Greg F fighting Josh Hensman in Krav Maga sparing
During the past year and a half that I have been practicing Krav Maga, I’ve invested my time to learn the proper techniques and apply the principles that we learn practicing Krav Maga at UTKM. While I feel that Krav Maga is a complete system, overall I realized that there are more styles and methods to learn that could benefit my development. This idea led me to pursue training at Contenders boxing in Vancouver. Lucky for me at the time they offered a 2-week trial program, perfect for entry-level boxing. 
While boxing and Krav Maga are totally different practices in their respect, I felt the training I have done thus far with UTKM made the movements and techniques of boxing easier to understand and adjust to. By no means was it easy, training in Krav Maga allowed me to understand and follow instructions properly. That being said, I was humbled by how intensely my body was beat up after that first day! The intensity of boxing, even at this level, definitely proves just how athletic and agile boxers have to be in order to excel. Over the course of the two weeks I adjusted to the progression and each day felt like a new technique was taught. One of the key points emphasized is how important footwork and stance is in fighting. Krav Maga applies this principle in a similar way. Both styles emphasize being light on the feet, allowing a fighter to make quick movements without sacrificing balance. Having a solid stance with the ability to move around gives the fighter many options to overtake an attacker or opponent and push forward. Boxing technique focuses more on moving in on an opponent while delivering a series of combinations and resetting. This forces the fighter to be aware of their body positioning in and around the opponent. The area I observed which differentiated boxing from my Krav Maga training was the endurance factor. Drill time was highly focused on fighting endurance during many of the boxing sessions. I didn’t leave one training session without feeling like I had been pushed to the limit… At UTKM, we focus mainly on technique rather than fighting endurance. The difference here is that boxers are built to endure multiple 3-minute rounds of boxing, whereas Krav Maga is designed to maximize movements and finish the job in as little time as possible. The takeaway from my experiment was that proficiency in one fighting system does not guarantee the same level in another. It may be easier to make adjustments and refine movements, but it definitely takes more than a couple of weeks to fully understand what you are learning. For those of you interested in building a solid foundation to supplement your Krav Maga, I would highly recommend cross training with another fighting system. Being well balanced will definitely improve your abilities as a kravist. There are so many martial arts in the world that your possibilities are endless, do some research and take the next step towards developing your talents.
Written by: Greg F