Firstly, congraulations on taking your safety and those of your loved ones, seriously.
A common question posed in online Krav Maga forums is one that if you have no desire to compete in martial arts competitions and you simply want to be able to deal with ‘real world’ type attacks, is Krav Maga the best option?
Here at SBG Reno, our most senior Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, 3rd degree Ray Price, is a former Police Officer with over 25 years of service. As a front line officer, Ray needed practical martial arts experience that worked primarily in the street. He chose Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as his primary method of self defense. Some people mistakenly believe that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art that primarily focuses upon developing skills on the ground. Some BJJ schools have undoubtedly focused on competition and there has been some critique of the takedown skills of some of those specialists. However here at SBG Reno, we work on a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu curriculum that focuses on a method that works equally well in self defense situations, that start standing, as well as having members who actively wish to compete in competition as well where the ground is often more dominant.
The challenge that martial arts orientated around the street, such as Krav Maga, have is that they have no meaningful resistance or sparring. Krav Maga is really a traditional martial art in the sense that without resisting opponents, no timing or pressure testing is really developed in the same way that it is for sports orientated arts such as BJJ, Judo, wrestling, Muay Thai etc. The skill and athleticism developed during “sports” transitions far more effectively to real life self defense situations than pre-scripted scenario based training. Many traditional martial artists discover this when they move to train in sporting environments. The Judoka easily throws them, the Jiu Jitsu player easily submits them and the Muay Thai boxer effortlessly strikes them. If you want the type of benefits that many Krav Maga practitioners really crave, a combination of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai Kickboxing is probably one of the very best combinations you can choose.
