best way to get fit for Krav Maga training is to train Krav Maga at a reputable training centre that challenges you every training, like we do at Krav Fighter. If you commit to training 2-3 times a week, I can guarantee you will not feel the lack of fitness after 4-6 weeks of consistent training.

I am only interested in a few sessions or a short course because I already belong to the gym

Often the purpose of Self Defence training is misunderstood. Admittedly, there are global Krav Maga organisations that are promoting their training as something you do for fitness, thus focusing on massive memberships instead of making sure what they teach stands a chance in an actual violent confrontation. However it is a big mistake to believe that your gym membership provides you with the same benefits you'd get from training the authentic Krav Maga consistently. In common gym classes, you move to expend energy, develop static flexibility and balance or improve your physical strength, on your own. However, these movement patterns do not include situational awareness, psychological conditioning to a violent encounter, the dynamics of an attacking person's movement, and do not require much thinking about the consequences of what you are doing at that point in time. In fact, many people 'switch off' while working out at the gym, and this is the last thing you want to be doing when someone is threatening or attacking you. So when you think about Krav Maga & Self Defence, do your research and gain a thorough understanding of how the consistent training will benefit you, rather than thinking of it as being just another class similar to those you already have access to at your local gym.

I'll start training Krav Maga after my gym membership expires

The reality for the majority of people is that gym memberships never expire. Only the minimum term does, after which the contract can be terminated. And most gyms will try to keep members for as long as possible after the minimum term, which is quite understandable. But as I have already explained, what people get from their gyms is completely different from what they get from training at Krav Fighter. Realistically, there is no need to cancel an existing gym membership, because this facility may have a spa, sauna, pool, weights, zumba, spin, yoga, pilates and other classes, all the things people enjoy doing. No one is saying that you have to stop your pilates sessions if you want to train Krav Maga. However, with Krav Maga training you're developing a totally different set of skills, conditioning and fitness from what you'd get by going to the gym.

It's too cold or too hot to train

If you train the way we do at Krav Fighter, there isn't much difference whether it's cold or hot outside, apart from how many litres of sweat you leave behind after your training session. Our New Zealand climate is not so extreme that this or similar thinking should ever cross your mind, but if it does, go to the pharmacy and ask for some concrete pills as it seems you do need to HARDEN UP! Seriously now, if your will to train is affected by the weather, what are you going to do if you are attacked on a day that doesn't fit your ideal temperature requirements? Ask the dude threatening to take your life to come back when it's cooler/warmer? That's not really how life works, is it?

I am not sure how much I can train because I work long/irregular hours

Unfortunately, for many people this is a reality - they work too much. However, this doesn't have to be a win or lose type of situation. If you're really keen to train regularly, having a conversation with your employer and possibly negotiating a number of weekly training sessions may be all it takes to maintain your training consistency and therefore progress. Sometimes starting early, or catching up on less time-sensitive work after hours or even over the weekend would allow you to train, and this may mean the difference between you leading a happier, healthier and more active life while learning to protect yourself, and feeling like you are owned by the business you work for. Having 'me' time doesn't have to be cutting off the rest of the world by locking yourself in a dark room. During your Krav Maga class, your brain focuses on the task at hand, rather than on the problem you have with Joe from accounts, so it does count as relaxation and mental rejuvenation from the nuances of the workplace.

I have only a few weeks before going on a holiday, so there is no point training now, I'll get back into it from the next year

I hear this usually around November every year in one form or another. During that time of the year the weather is getting warmer, and some people let their social lives, parties, barbecues and work functions get in the way of training. However, what usually happens is that this 'next year' commitment is just an excuse that doesn't sound like one at the time. In reality, the 'next year' often starts after summer is well and truly over, or even never eventuates, since after having such a long break from training, our habits change and training is no longer at the forefront until something horrible happens, or we look at ourselves in the mirror and decide that the beer gut has to go. Interestingly enough, I have never heard someone say: I only have a few weeks before going on a holiday, so there is no point going to this...(pick your favourite: restaurant, night club, party, cafe, brewery, bar) now; I'll do in the next year instead. Since when is having a break in a few weeks’ time an actual reason to prevent you from training?

I am really keen to train but I'll do it when my friend can join me

Personally, I have never understood this kind of self-sabotage. I mean linking your own ability to learn to protect yourself and train Krav Maga & Self Defence on the whim of another person who may or may not have the same priorities in life as yourself is a bit strange. It's just like saying that you'll put your life on hold and wait until your friend is ready to...(take your pick: meet someone, enrol in university, get a job, lose weight, travel overseas etc.). It doesn't make sense, really it doesn't. If you want something, you may have a shot at it if you work hard and smart to get it. Waiting for someone's agreement, approval or participation before springing into action and working on your goals never got anyone too far.

As you can see, none of the above 'obstacles' making it very difficult or even impossible for people to train have much to do with their actual physical ability and fitness. They're all self-inflicted barriers, the tricks of the mind rather than the inability to endure the physical side of Krav Maga training. The bottom line is, just because you see the obstacles ahead of you, doesn't mean they can't be overcome. How will you ever know if you'll be good at something if you don't try and give it a decent amount of time, effort and will to succeed? While Krav Fighter training will make you mentally tough and much better equipped to react appropriately when life throws you a curve ball, you have to make the first step on your own by not making excuses about why you can't train and focus on why you want to train Krav Maga in the first place.

Build Confidence With Krav Maga Self Defence

2018-11-03T14:51:23+13:00

Confidence building is one of the key benefits of Krav Maga & Self Defence training at Krav Fighter. We should not confuse confidence with arrogance. The confidence that people training with us develop is not misplaced. We do not think of ourselves as unbeatable ninjas, hot-shot Jason Bourne types, but as being equipped to recognise the signs that violence is about to happen and react accordingly to either avoid the violent situation altogether, or to minimise the possibility of injury and maximise the chance of getting out of the dangerous situation alive.

Building confidence is a complex process that starts with our behaviour. Let’s look at two real life examples from interactions I had with Jill and Jane (not their real names). Jill sends us a message saying she is not confident and was wondering if training Krav Maga could help her. I explain what we do and Jill books a trial class. However, when she doesn’t turn up (and doesn’t cancel), I follow up. Jill’s story is that she thought the booking was for next Monday, not the one she missed. This is despite her receiving a booking confirmation e-mail as well as a reminder. I give her the benefit of the doubt and she re-books for the following Monday. Next Monday, Jill doesn’t turn up and doesn’t cancel again. I follow up again, and this time, the story is she got stuck at work and she’ll book again. You can see a pattern here. We never heard from Jill again.

Around the same time Jill was enquiring about boosting her confidence with Krav Maga classes, Jane calls us and says she just arrived to the country on a work visa and doesn’t have a job yet, but she hopes to get one soon and would like to try our class, so I let her book her trial with us. A few days later, I hear from Jane and she says she’s got a job but may be 15 minutes late to the trial class if her employer doesn’t let her leave before her shift is over. Jane turns up at the trial class on time, loves it and joins the club on the spot. Since joining, Jane doesn’t miss a single class, and her progress is amazing.

There are lessons to be learned from both experiences. Not once did Jill do what she said. Usually, people behaving in this way, coming up with excuses to cover what can only be termed as flakiness, are essentially setting themselves up for failure. "I'm going to be there", but they don’t show up, "I'm going to call you", but they never do, "I'm going to train hard", but they're never going to do it; that sort of stuff does not go unnoticed. If they're always saying things they don’t actually mean, their mind is recording this, their subconsciousness is recording this, and they keep programming themselves for a lifetime of self-doubt.

On the other hand, Jane did exactly what she said every time, and we witnessed Jane’s confidence growing with every training session. The bottom line is that confidence does not happen on its own without people having to put the required work in. It is not served on a silver platter just by booking a trial class (and not showing up), or joining a Krav Maga club and paying the membership fee (but not training afterwards). To reap the benefits of all of the aspects of the authentic Krav Maga training at Krav Fighter, members have to be committed to training, and need to train consistently. Those who do, experience the positive changes our way of training Krav Maga & Self Defence brings to their lives, and their confidence keeps growing as they progress through our training programme. Krav Fighter training includes Krav Maga Ability Tests or Grading Events where members are challenged physically and mentally over a period of 4-6 hours, and Krav Maga Intensive Course weekends that include Ability Tests at the end of each day lasting 8 hours. Both of these events are exemplary confidence boosters. While the participation in these events is not compulsory, every single person who trained and was tested in one or more of these events has seen their skill, mental toughness as well as confidence sky rocket every time.

In case you’re asking yourself what is the reason for putting the people through such an evaluation regime, the answer is simple: If a person can focus on defending themselves and surviving under complete exhaustion during the ability test, they'll be confident to do whatever is necessary to survive in case of a real life attack. We should never under-estimate how stressful it is when we are being attacked in real life, and to have the confidence required to protect ourselves, the elements of stress and pressure have to be present in our training and assessments. Unlike earning the ‘grade’ or ‘belt’ for just demonstrating you can execute various strikes on a kick boxing bag that doesn't kick back, the confidence gained through quality training will not evaporate the first time we're confronted by a violent, determined attacker with intent.

If you want to develop great self defence skills, become confident and improve your fitness, the solution is simple. Start doing the opposite to what you're doing now. Start training consistently rather than beating around the bush with booking trial classes and not following through. Start focusing on what you're doing, ask questions, think about things you end up learning, take notes, attend the courses & workshops in addition to the regular classes. Start believing in yourself.

If you want to be confident, it really is as simple as this: do what you say, say what you do. If you're not going to do it, don't say it. If you say it, do it. If you promise yourself you're going to do something, do it, keep your promises, keep your word. Set baby steps, small goals, and as you achieve them, your brain will start recording that you're always doing what you say, that you're achieving things you set out to achieve, step by step. Take this behaviour and attitude from Krav Maga & Self Defence training to everywhere else in your life and before you know it, you’ll have confidence, self belief, and self respect.

To make the first step towards a more confident, fitter and safer self, book your Trial Class with Krav Fighter!

Women's Krav Maga & Self Defence in Auckland

2018-10-06T19:11:16+13:00

The Krav Maga we teach in Auckland is the perfect Self Defence training for adult women and female teenagers. While the average woman will have a disadvantage in physical strength, size and aggression compared to the average man, the way we teach ensures women learn how to overcome these disadvantages in realistic attack scenarios. As not every technique works all the time, even for strong men, every person at Krav Fighter, irrespective of their gender, size or age, trains within their physical parameters to find what works best for them against people of different physical attributes. While particularly useful for women, Krav Fighter classes & courses shouldn't be confused with women-only training offered by Auckland franchises of global Krav Maga organisations though. There is a very small number of self defence situations and techniques that are specific to women, and to be useful they need to be trained alongside other defensive techniques regularly, rather than at women-only courses and boot camps that last just an hour and only over a few weeks.

Mental toughness and conditioning is an essential component of our Krav Maga, because when it comes to dealing with survival it is not enough to simply repeat techniques practiced in the easy going, no pressure environment that most women-only classes and courses are run in. We, on the other hand, have a lot of experience in simulating the stress and pressure that occurs in violent scenarios and ensuring the women who train with us develop mental toughness as they progress through the Krav Fighter training programme.

According to one US study, 93% of all kinds of violence experienced by adult women and 86% of all violence experienced by adult men is perpetrated by men. NZ Police-published statistics shows that around 85% of those arrested for family violence offences in New Zealand are men, and for sexual violence, 98% of those arrested are men. When you put this into perspective regarding Krav Maga & Self Defence training for Women, the question seldom asked is 'how realistic is it to expect a woman to defend herself if all of her training was just going through the motions of the technique with other women?'

We believe that women need to be exposed to scenarios that are as realistic as possible where the “attacker” is a man, just as the statistics overwhelmingly suggest it would be. The positive psychological impact of women training with men should not be underestimated. The likelihood of failing to defend ourselves in real life is greatly reduced when our training closely mirrors reality in that we replicate the physical contact, behaviour and language in our training drills, combined with the general size and strength advantage of men. Providing the opportunity to repeatedly test what they have learnt under pressure against a larger, aggressive male “attacker” enables women to be adequately conditioned to defend themselves in a real life attack.

Another important aspect of our training is the development of physical (responsive) aggression; this has the huge benefit of improving the defensive ability of women in particular. There is a difference between 'going berserk' which implies a loss of control, and the ability to think through the situation, and executing Krav Maga forcefully, with intent, without ceasing, until their life is no longer in danger. When words fail and escape is not an option we train women to fight brutally, unleashing their fury on the attacker until the attacker is no longer in a position to attack, no ifs, buts or maybes. The action cannot last for rounds like in sport fighting; the longer we stay in conflict, the more rapidly the chance of leaving unscathed diminishes. In this type of situation, women are more vulnerable to suffering an injury due to the size and strength advantage an attacking male would have, so a fast and explosive physical response to the attack is essential to increase the chance of survival.

Ordinary people are not aggressive or violent by nature. Even our own instructors have had to overcome their own inhibitions in utilising aggression during their Krav Maga journey as students. The experience we have acquired and practiced at over the years means we know exactly how most people, women in particular, may feel when they are asked to step up the intensity during training to ensure it is as realistic as possible. This is a big point of difference between Krav Fighter and many global Krav Maga organisations and deserves special attention, so I'll write in detail about the meaning and importance of intensity in Self Protection & Defence training soon.

We hope that women who are seriously interested in learning how to defend themselves will consider the above points before making the important decision of where and with whom to train - for the sake of their own confidence and safety. The worst possible thing that can happen from women receiving a poor Krav Maga, Self Protection & Defence training, is getting a false sense of security, then encountering a situation and finding out that what they have learnt is inadequate; the worst possible time to learn such an important lesson. At Krav Fighter we train what works; we will not waste our student’s time with useless or ineffective techniques. Our training is focused on the development of efficient fighting skills and survival first and foremost, while the impressive fitness, entertainment and camaraderie are part and parcel of our training, rather than the point of difference that other gyms try to offer.

If you are a woman and the idea of training Krav Maga & Self Defence is still scary after reading this article, we challenge you to try one of our classes and experience our training first hand. Because if you think that TRAINING to defend yourself is scary, how frightening do you think it would be if you needed to defend yourself in real life?

We hope you will join us soon – click HERE to book trial a class.

Krav Maga & Self Defence Training Intensity

2018-10-01T20:10:00+13:00

Krav Maga Training Intensity is an often overlooked component of Self Defence training today and while unfortunate, this does not come as a surprise to us. To make Krav Maga massively popular, some global Krav Maga organisations have turned down the dial on the training intensity and placed their focus on fitness instead. In fact, New Zealanders have vaguely similar experience with rugby. There is Rugby, the national game seriously played on all levels, and there is touch rugby, where focus is on fitness and social aspects of the game. If Krav Maga were a sport, then such an approach wouldn't be an issue. However, making a fighting system with a name that is literary translated into 'hand to hand combat' into a fitness system while calling it the most effective self defence system is not only dangerous, but also an irresponsible thing to do.

While the majority of people understand the meaning of the word 'intensity', depending on the context and activity it is used to describe, there are subtle differences, so I need to explain the meaning of intensity in Krav Maga & Self Defence training - at least from the perspective of how we train at Krav Fighter. Some people confuse intensity with power for example, so they may interpret intensive training as something where the chances of you being knocked out, hurt or injured are similar to participating in a competition level mixed martial arts match, which couldn’t be further from reality. If our training intensity was based on power alone, there wouldn't be many people that could keep training, especially as during classes at Krav Fighter, we do not segregate people based on their age, size or gender.

The goal of our training is not to knock out our training partners, but to challenge them, be unpredictable and dynamic attackers, reasonably resist our training partner's defence attempts and maintain constant pressure, so that they benefit from such training and get used to things not being done easily with little effort, and get conditioned that attackers in real life won't be nice and static, but aggressive and dynamic. We do train to deliver powerful strikes, but with the use of protective equipment (shields, impact jackets, boxing gloves, helmets) and control of where on the body we strike with full contact and where we adjust the power (to prevent head injuries for example).

The other day a friend sent me a link to a video posted by the Auckland franchise of one of the global Krav Maga organisations from the foreword above, which is a perfect example of intensity lacking in training. Unfortunately, due to copyright I can't share the video with you here, so will have to describe it. The video's title implied Women's self defence in multiple attackers scenarios. It starts with three women in a triangle arrangement, one with a knife. The first woman throws a circular punch from a few metres of distance, and the defender defends. The attacker doesn't resist defence, doesn't attempt to move at all; she just cops a few punches and goes back to her dedicated spot, all the while the second attacker with a knife is watching, not moving at all. After the defender pushes the unarmed attacker back, the attacker with the knife wakes up and attacks with a straight stab. There is only one stab with no intent behind it, and as the knife attacker is pushed away by the defender's straight push kick, the first attacker is standing idly by. After the knife attacker settles in her spot, the women take turns in attacking and defending.

To the average viewer with a sedentary lifestyle, the drills shown may appear to be physically intense. But was this the intensity required for the participants to have even the slightest chance of defending themselves if confronted by real world violence? Sadly, no it wasn't. When we assess any form of self defence training for its quality one of the first questions we ask is whether the intensity is at the level needed to provide a viable defence in an actual violent situation. I am sure that the women went home feeling good about their workout, but I would be concerned if they really believed that what they practiced stands a chance in real life. I’ll give you a few pointers here. To start with, unless we're discussing teenage school yard 'gang' violence, where female teenagers do gang up on another and beat her up, it is much more likely that a woman would be attacked by one or more men. For the actual statistics, check our Women's Krav Maga & Self Defence article.

Secondly, a circular punch in a surprise attack is unlikely to be attempted from the distance shown on the video. The attackers never had an opportunity to connect at all, and in reality, the attacker will try to close the distance and connect with their strikes. Furthermore, the third attacker standing idly by is not going to happen in real life. The reality of fighting multiple people is that you can only fight one person at a time, however the attackers are rarely stupid enough to attack one at the time. Before my Krav Maga journey, I've ended in more than one fight (in Eastern Europe) where I was confronted by a group of guys, and I can tell you from personal experience that fighting multiple people is akin to a sheep dog fighting a pack of wolves. So, you can't go in to make contact with one attacker, while leaving your sides and back open to the other one. You don't stand a chance of getting out uninjured unless you are able to control how the attackers are engaging you by your movement and defensive techniques.

Next, do you really think that a knife attacker will just serve the knife once without any intent behind it, and then be discouraged by one straight push kick into the centre of mass? If anything, they will increase the intensity of the attack and will try to grab you, so that you can't repeat the same trick again. I could go on in terms of the techniques used, and lack of any lateral movement from the attackers and defenders, but I think you get the point I am trying to make here. There was no Krav Maga Self Defence intensity whatsoever, making the whole training ok from a fitness perspective, but dangerous from a self defence perspective.

In conclusion, anyone considering spending their money on Krav Maga & Self Defence training should try a class at the club of their choice and experience the way people train there first hand, rather than making their decision based on statements about how widespread their syllabus is worldwide. Let's face it, fast food chains are everywhere, but this doesn't mean their food is good for you. As we keep saying, not all Krav Maga is the same. You need to decide whether you are content with training at a "Touch Krav Maga" place, or you want to develop the skill, conditioning and mental toughness only the realistic, authentic Krav Maga training at Krav Fighter can offer.

We make it very easy for the people of Auckland to try our classes, so don't waste your time on reading dubious "Free Guides" about Krav Maga Training. Click HERE to book your class without a delay, and experience Krav Maga the way it should be trained to be an effective Self Defence system.

Leading Auckland Krav Maga & Self Defence

2018-09-16T09:52:48+12:00

We are proud that we can confidently say our Auckland Krav Maga Club is the leading full time Combative Self Defence training centre in New Zealand. We are completely independent from any of the global Krav Maga franchise organisations; this is a conscious decision we made at the very beginning of Krav Fighter’s formation, for a number of reasons.

Sometimes we get asked wouldn't it be easier to have a global 'mother ship' to take direction from and simply replicate their operating model locally. We would get access to global branding and marketing material, branded clothing and equipment without lifting a finger, and focus all of our energy on getting the membership and paying our franchise fees instead. There are no hard decisions to be made, no responsibility in terms of what you teach and how, because it is all well prescribed for you and all you need to do is to follow the syllabus someone else designed, without having to think whether what you teach is actually working.

The answer is yes, of course, this would be far easier, if we were only interested in profits rather than the lives of the people we train. The ease of running a Krav Maga club following someone else's systems without thinking on your own comes with a huge problem when it comes to Self Protection & Defence. What if a person who trains with us gets hurt on the street because what we trained them wasn't effective against the real violence they had to face? What happens then? Would we be able to sleep easily knowing that our Krav Maga principles and techniques have no answers to the aggression of the motivated attacker who will stop at nothing to rob, violate or murder someone?

One of the principal reasons we chose to be affiliated with the progressive Krav Maga and Close Quarters Combat organisations instead of belonging to a global Krav Maga franchise is that we didn't want to train Self Defence principles and techniques that have no relevance on the street, in real life confrontations. We wanted to train people intelligently, not provide a set of defensive moves to be memorised like robots, but to teach people how to solve authentic violence problems and do it in real time, under pressure.

When we started Krav Fighter, our main goal was to train the best quality Krav Maga Self Defence in the Auckland region and to share the knowledge and skill we gained through training with the best operators in the field of Self Protection & Defence with ultimate security, law enforcement and hand to hand combat backgrounds, with the people of Auckland and New Zealand wide. We operated our Auckland Krav Maga training centre under a different brand our first year, and even though this was never the franchise type of arrangement that certain global Krav Maga organisations are well known for, this experience only confirmed that our decision to be independent was the right one.

Having our own brand - Krav Fighter - means we have complete control over how our Krav Maga club develops, from who we train with, which techniques we train, the intensity of our training, over to the online and social media presence that reflects who our Krav Maga & Self Defence instructors and members are, not only as Self Defence professionals & students respectively, but also as human beings.

In our quest to offer the people of the Auckland region the authentic, realistic Krav Maga & Self Defence training that cannot be matched by any other Krav Maga out there, we set our sights high. Our Krav Maga Training Programme is based on Protect Krav Maga and Combat Krav Maga, enriched by the Close Quarter Combat elements from Integrated Combat Systems.

Protect Krav Maga has been developed by Dr Itay Gil, who has an extensive Martial Arts & Combat Sport background and experience from the years spent in active service in the Israeli Special Forces unit YAMAM. He can be seen on TV shows BBC ‘Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week’, and History Channel ‘Human Weapon’. Dr Gil's unique Krav Maga Self Defence techniques and principles that we train are the result of his lifelong study of criminal behaviour and experience in dealing with hardened criminals, especially when it comes to defences against knives and dealing with firearm threats.

Combat Krav Maga was founded by Lior Offenbach, who also has first hand experience with violence through his career as a Israeli Police Detective, as well as considerable Martial Arts & Combat Sport expertise. Lior's Krav Maga is an honest, no-nonsense fighting system that makes you not only a survivor, but also a better fighter.

Peter Sciarra founded Integrated Combat Systems, a Close Quarter Combat training programme that is a hybrid blend of various Martial Arts and Combat Fighting styles focusing on practical and time tested approaches to fighting used by military, police, and even MMA fighters.

Having a wide base of skills acquired through training with these experts enables us to tailor our own Krav Maga training programme to be able to provide something for everyone. From less co-ordinated and not so fit people, smaller builds, women & teenagers over to fitness buffs, we have solutions that will improve their chances of survival if confronted by real-life violence.

The point I'd like to make is that Krav Maga is not something you can learn once and then ‘know’. Good Krav Maga is constantly evolving and needs to be trained all the time, with the solutions constantly changing unlike that of some Krav Maga "Masters" who seem stuck in time. Nothing in life is guaranteed, just knowing the mechanics of a technique that used to be taught 50 years ago, is not enough to be prepared to face real violence. We must keep training, exploring, innovating and constantly testing ourselves under realistic pressure.

This is one of the things that sets Krav Fighter apart from the global Krav Maga organisations: our instructors keep actively training after being certified, not just with each other but with the world's foremost experts in counter terrorism, law enforcement, close quarters combat and combat sports. We train with the best to keep evolving our skills and to be able to share what we know with the people of Auckland, as well as New Zealand wide. We are not ‘Masters’, we are eternal Students, we are Fighters, we are Survivors!

We welcome all people of good character interested to learn Krav Maga – click HERE to book trial a class.