Krav Maga Knife defense seminar

Hi guys, thanks for reading.

On the weekend I attended the Amnon Darsa Knife Defense Seminar hosted by KM sydney.

It was a really well attended seminar, I would guess around 100 people turned up, maybe more.
It was really interesting to see the stark contrast between the theories of knife defense between the jujitsu and hapkido styles I have training in and Krav Maga.

Obviously Hapkido and Jujitsu being more locking/ throwing based systems usually like you to grab the opponents hand that is holding the knife and execute a technique while the Krav Maga approach is completely different. In most instances you slap the knife hand away from yourself, perform a groin kick ( or punch) and run.

The other main differences are that in Hapkido and jujitsu the opponent is usually actively attacking you with a stab or strike, while the Krav Maga system was based more on the situation where the knife is pulled on you and the attacker demands money etc and you react to that.

There were a few instances where as part of the exercise you trapped the opponents hand and it was easy and very effective to apply some basic Hapkido/jujitsu locks and either strip the weapon or break the elbow and it was great to get a flow between the styles.

I came away again realizing just how under utilized a groin kick is in most martial arts, its fast, easy and effective, yet how many styles of martial art have the groin kick as a core of their syllabus? Not many that I have trained in...


I will try and get some filming done in the next few weeks and highlight the differences in knife defense styles.

The leg Conditioning is going well and my hip is feeling good, looking forward to restarting some isometrics next week and working on my splits again. Will have to take some photos and effectively have a new starting point.

Conditioning continues

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading.

The conditioning is going well, I've been able to add the butterfly stretch and straddle stretch into my post conditioning routine stretch without aggravating my hip which is a first in many months! so it appears that the new strengthening routine is working. I'm dying to add in some isometrics and start working on my splits again but have somehow managed to listen to the voice of reason and convinced myself to leave it 1 more week just to be safe.

Knife Defense Seminar with Amnon Darsa.
I'm attending a knife defense seminar this weekend run by Amnon Darsa. I had no idea who he is but a quick search on google brings up very good opinions of him and his knowledge. I enjoyed the Course I did with the Krav Maga guys a few months ago and am looking forward to seeing what one of their best instructors does on knife defense. Will let you know how it goes.

Current strength program

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading.

Here is the resistance training program I am currently doing for my lower body.

Warm up 10 minutes (random cardio machine or boxing circuit)

Body weight Lunges 1 x 20 (Leg specific warmup)
Dumbbell Squats 3 x 10-12
Barbell Deadlifts 3 x 8-12
Single Leg Dumbbell Calf Raise 3 x 10-12
Hamstring Pulldown 2-3 x 10-20 (first set light x 20 reps)
Adductor Pulldown 2-3 x 10-20 (as above)
Leg Raises 3 x 10-20

Why Dumbell Squats?, Firstly its either dumbell or smith machine squats. Secondly regardless I find when I do barbell squats the focus (for me anyway) becomes always going heavier (and I have to admit, sometimes at the expense of the deeper ROM). So I find that I focus on better technique and the full ROM with dumbell squats. 20kg in each hand is fine for the time being anyway.

Deadlift - Standard Olympic type lift

Standing Single Leg Dumbell Calf Raise - One leg at a time and a good trick I learned a long time ago was to add a small random pendulum like swing to the dumbell which adds more challenge to the calf as it not only raises you up and down but also has to stabilize your body.

Hamstring and Adductor Pulldowns.

Thanks to Patrick Smith from the MAP Forum that has allowed me to use this great picture which explains what they look like.

I perform these 2 days a week on a standard lat pulldown machine, 1 time per week I get to do them on a adjustable height cable pulldown machine.

Basically it is Extended Length Conditioning just using weights for the resistance rather than elastic resistance bands. I am finding this works much better for me than using resistance bands.

Will keep you updated on the progress.

Reboot

After a few weeks off due to illness and being away with work I had time to re-evaluate my current training. My Hip wasn't really improving, it wasn't getting worse but still felt weak. So I went back to basics in my evaluation.

People usually pull muscles because the muscle is weak, not because it isn't stretched. This is especially true of muscles that people repeatedly pull. In my case the Hip Flexor and my Leg Rotators kept getting minor pulls. All the "resting" and stretching in the world wasn't going to improve them. The Elastic Steel HFS conditioning routine, while thorough uses body weight exercises primarily and wasn't presenting my muscles with enough resistance.

I had also read some information recently by Dan Van Zandt on the Martial Arts Planet Forum and have decided to go back to incorporating exercises he and Tom Kurz recommend, the Hamstring Pulldown and Adductor Pulldown.

After incorporating these along with weighted full range of motion Squats and Deadlifts I can definitely feel an improvement.

I plan to give this conditioning phase another 1-2 weeks before trying some isometrics, so am just doing some light relaxed stretches after the workout at the moment.

Will keep you updated.

Inside Hock Throw

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading. Been sick (again!) and then away with work so haven't been able to update the blog for almost 2 weeks.

Because of that, there hasn't been much progress with the flexibility training, so I've got another simple Jujitsu technique for today, the Inside Hock Throw. Nice and easy to execute which is always a good thing.