The father of a teenage boy, both adept Brazilian JiuJitsu practioners, not that long ago answered my question of “why don’t you take a few Krav classes, just in case you two ever get attacked” with this reply, “I do not frequent ‘those’ kinds of places.” Really?  I looked at him and just shook my head, as sometimes there are simply no words for such ignorance.  Smart guy, too, but not here.

BOTH of my daughters have been attacked (and survived, thank God)…one at a money machine in broad daylight, and her sister at a mall.  “Those kinds of places”, really, aren’t we ALL in both?

I am a very competitive person: college basketball player, high school football star, American Legion baseball, boxing, kick boxing, etc., and as much as I miss those days, I find myself appreciating, more and more, the value of reality fight training…this means ripping out and crushing throats, knees into groins, sternums and heads, choke-submissions (and worse), etc., not trading punches with some steroid-driven weight lifter, or going for an arm bar on the ground, while I get my head crushed by my attacker’s buddy.

One of my personal training partners, who I have previously mentioned (6’3″, 300 pounds), and a street-fighting expert…not any formal martial arts or JiuJitsu training, mind you, just lethal with his skills, when we are ground fighting, will inevitably pull his training folder from his left back pocket at any given point and start stabbing.  By now, I am acutely aware of this type of street skill, and in fact it is one of my very own…just in case (thank you Fez); so, I cannot be thinking of a leg triangle or Omaplata, while my femoral artery is being severed.

Same thing with my Marine Colonel, Special Forces best friend and professional soldier of 50 years (also mentioned in past blogs), who has seen and done it all, and is one of the very toughest men I’ve known…if I can get by him, I certainly can deal with those predators less skilled.

I once asked a Washington, DC Police Sargent, and former student of mine, in a class I was teaching, “how many of his arrests, last year, were carrying a weapon?”  His reply, “100%!”  The look on everyone’s face was priceless.

Please do not misunderstand me, especially with regards to Brazilian JiuJitsu, Olympic Taekwondo, MMA, etc., all most glorious sports in their own right…many of these competitors would be fine in a street fight, as their athletic instincts and skills are many times enough to get it done, especially in light of the fact that most people really cannot truly fight…however, holding someone in your guard on a mat, is quite different than being picked up quickly and most violently and then getting slammed, head first, into a concrete sidewalk.  This is how we train in my Krav Maga classes and the Blue Chip Academy.