FOLLOWING last week’s short hiatus from the sports pages, Tryout Tuesday is coming back with a bang for this week’s instalment, as I strapped on the gloves and tried out Krav Maga.
This week saw me step into familiar territory to be hosted by Jersey Self Defence at Blood Fitness. Since taking up the thrilling sport of Muay Thai, I’ve always seen the Krav Maga team doing their thing down at the gym and always wondered what it was like – so, I let my curiosity take over and jumped right in.
Established in 2018, Jersey Self Defence utilise a proven training system, paired with coaching in a safe and supportive environment, to teach their students practical self-defence through the art of Krav Maga.
Through their affiliation with Krav Maga Global, the Jersey-based club follows its structured approach to training and development, while head instructor Richard Collett and the coaching team continue to develop through ongoing training and instruction standards as part of the wider Krav Maga Global community.
With their philosophy being “No egos. No judgement. Steady progress – through coaching, hard work and honest feedback”, who better to guide me through my introduction to this form of combat?
Without further ado, let’s dive in…
The history of Krav Maga
Krav Maga is a self-defence system with Israeli origins, known for its focus on real-world situations. Originally developed by Hungarian-born Israeli martial artist Imi Lichtenfeld to defend Jewish neighbourhoods against anti-semitic attackers in the mid to late 1930s, it then evolved to become its own martial art in the late 1940s, where he compiled all his knowledge and experience to form the combat system.
From the outset, the original concept of Krav Maga was to take the most effective and practical techniques from a whole host of martial arts, with its parenthood consisting of Aikido, Judo, Karate, Boxing and Wrestling.
“Krav Maga is a form of self-defence originating in the Israeli military, which has now been converted for civilian use,” explained Richard Collett, head instructor of Jersey Self-Defence. “Compared to other martial arts with a sporting background, Krav Maga has more of a reality-based focus.”
“We focus more on common problems that people come across, to train up natural and quick reactions to get out of danger. Real aggression and fights have three phases – pre-fight, the problem and then the aftermath, and Krav Maga works on all these aspects.
“For us, it’s not about winning rounds and chasing victory, but defending yourself and getting to safety.”
With this all-round approach to self-defence, it’s not just about combative techniques, as Jersey Self-Defence focuses heavily on mindset to build a “warrior spirit”.
“With our students, we always try and build a strong mindset which can instantly switch from passive to aggressive,” Collett continued. “Most conflict comes from an ambush, leaving you behind the curve more often than not. So, you must have the ability to catch up quickly.
“This is built through determination, pressure drills and exhaustive physical exercise, which really goes to building that warrior spirit.”
Collett went on to say that this approach not only impacts scenarios in combat, but also everyday life. “This warrior spirit isn’t just great in combat, but it also builds self-confidence and determination, which has big effects on people in everyday life.
“I find very quickly with students that their confidence rises, they become more courageous and their posture improves. I’ve heard so much feedback over the years about how much it’s helped in their general lives.”
The increase in confidence then also works to your advantage, as conflict begins to steer clear even more so, as Collett explained: “The more awareness you accrue, the more prepared you’re going to be. With that, the more you practice and learn, the better-rounded you’re going to be and, as you’re becoming stronger, conflict tends to stay away from you.
“People will sense that you’re getting stronger, you’re more secure and trouble avoids you – people can sense that you’re able to handle yourself.”
With a philosophy emphasising aggression and simultaneous offensive and defensive manoeuvres, it is known to be incredibly effective – currently utilised by special forces, intelligence organisations and military units across the globe.
However, that aggression has to be measured and appropriate, which Collett and the team help to coach: “I know people say that there are no rules in a street fight, but that’s simply not true – you have to work within the confines of the law and deliver an appropriate measure of force and aggression.”
So, it’s not all about just going around and being aggressive, but being calm, controlled and measured, which plays into another key skill that’s taught – de-escalation.
“Self-defence is all about keeping yourself safe and you should always avoid a physical confrontation if possible – so, de-escalation is incredibly important. We focus about 20% of our classes on this skill, as it must be trained,” said the head instructor.
Contrary to the common belief – often shaped by outlets such as the UFC – that you must be athletic to learn self-defence, Krav Maga is open to “all abilities, genders, shapes and sizes”.
“Krav Maga isn’t just for the prime athletes as self-defence, unlike sport, has no binding structure. We welcome all shapes, sizes, genders and abilities – we’re especially encouraging women to attend, as the statistics for what they go through are atrocious – to come and learn some skills,” said Collett.
“No matter their skill or ability, we take students from absolute beginners, work on their strong points and look at building up that mindset. It’s principle-based, so very easy to learn and there’s no egos in the gym, everyone’s supporting each other to learn and improve.”
When asked why it’s important people learn these skills, Collett replied: “The motivation is to always be ready for that one day, as you just never know what’s going to happen. It’s not like sport where everything’s scheduled, violence in reality is random and unpredictable, so you must always be prepared.
He continued: “At the end of the day, how much do you care about your safety? Could you defend yourself and keep others out of harm’s way? If the answer isn’t yes or you’re unsure, then I’d highly advise you to come down and
learn some skills.
“We have classes for all levels – beginner, intermediate, advanced, women’s only, kids, we provide for all. If you’re interested in getting started, then don’t hesitate to contact us through our website, selfdefence.je.”
Have I got what it takes?
Now, it was time to gear up, put on the gloves and experience it all for myself.
By now, I’ve already tried Karate with Jersey Wado Ryu, Aikido with Aikido Mukyokan Jersey and currently train Muay Thai with Michael Blood and the team down at Blood Fitness. Paired with my try-outs in pistol and air-rifle target shooting, some may think I’m auditioning to be some sort of action hero!
Although I’m most certainly not trying to be some sort of lethal weapon by any means, I was keen to give a new fighting style a go and see for myself just how much it differed to Muay Thai, especially since it’s without that sporting element.
Richard and the team’s sessions consist of a warm-up, striking, technical training and stress drills that help you stay functional under pressure – with fitness segments across the session to help really get a sweat on!
The warm-up alone already presented a difference, as it wasn’t just focusing on stretching, but used a quick, fun game which worked on general awareness of space and reflexes. Eager to prove myself early, it was all about everyone working to tap each other’s shoulder while avoiding the same fate – I’d never moved quicker across that gym floor.
Each session comes with a focus on a specific problem and, thankfully for me, this session’s was looking at the difference between blocking punches from straight on and the side, playing well into my striking background.
After a quick ten push-ups, ten sit-ups and ten body squats – which we did about four times throughout the session to really work the muscles – we began drilling a host of different techniques, which were certainly different to what I’m used to.
Fortunately, I was paired up with one of the class’ most experienced practitioners in John Davey, which was a big help in making me look somewhat alright. We each completed rounds on the pads, drilling a series of combinations that certainly packed a punch – pardon the pun.
I have to say, John was incredibly patient and helpful throughout to constantly impart guidance and advice on how I could better my technique, which came in handy more and more as Richard added on different elements to the combinations.
Whether it be creating more of an angle off the centre or improving the mechanics of my uppercut – which has never been a strength of mine – he was extremely helpful and it definitely allowed for me to make considerable developments in such a short time.
From the pads, we then began practicing on each other, further simulating real-world situations. Breaking it down into simple terms, it was all about deflecting the attack, breaking away from the centre line and attacking from an angle to then lay into the attacker with a series of strikes.
What I noticed about Krav Maga was that sportsmanship went completely out the window – it was all about stopping the encounter completely in its tracks by any means necessary.
That philosophy was ever present throughout the class, especially when working on each other – I have to say, there were a couple close calls, I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of one of those. But, everyone was incredibly calm and controlled, allowing for everyone to fully drill the manoeuvres confidently.
We finished with the ultimate drill – handling two attackers at once. It was all about putting what I learned to the test, handling non-stop, consecutive attacks from alternating attackers while keeping your wits about you.
Now, watching John and another fellow participant take on the challenge made things a bit daunting – they just made it look so easy. However, I was more than up for the challenge, how would I fare?
Somehow, I actually pulled through rather well. Thankfully, with a bit of a striking background through training Muay Thai, I was able to read the punches, block the attack and retaliate with a combination – I wasn’t really too worried about making it fancy, as long as I completed a simple one-two to drive away the threat, I was happy.
Overall, it was a great experience which saw me pick up even more new skills. A big thank you to Richard Collett, John Davey and the rest of the team down at Jersey Self-Defence, you made me feel incredibly welcome and I really enjoyed the session which I would definitely recommend, as it’s always handy to pick up such skills. You just never know when they might be needed.
