Brixton Krav Maga. Three simple words that could have a transformative impact on your life. Learning Krav Maga will provide you with the tools to feel secure in confrontational situations as well as helping you develop valuable life skills like greater self-confidence and mindfulness. But what is it?
Krav Maga literally means ‘close combat’ in Hebrew, and it was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, the former Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga for the Israeli Defence Forces. It has become much more well known around the world in the last 20 years and popularity is particularly high in Brixton, thanks to the work of Brixton Krav Maga. But as technical director Simon Pither points out, Krav Maga is not ‘just another martial art’:
‘Krav Maga is not really a martial art. It is focused on understanding how to apply the principles of self-defence to any confrontational situation and then speeding up those responses,’ said Simon.
What sets Krav Maga apart is that the teaching method and techniques that are learnt are both relevant and directly applicable to real-life self-defence scenarios.
‘During each session techniques are demonstrated and explained to you, after which you practise them in slow motion. The speed of the exercise is then gradually increased and then you work with partners to build and practise the responses. Finally, we introduce a small amount of stress to build your ability to make that response under pressure,’ explained Simon.
While it sounds extremely athletic, you don’t have to be physically fit to be able to take part in the sessions. As Simon pointed out, the training is fully accessible.
‘Our sessions are designed to be accessible for anyone. It doesn’t matter what your age, sex, weight or relative fitness is,’ said Simon.
‘Every session you work according to your own abilities, and then build on these week-on-week to improve your strength, fitness, flexibility, and overall self-defence capability.’
There are numerous advantages of practicing Krav Maga, not least the health benefits of becoming fitter, stronger, more flexible and less stressed as a result. However, it also helps to build those key levels of confidence that are necessary to deal with situations that you come across in everyday life.
The courses at Brixton Krav Maga are 50% about physically defending yourself, with the other 50% focusing on the mental aspects of self-defence. The latter part focuses on developing the psychological skillset to help you deal successfully with the impacts of extreme stress situations.
Living in London can be dangerous for people of all ages. In recent years there has been an increase in reports of both domestic and urban female and male assault, and knife crime is on the rise. Learning fast, simple and effective forms of self-defence could prove vital if you are faced with a potentially dangerous situation.
Brixton Krav Maga offers the opportunity to work with world-class instructors whose priority is the development, empowerment and enjoyment of their students. The atmosphere is welcoming, and it is the ideal environment to not only learn a crucial life skill, but also meet new people and make strong friendships.
Society is currently experiencing a mental health crisis in the wake of the pandemic. Therefore, the opportunity to go into a welcoming environment, connect with other people and stay fit and healthy whilst developing this vital skill can play a key role in keeping people well grounded.
Students of the course both past and present have commented on how impressed they were by the welcoming atmosphere in the classes.
‘I liked the relaxed and friendly atmosphere during the course. The instructor was very helpful, which is important to me as I’ve never done martial arts before,’ said Milena.
Killian also echoed this sentiment after his first session at Brixton Krav Maga.
‘I liked that the course was at times fun as well as serious, and I enjoyed feeling how effective the techniques were,’ said Killian.
‘The most positive aspect for me was experiencing the generosity of the more experienced students as training partners.’
This exciting journey at Brixton Krav Maga begins with an introductory session, where students are taught a couple of simple techniques and then shown how to apply them to a range of self-defence scenarios.
‘Just come along, enjoy yourself and see what we do! I guarantee that you will walk away with a better understanding of how to defend yourself,’ Simon concluded.
