Comments on: First post

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:44:02 +0000

Wesley what you do in the gym and what you do on the street are two different things. Every strike will have to be justified on the street and must be reasonable in the circumstances (Section 3 Criminal Law Act).

Speaking as a Police officer and trainer of Police Officers (CQB)if you fail to do this you will find youself in front of the courts even if the the attacker is in the wrong!!

When I teach officers to get the technique right at slow controlled speed whilst training. when it comes to the real thing with the aid of adrenaline you will obtain the power to stop the attack. Trust me this works having dealt with numerous levels of attacks against myself both on and off duty and having to justify them in court!!!!.

But don’t forget train hard fight easy, this is so true.

I hope I have not offended anyone if so I’m sorry. This is a fantastic system that works for all Stewart and Co keep up the good work well done

Paul HOWES

By: Stewart

Stewart — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:00:50 +0000

Wesley, thanks for clarifying that – my point remains as per my post but i don’t want to get any further into what’s a huge debate that will inevitably offend everybody at some point.

I’m thinking it over re a forum

By: Wesley

Wesley — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:38:23 +0000

Oh, I wasn’t referring to the current social standpoint we have on crime, I was talking mainly about adrenaline, which isn’t directly related to aggression. My point was that the higher the androgen receptors, the more the person reacts to adrenaline, thus when I perform a technique I get more carried away than most others would. It’s somewhat counter intuitive for me, as a person who plays sport that encourages brutality, to refrain from utilizing adrenaline in such a manor- but I guess self control is part of one’s training.

A small forum would be nice to discuss these issues topics rather than filling this comment box.

By: Stewart

Stewart — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:38:13 +0000

Hi Wesley,
For people like yourself who are early into their training it’s no bad thing to be a little loose to help learn the flow of the technique. After that, as we did last night we can strengthen the attacks, introduce some resistance and how to overcome that resistance. A lot of the exercises we do will help to strengthen grip/forearms: will show some specific exercises for this in my forthcoming guide to conditioning.

Re the aggression thing and androgen receptors – not too sure about this and it’s a very emotive subject. All I can say objectively is that (i) I know a lot of Afro-Caribbean people who are not not aggressive at all and (ii) that the city with the highest murder rate in the UK (and Western Europe) and the biggest problem with knife crime is Glasgow – a place with a very low proportion of people of Afro-Caribbean descent. There’s all kinds of social and cultural reasons behind this – and maybe too great a dependence on irn bru and shortbread – that are too much to go into here: however, I’m pretty sure that any investigation of causality would not include hormones.

By: Wesley

Wesley — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:39:15 +0000

The Tuesday class move is still in discussion? I thought by now you changed location, I haven’t been to class recently due to school commitments, however I intend to turn up this Tuesday. The boxing gym location would be ideal for much more aggressive work, unfortunately I tend to get a bit over aggressive during regular training -there’s a science behind it, those who are of African/Caribbean decent have a larger amount of androgen receptors, that and I’m always encouraged to be more aggressive as I’m a prop for my school rugby team- so this will be of great benefit to me.

Just thought running in my head in regards to most defences we do: I remember practising the frontal knife-to-throat defences, most newer students tend to be over-courteous during training by having a limp arm or being “gentle”, the thought struck me that some students may actually lack the forearm strength to perform some techniques in reality, blinded by the fact that the aggressor never acted in a realistic manor. So not only would it be a benefit to them but to every student if some grip/forearm exercises were incorporated into the sessions. Thoughts on that?

By: Stewart

Stewart — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:00:28 +0000

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated. Wesley, your comments re protective gear are interesting. There’s arguments for and against this that I go through in my head a lot – I don’t get out much-will set up discussion on a blog post this weekend. seriously thinking of moving one of the week’s classes to a boxing gym where the senior students get all geared up and just go for it in the ring with a mixture of sparring and regular pressure testing; if we did this say, just for example on tuesday night, we could keep the Tuesday location and class times and use as a Beginners/fundamentals class looked after by some of our other instructors. We can discuss.

Don’t worry the humbleness will continue. No matter what gets written here or elsewhere I have a partner at home who will always remind me of my failings as a martial artist, husband, father and yes, as a man.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:23:10 +0000

It’s been interesting watching you Stewart and your other core instructors morph into UKM. I think having trained extensively with other KM schools and pooling your expereince you have the confidence to know that you know as much as the other guys out there and now have the freedom to pursue this. I have gained a great deal from training with you and Gershon not least surviving Holloway’s more trying moments! I wish you all every success.
Keep me posted on the instructor program
Shalom
Jamie

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:27:47 +0000

Hello Stewart and all the other Urban Krav instructors and well done. To archive what you have in such a short space of time is great keep up the good work.

It’s good to see that the system is having such good feedback both from members of the public and the likes of Peter Consterdine and Bob Skyes.

The pre- emptive strike article was very interesting as a Police Officer and Officer safety Instructor (Police self defence) this was good to see, action will always beat reaction. This is a problem that we have getting across to police officers in training that they can hit first if they feel they or someone else are being threatened with violence. It is all covered in the law Section 3 The Criminal Law Act and Common Law. Also this person also showed a lot of restraint by use such force as was necessary in the circumstances. Well done!

If politics, egos and money grabbing can be kept out the equation as well then this system will go far.

As I said above keep up the good work and well done!

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:05:59 +0000

I`ve only been doing krav maga for a couple of weeks and have got to admit I am very impressed. It is simple and effective techniques that are relatively straight forward to get to grips with quite quickly. There is none of the flashy roundhouse kicks, just simple moves thay anyone would have confidence in using should the need arise.
Having come from a martial arts and boxing background, I can say with absolute conviction it is one of the most effective forms of self defence I have come across, and what`s more the classes are enjoyable and light hearted, yet allowing you to pick something up each time.
Well in Stewart keep it up!

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:24:41 +0000

Having trained with forces guys, as well as occasional forays into mostly Aikido, and as a kid, Kung Fu, bit of Karate, I am constantly amazed how useful, and how much common sense there is in the philosophy and system that Stewart describes.

I am convinced this is what the founding Sensei’s of the various martial arts would have come up with if they had trained in as many of the other styles as Stewart and his colleagues have.

I have seen many martial arts demonstrated – and I have had some training sessions in pure Krav Maga. Borrowing some humble from Stewart (he is too! all round stellar guy), it is clear that (here is the humble pie bit) depending on what you want.. I think that this is “the best” martial art I have seen, or tried – at least for me, and many others I would imagine. It also helps that the teaching is humble and hugely effective. Stewart has a vast well-spring of knowledge – from physiology and general sports science – to the most hideous necessities of war – AND everything in between! I cannot recommend this martial art enough – I hope the humbleness continues to become
a central tenet of this system – both as a belief and way of action AND thought.