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Living in Israel Part 6: Krav Maga Training in Israel by Jon Bullock

Hi Everyone,

Well, it is part 6 of the blog and I intended to write 7 parts, so that can only mean one thing… my time here in Israel is coming to an end, but the end part is going to be the busiest yet.

Since the last blog, life in Israel has continued to be both exciting and challenging in respect of training and learning, as well managing my commitments back home, but that was the whole point, it was meant to exciting and I did also expect some challenges, so all in all, so far so good.

My training has continued under the watchful eye of Eyal Yanilov, Ze’ev Cohen and his team of Instructors, I’ve also continued to work with Mickey Newman in Tel Aviv on the striking side of the system.  Regarding my training goals, it was always to have a balance of one on on training combined with group training and that is exactly what I have received.  Learning the technical aspects with Eyal and then training more tactically with Ze’ev and his team, so we can create scenarios and carry out some ‘pressure testing’ in the only way Ze’ev knows.. that being. ‘Israeli Style’ . Not to mention some of Eyal’s ‘punishing’ body weight and functional exercises which leave my stomach aching for days!

One of the most unique and best experiences I had recently was to attend to the Touring & Training event in May. I was also fortunate enough to be asked to teach for 4 days on the event in various parts of Israel.  This was a fantastic opportunity and more about that in a shortly.

To take you back in time for a moment, Touring & Training was one of the first experiences I had in Krav Maga.  In 2004/2005 when I discovered Krav Maga I decided that the best way to move forwards in learning would be to go straight to Israel, so I booked the Touring & Training event.  It was a great experience training with Eyal and the team, it was mainly based in Netanya with some day trips to various places… all in all a good experience.

Fast forward to 2013 it has gone from a good experience to a great experience!  The Touring & Training has developed so much in the last few years.  It is now what I would describe as an intensive programme, it takes you out of your comfort zone, it requires you to maintain focus.  There is a fantastic balance of training and touring.  Some people believe it is a holiday with some Krav Maga thrown in but let me tell you this is a huge misconception.

The programme is now build around days of more intensive training combined with that of seeing some fantastic sights in Israel and training at those places as well  The training is by no means a by-product of the event.  33 people attended the event in May including my girlfriend Amie and 9 dedicated souls from the UK, and everyone found it challenging! Training in different environments, travelling, see various places and then training again.  Not a day passed when you didn’t learn something about Israel and something about Krav Maga, and that’s the whole point… Touring & Training is about developing knowledge in both of these things!

The best part about the whole event is of course meeting and training with likeminded people from around the world, fantastic people who you may never have met had you not made the decision to step out of your comfort zone and do something a little different.  It is truly amazing to see everyone who came from different countries and different walks of life bonding on the first day.  33 people put together who share a common passion.  These people are now friends for life, you may not see them everyday, but having shared 10 intensive days together creates a common bond that is quite hard to break, they all shared an experience that they will remember forever. Of course, after the event is over, the FaceBook ”friend requests’ start coming in so there really is no excuse not to stay in touch.

The tour guy on the event is a guy called Avi Weinstein.  Let me tell you that this guy is much more than a tour guide, he is your friend from the moment he steps on the bus and he will remain so for life.  He is full of passion about Israel and his whole focus is about making your experience on the event as unique and fulfilling as possible.  A very inspiring person to know.

For me, the Touring and Training was huge achievement. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity by Eyal Yanilov and David Gorin to teach Krav Maga on the event, so that was another goal achieved… to teach Krav Maga in Israel.   The experience of teaching all these new people who had various levels of Krav Maga experience, some from KMG, some not and some completely new to the system.  It was a great challenge, throughly enjoyable and I am very very grateful for all the comments and feedback I received from my teaching, it was very humbling indeed…. I am now one of the few people who can say they taught Krav Maga at 5.30am on top of Mount Massada as the sun was rising… I am quietly proud of that.

This is by no means a sales pitch, if Touring & Training is not for you, no worries… but if you are one of the many people who has sat on the sofa and said ‘I’ll do that one day’ then I urge you to pick the day and book it… take the action to do what you would like to and don’t sit back and be one of those people in years to come who says ‘yes, I was going to do it but but but’ nobody is interested in what you didn’t do!!!

It is now the 2nd June and the ‘Summer Season’ begins for KMG.  A very intensive period of three weeks that will see various instructors from around the world come to Israel to further their education in subjects such as how to teach kids, how to teach women and how to implement mental conditioning into their Krav Maga lessons.  Peter Lakatos and Tommy Blom are also holding Primal Move Instructors Courses in Israel during this time, another great course packed with knowledge and value so there will be some amazing feats of body weight expertise flying around the place.  I recently refreshed my Primal Move course here in Israel with Nadav Shoshan from the Global Team.  I decided to do this as I had completed the course a while back, yet skill fade had set in and I needed some re-education.  The course was great and I woke up the next morning feeling like I had muscles like Tommy Blom, yet a quick check in the mirror revealed this was not the case… so what to do? Do Primal Move everyday of course!

Following the period of further education, the coverted Graduate and Expert camps begin respectively. Over 130 instructors and graduate level trainees from around the world will arrive in Israel and gather for week long intensive training camps guided by Eyal Yanilov and his Global Team. The camps are annual events, very intensive and push your Krav Maga level to the next stage.

To everyone taking their next grade during the camps, I will you the best of luck!

I’ll leave it there for now, I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the camps and when the dust has settled, I will put ‘fingers to keyboard’ for the final part of this blog, as I pack my bags and head to the airport as my Living and Training Krav Maga in Israel experience comes to an end.

See you all soon.

Jon

Krav Maga Touring and Training in Israel: The Institute Experience, Days 5, 6, 7 & 8

Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the ‘radio silence’ we have been touring and training all around Israel, the days have been long and intense but very enjoyable and getting the time to sit down and write each blog and get it online has been challenging, we we’ve clubbed together to update you on the last few days as the event comes to a close.

Day 5 – By James Worker

Day 5 of the Touring and Training trip was packed full of action. We set off at 4:30am and climbed Mount Masada, beginning 200 metres below sea level and finishing 300 metres above sea level. The IKM UK Team led from the front and reached the summit in perfect time to watch the sun rise. Institute Director Jon Bullock arrived a few minutes later, conserving his energy to teach an excellent gun threat defense session on top of the mountain. It was an amazing place to train, given that many battles have taken place in this region in the past, including an invasion by the Romans!

After a cable car journey back down and a huge breakfast, we set off for the Dead Sea. Our tour guide Avi suggested we should cover ourselves in mud from the sea bed, which is full of minerals, and let it dry in the sun before dipping into the water. It was a slightly surreal but enjoyable experience floating around on the surface of the sea.

Later in the day we had another training session with Jon, this time on defenses against knife attacks and chokes. The whole group have been training hard and getting along well on the touring part of the trip, there’s a real mix of personalities from around the world which is making it a really great experience.

Krav Maga Global hosted dinner at a local restaurant and the team made the most of the delicious food. We went for a late evening swim (and took a few turns on the water slide) before relaxing in another thermal spa and returning to the hotel for a well-earned rest. Cheers, James Worker – London Member

Day 6 – By Daniel Agoston

As every day a different person is writing about the T&T program, here goes a little about myself.

My name is Daniel Agoston, I’m from Brazil but I have been living in London for the past 7 years or so. I first came into contact (a little bit) with Krav Maga when I was serving my Country in the Brazilian Army, as it was one of the hand-to-hand combat styles they were teaching at the time. I have been a member of the Institute of Krav Maga UK since July 2012, and obviously everything I know about the system is thanks to IKM UK, the top quality instruction and the events like the MasterClasses. It was because of all of this, and the effort that the IKM team puts into to training the system, that really inspired me to carry on training. I have always had a passion for Israel and its history, so the next natural step would of course be to train with the source and also experience the culture. That is why I signed up for Touring and Training.

But that’s enough about me.  Let’s crack on with day 6, which was a packed day full of…. you guessed! Touring and Training in Israel!

At 0900, we traveled to the Golan Heights. We learnt about the 6-day war in 1973 and the battle for the Golan Heights, between Israel and Syria from Avi Weinstein our amazing tour guide! We visited a military bunker (deactivated, at least for now!), which looked over the Syrian border; while gaining an insight of how troops were positioned throughout the battle.

After the tour, we began the training session in front of the bunker, as usual! Jon Bullock (Expert Level 2) led us through an intense training session of defending against headlocks and self-defense with sticks. Back on the Krav Bus, and already en route to the Jordan River Valley for some mental training and relaxation… refreshing our-selves from the intense Israeli heat!

After some well deserved refreshment, more training ensued, courtesy of Jon B, training defense against multiple attackers and returning attackers armed with guns, knives and sticks. After a very intense day, we were taken to a Bedouin tent. It belonged to Zeehan and his lovely family, who warmly welcomed us. Mr. Zeehan told us about the Bedouin way of life and traditions. We were served with some traditional, and very delicious food and drink. He even played a! It was a really really great experience and I believe we all enjoyed it! We headed back to the hotel for some sleep after a day packed with action!

Shalom from Israel

Stay safe, Daniel

Day 7 – By John Vincent

To point out the high lights on this day requires a re cap of the antics of the night before

It can be confirmed that tequila tastes the same in Israel as it does in London, the same for vodka and it goes without saying that the local beer, Goldstar, is excellent also.  So after confirming all the above and rolling into the hotel room at 3am I set my alarm for 6am.

This morning we conducted water training in a nearby swimming pool.  This involved one of the simplest and yet effective moves in breaking the grip of an attacker grabbing hold of you.  It may not be a dynamic move as that of Jason Bourne with the razzmatazz of a Hollywood blockbuster, but it was a relevant move breaking you away from the attack and as the saying goes ‘keep it simple stupid’.

We headed towards the Lebanon and Israeli border for another photo opportunity. Then bus training.  The most important point about self defence on a bus is to have a strong grip on something.  As when the bus brakes there’s only one direction you go in, it ain’t pretty and the driver doesn’t like a human pyramid dirtying the floor of his bus beside his seat.

We then headed to the crusader city of Akko.  This was the last tour we had with our guide who then departed from us.  Avi, our guide, was passionate about his country and held a wealth of knowledge he wished to impart to us all. An all round great bloke!  We then finished our day in Haifa.  Training in a pub…….A real pub…….A pub with several impressionable American tourist having a birthday party……. A pub with bar staff, with one certain individual from the tour, who shall remain nameless, actually buying pint of Guinness during training – for added realism obviously!

After training, Nithin from the Institute, who lost a dance off with Alex (An american participant on the course), was witnessed telling grossly exaggerated stories of his exploits in the field of Krav Maga to our American friends celebrating the birthday.  He then offered to share his wisdom with Eyal’s daughter.  She accepted this invitation with the graceful contempt that it deserved, and then let rip with a torrent of blows that could only be described by the American saying as, ‘she opened up a can of whoop ass.’ Much to everyone’s delight and amusement. Cheers, John.

Day 8 – By John Shepherd

Shalom

My name is Jon shepherd and I’ve been keen to do Krav Maga for a while. I’m currently serving in the 3rd battalion the parachute regiment. I have recently represented my battalion in boxing and was a member of the team.  We trained three times a day, five times a week, for the last 8 months.

I jumped at the opportunity to come on the tour and training in Israel and I have not been disappointed as I had high expectations and it exceeded them.

After last nights training session in a local bar, with locals watching while eating and drinking, which added realism. We learnt how to use common objects found in the bar and learnt how to take control of situations, while dealing with limitations such as restricted space using. The realism of the bar continued as a few drinks were swiftly countered!

Feeling a little worse for wear after a few too many and rolling in at 04.30, we were up to train a few hours later. The group went to a local park close to the hotel to train in stick defence which was really effective after a few repetitions. Once we got the basics, the group was split into two; with one half slow fighting before running the gauntlet of the other half of the group armed with sticks. Singularly, we manoeuvred through multiple opponents either thrusting the weapon or swinging it, using the techniques learnt earlier in the session to work your way through the on coming attackers. It gets you thinking and really puts what you’ve learnt to the test so when it comes to it it will actually be effective on the street.

The week has been action packed but has gone at a good steady pace. As I said we are on the way to tel aviv one of the best beaches in the world! We’ve had free time during the tour and train but today we have the rest of the day off to enjoy the beautiful Israeli weather.

Now I have the time, as soon as I get the opportunity when I return to the U.K I will be joining the Institute of Krav Maga UK and cannot wait. Thanks, hope to meet you all soon, John.

Krav Maga Touring and Training in Israel: The Institute Experience, Day 4.

Apologies that this post is slightly late, we have been ‘on the road’ for a couple of days.

This past Monday saw our first full day of touring.  Make no mistake about it though, this was not a break. The end of the day saw each and every member successfully exhausted.

Night saw the team head South and into the dessert.  Arriving at the Guest House, we scoffed some hot dogs, nachos and beers and then it was straight to bed, intensely excited about the prospect of getting up at 4am to primal move our way up the Masada mountain, kettlebells in hand Cheers, Alistair Phillip

Krav Maga Touring and Training in Israel: The Institute Experience, Day 3 By Steve Harvey

Day 3 of our Krav Maga pilgrimage that is the “Touring and Training” started earlier than normal. This was due to the rather busy schedule of the day.

We all assembled in the hotel foyer for 0740 in anticipation of the visit to the Netanya shooting range. Due to numbers we were split into three groups that rotated between continuing practice of defense against handgun threats with Institute Director Jon Bullock, headlock defenses with KMG Head Instructor Eyal Yanilov and the experience of firing a handgun in the shooting range in Netanya.

Krav Maga Touring and Training in Israel: The Institute Experience, Day 2 by Patrick Hards.
Hi everyone, firstly a little about me. At the age of 16 I joined the British Army, and after 11 years and having served around the world, I left service last Feburary. Now as some of you are probably well aware, after a huge change you can sometimes feel a little lost in life and feel like you have lost part of your identity. Well this was me!! I realised I needed a new focus and a new set of goals to acheive, so at the end of January 2013, after a little research I joined the institute of Krav Maga and began to train in Essex.   After three and a half months and passing my P1 in April, I now find myself in Israel taking on my next challenge, the Krav Maga Touring and Training Event! Day two of touring and training saw us 33 participants build on the basic techniques from yesterday. Starting with defending various knife threats and attacks on the beach.  The German contingent and Institute member Nithin Bopana were sporting some very snazy speedo’s!! One of the highlights of the day was the resistance training in the sea. Witnessing the sheer power that Eyal can transfer from a strike, even in water, was inspiring.  After lunch we travelled to the Wingate Institute, where we all got the opportunity to try more advanced skills, defending against gun threats to you or a third party from various angles. As a relative newbie to Krav maga, it is an amazing opportunity to be here training with Eyal Yanilov and the KMG team. I would definitely recommend the training and touring to everyone. Day 2 is now over and we are heading to Jerusalem… more from one of the other Institute guys tomorrow. Cheers, Pat.

Krav Maga Touring and Training in Israel: The Institute Experience, Day 1 By Nithin Bopanna.

A brief hello from the flash hotel lobby at the close of Day 1 of the Krav Maga Touring and Training event in sunny Israel.

Eight of the Institute of Krav Maga UK crew arrived yesterday to a warm welcome from Institute Instructor Jon Bullock at Tel Aviv Airport, which was followed by an 80′s music themed cab journey to our hotel in Netanya, food far superior to that served on the plane and an early night.

Registration this morning introduced us to fellow Krav Maga enthusiasts from a staggering 13 countries and of course, head of Krav Maga Global, Eyal Yanilov. Eyal then accompanied us to the beach to warm up for the day, with some light exercises that incorporated Primal Move and basic striking. A cool-off in the sea and a falafel break later and we were ready to bus over to the world-famous Wingate Institute of Physical Education, where further foundational techniques were honed including avoiding stick attacks, ground fighting, and our much loved 2 on 1 stress drills. Highlight of the day was Institute of Krav Maga UK Essex member Patrick Hards being sat on by Eyal for what must have seemed like hours during the demo, his tears only matched by ours as we laughed. A lot.

It has been a hugely rewarding experience so far to work under the watchful eye of Eyal and Jon today, and we are looking forward to picking up more training knowledge and hard earned Krav Maga make-up (think black & blue) as the tour continues… I’ll leave it there for now. Cheers, Nithin.

Krav Maga Training in Israel – Investment versus Expense

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, I’ll answer the question that you are all dying to know the answer to… YES, the weather is fantastic! I heard someone say it was ‘too hot’ the other day… no such thing when you live in Essex!

So, what has been going on since the last blog, well… the most important thing to tell you is that I have learnt and now practice the one thing that truly shows that I am now fully integrated into Israeli culture… I have learnt to ‘honk my horn’ the very second that the traffic lights turn green! In fact, when I am at the front of the traffic lights I have a little competition with myself to see if I can actually move away from the lights before the ‘honking starts’… it’s impossible, my foot cannot move quick enough and it’s funnier every time (maybe I have been here too long now???)

The use of the ‘car horn’ in Israel has a very different meaning… in the UK, if someone ‘honks you’ it normally means they are alerting you to a danger … in Israel, the horn represents that you didn’t do something quick enough and are adding about 0.5 seconds onto someone’s journey and that is just not acceptable … I have since trained myself to stop looking around in a panic when I hear a car horn and thinking I am about to imminently crash!… I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, either way, it’s part of the culture and the culture is nothing but fantastic!

Since the last blog, my routine has very much been centred around training, combining one to one tuition with group sessions and Instructors training.  Being here in Israel is absolutely about investing in myself, I am in no way expending time out here… when it comes to growing and nurturing your skill in your chosen field, the amount of time you invest is crucial to your success, it might mean some level of sacrifice, yet that which is sacrificed is normally bad for us anyway!

If you remember in my very first blog I mentioned how some people asked WHY I was coming to Israel for so long, rather than asking HOW I was coming to Israel for so long…. I won’t answer the WHY question, the answer should be obvious and if it isn’t, I prefer not to have the conversation to explain as it clearly won’t be understood… and that’s not a good investment of my time… But I will answer the HOW.

To invest your time in something you need a support network, people who are willing to encourage you to follow your path, and that I have in my girlfriend Amie, she understands why I needed to come here, she may not like it, but she understands, and that means the world to me.  My family were kind enough to ‘dog sit’ my two 4 legged friends and of course the Instructor Team at the Institute of Krav Maga UK who have kept it going in the right direction.

So, the question to be asked is, am I getting a return on my investment?, am I improving?… the answer… I have never felt so good in respect of Krav Maga training. This month has seen me working more with Mickey Newman who is an exceptional striking coach, as well as training with the man himself Eyal Yanilov. A particular thanks goes to Ze’ev Cohen and his team, they have accepted me into their circle and I have had the benefit of Ze’ev’s vast knowledge and the chance to practice with his team who certainly ‘don’t mess about’.

I’ll just take a moment to recall a particular session with Ze’ev this month during Instructors training as it has   some huge value for your own learning.  The session in question saw us training on the subject of sustained knife attacks, whereby the ‘assailant’ just keeps on coming no matter what you do, the fight ends up against the wall, on the ground with you trying to gain control of the knife and the assailant trying to retain it… this is probably one of the toughest sessions I have done here in Israel, it was a great experience and really tested my determination against some ‘tough dudes’.

What this session did was also confirm for me how important it is to make very early decisions in conflict, of course I know this and teach it but to constantly practice it is invaluable. So, I’ll give you an example of a great decision in this training session and I hope you can get the picture of what happened.

During one of these sustained knife attack drills, I was training with Ilad, a young instructor and exceptional fighter.  I was the assailant and Ilad was the defender.   The idea was to begin the knife attack at close range, by surprise and to continue to attack relentlessly.

So, I begin the attack by grabbing Ilad’s arm and starting to stab towards his body.  Ilad begins to protect himself, giving strong counter-attacks and using his legs to keep me away… the situation ends up in a standing grapple with me constantly trying to stab Ilad… as the situation continued, Ilad suddenly pushed me away to create some distance and as he did so, I stumbled back and the knife fell to the floor… now, the next part is important… and I swear, in my mind it was slow motion but it was one of the best examples of a quick decision I have seen in training for a while.

As the knife fell to the floor, the distance between me and Ilad was about 2.5 metres… I looked at the knife, he looked at the knife… he could see my intention to go and retrieve it to continue the attack… so, he has 2 choices (not counting running away in this instance)….

1. Go for the knife to stop me regaining possession

2. Go for me to stop me going for the knife

As I start to go for the knife, Ilad covered the 2.5 metres in one stride and took me down to the ground with a ‘double leg’ takedown’, I landed on the mats, staring at the ceiling and I just remember laying there thinking…. this is what is is about, not freezing… Ilad was training, it was his drill, his time to improve, I was there to get him to think quickly, to cause the problems that he had to solve.  He acted without hesitation and even though a split second seemed like forever, his moment of freeze was minimal.

It was a great experience and it just reitereated the whole reason why we train… to reduce the time frame in which we will freeze during conflict, by introducing ourselves to all manner of possibilties that might occur, and to ‘drill’ them so we know the various problems that can exist (although not exhaustive of course), the choices that we have, and learning to make one of those choices and act as soon as possible.

My point here is that if you are not investing the time in training, and in yourself, you are not building yourself to reduce the freeze. If you see training as expending time and have the thought process of ‘should I go or should I not’… then you need to re-vist the whole reason you began training, because if your goals are clear, then the time is always an investment and that dilemma of ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ should never present itself, as training becomes a priority.

Moving on… some of Ze’ev’s team are preparing to take various Expert Level exams this summer, so there has been lots of preparation for this with extended training sessions being organised.  This is also invaluable for me as I am due to take my Expert 3 test next year, so I am getting the preparation in early.

I also had the chance this month to do some ‘extra curricular’ training in another Martial Art. Pavel Shreer and Mickey Newman were kind enough to invite me to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) seminar that they had arranged with Roy Pariente, one of the Partiente Brothers from MMA Israel, a chain of MMA gyms located around the country.  I have trained in many other Martial Arts before and have trained some BJJ in the past for experience, but Krav Maga was always my priority as it suited my training goals however, any training is invaluable.

The seminar with Roy was excelllent, I learnt alot and my body was certainly feeling it the next day. The interesting thing was that naturally, Roy was teaching in Hebrew (although his English is exceptional) as I was the minority in the room, but that did not stop me learning. As humans we learn in 3 ways, visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  Normally two of these learning methods take priority over the other.  I am visual and kinesethic learner, meaning that once I see something and then try it, I begin to build the skill… others may be visual and auditory, meaning they have to focus on the spoken word as well as seeing the technique.  Through seeing Roy demonstrate and then trying it afterwards, I think I made some good progression in the training, and I really did learn some interesting stuff. Thanks Roy… hope to do it again some day!

So, what’s in store for the next few weeks, well, it’s going to be busy, next week it is the Touring & Training event here in Israel and I am proud to say that some 9 dedicated souls from the UK are attending, it’ll be great to see some familiar faces and show them how fantastic Israel is.  I am very pleased to have been asked to teach some of the Krav Maga on the Touring & Training event, so that is going to be a great experience.

I’ll leave it there for now, I sincerely hope everyone is well and if you have enjoyed this blog and fancy sharing this blog on Facebook I would really appreciate it!

See you all soon

Jon

P.S I’ve also found time to finish my new E-Book for Krav Maga – Surviving Edged Weapons.

Hello my name is Paul Corcoran and I won the privilege of writing the blog for the MasterClass Reality in the Park. Before I attempt to inform and possibly entertain you, a little background on me.

I had a wayward youth and decided the best way to avoid time at her Majesty’s pleasure would be a spell in the military. This worked and led to a spell in the London Fire Brigade (I know, I know, uniforms but I just don’t like choosing my own clothes). All through this time there was a fairly high level of fitness and normally some form of “martial art” boxing, karate etc. I spent some time as a Close Protection Officer and went on to specialise in security as a career. Once I came “off the tools” as it were, I found myself office bound and with a taste for lager, wine, kebabs, cigarettes and pretty much anything else that can mess with your health and fitness. I did this for 10 years.

I retired out to India – Goa specifically – and lived there for 3 years guzzling curry and beer and listening to my skin creak in the night as I grew ever bigger.

Whilst in Goa, I spotted a small ad in the local paper one morning over my breakfast of deep fried naan bread and potato curry for a Krav Maga class and thought I might like that. Upon my arrival I met Elroy Vaz my instructor and the guy who put me on this road. He assured me I was not too old to start as I was the same age as him. It turned out I was too unfit for the warm up! 10 press ups? yes eventually. 10 sit ups?, “Or whatever it is you are doing Paul!”. It was like an enormous turtle just rocking backwards and forwards! The sweat drenched broken reed of a man who returned home initially alarmed his wife until she spotted it was her husband grinning all over his fat bright red face.

I was hooked and continued to train twice a week until coming back to the UK 6 months later where after joining the Institute and having some seriously rough edges knocked off by Andy and Rick, I managed P1 at 49 years old. The focus and commitment required to progress in my training at a rate and level I desire is what has changed my life around, you want to do sit ups? Get lighter! You want to kick? Stretch those legs. I now barely drink and those of you with me at the Christmas do know why. My diet has changed and I try to train as often as I went to the pub. This has improved my focus in many areas of my life and the use of goal setting and visualisation has added a clarity of purpose to things in general. I have now passed my P3 and am lucky enough to train in the senior’s class now which is like the first day at school all over again; so far my head has stayed out of the toilet but its early days.

Reality in Regents Park begins with a few of us meeting up on the train from Southend to London; John Jenkins  Jakub Pernak and myself may have raised a few eyebrows with our talk of inside defences and knife attacks on a train full of tourists!

After a comprehensive tour of Regents Park in search of the clearly sign posted Hub and despite the helpful advice of people who actually knew where they were going we arrive in good time to be greeted by a large group of uniquely attired Krav students. The charity shops in many areas may well have seen a serious upsurge in takings over the last week or so!

In glorious sunshine with a little merciful cloud and a light breeze we have a gentle warm up, another routine event made slightly surreal by the various clothing choices, watching a man doing knee lifts and standing leg stretches in a natty two piece grey suit may stay with me a while.

Our Glorious Leader Joe Ambrosino uses his usual insidious technique of appearing to start you working at an easy pace until 20 minutes or so later you find yourself bathed in sweat and breathing hard. Forward and backward breakfalls are followed by forward and backward rolls, something I never fail to look glamorous at, picture a bag of laundry falling down some stairs and you are close.

We progress to doing this wearing a rucksack and diving forward over an obstacle. Finally I achieve a passable semblance of the required action and my ensuing self-satisfied finishing mode (walking away head high going “yes”) was correctly and promptly picked up and corrected by the ever present instructor team. Thank you Rick Baker and Paul Dwyer, scanning scanning always scanning.

We were lucky enough to have a large contingent of Instructors with us, advising, correcting and answering questions. One of the facets of a master class is the opportunity and time to discuss and explore the “why” as well as the how with the instructor team that time restrictions in class normally preclude.

The rucksack went to on be used as both a distraction and a defence against various knife attacks, we broke a lot of knives, sorry. This was a good time to remind the class about carrying and using training knives in a public place where people may not understand our intentions. Lots of examples and advice about the various ways of carrying a rucksack for the most effective practical use outside of carrying your stuff, some good and others less so but this is the point – don’t be afraid to try this way or that way, yes you may well end up in the same place but you will understand much more clearly how and why you got there, another benefit of these classes.

We moved on to using a belt as a distraction and as a weapon, to prevent any embarrassment of falling trousers Joe had kindly provided us with black belts. Sadly I feel this is as close as I will come to having one in this lifetime, not defeatist or negative but a hint of reality check on my part.

We use the figure of eight attacking method and an over enthusiastic attack mounted by an overexcited large man led to what my instructors had been looking forward to and that was the fat man landing firmly on his backside on the grass. Hands slapping down chin down defensive foot up, all accompanied by the supportive laughter of the man who leads me in the quest for improvement my instructor Andy Conroy. This was just the start of a rewarding day for Andy.

We next produced a selection of jackets in all shapes and colours to be given what was for me an illuminating demonstration of its effectiveness as a weapon. Again the instructor team were moving amongst demonstrating and explaining how to make a simple cotton bomber jacket sound as if you were hitting the kick shield with a large stick.

All of these drills were carried out in a two on one format with the added challenge of keeping three heads in a row and staying out of the middle. Temperatures were rising along with heart rates possibly leading to a couple of minor injuries, bruised eye, bloody nose etc. All of these dealt with promptly and professionally by the resident Paramedic. Joe claimed it was his brother but don’t quote me.

Next came the appearance of traditional yellow tennis balls used to represent an additional weapon for the attacker, a glass or a stone to be defended against using a 360 defence. Another point well illustrated as I made the defence and did not duck my head correctly and found a tennis ball bouncing firmly off my head and rolling to the feet of a smiling Andy Conroy. His day just kept improving, it’s not like he hasn’t taught me this is it?

The drills and the class were drawing to a close and an element of frivolity had crept into the use of the tennis balls giving rise to smiles amongst the variety of spectators who had gathered over the preceding hours to watch a selection of people attack each other with a variety of mundane objects.

A muted presentation of certificate followed a comprehensive clear up of our training area having taken nothing but photos and left nothing but footprints we departed the park.

The use of master classes to address specific areas of the syllabus is a valuable part of the training calendar giving all levels of student access to techniques that they may not encounter until later in their Krav Maga journey. The variety of topics and locations is all beneficial in the student’s development. From a personal point of view I also enjoy the “day out” side of it where the group you train with on a regular basis are in a different environment and in a slightly more relaxed but just as hard working atmosphere. You not only come away with a smart certificate but hopefully a clearer understanding of a set of techniques or better still questions about how to develop your own abilities in that area and an idea of where you may need to improve what you thought you had already grasped.

I would like to stress that these are purely my opinions and not meant as a sales pitch for future master classes as of course these are all down to individual choice and circumstance. It would be so much easier to train more if life did not keep getting in the way, but I am moving into Jon’s sphere of life choices and goal setting.

I would like to thank Joe Ambrosino and the whole instructor team for an excellent and informative day, these events don’t just happen and I appreciate the time and planning that went into it especially with some of the team on a countdown to their Expert test in Israel.

I hope you have enjoyed my modest efforts to recount and amuse and if you have not console yourself with the fact that my prize for being picked to write this blog is a two hour training session with Jon Bullock after his return from a period of intense training in Israel. I feel I may get an idea of how my dog’s chew toy feels.

Regards
Paul Corcoran

Some pictures from yesterday’s MasterClass Reality in Regents Park.