Krav Maga – Not pretty but real
Jason Mark is a cop. You need a sense of humor to make it as a cop, and Jason is a fun guy. He will most likely laugh at your “Bad Cop! No Donut!” bumper sticker, maybe I’ll order a bagel instead. And you can get rid of stereotypes; look at what Jason does in his spare time and you’ll realize that not only is this gym rat in better shape than ever, but he’s a martial arts expert capable of kicking your ass twenty times by Sunday and you might even me I feel stupid for having that bumper sticker in the first place.
Thursday, 8:00 p.m., Penn Oaks Fitness Center: Nearly a dozen men and women, lured in hoodies and T-shirts, alternately slamming hands and holding punching pads, pummel each other with fists and feet, scene overlaps with the beat of a heavy Metal CD. They’re sweating and panting as Jason just had them doing push ups and sit ups. Now he runs among them excitedly like a bulldog loose in a parade of Chihuahuas, yelling, prodding, shoving: “What was that, Kevin? You call that a punch? Kiss harder than that! It’s a punch: “Punch a hand against glove and guy holding it staggers back. “And this is an elbow-” Boom! The boy stumbles further back. “Look, that works too! Use everything you’ve got. And whatever you do, don’t stop. If you stop, you’re dead…” Moments later, he’s demonstrating how to escape from a chokehold against the wall: “M “move…one arm up, twist and lower…okay Sue…okay, Steve is tall…what you gonna do? Right, go ahead! Make him a soprano…”
Let’s get one thing straight: Krav Maga (“krahv magah” or “Contact Combat”) is as ugly as it gets. The official combat system of the Israel Defense Forces does not care about aesthetics. It’s designed to be simple and efficient, by necessity, brutal, nasty. All the things that you are not allowed to do in other martial arts: kicks in the muzzle, gouges in the eyes, elbows to the throat, are not only encouraged in Krav Maga, they are taught, expert. Sounds like a street fight? Is.
“There’s no rule in Krav Maga except one: don’t get hurt,” says Ernie Kirk, owner of the well-attended Kirk’s Martial Arts Academy in Kennett Square, where Jason also teaches. “This is about survival, so anything goes.” Unimpressive but solid, Ernie wears glasses and is soft-spoken, evoking his former schoolteacher more than a man. whup-meister who has fourth degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, a black belt in Goju-Kai, and advanced brown belts in aikido and judo. But that’s how it should be, as everyday people looking for practical self-defense won’t associate with a Van-Damme clone.
While Ernie lacks Jason’s constant bulldog frenzy, his ferocity quotient is made on a dime. “Relax,” he actually says to two students who are facing each other. “Take a stance, you’ll be too focused on one thing and something else will hit you.” A moment later he’s yelling “Keep going!” stop a room full of matched beaters and grab one of them to demonstrate. “You don’t stop at the head; you go through it, through it!” His fist whistles past the guy’s ear. “This is to stay, not to gain points.”
To survive. TRUE. That pretty much sums up where Krav Maga stands in relation to other martial arts disciplines. You won’t find any “kata,” grasshopper stances, crescent kick jumps, and all that other choreographed cinematic gee-whiz that everyone knows exists only for viewer value. Ernie, who was for years the first licensed Krav Maga instructor on the East Coast, acknowledges that many of the things he loves about the martial arts would get him killed on the street: “There are inherent weaknesses in self-defense in these other arts. since they are geared towards sport and competition”. One may wonder how he is able to separate them in practice, considering that such a level of reflection leaves little time for thought. The street demands to fight or flee, mutilate or be mutilated, without a doubt. Whatever you do, you better mean it.
Therefore, there are no competitions in Krav Maga. There are no “uniforms” either, and although belts are awarded for levels of proficiency, no one wears them. Most wear T-shirts and sweatpants along with coats and other protective gear. Except for a ritual bow at the end, the classes are informal and eclectic. One moment you’ll be doing conditioning and calisthenics, the next punching or kicking a pad held by a partner, then practicing escaping a particular hold or attack.
“Every move is based on your natural instincts,” explains Katie Bevard, a tall and attractive former schoolteacher (another teacher… kids in school today must be a handful!) who instructs and manages at Kirk’s a full time. “So you don’t have to think about which of a dozen moves to use. If someone grabs you by the neck, your instinct is to grab their wrists. So spent that instinct -it’s called ‘tear off-‘ (demonstrates a sudden grabbing and pulling motion) and make it work as an escape. It works for anyone, from any direction. And prepares you for the counterattack. All Krav Maga moves do that: one escape, multiple counters. Whatever you do must be instantaneous and followed by crippling blows.”
Since the movements are so simple, the learning curve is minimal. Unlike other martial arts in which the beginner may spend months punching and kicking the air or performing seemingly meaningless stances and other rituals before facing an adversary, Krav Maga emphasizes contact from day one. Punches and kicks are delivered deliberately into an opponent’s face, neck, groin…and stopped by a hitting pad of one kind or another. The point is to remove inhibitions about such impolite exchanges. you can’t just indicate take a punch to the throat or a kick to the groin… to make it automatic and instinctive, you have to experience handing it over
Since there is no competitive hierarchy, Krav Maga classes democratize the learning process: at Kirks you’ll find neophytes paired with advanced, instructors urging everyone to switch up and “experiment with different body types.” A stocky boy with a shaved head looks at a skinny woman old enough to be his mother: “I want that pencil! Give me that pencil!” He hits the pads that she is holding. She recoils under her assault, but keeps coming back to him. A Stress Drill: The best way to prepare for physical confrontation is to enjoy it. Some time later, there is a stress/fatigue drill in which one student, surrounded by four others, must kick and punch their pads non-stop, while another harasses him from behind. Everyone takes turns in the middle, everyone ends up exhausted, dripping, happy.
And sometimes bruised. Katie nods emphatically. “Occasionally we turn off the lights and fight in the dark. Sometimes you get touched. We all have bruises, scrapes, cuts. Nothing serious, but it’s a great learning tool. Makes it real. Tae-Bo?” She laughs. “I remember that. Fun… good exercise. But that’s all was. And you never had these…” She proudly shows off a bruise.
Is it any wonder that Krav Maga is taking the country by storm? Initially adopted by the military and law enforcement, it has caught the attention of the media and has gone mainstream, helped in no small measure by recent events. Ernie says enrollment is up 35% in the Philadelphia area since 9/11 and is adding new centers in South Philadelphia, Center City and Conshohocken. In many of the classes, the women outnumber the men. Adolescents and older adults hit each other and struggle with joy. Ernie has even been invited to teach Krav Maga in elementary schools.
Saturday, 1:00 PM, Kirk’s Martial Arts Academy: Nearing the end of a three-hour seminar. One of Ernie’s instructors in Philadelphia is present, a petite 19-year-old film student from Temple named Greta, who is also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Although she is suffering from a cold that has left her nearly groggy, Ernie repeatedly calls Greta in front of her to give a demonstration. She’s something of a star at Kirk’s—the other instructors rave about her—and Ernie likes to show her off. He unleashes a barrage of punches at her, quick shots from all directions, and Greta parries them with Lara Croft precision and ease, an impressive display of reflexes that leaves little doubt that it could do some serious damage to a smasher’s flair. Ernie lets her go and starts handing out rubber knives. “Ok pair up! Simulated Wound Knife Attack. Forget the movies, you’ll get hurt in a knife encounter. Guys, I apologize in advance to your wives and girlfriends. We’re putting lipstick on these. And turning off the lights …”
Ernie is also a fun guy.
