Krav Maga Yashir (meaning Direct Close Combat), consists of four main components: 1) Self Protection, 2) Self Defense, 3) Combat Fitness & 4) Full Contact Fighting. In the next four (or so…) blog posts I am going to talk about why all four areas need to be trained and more importantly why they need to dovetail together to present a coherent, comprehensive and consistent approach to dealing with violence.

With a grading coming up in late April it is very easy to shift all our attention to the study and learning of techniques and lose the bigger picture of what we are actually trying to achieve in our training. However many times you successfully pull-off a guillotine escape in a studio setting it is far better to be able to avoid this type of attack in the first place (understand the context in which such an attack can be made) and even more preferable to avoid being assaulted in the first place. This avoidance piece is taught in our Self-Protection component.

I’ve been involved in Krav Maga and Reality Based Self Defense for close to 20 years now and one of the things that many instructors seek to validate their teaching are the War Stories of their students. These are the reports from the street that describe how a student who has only been training in a particular system for just a few weeks managed to repel an armed gang with the technique(s) that they learnt only a few days earlier. My question always is, regardless of whether I believe a particular story or not, is, what could that person have done to avoid the confrontation in the first place? What did they do that put themselves in such a situation to begin with? What were their decisions that lead up to the assault? Etc.

Any person who has done any amount of CP (Close Protection) Work or Body-Guarding as it’s referred to in the U.S. will tell you that avoidance of violence is the key, as to put it bluntly, dead clients don’t pay. When you are involved in protecting a third party, everything you do is to reduce risk. You choose routes and places where it is less likely that you/your client will be subject to any threat and you disengage and walk away from any trouble at the first site. This is how professional security people work and civilians/individuals would do well to follow their example.

To operate at the highest levels in the security industry, discretion is the key; not being noticed is far more valuable a skill than being noticed. It amazes me the amount of posturing people do to draw attention to themselves, from talking aggressively to strutting around in a pub or bar in the latest Tap-Out T-Shirt (don’t get me wrong I own a few of these but I’m selective when I wear them).

It may seem strange to talk about discretion in a culture that calls for everybody to be recognized and respected. But a major part of avoiding violence is to not be noticed, or if noticed not to appear either as a threat or as a victim. Playing the neutral role is one which demonstrates self-confidence, self-assurance and integrity. When I used to do security work in bars and clubs I would be called on to scan patrons and make eye-contact with them. A classic line I’d hear back when someone caught me looking at them would be, what are you looking at? My default response would be, Nothing, I’ve had a long day and I’m just spacing out. I’d them move on before that particular individual had time to respond. People who make posturing statements look for two responses: returned posturing or submission. Not doing either confounds their game-plan i.e. the neutral role is a hard one to deal with when people expect us to respond as they would. People are extremely unimaginative in the way they expect people to behave.

Being able to avoid physical violence is a greater skill than being able to physically deal with it. I’ve had to perform both and being able to predict, anticipate and disengage/de-escalate violence is the most rewarding activity. I think little about the physical confrontations I have had and much more about the ones I’ve avoided. The Self-Protection piece of our training is maybe the most essential however it only has wings when all of the other pieces are in place i.e. you can only confidently avoid physical violence when you know you have the means to deal with it.

Never underestimate the satisfaction that comes from walking away whilst the other person wonders why the conflict never happened. The true art of self-protection would have avoided the potential conflict in the first place but then nobody’s perfect.