Krav Ma-post
Monday, August 18th, 2008I went to my first Krav Maga class today with a friend of mine (who, for their own reasons, remains anonymous)! I first learned about Krav Maga in an episode of How I Met Your Mother, in which one of the main characters (Ted) dumps a girl who takes Krav Maga classes. He just so happens to dump her on her birthday and discovers the hard way that Krav Maga is a self-defense technique developed by the Israeli Army.
Krav Maga focuses on self-defense and self-preservation by any means necessary. The primary goal is to disable your opponent (at least temporarily) and run like the dickens. Here's the Wikipedia entry if you're interested in reading further!
My first experience with Krav Maga was incredible. I haven't had such a hard workout since I played lacrosse in high school! I anticipated that the class would start with the usual jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, etc., but I was not prepared for how hard and fast they came. I like to tell myself that I'm in okay shape, having been running for 2 or 3 months now, but I couldn't even keep up with the 15 year old girl next to me. It all went uphill from there; one of the main tenants of Krav is that you aren't always going to be at peak rest if you're attacked, thus the classes are designed to wear you out completely, and then make you defend yourself. We paired up and practiced eye gouges, hammer fists, groin kicks and round kicks. We did all of these as fast and as long as possible.
Then, when I was beat beyond any hope of recovery, we practiced escaping from a side choke hold. This part was exhilarating, and everything I wanted out of Krav. The instructors showed us, step by step, how to escape. Reach, swipe and strike, elbow, hammer punch to the neck, grab and knee, knee, knee. I can't wait to commit this to muscle memory. I can't wait to learn how to escape other holds. I can't wait to be in shape for the first time... ever. Running was one thing, and I can't imagine what this would have been like without it, but this is on a whole other level.
Krav Maga has me hooked.