I've written about "Combatives" before however having just run a Krav Maga Yashir Combatives Instructor Program, I think it's worthwhile taking a moment to explain how this program fits into the Krav Maga Yashir system as a whole and explain the differences between martial arts, self-defense and combatives as I see them.


In a real-life conflict you are not there to demonstrate the breadth and depth of your knowledge. You might know several solutions to a "Clinch" e.g. how to duck under and apply a standing triangle choke, how to turn and throw, how to strike effectively with the knees etc. These are all valid solutions, and at some stage in a martial artist's career should be known and understood, if they want to have a comprehensive understanding of what works best when however there is also a technically simpler approach to dealing with clinch that will work 80% - 90% of the time - possibly not against a trained/experienced technical fighter but against most people, most of the time, and that is to reach round, push on the assailant's nose and start striking them. This is basically the combatives approach: choose a simple, high success rate solution that will work most of the time, and is powered more by aggression than technical skills.

The "martial arts" trains fighting skills e.g. true/maximum power generation, balance, co-ordination, range control, relative positioning etc. The true value of the martial arts for me, are not so much the techniques that they contain, though every art/system contains highly effective self-defense/fighting techniques, but the skills that come from their methods of training. There are few better people to talk about balance as a Judoka, or stability as a Karateka, or conditioning as a Muay Thai practitioner etc. However their arts take time to learn, skills take time to develop. Combatives offers a short-cut, it bypasses the need for such skills, and rather relies on aggression, determintaion and single-mindedness - along with fitness - to be successful (skills the martial arts also have to develop in a student if they are to be effective).

But Combatives training is not a true short-cut; it gives people something immediate and that is good for now. If a person is to truly progress, and become a well-rounded fighter, with the necessary skills to meet combatants of all levels and abilities, they will need to start developing some of the fighting skills that their martial arts counterparts have. One of the things that some people on the instructor course were confused/surprised at, was that there was no sparring in our combatives program (which is not true of our regular Krav Maga Yashir program). The reason for this is that the mindset and situational factors for sparring are very different to those of real-life confrontations. For one sparring is consensual, both parties have agreed to the "conflict", and secondly each participant presents opportunities for the other e.g. sometimes they don't attack but wait. In a real-life conflict it is usually non-consensual (one person doesn't really want to fight) and nobody really holds back from attacking. Combatives teaches the practitioner to simply assault the person attacking them, with full aggression, full force and repeatedly.

Is there a value to "martial arts" style training? Absolutely. For a student to progress their fighting skills and to understand solutions that will solve the other situations that combatives techniques are not best suited for, they need to broaden their approach to self-defense training. It is not always the best solution when someone grabs your lapel, wrist or clothing to smash them into a million pieces; escaping the hold/grab, controlling the person etc. may be better solutions to the situation. Will repeatedly hitting and striking the person grabbing you work? Of course, and that is the point of combatives, not to provide the best solution to every situation, but a solution that is effective.