Q: How fit do I have to be?

To start Krav Maga, you need to have normal mobility and average flexibility. Krav Maga is intense, but we will work with you according to where you are at.

​

Q: What do I wear?

Every session you will need 2x freshly washed t-shirts plus pants/cargo/tracksuit. A pair of good runners/cross-trainers are also essential. If you are a club member, we ask you to wear the club t-shirt and bring a spare t-shirt to every session.

 

Q: Do I need any protective equipment?

For beginners, you will need to purchase hand wraps, groin guard and mouth guard. These are available at Rebel Sports.

​

For intermediates, you'll need 16oz boxing gloves, grapping gloves, head-guard with grill, forearm guards and Thai shin guards.

​

For 'Intensive Course' participants, you are required to have equipment such as 16oz boxing gloves, head guard with grill, groin guard, shin guards and forearm guards - which is included in the course fees.

​

Q: I don't like violence, will this encourage violence?

Krav Maga was designed to neutralise violence. We do not encourage violence. However, the point is survival and getting home. This means you will need to be willing to apply aggressive force during your training. We will teach you how to neutralise a violent situation, not start one.

​

Q: What kind of people will I be training with?

Krav Maga has attracted people from all walks of life from doctors to teachers to mums to executives to police officers. In the US, Krav Maga has become very popular with certain actors and celebrities. You will train with normal folk like yourself. 

​

Q: Is it safe?

We place safety as our first priority in all our training. Avoiding injury, both in training and on the streets is one of Krav Maga's main principles. We highly stress that training is done in a safe and sensible way, which is why we use protective gear. Our safety records overseas have always been excellent, so you can rest in the fact that our instruction is top quality.

​

Q: What’s the difference between Krav Maga & other Martial Arts?

Krav Maga is an integrated system created for the military, meaning it has taken aspects of others martial arts such as kickboxing, jujitsu, wrestling and judo, and developed it for combat applications in one system. Therefore Krav Maga shares similar striking & grappling techniques with other martial arts, however what differs is our tactics, mindset and training methodology. Krav Maga is quite new, and reasonably free of tradition. It was developed in war-torn Israel for a nation's survival, not titles, medals or belts.

​

One of Krav Maga's central concepts is that techniques should flow from instinctive reactions, rather than teaching the student to master/control their natural reactions as most martial arts do. Thus Krav Maga can be learned quicker than other martial arts. Our techniques are also often trained from a position of disadvantage. You will be trained how to use the techniques under mental duress- such as when surprised, disorientated and exhausted- because such distractions are often present in dangerous confrontations. You are also taught solutions against modern weapons, and how to use common objects to defend yourself. Krav Maga training also incorporates scenario training outside the comforts of a training hall dojo.

​

Most traditional martial arts often involve practicing forms (katas), rituals, traditions, rules, sport point scoring and may contain techniques that have not been tested in today's world. Krav Maga was designed to be learnt relatively quickly - soldiers don't have much time to learn hand to hand combat - and must be kept simple to solve as many problems as possible in the field. We use modern methods of training as used in the Israeli armed forces, addressing modern day threats such as firearms and terrorism.

​

Q: What’s the difference between PROTECT KRAV MAGA and other Krav Maga associations?

TSKM Academy is affiliated under Protect Krav Maga (PKM) by Major Itay Gil (IDF Counter-Terror Unit Chief Instructor). PKM is an evolution of the Krav Maga system created by Imi Lichtenfeld, incorporating more updated tactics and concepts developed by Major Itay Gil. Many professionals recognise PKM as without question, the most battle-tested form of Krav Maga training available - direct from IDF's Special Forces unit YAMAM. While serving in this elite Israeli Counter-Terror Police Unit, Itay Gil discovered some of the traditional Krav Maga techniques taught were ineffective in reality during the many security operations made by their team. Certain threats required new tactics. It is with these new tactics developed by Itay for the elite Counter-Terror Unit, mixed together with Imi Lichtenfeld's Krav Maga system, that makes PKM much more effective.

​

TSKM Academy made an informed decision to affiliate with PKM back in 2007 when we began to understand that techniques must work against a fully resistant partner and not just in impressive choreographed demos. We have great respect for all variations of Krav Maga, but we began to realise certain large civilian Krav Maga organisations often teach techniques that have not been tested under actual combat situations, and have superfluous techniques that are not taught in the military. In our search for authentic Krav Maga, we saw the hardcore way PKM trains and we were impressed. PKM follows the hardcore pragmatic military approach and have removed from the system many unnecessary techniques, so you won't have to make split second decisions on how to defend when under pressure. 

​

We avoid issues of politics and are only interested in what works. An excellent sign of any system's integrity is in seeing what the leaders of the system is doing. Itay focuses on training security professionals and keeping a low profile, as demonstrated by his work with the Israeli Counter-Terror units as seen on History Channel's TV Show 'The Human Weapon'.

​

Q: Do I need previous experience for Krav Maga training?

No you do not. Krav Maga can be picked up by anyone willing to work hard. If you have previous martial arts experience, that's great and you can come and apply what you already know to the Krav Maga framework.

​

Q: Am I too old?

Only you can decide that. Krav Maga was designed for young soldiers as well as reserves in their 50's. We have students in their 60's training happily with us. Come check out a training session and make your own mind up.

​

Q: Do you offer children/youth classes?

Our normal weekly classes is now open to adults and mature-minded teenagers 15+. Women's class is 13+. Teens will need parents to sign consent and waiver forms. It is preferable that a parent trains along with the teen for safety and supervision.

​

Q: What if I have a health problem?

If you have any health issues, we recommend you consult your doctor before training. Let us know what your issue is and we can tell you whether it will affect your training or not. If you have an injury or joint problem, see your doctor first.

​

Q: Do you train full contact? What if I don't want to train full contact?

Full contact training is a part of Tactical Survival Krav Maga. In Tactical Survival Krav Maga we encourage both men and women to train in 'pressure drills' with full safety protective gear against resisting training partners, so that you can learn to function under stress. This will ensure our training prepares you for reality as much as possible. Remember though, Krav Maga is not a competitive sport (e.g Kickboxing, BJJ or MMA). Although we incorporate some of the concepts from these sports, we are ultimately not aiming to train sport fighters for a ring, so competitive 'sparring' is not what we are really about. We do train full contact sparring, but the emphasis is on self-defense, which is about surviving a real life incident, neutralizing the attack and removing yourself quickly or controlling the situation. 

​

Q: Can I grade?

In the military, Krav Maga is not about attaining levels, ranks, belts or grades. So in Tactical Survival Krav Maga we don't give belts like traditional martial arts. We do however have a gradable syllabus of Level 1 - Level 10. Grading merely occurs to allow a student to move onto the next unit, to train along others who are equally experienced. Level 10 students is the equivalent of a 'black belt'. Grades, belts, titles and ranks ultimately do not prove that you can defend yourself in real life. When you successfully pass a level, we will give you a Tactical Survival Krav Maga Certificate of Level Completion. This is an official record of the training hours you have undertaken, which can open doors for you to do other courses overseas.

​

Q: Why an Israeli system? What about Palestine?

As a business we are non-political and take no sides in the complex Israeli/Palestinian debate. We teach Krav Maga because it works. Due to Israel's situation in the mid-east, Israel has acquired experience in combat unlike many other nations. In an environment of having to face the threat of terror on a daily basis, their military and security groups have had to think outside the box to come up with solutions for very complex problems. The result is that as a nation they have developed highly innovative training in all areas of security, unmatched in most parts of the world, including self defense.