Krav Maga FAQs — Everything You Need to Know
Starting or considering Eitan Krav Maga training naturally often involves as few questions. Here you’ll find the questions that we are most often asked by our new students when they start their Krav Maga training with us. We try to provide as much information as possible about Eitan Krav Maga training and information about all of our London based classes here but if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for feel absolutely free to contact us.
Feel free to call, text or whatsapp us on +44(0) 7976 294 825.
I’d like to try Krav Maga. What should I do?
That’s easy. Just book online for one of our 2-hour KickStart Courses. Our KickStart Courses are £30. Get ready to learn some powerful and efficient self-defence skills, have a lot of fun, meet like-minded people and experience what Krav Maga is all about.
It’s my first Krav Maga training session. What should I wear and bring?
Trainers, a comfortable T-shirt and long track pants/track suit bottoms. Ideally looser fitting track pants that allow freedom of movement. You may also want to bring along a water bottle, small gym towel and a banana or energy bar for the longer courses. That’s it – we will have any other equipment you may need.
I’m attending a 2-Hour KickStart Course. What can I expect?
Arrive early so that you can meet your instructors and fellow students. Registration for our 2-Hour KickStart Courses normally begins 10 minutes before the event start time. we’ll ask you to complete a short form including brief medical /injury information so that your instructors can keep you safe during training. We will take the opportunity to find out what you would like to get out of your Krav Maga Course and ensure we know about any relevant medical condition or past injury to keep you training safely. Training starts with a light warm-up, followed by a more physical warm-up, deep stretching and Krav Maga specific fitness training. This takes about 15 minutes as it is very important to get our bodies ready for flexibility, performance and injury-free training. We warm up as a team with each student doing the best they can based on their fitness level. After warm-up your instructor will teach you the basics of Krav Maga – the neutral position, the guard position, the straight hand strike and the straight kick. There will be opportunity to ask questions, practice in changing pairs and get personal instructor direction and feedback. You will learn and experience in practice the four core principles of Krav Maga – simple, direct, efficient and controlled. We’ll have a 5-minute water break about halfway though the session. In the second half of the class you will learn a number of specific, realistic, defence techniques. For example, defence and counterattack from various choke holds and defence and counterattack from a typical street fight punches and knife attacks. You will be able to use these techniques immediately after training. We will all do a final stretch and cool down before the end of the training session. We reserve the final 15 minutes of the session for individual 1-to-1 attention, questions, technique feedback, etc.
Can anyone learn Krav Maga?
Yes. Anyone can learn Krav Maga. In fact Krav Maga was designed to be a powerful self-defence and contact combat system for real-life situations against stronger, bigger or armed opponents. It’s a great fighting and survival skill for women and men alike as it is all about efficiency, simplicity and technique – not size, age, gender and weight. Krav Maga is an intuitive system and makes use of the body’s ‘natural responses’. For that reason, proficiency can be attained in a relatively short space of time. We mean months, not years and years. Many people do Krav Maga purely for self-defence and no more, and that’s absolutely fine. That’s what it’s for! But you may find that you get ‘hooked’ and want to progress to the contact combat skills of Krav Maga. That’s perfect too. But be warned, from there, you may find that you desire true excellence in your Krav Maga and that’s where it becomes a martial art and a fantastic personal journey at any age. Welcome aboard.
Am I fit and healthy enough to start Krav Maga training?
There is no minimum fitness level required to begin Krav Maga training. Each student starts at their own level and pace. Over time, you will increase your fitness as you train and progress. Every training session includes a warm-up and cool-down phase and fitness and flexibility exercises specific to Krav Maga. For example hip flexibility and core body strength. Aerobic fitness will also become more important as you progress as you will start regular partner sparring after a couple of months. It is amazing how much energy is required for a full contact 2-minute fighting round! Take a look at our blogs for more information on developing fighting fitness. The fitter you are the better will be your Krav Maga. Regarding medical fitness, we will ask you for relevant medical and past injury information. Your instructors will need this information to help you stay safe and happy throughout your training and is also a requirement for your student insurance. As with any physical activity, please consult your doctor first if you have any doubts about your medical readiness for training or if you have not had a regular medical check-up for a while.
How often should I train?
If you come along to one 90-minute training session about once a week, that is a great start. If you come to an average of two 90-minute training sessions per week, you will find that Krav Maga techniques ‘click’ in to place more quickly as the body starts to experience the advantages of increased fitness, spatial awareness, repetition and muscle memory. If you come to an average of three 90-minute sessions per week you will see rapid Krav Maga progress and a significant increase in your fitness. The purpose of our ‘Unlimited’ memberships, is to give you maximum opportunities to train regularly. That way you can train often and flexibly even when your schedule is busy and changeable.
Where are your training locations?
We have excellent, accessible training locations across South London. Our full training schedule, location maps and addresses can found by clicking on this link.
Is there public transport and can I park at the training locations?
Our training locations have free street parking or free onsite parking during our training times and all have excellent access to public transport.
Do you have belt levels and gradings at Eitan Krav Maga?
Yes, we do. They are not mandatory and you can train and progress happily without ever needing to grade for a belt. However, for those who would like to track their progress to a clearly defined global curriculum and who wish to have their skills tested and assessed we have 7 belt grades from white belt to black black (1st Darga).
What is the FEKM-UK?
Eitan Krav Maga, our instructors and our students, are proud members of the FEKM-UK – the UK Sector of the European Federation of Krav Maga. The Head Office of the FEKM (in French that is the Fédération Européenne de Krav-Maga) is in Paris. Our federation’s founder is Richard Douieb (Black Belt 5th Darga) who was given the mandate to develop Krav Maga in Europe by Imi Lictenfeld (1910-1998), the founder of Krav Maga. Our federation President is Steve Schmitt. The FEKM now includes over 20,000 members in 13 countries: France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg and, more recently, Germany, Canada and Columbia. Eitan Krav Maga follows the values, technical program, teaching methodology and grading system of the FEKM. Our instructors train in Paris under the direction of Steve Schmitt & Richard Douieb on a regular basis. Our students also have the opportunity to join us for the annual FEKM Winter Course held in Paris each December/January. As a student of Eitan Krav Maga you will be registered and licenced with the FEKM-UK. You will be issued with an FEKM-UK ‘passport’ with a unique membership ID. All your Krav Maga training, gradings and instructor training courses (for those who take on the instructor journey) will be listed and certified in your FEKM-UK passport. More information on the FEKM-UK and the FEKM can be found at www.fekm-uk.com and www.krav-maga.net.
Are my Krav Maga instructors qualified?
Absolutely. All our UK instructors and our overseas visiting instructors and technical directors have completed the FEKM instructor requirements. The FEKM has defined training requirements and standards for all Krav Maga instructors. Unlike other Krav Maga associations, the FEKM instructor training program is completed over an extended period of time (years) and incorporates a number of developmental stages. Intensive training sessions in Paris with the founder of the FEKM, Richard Douieb and president Steve Schmitt, are a mandatory part of the process. In addition to personal technical excellence our instructors are also trained and examined on their ability to teach Krav Maga using the FEKM instructor methodology. Our instructor training process is rigorous, but intentionally inexpensive – it is a core value of our federation to make Krav Maga excellence accessible to as many people as possible from all walks of life. Our founder, Imi Lichtenfeld, left us this legacy so that “one may walk in peace”. All our instructors also have first aid training and specialist Martial Arts instructor insurance.
Can I become an FEKM Krav Maga instructor in the future?
Absolutely. That’s how we started too!
Are my Krav Maga instructors insured?
Yes. All FEKM Krav Maga instructors are both qualified and have specialist Martial Arts instructor insurance.
As a Krav Maga student, am I insured?
Yes. Our students who join us as club members will also be required to become members of our federation, the FEKM-UK. This is an annual membership of £40. Student martial arts insurance is included with your FEKM-UK registration. This student insurance policy is a third-party negligence policy. In other words each student’s insurance covers him/her for claims of serious, negligent injury by another insured student and vice versa. Please ensure you read the policy and consider taking out further insurance to meet your specific needs.
Is there a social side to the club?
That’s half the fun, isn’t it? Meeting like-minded people who love training, keeping fit and learning an unrivalled self-defence and combat system. We are a diverse group of people, from different countries and cultures, of all ages, women and men, different backgrounds and occupations. It would be a real shame not to have a social side to our club!