When it comes to self-defense, one of the biggest crazes today is Krav Maga classes in Athens, Ga. Taught to Israeli Special Forces (allegedly) and people the world over, Krav Maga has steadily gained popularity as the go to martial art for self-defense because of its no rules style and “anything goes” mystique. Who wouldn’t want to be able to viciously end a fight in mere seconds or take on multiple opponents and walk away unscathed?
You likely happened upon this page looking for Krav Maga training in Athens, Ga. Please allow us a few minutes to explain why we believe you are heading down a dangerous path.
The biggest problem with Krav Maga is the lack of training using Aliveness. Aliveness is one of the core principles utilized by all SBGs worldwide to effectively prepare their students for violence. Aliveness, as defined by Coach Matt Thornton is training that has: Timing, Energy, and Motion. It’s the opposite of scripted and choreographed routines that are easy to find by doing a simple search of Krav Maga videos on YouTube. When you watch the video demonstrations always keep your eye on the person acting as the attacker (known as the Uke). You will quickly see the Uke easily subdued, forward rolling out of the attack, and standing back up to continue with the next contrived attack.
Another thing you often hear when people talk about Krav Maga (or other Reality Base Self-Defense classes in Athens, GA) is, “They train for sport. Our training is for real self-defense on the streets.” Another favorite is, “Our techniques are too dangerous to use against one another.” On the surface it would seem like those are good reasons to train Krav Maga. If we look a little deeper though you realize you are being sold a lie.
If you never train against a resisting person (read: a person trying to win) how would you expect your “too dangerous” techniques to work on someone trying to actually do you bodily harm on the street? We mentioned Aliveness earlier. Aliveness is that unscripted resistance. Neither person knows what the other is trying to do, and each person is trying to “win”. That can look like a lot of different things depending on what is being trained and what is the goal of said training. It gives two people the best and safest opportunity to learn what does and doesn’t work. It builds a confidence backed up by an actual ability for one to defend themselves. It doesn’t rely on mysticism, fear of the boogeyman, or techniques you have never even trained because they are “too dangerous”.
Let us use a quick football analogy (everyone loves football, right?). If the offense always knows the play the defense is running and vice versa, how does either side of the ball actually get better under real game conditions? To get good at football, you actually have to practice by playing under as close to real conditions as possible. The team will always keep safety at the forefront, but mistakes will be made, fixed, and then improved upon. This is what training Mixed Martial Arts at SBG Athens is all about.
We take the best techniques, forged on the best battlefields of combat, and train them in the safest way possible. This has allowed us to have men and women of all ages learn to defend themselves for over 20 years. Additionally, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) are used as the foundation of the Modern Army Combatives Program (Head Coaches Adam and Rory Singer trained with the founder and creator, Matt Larsen). If you were to find a video of two Krav Maga students sparring it looks like poorly trained MMA (easily found on YouTube). So why not actually train MMA and BJJ as it is properly taught to the students of SBG Athens? Additionally, these same techniques and methods are taught to US military, US special forces, law enforcement officers, and in SBGs around the globe.