[Sociology] "If we fuck up, we fuck up....?" "AGGRESSIVELY!"
Hello, Seattle! Tonight I finally made it down to Krav Maga Seattle to determine if they were a reasonable place to refer my friends who have inquired about self defense. Indeed, they are. Krav has a specific philosophy -- basically, harder, faster, more, fight fight fight never stop fighting. (See subject line.) They are all-around aggressive -- they will push you to not just take the trial class, but to sign up. Not just to sign up, but to go several times a week. Not just to go, but to get in the best physical shape of your life, which they will be more than happy to assist you with. So if your goal is basically "Become A Martial Artist As Fast As Possible" and you are willing to work hard at it, I can now recommend Krav Maga Seattle. They ran me around for an hour and they had maybe thirty people in their class, all running and yelling and fighting at drill-sergeant volume (part of their training is, they want their stuff to work when you are tired and winded and stressed out), and no one got injured. No one even seemed unhappy. Good job, Krav Maga Seattle! There were a reasonable number of women there, maybe 30%. The class is mostly but not entirely younger folks, twenties to forties. So, in short, if your self-defense level of desired investment is "I want to take a class once and then be done", go to a Rory Miller weekend seminar the next time he's in your area. If you are able-bodied and willing to go train regularly, consider Krav. If you are not able-bodied, talk to me about your body and your intentions -- I can recommend other things. If you are considering a firearm, talk to me/see previous post on that topic to figure out if that's going to match your lifestyle and threat model.
Krav and I have some philosophical differences -- I think the instructor could benefit from a seminar on the legal aspects of self defense. (You cannot keep kicking someone once they're down if you can't justify it as being in active fear for your life. If they're down and pointing a gun at you, that looks a lot different than if they're unarmed and you just KO'd them, and now you're still kicking. In that second one, you go to jail too. To broad-brush it, you want it to be crystal clear to everyone who the aggressor was, and that you exited the fight as soon as you could safely do so. To fine-brush it, go take a Rory Miller seminar.) Our verbal de-escalations are different. I'm less aggressive before it's a fight and after it's a fight. But for empty-hand or generic weapon, if you are serious and willing to work hard, they're pretty good.
It turns out that one of the instructors there is a New Orleans expat, and was one of Mayhem's favorite instructors at his Krav school down there. Ha! Small martial arts world. I got home and debriefed Mayhem on my evening.
Raven: "...so I spent an hour hitting things, as you can see." [proudly displays bruised knuckles, aka I should have brought hand wraps] "Mostly in the right places!"
Mayhem: "Do you feel better now?"
Raven: "...wow, I really do. Ahahaha. I didn't even think about it, but yeah."
Mayhem: "I've met you."
Endorphins are love. (I'm fine, I'm just running triage on a bunch of other peoples' problems at the moment and boy there are a lot of them. Beating up an innocent kick bag really reset my Pollyanna meter, though. :) Eeyore --> Rosie the Riveter! We can do it!) I don't know why weightlifting works, yoga works, martial arts works, but running makes me hate everything... but I'll take the good parts of that and, er, run with 'em.
Your martial arts questions can go here, if you have them! There are many experienced martial artists reading, so you can get lots of perspectives, too, not just mine.
This entry was originally posted at http://ivy.dreamwidth.org/580462.html and has
comments there. Please feel free to comment on either site; comments rock.
Krav and I have some philosophical differences -- I think the instructor could benefit from a seminar on the legal aspects of self defense. (You cannot keep kicking someone once they're down if you can't justify it as being in active fear for your life. If they're down and pointing a gun at you, that looks a lot different than if they're unarmed and you just KO'd them, and now you're still kicking. In that second one, you go to jail too. To broad-brush it, you want it to be crystal clear to everyone who the aggressor was, and that you exited the fight as soon as you could safely do so. To fine-brush it, go take a Rory Miller seminar.) Our verbal de-escalations are different. I'm less aggressive before it's a fight and after it's a fight. But for empty-hand or generic weapon, if you are serious and willing to work hard, they're pretty good.
It turns out that one of the instructors there is a New Orleans expat, and was one of Mayhem's favorite instructors at his Krav school down there. Ha! Small martial arts world. I got home and debriefed Mayhem on my evening.
Raven: "...so I spent an hour hitting things, as you can see." [proudly displays bruised knuckles, aka I should have brought hand wraps] "Mostly in the right places!"
Mayhem: "Do you feel better now?"
Raven: "...wow, I really do. Ahahaha. I didn't even think about it, but yeah."
Mayhem: "I've met you."
Endorphins are love. (I'm fine, I'm just running triage on a bunch of other peoples' problems at the moment and boy there are a lot of them. Beating up an innocent kick bag really reset my Pollyanna meter, though. :) Eeyore --> Rosie the Riveter! We can do it!) I don't know why weightlifting works, yoga works, martial arts works, but running makes me hate everything... but I'll take the good parts of that and, er, run with 'em.
Your martial arts questions can go here, if you have them! There are many experienced martial artists reading, so you can get lots of perspectives, too, not just mine.
This entry was originally posted at http://ivy.dreamwidth.org/580462.html and has
comments there. Please feel free to comment on either site; comments rock.