My Krav Maga Is Not Your Krav Maga.

No matter who you train with or what organisation you are with your Krav Maga will have similarities. It should be as it all was supposed to originate with the founder Imi Lichtenfeld.  It has then obviously gone through a transformation as it has been taught by his instructors and they have added in what they felt necessary, as the years progressed, based on their experiences from training with others around the globe (if they have in fact done this). No matter who you train with or who you BELONG to, if you train in a system then you should embrace other practitioners and look for the commonality and not the differences. Now keep in mind that the heads of organisations need to retain instructors and students and they have methods. One of these are changes to the syllabus, tweaks in techniques and some of these are really superfluous to actual self protection.

Self defence doesn't really take years to learn, however, often people map out that it does due to the number of techniques you have to learn and all the variables.  If you ever look at anyone who is really good, they rely on a very small skill set. Stuff that actually works the rest of the material is there to enhance your journey and to keep you training and enjoying the stuff. I like to teach the basics, the fundamentals, the elements if you like. I want to make people good quickly and not feel I have to shower them with hundreds of techniques to keep them there. If they like the gym then I hope they keep training. In the end I want everyone to better themselves and often this transcends merely the self defence side. So if you hear someone saying that's not really Krav Maga it looks more like boxing, or it looks like Kali ask them what real Krav Maga is. 

You should be able to make it fit you and your skill set not the other way around. If you have a guy who comes in and has a Karate background then are you going to make him learn from scratch. Of course you wouldn't, you would take the striking he has and add in some different footwork perhaps and some knife defence. All of a sudden you have a guy who can take care of a lot of problems. The best thing to be able to do, which most instructors and heads of organisations despise, is you thinking for yourself. Take a subject, research it and build on it. Be better than them. Why is it only in the martial arts world that people think this shouldn't be the case, however, it is widely accepted in every other profession. Dare to be different, put in the work, challenge and be the best at being yourself.

Marcus