Why Having No Rules Is Not The End All Be All
Krav Maga does not have competitions. It is not for sport. There are no rules. It is a survival-based self defense system.
Many people view other martial arts, like kickboxing or jiu jitsu as sport, and immediately discard them. They have rules and they are only for sport. They view them as less intense or less realistic than Krav Maga, and therefore ineffective for self-defense.
But for anyone who has competed in a martial art, the need to defend yourself against someone who is trying to hurt you, is very real.
Too many times people talk in hypothetical. The difficult part of Krav Maga is that many techniques are practiced static, and cannot be tested in a “real” scenario. You can do drills where you are surprised. But you are not going to actually gouge out the eyes of your opponent. You are not going to hit the soft targets as hard as you can. Maybe against a red man, but then any reaction from the attacker will be fake.
This is why sparring is important.
When a fighter trains for a fight, they train physically, technically, and mentally. They train for hours every day to prepare for this fight.
Krav Maga is different, because we train hoping to never need to use what we learn in a real-life context.
What can we take from sport martial arts?Winning mindset. Win at all costs. Persistence. Resilience. Grit.
And these are all necessary to survive in a self-defense situation.
Don’t write off other martial arts because there are rules. These are to allow people to compete at a high level without completely killing each other. But trust me, getting punched in the head still hurts. And the ability to stay in the fight, use your skills, and beat an opponent are invaluable tools. In Krav Maga and in life.