Latest Black Belt Article - Commando Krav Maga

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Lessons from BY HENRY KOU BOOT CAMP Imagine that you’re preparing for a marathon. Every time you train, your goal is to ready your mind and body to cover 26.2 miles. The day of the race comes, and you’re feeling up to the task. You run nearly the full distance over several hours and endure all the stresses and strains. You fi nally glimpse the fi nish line and begin squeezing the last few ounces of energy from your muscles to make it. As soon as you cross the line, the organizers announce that the race isn’t over. You now have to run all the way back to where you started. For the average marathoner, being hit with that kind of pressure at that moment in time would be too much. It would be the breaking point. Being able to handle that kind of pressure can be the key to surviving a violent attack. It requires the willpower, physical strength and mental fortitude you cultivate 1 2 through experiences in which you’re forced to overcome unexpected obstacles. Don’t believe it? Consider what would happen if, after a hard week of work, you went out with your family to unwind. At the end of the evening, you’re walking back to your car when a thug jumps out of nowhere and pulls a gun. He demands your money and starts getting physical with you and your wife. Deciding that things will only get worse, you take action. In the ensuing struggle, the gun goes off and the bullet hits you in the leg. Is it your breaking point, or are you tough enough to stay in the fi ght? You’re probably thinking, Of course I’d keep fi ghting! That’s easier said than done, however. Unless they’ve been through stressful situations, people tend to freeze up. They quickly fi nd that harnessing mental toughness is more diffi cult than they thought. That’s why more and more people are signing up for the Commando Krav Maga Intensive Boot Camp, now in its fi fth photography by Rick Hustead ANTI-PUNCH: The adversary closes the gap and uncorks a right haymaker, causing Moni Aizik to raise his left arm and cup his hand over the back of his neck as protection (1). He immediately follows up with a palm strike to the chin, a technique that’s intended to injure as much as to knock the man backward and to the ground (2). Aizik’s next move could be to execute a stomping kick or disengage and seek safety. SEPTEMBER 2009 / www.blackbeltmag.com BLACK BELT 95
year. Presented below are a few of the lessons martial artists learn during the hardcore self-defense course. • Because CKM was founded by Moni Aizik, a former commando in the Israeli special forces and a seven-time national judo and jiu-jitsu champion, it’s based on his vast knowledge of fi ghting and extensive experience on the battlefi eld. In other words, it teaches only what works in life-or-death situations. • To prepare a person for real self-defense, a system must use a scientifi c approach that incorporates what-if scenarios. That’s why Aizik’s Boot Camp adopts a philosophy that real attacks are never static. It forces you to create dynamic solutions that require you to adapt to the circumstances. • A reality-based self-defense system must prepare you to handle the unexpected. Boot Camp does that by teaching you to manage stress while you deploy techniques that will bring immediate results in the form of incapacitation of the enemy. • In Boot Camp, you’re immersed in tactics, techniques, concepts and philosophies during 35 to 40 hours of intensive training. It takes place over three to four days, which gives you little time to relax. The intensity is intentional: It fortifi es your being, both mentally and physically, by showing you that 1 4 ANTI-GRAPPLING: The opponent is about to break Moni Aizik’s arm with a cross-body armbar (1). Aizik attempts to lift the man’s left leg over his head to begin his escape (2). If he’s unable to move it, he can bite his calf to distract him (3). Once he succeeds in getting the leg off his face (4), Aizik relocates the other leg (5). As he scrambles to his hands and knees, he fl ips the opponent onto his stomach (6). From his superior position, Aizik attacks his groin (7) before disengaging. you’re capable of far more than you thought. • For maximum versatility, you focus on concepts and principles over tactics and techniques. That helps you think outside the box, Aizik teaches. • Street fi ghts are unpredictable because you never know whom you’ll be facing, Aizik says. There are no weight classes or referees. Furthermore, you don’t know when your foe will attack. You may be in the middle of a pleasant stroll with your spouse when you fi nd yourself looking down the barrel of a gun. What started as a one-onone fi ght may turn into a mass attack. • Consequently, it’s impractical to try to learn a technique to deal with each situation. It’s better to master concepts that can be used in a variety of altercations. That approach requires less thought before you act. • Boot Camp avoids teaching the unrealistic choke defenses that other styles advocate. If your defensive methods revolve around punching your attacker or chopping down on his arms while he chokes you, you may be setting yourself up for failure, Aizik says. Such moves often work only when your partner is gentle or if he’s choking you with straight arms. • On the street, chokes come explosively—hard and fast with no warning, often with the attacker’s arms bent for maximum power. You can be rendered unconscious in seconds. It’s crucial to immediately establish balance while loosening the choke so you can breathe. After that, you must disable your enemy. At Boot Camp, you learn how to respond that way against an ANTI-KNIFE: As soon as the assailant (right) makes his move, Moni Aizik positions his body defensively and readies his arms as a barrier (1). The backhand slash is stopped by Aizik’s block (2), after which he wraps his left arm around the knife arm and uses his right hand to control the weapon hand (3). The Commando Krav Maga expert executes a fi gure-4 lock on the limb (4), angling the blade so he can use it against the attacker (5). 96 BLACK BELT www.blackbeltmag.com / SEPTEMBER 2009 2 5 3 6 7
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Page 5: 1 2 3 ANTI-GUN: The criminal approa

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