If you’re a martial arts school owner or run a club you may find that 90% of
successful school owners owe their success to teaching kids. Well I hope at the end of this blog you will
become more confident at attracting more adult member’s through teaching your
own self defence program.
Martial arts over the years has become more sport and fitness orientated and less about self defence for many schools. Now there is a slight difference between Dojo sparring and self defence but does that mean this makes them less likely to defend themselves on the street.
I would guess someone who does well out-pointing, submitting, over powering or knocking out opponents in the gym or in the competitive arena has a more than average chance of defending themselves against an aggressive untrained person on the street however it will still be determined by the circumstances. Determining circumstances could be things such as, people involved for example age, size, weight and numbers. Objects that could possibly be used as weapons and the place they’re in will also determine how an encounter may end up.
Now it is true there are no refs or tapping out in a street fight so preparation for the street needs to have a difference but how big a difference? Krav Maga has filled a huge gap where training for the street is concerned, but the concept of training for the street was here well before this concept became popular in the early 2000. One of the problems we have in the UK is when Krav Maga came to the UK, some of the pioneers were unaccomplished martial artists who did these short courses and never had any serious hand to hand combat experience prior. Many of these teachers of so called reality based self defence systems have mislead the public into believing the uk’s modern military have a substantial amounts of experience in hand to hand combat. One of these associations has swelled their ranks of instructors with these military types with only 18 days experience, with the public none the wiser and having the belief that military guys make better self defence instructors. Can I make clear Military guys could make amazing instructors if they had prior martial arts experience due to their courage, discipline and willingness to put it on the line.
Why do good martial artists make better self defence instructors?
1. Martial artists make the best self defence instructors because they are used to having punches and kicks thrown their way.
2. They are used to pressing up against each other and trying to impose their will on an opponent.
Martial arts over the years has become more sport and fitness orientated and less about self defence for many schools. Now there is a slight difference between Dojo sparring and self defence but does that mean this makes them less likely to defend themselves on the street.
I would guess someone who does well out-pointing, submitting, over powering or knocking out opponents in the gym or in the competitive arena has a more than average chance of defending themselves against an aggressive untrained person on the street however it will still be determined by the circumstances. Determining circumstances could be things such as, people involved for example age, size, weight and numbers. Objects that could possibly be used as weapons and the place they’re in will also determine how an encounter may end up.
Now it is true there are no refs or tapping out in a street fight so preparation for the street needs to have a difference but how big a difference? Krav Maga has filled a huge gap where training for the street is concerned, but the concept of training for the street was here well before this concept became popular in the early 2000. One of the problems we have in the UK is when Krav Maga came to the UK, some of the pioneers were unaccomplished martial artists who did these short courses and never had any serious hand to hand combat experience prior. Many of these teachers of so called reality based self defence systems have mislead the public into believing the uk’s modern military have a substantial amounts of experience in hand to hand combat. One of these associations has swelled their ranks of instructors with these military types with only 18 days experience, with the public none the wiser and having the belief that military guys make better self defence instructors. Can I make clear Military guys could make amazing instructors if they had prior martial arts experience due to their courage, discipline and willingness to put it on the line.
Why do good martial artists make better self defence instructors?
1. Martial artists make the best self defence instructors because they are used to having punches and kicks thrown their way.
2. They are used to pressing up against each other and trying to impose their will on an opponent.
3. Used to playing the physiological game versus an opponent.
4. They are strategists for whatever discipline they are involved
in.
5. They are used to being hit and hitting back to overcome an attacker within their discipline.
5. They are used to being hit and hitting back to overcome an attacker within their discipline.
6. They are open minded and willing to learn and cross train
to complete themselves as a fighter.
So how does a martial artist teach self defence?
1. Develop a strategy for common attacks
In 2010 the Security Industry Authority made a recommendation to the home office that all front line security staff should go through physical Intervention training to deal with violent or disruptive customers. The SIA listed a couple of common scenarios or problems and left it up to training centres to put together a system and submit it to an awarding body such as City and Guilds, Edexcel, HABC to give it their stamp of approval so as to roll out 1 day QCF accredited and approved courses. These courses were written by some ex prison service guys, mental health intervention companies and so on. Whether these systems are effective is debateable but what it has done for the first time is brought regulation to a system of self defence.
A dojo, organisation or association can do exactly the same thing for their school or schools. List out all the common attacks or problems on the street and scenarios and put together a system of combating them i.e, strangles, holds, strikes, short bludgeon weapons, sharps and more.
Once (or during) the system is produced you can stress test them. Many of your chosen solutions may have already been stress tested through experience, but it does build confidence in students to have an animal day, adrenalized training or in layman’s terms a good old hard session to separate the wheat from the chaff.
A good starter for any self defence system is to choose extremely easy solutions for each problem. Easy is like basics in a competitive fight. When the going gets tough in a competition, basics is what is always dependable. Teaching easy to learn basic instils confidence in students very quickly and is more likely to be useful in a real situation.
2. Train realistically
As a lover of all martial arts and defence systems it has to be said that if a person fights within the confines of their style with blatant disregard for realism they can be setting themselves up for a fall. Confrontations need to be simulated according to the problem presented. In the heat of a fight keeping the hands up may be a good idea. Before a fight kicks off showing non aggression may be a good idea. Practicing caught off guard with hands down is equally as good as being ready with your hands up.
In the information age we have the gift of Youtube and other social media to see real confrontations and threats. What we should not do is take for gospel any defence until you have worked it. Train realistic but remember to be safe and take precautions to avoid serious injury.
3. Don’t do away with sparring
It is a going trend where some individuals would want to get to black belt without sparring. It is equally a common thing where some reality based systems view sparring as a bad thing as they believe it develops bad habits and is irrelevant for a real confrontation. As a security trainer of door supervisors we have found guys that spar are more equipped and confident to engage an attacker if need be than someone who hasn’t developed the reflex action of slipping, moving, ducking, blocking and covering up from the onslaught of an aggressive person.
Sparring needs to be an option for a self defence class whether you have a separate class or include some safe play at some point during the class as you go through the curriculum.
4. Cross train and always keep learning
Never ever stop learning. Drawing another example from competitive systems I can remember clubs that never did well at comps but turned up religiously for every event. These clubs invited outside instructors and attended squad trainings and before long they were doing just as well as the more established clubs if not better due to an open minded and humble approach to growing there competitor base. Although we know competition does not pay the bills, the thing we need to take away from this example is that standards are grown through our appetite for learning and gaining more knowledge from other people as opposed to staying in our own comfort zones.
We tend to be afraid of cross training as fears it will change what we do. Far from it. Your self defence strategy is to offer simple solutions for violent problems that may occur and what you pick up on the way has to be an added benefit to your all round knowledge of the Martial arts.
5. Competition
Competition was a form of pressure testing techniques and systems. As more emphasis went on winning as opposed to what was practical a lot of competitions lost their purpose as far as self defence was concerned and took on new meanings. However the evolution of competition has benefited us all in some ways as competitive events can be extremely entertaining.
We feel competition or show casing what practitioners do should be an option. The BKMO have four optional disciplines that is not pushed on its members.:- Stand-up, MMA, Grappling, Demonstration Self Defence and a tetrathlon (combination of all four events).
What BKMO Self Defence Training offers
To put together your own system takes time and effort, and as full time instructors we may not have time to do this and run a full time school. If you already have a workable system you may be happy where you are. I must admit I was the same with my martial arts program.
My Martial arts school was run off 4 programs. Positive Start, Masters, Leaders and Certified Instructor training. Having a one fits all system was taught for over a decade however as we checked our needs analysis sheets from all our present, past and prospective students there was a huge need for total self defence focused classes. A mixed system can be adapted to self defence but to tick the box for many adults who were after either increased confidence, fitness or self defence and the 5% who wanted to compete was hard.
In 2012 we implemented a total self defence program and now approaching 2015 our adult program including the participation of parents and grand parents of children that train in our school has shot up due to this approach. Our retention has shot up too.
We put together a fantastic program, video recorded it and put together an instructor training program to roll-out this system. We put together a weekend program so as to not disrupt your working week too much and have regular networking and training events every 6 weeks.
Business wise we put together our own marketing and recruitment process and have ran with it and made it work.
Services Offered:-
. BKMO provide seminars at you Dojo or hall
. Provide affordable Instructor training
. World Class Self Defence instructors and coaches
. Regular training and Networking events
. Current open minded approach to training
. and Much More
I hope I have given you confidence to set up you own Krav Maga Self Defence program in your school but if you need any help I can provide you with a written curriculum and take you through it on a series of weekends that is guaranteed to change the way you teach and increase your adult numbers.
Keep Kickin’,
Wayne Edwards
Useful links:-
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-instructor-course.html
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-training-for%20military-and-forces.html
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-cpd-training.html
Wayne Edwards
https://www.facebook.com/WayneVEdwards
masteredwards@hotmail.com
So how does a martial artist teach self defence?
1. Develop a strategy for common attacks
In 2010 the Security Industry Authority made a recommendation to the home office that all front line security staff should go through physical Intervention training to deal with violent or disruptive customers. The SIA listed a couple of common scenarios or problems and left it up to training centres to put together a system and submit it to an awarding body such as City and Guilds, Edexcel, HABC to give it their stamp of approval so as to roll out 1 day QCF accredited and approved courses. These courses were written by some ex prison service guys, mental health intervention companies and so on. Whether these systems are effective is debateable but what it has done for the first time is brought regulation to a system of self defence.
A dojo, organisation or association can do exactly the same thing for their school or schools. List out all the common attacks or problems on the street and scenarios and put together a system of combating them i.e, strangles, holds, strikes, short bludgeon weapons, sharps and more.
Once (or during) the system is produced you can stress test them. Many of your chosen solutions may have already been stress tested through experience, but it does build confidence in students to have an animal day, adrenalized training or in layman’s terms a good old hard session to separate the wheat from the chaff.
A good starter for any self defence system is to choose extremely easy solutions for each problem. Easy is like basics in a competitive fight. When the going gets tough in a competition, basics is what is always dependable. Teaching easy to learn basic instils confidence in students very quickly and is more likely to be useful in a real situation.
2. Train realistically
As a lover of all martial arts and defence systems it has to be said that if a person fights within the confines of their style with blatant disregard for realism they can be setting themselves up for a fall. Confrontations need to be simulated according to the problem presented. In the heat of a fight keeping the hands up may be a good idea. Before a fight kicks off showing non aggression may be a good idea. Practicing caught off guard with hands down is equally as good as being ready with your hands up.
In the information age we have the gift of Youtube and other social media to see real confrontations and threats. What we should not do is take for gospel any defence until you have worked it. Train realistic but remember to be safe and take precautions to avoid serious injury.
3. Don’t do away with sparring
It is a going trend where some individuals would want to get to black belt without sparring. It is equally a common thing where some reality based systems view sparring as a bad thing as they believe it develops bad habits and is irrelevant for a real confrontation. As a security trainer of door supervisors we have found guys that spar are more equipped and confident to engage an attacker if need be than someone who hasn’t developed the reflex action of slipping, moving, ducking, blocking and covering up from the onslaught of an aggressive person.
Sparring needs to be an option for a self defence class whether you have a separate class or include some safe play at some point during the class as you go through the curriculum.
4. Cross train and always keep learning
Never ever stop learning. Drawing another example from competitive systems I can remember clubs that never did well at comps but turned up religiously for every event. These clubs invited outside instructors and attended squad trainings and before long they were doing just as well as the more established clubs if not better due to an open minded and humble approach to growing there competitor base. Although we know competition does not pay the bills, the thing we need to take away from this example is that standards are grown through our appetite for learning and gaining more knowledge from other people as opposed to staying in our own comfort zones.
We tend to be afraid of cross training as fears it will change what we do. Far from it. Your self defence strategy is to offer simple solutions for violent problems that may occur and what you pick up on the way has to be an added benefit to your all round knowledge of the Martial arts.
5. Competition
Competition was a form of pressure testing techniques and systems. As more emphasis went on winning as opposed to what was practical a lot of competitions lost their purpose as far as self defence was concerned and took on new meanings. However the evolution of competition has benefited us all in some ways as competitive events can be extremely entertaining.
We feel competition or show casing what practitioners do should be an option. The BKMO have four optional disciplines that is not pushed on its members.:- Stand-up, MMA, Grappling, Demonstration Self Defence and a tetrathlon (combination of all four events).
What BKMO Self Defence Training offers
To put together your own system takes time and effort, and as full time instructors we may not have time to do this and run a full time school. If you already have a workable system you may be happy where you are. I must admit I was the same with my martial arts program.
My Martial arts school was run off 4 programs. Positive Start, Masters, Leaders and Certified Instructor training. Having a one fits all system was taught for over a decade however as we checked our needs analysis sheets from all our present, past and prospective students there was a huge need for total self defence focused classes. A mixed system can be adapted to self defence but to tick the box for many adults who were after either increased confidence, fitness or self defence and the 5% who wanted to compete was hard.
In 2012 we implemented a total self defence program and now approaching 2015 our adult program including the participation of parents and grand parents of children that train in our school has shot up due to this approach. Our retention has shot up too.
We put together a fantastic program, video recorded it and put together an instructor training program to roll-out this system. We put together a weekend program so as to not disrupt your working week too much and have regular networking and training events every 6 weeks.
Business wise we put together our own marketing and recruitment process and have ran with it and made it work.
Services Offered:-
. BKMO provide seminars at you Dojo or hall
. Provide affordable Instructor training
. World Class Self Defence instructors and coaches
. Regular training and Networking events
. Current open minded approach to training
. and Much More
I hope I have given you confidence to set up you own Krav Maga Self Defence program in your school but if you need any help I can provide you with a written curriculum and take you through it on a series of weekends that is guaranteed to change the way you teach and increase your adult numbers.
Keep Kickin’,
Wayne Edwards
Useful links:-
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-instructor-course.html
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-training-for%20military-and-forces.html
http://www.siacoursesmanchester.com/Krav-maga-cpd-training.html
Wayne Edwards
https://www.facebook.com/WayneVEdwards
masteredwards@hotmail.com
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