This is a podcast hosted by Krav Maga practitioner, Instructor and philosopher Jonathan Fader and sometimes his partner in crime Borhan Jiang. Warriors Den is where local Martial Artists, Soldiers, Law Enforcement or any other person we might consider a warrior sits down to talk about martial arts, life, politics and anything else we want to talk about. This podcast is based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Urban Tactics Krav Maga Inc. and Urban Tactics Studios
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: September 26, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
Krav Maga is unique compared to other martial arts for its practicality. In order to be a better warrior and fighter, I also occasionally train in other martial arts styles, many of which use traditional training methods involving practicing Katas or forms. To a Kravist, this seems boring and impractical.
Once, when I was practicing another martial art for several months, one particular instructor helped me to realize the purpose of Katas. Other instructors simply taught the movements required for the Kata, whereas this instructor broke down each part of the Kata and showed how they would be used in a real life situation. Katas represent a sequence of movements against a particular line of attacks. For example, if someone is grabbing your wrist, you can use a specific Kata to react, pull your wrist away, and move into a follow up position.
The existence of Katas is logical, however their modern application is nonsense. Many instructors simply teach students how to do Katas, have the students repeat the form, while failing to explain what the Kata is actually for in real life.
Focusing solely on how the fabric of the gi snaps, or the precise angles of a hand or foot, will not help people in a real fight. When you watch fight competitions, the fighters’ movements rarely reflect the forms of the particular style used.
Nevertheless, Katas have their place in the martial art world. Being meticulous and correct helps with mastering a particular sequence of movements. However, the real world application must be explained as well. For example, in this video and this video (click the links if videos below don’t load), you can see how the movement of Katas are applied in real fights.
I was prompted to understand the origin of Katas when I once found myself using footwork more natural to Karate than Krav Maga. I certainly do not have enough Karate experience to have these movements ingrained in me. However, my body simply did the movement in the way that seemed most efficient. Thus, my conclusion is that Katas were created to mimic natural movements.
The development of martial arts like Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Kendo, and so on can be traced back to many great warriors of the past, like the samurai. They would have had to learn half of their movements from training in a dojo, and the other half forged from life and death battles on the field. In their time, such warriors trained with the knowledge of an impending battle within the next few days, weeks, or months. With this expectation of a violent situation in the near future, of course warriors would want to be as close to 100% prepared as possible.
However, the problem was that training full force all the time with full contact sparring is not appropriate. If you are a martial arts or Krav Maga student, you should know that if you and your training partners use full blown strikes against each other to practice, you will be left in a state not ideal for self-defense, never mind a battle.
It is likely that Katas were developed as a softer way to practice the sequences they regularly expected in real life. This soft approach to training meant that they could continue to develop their muscle memory without the risk of injury.
Nevertheless, in modern times, most people practicing martial arts are not regularly engaging in life or death battles, and do not have the chance to go full force with their skills in the field. Thus, real experiences and application of Katas and forms are virtually non-existent, which quite often leads to a disappointing or fatal result when a real violent situation arises.
Katas are logical in the purpose for which they were created. However, exclusively using soft training and practicing forms is highly detrimental to a person who wants to learn self-defense. Without creating a realistically aggressive and chaotic environment in the classroom, through full contact sparring and other orchestrated exercises, one would not be prepared to react to those situations when the undesirable and unpredictable time comes. Repeating Katas can never replace real experience.
What once made sense, now seems foolish. What once produced warriors, now assemble well-oiled robots. Be a true warrior and train in a way that prepares you for a real life or death combat situation.
This is part 1 of a series on our instructor training program.
Our aim at Urban Tactics Krav Maga has always been to design a structured Krav Maga school allied with international Krav Maga organizations to provide traditional Israeli style training. Vancouver is a city with relatively low crime rate and a low population density. It is a very small market compared to European countries with a high population density, high GDP, and high movement between borders. In an environment which faces more chaos and turmoil, lots of enthusiastic people are willing to learn self-defense skills, whereas Vancouver is not known for its warrior culture.
Despite the geographical differences, we have managed to build a solid student body who believe in our practical Krav Maga training. As student numbers grow, we have started to nurture additional teaching staff for the school.
The Instructor Course is designed by both chief instructors at UTKM, Borhan Jiang and Jonathan Fader. We have both acquired various Krav Maga instructor certifications from IKI, IKMF, CT707, KMG, and CKMI. We are also trained in other martial arts including BJJ, Muay Thai, MMA, and Western style knife fighting. In addition, we draw real life experience from serving in both the Israeli and Canadian military, as well as private security. By combining everything we learned, we have created a dynamic training program for our assistant instructors.
The course consists of two portions: Assistant Instructor course (AIC) and Full Instructor Course (FIC). The AIC has a focus on instructional techniques and delivering our Krav Maga curriculum. The FIC focuses on leadership and management.
Once certified as an Assistant Instructor, you may teach at our school or privately under the UTKM credentials. In order to operate your own school under UTKM, you must also complete the FIC.
For a list of currently certified instructors and their ranks, please visit our UTKM team page here.
The UTKM Assistance Instructor Course is the first stage of becoming a Full Instructor under the UTKM brand. It is a post-secondary style apprenticeship program rather than just a short course like other organizations. Oftentimes, other schools host week-long courses to produce lots of “instructors” over time and also procure maximum profits. They also often end the courses with a couple handshakes, and then you are out in the teaching world alone with little support other than possible email exchanges. Some places even offer weekend instructor courses or online certification. It is an insult to serious Krav Maga practitioners around the world. Our instructor course can take between 3 months to a year to complete depending on the commitment level of each candidate.
Our instructor program is a long-term mentorship which allows us to invest in a few students per year, really cultivate their teaching skills, and provide immediate support whenever necessary (like Jedi training). It is similar to MMA or boxing, in which you get a professional coaching team with a striking coach, grappling coach, conditioning coach, head coach, and more…..to support just one fighter. We implement similar support to our assistant instructors.
Candidate Requirements:
Currently, we hand pick the candidates within our school. We get to know our students in and outside of classes (for at least 70 hours of training) before even offering them candidacy. The AIC program is a long-term commitment and we’ll be working together for many years to come, thus we are very careful who we accept.
AIC Curriculum:
FIC Curriculum:
At the time of this being published, becoming a UTKM instructor is by invite only. In addition, the FIC is still under development in order to offer the best possible education for our instructors. We will be opening it up in the future to a few applicants per year. If you are thinking about doing this in the future, please inquire by emailing Josh Hensman at info@urbantacticscanada.com.
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: September 19, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: September 12, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: September 5, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
Support UTKM by using the Hastag #Thisisutkm in all your posts, it’s kinda like #Thisissparta but REAL!!!
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: August 29, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: August 22, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
*Note: What specifically is taught in class, how it is taught, and examples used are subject to the instructor, their level and experience. These posts are not an excuse to miss class as they are only a snap view of what skills are covered this week.
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Posted: August 15, 2016 by zerlindasaurus in Weekly Curriculum
Tags: BJJ, Krav Maga, self defense, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, Urban Tactics Krav Maga, UTKM, Weekly Curriculum
