People choose Krav Maga due to its reputation. The system works - in fact, it's so well proven its a favourite of military and law enforcement agencies across the globe. Its a quality mark system, a proven method.

People want buy into the history, the pedigree, the unique evoloution of the system.

Or at least they try to....

However, some individuals  try to cash in on Krav Maga's reputation. They sell cheap copy cat systems with highly misleading claims and at inflated prices. These individuals usually mislead the consumer with 'special forces" or simmilar claims. They market empty promises and 'quick instructor courses'. They are literally cashing in on the reputation of Krav Maga.

One group in particular, 'Commando Krav Maga' even market a 3 day "Instructor" certification. Many of these instructors leave the organisation realising its a scam but then try to set themselves up as independant Krav Maga Instructors. They drop the 'commando' bit from the title and claim they are bona fide Krav Maga Instructors.

Tip: If a Krav Maga Instructor is vague about the Organisation who trained them or claim to have been trained by 'A Krav Maga organisation' Walk away - its not Krav Maga and they are not being honest with you.

Bottom line - You simply cant train a Krav Maga Instructor in 3 or 5 days. You can however make a lot of money running ' quick instructor' courses.

What to expect from a Krav Maga Instructor

The very minimum

All instructors in the UK MUST have;

• Instructors liability insurance - typically for £5 000 000
• An up to date first aid certificate
• A criminal Record Bureau Check - C.R.B
• From Nov 2010 any one teaching more than once a month Must have an Independent Safeguarding authority PIN number
• Child protection training - if dealing with children
• A basic Health and safety certificate
• Basic First Aid Certificate
• Proof of training with a credible organisation - IKMF -IKMA - KMWW - FEKM

Instructors providing any tuition without these basics should be avoided at all costs. If they have insurance it is unlikley to be valid without meeting these minimum requirements.

All good Krav Maga Instructors should

• Be recognised by a Credible Krav Maga Organisation and active within it. If they are recognised by a generic martial arts or self defence group this is no measure of their credibility.
• Be very specific about their parent organisation - Krav Maga lineage
• Update their own training with a recognisable organisation on regular basis
• Have credible Instructor training. Credible meaning a process lasting at least 14 days that was assessed by a reputable organisation.
• Krav Maga organisations operating in the UK are,
• British Krav Maga Association,
• IKMA
  
• IKMF
  
• FEKM (also called BKMF)
  
• Krav Maga Global 
  
• Krav Maga Worldwide.

A good Instructor will:

• Be interested in you AND whether Krav Maga is a good 'fit for you'
• Have a commitment to high standards and professional conduct - if not you are better looking elsewhere
• Be commited and passionate about training
• Ensure you are safe to train and ask questions about your health and fitness - if they dont bother - walk away

Krav Maga Instructors should be better trained and more professional than the majority of martial arts instructors.

I do not say this lightly having worked in the industry for many years as both a Martial Arts Instructor (Kung Fu and Karate) and Krav Maga Instructor. The martial arts organisations will contest this but generally speaking - Krav Maga requires a higher level of training commitment and longer update training. This effects standards of instruction.

The requirements to remain active with most Krav Maga organisations vary between 4 and 9 days update training every year, with many doing much more.

E.G on personal note this year (2009) I have spent 12 days training full time in the UK and abroad.

What to avoid

1. Unaffiliated instructors.

Membership to credible Krav Maga training organisations is not expensive. It ensures a degree of quality, professional update training and credibility. There are few reasons not to be registered with a credible Krav Maga group.

Unaffiliated instructors may have initially trained with a credible organisation but typically leave after a year or so. Unaffiliated Instructors often have problems meeting or sustaining the expected standards, or may have problems paying a small nominal fee. Most commonly however they are unwilling to update their training to the required standards on a regular and professional basis. Either way, its not good.

2. Short course instructors.

These 'short courses' are typically are highly expensive and very short. Usually 3 or 5 days duration. Organisations typically charge £500 to £1500 for a short course. These courses cover a limited number of techniques typically from Jiu Jitsu or mma with lots of crowd pleasers (spectacular locks where possible). Due to the short duration of the course, standards need to be lower, and no time is available for the most important aspect of training - how to teach the subject to other people.

Organisers attempt to gain credibility by making the training physical, (a good thing if combined with good content) but this is used to fill time and space due to poor content and course construction. Making the course demanding is typically another tool to convince the punters they are doing "real krav maga".

Short courses are run over a long weekend or 5 days and have minimal or no entry requirements. Anyone can do them. No prior experience is required, there is no quality control, no recognition outside of the individual selling them. Having met and trained with some of these "Instructors" the standards of the course and instructors is often very poor indeed, and usually unrecognisable as Krav Maga.

To put this in perspective - we do an accelerated training programme to create a basic professional instructor with 120 hours of attended training a further 8 hourse of self development and supported sessions and required continual professional development. And still this is a realistic minimum.

The most infamous short course is Commando Krav Maga - set up by Judo Instructor Moni Aizik. Aizik was never actually a Krav Maga Instructor - or even a commando come to that, (as he claimed in his marketing). This did not deter him setting up Commando Krav Maga and creating "instructors". Aizik markets his 3 day courses on a fictitious military career as an Israeli commando See commado Krav maga here

Note

Many Commando Krav Maga Instructors have now left his organisation and claiming to be Krav Maga Instructors. At least one is now claiming to teach Krav Maga Instructors - on the basis of 3 days training with Moni Aizik ????

3. Hybrid Systems

There is a tendency for some instructors to 'customise or tinker with' the Krav Maga system. This defeats the whole purpose of doing Krav Maga which is that its consistantly proven to work in real life threatening situations.

Krav Maga has been proven again and again for over 60 years. I know of no other system anywhere in the world, that has been so robustly proven in real world or battle field situations.

To replace proven, easy to learn techniques with supposition and guesswork is not an intelligent choice. Some individuals claim they have pressure tested their varient, but its difficult to find these claims credible when compared to the thousands of military and law enforcement who tested their krav maga against real people who would kill or maim them.

I hope this helps you find real Krav Maga. Good Luck.

Paul Grey

British Krav Maga Association