I’m teaching a women-only krav class & am brainstorming ideas to make it more interesting.  We’re running it like a regular level 1/2 class with exercises added that focus particularly on issues women face. We’re working a lot on palm heels, elbows, and knees, to give a smaller female lots of bang for her physical buck.  Following are some other activities we’re doing or considering doing.  I’d very much appreciate any comments or suggestions y’all might have!

*Tomorrow I’m bringing to class a bunch of halved grapefruits on which to practice eye gouges.  I’ve heard it gives a decent approximation of how it might feel to the striker in real life, but mostly I’m trying to get them to cross a mental boundary by making it more “real”. 

*This week we start street clothes training - heels & skirts & shopping bags & all.

*I’ve read repeatedly that when experiencing an adrenaline surge people can’t dial 911.  They either repeatedly dial 411 or forget to punch the “call” button after the numbers, or they’re shaking too hard to function.  So I’m thinking we’ll do a hard stress drill, then make them run quickly to their (turned off) cell phones & have them dial 911.

*Since women are often grabbed from behind we’ve been working on just turning in with a very hard elbow or side/back hammerfist, then once they’ve really got that we’ll add more combatives.

*Every woman I know is wary when alone in a parking lot, so we’ll be working out there.

*I’d like to do some version of John Whitman’s “decide right now where is your line that must not be crossed” talk, and practice opening strikes.  Making that decision in class that day saved my behind a few months later, so I think its a crucial element, but I don’t want to mangle it.  Not sure yet, how we’ll introduce it.

We have every fitness level in class from athletes to the *extremely* out of shape, but every one of them is game & has an awesome attitude.  So that’s it!  Comments, questions, concerns?

That all sounds very good.  I’ve done the grapefruit/orange eye gouge and it’s messy, but fun.  Also teaches you to aim the eye strike correctly.  If you have a BOB Bag, you could also practice eye gouges on it.

Street clothes training and going outside, to the parking lot, dark streets, dumpsters, stairs etc are all my personal favorite.  Those are the places you might get attacked and it’s a lot scarier (as well as realistic) to train in those areas.  If you can, have them work out there at night, too, when it’s dark and cold, even when it rains on occasion and in their street clothes.  If they wear high heels and tight jeans, have them wear them to class, so they can feel how much harder it is to move and fight in them (and then find solutions for how to handle that problem).

You could also train them to recognize and use improvised weapons, stuff lying around, or even their keys and purse, even if it’s just to distract the attacker for a moment, then punch, elbow, knee.

Calling 911 under stress is a good exercise, too.  You could also have them practice getting out their keys and opening their car door/house door under stress (in case someone is following them, they are trying to get inside for safety - hard to find the key hole when you are shaking and scared, you may drop the key etc.)

Talking about awareness and the pre-contact phase is crucial as well.

Even though it’s a ladies only class, I wonder if you should bring in some guys to play the attackers.  If not right away, maybe during a drill, as a surprise.  They walk around a dark corner, now a guy bear hugs them and tries to drag them away, making it much harder for them to defend.  At some point, they will have to get used to defending against big guys, because they are the ones posing the biggest threat to them.

How about multiple attacker situations?  A group of guys, surrounding a girl, intimidating her.  How could she get out of that situation without fighting and, if she has to, what would be the best strategy to create an opening and get away?

Wow, excellent suggestions, Alex!  We have a creepy dumpster right outside our school that we can use.  Maybe I can have them walk by it & sometimes I, or the other teacher, jumps out & attack them, and sometimes we don’t.  It makes people much more nervous if they’re not sure what’s going to happen.  Same with getting into the car.

You know, I’ve thought quite a bit about having a guy come in to be an attacker.  Thought about having him come into the class suddenly & attack me hard & I have to fight him off.  Lots of ladies still don’t seem to believe its possible for them, so I thought it would help them to see it, plus get the adrenaline up high the next time he walks in the room.  Especially if I can use him during drills. The thing that’s held me back is that I know a few of the ladies in the class have been attacked, which is why they came to us in the first place. I don’t want to traumatize anyone who is struggling to get over being assaulted. 

So the challenge is to make it as real as possible for the ladies who are good to go, without scaring the less able or ready ladies so much that they leave.

I love the idea of not knowing what’s coming - I once suggested something akin to a KM obstacle course, having one student walk through a large parking garage, while the other students are hiding behind pillars, cars and such.  Then the student could walk through the garage, on a predetermined path, and be attacked in various ways, choke, bear hug, or also more advanced techniques for more advanced students, such as gun threats.  Along the way, there would be stretches where there would be no one present at all and, other times, fellow students could come up to the defender and simply ask for the time, or for directions - then move on.  So the student would not always be attacked and could not just start throwing combatives at anyone approaching, much as would be the case in real life.  We never actually did this, although we went to the garage a few times just to train.  I like the idea of KM obstacle courses, though.  Anything that makes things more realistic.  If your class is not too big, it may also be easier to organize such a thing and assure every student gets to go through it at least once. 

Another thing I remember doing as a student in LV1, many, many years ago, was going for a run outside with the teacher and the whole class, once around the block, as a warm-up.  Then, being tired, we had to run through a side door back into the building, thereby briefly entering a classroom where a LV3 class was being held.  The classroom was kind of dark and I didn’t think anything of it, just wanted to walk through and get back to my own classroom, so I could rest from the run ( I was quite out of breath).  Suddenly, without any warning at all, one of the students in the room grabbed me and choked me.  I was totally surprised, but defended, and as soon as I was done, another came in, put me in a headlock and so on.  Apparently, our teacher had told the LV3 students in advance that we would be coming through and they had agreed to put us through some surprise attacks while we were tired.  I was the first one in that room and so I had no idea what would be coming.  That was a great exercise, but even then I had that KM determination and remember thinking: “I should go after their leader and kill him, confusing the remaining attackers!”  Unfortunately, their leader was Amir Perets, 230 pound Israeli Special Forces guy…

Trying to add the element of surprise is always a good thing.  Of course, if some of your students have been attacked in real life, you might have to scale it down a little at first.  Although, in the end, the “attackers” in KM are really nice fellow students and fighting them is great preparation for fighting an actual attacker in the street.  If you don’t think they are ready yet to fight a male attacker on their own, having a guy attack you may be a good idea, as it will get their confidence up to see you execute the technique against him.  I think it’s crucial for smaller women to see students/teachers of their own size fighting larger opponents.  If all of the teachers are big guys, the smaller female might get the impression that KM will only work for larger people and that strength is required to successfully make a certain defense, even if that’s not the case.  Of course, you can always point out that strength isn’t necessary to complete a certain move, but they may not truly believe it until they actually see a person of their own size successfully make the defense.

BTW, we have a creepy dumpster at our school, too, once we did knife and gun defenses there.  Much harder to defend when you are trapped between the dumpster and the wall and can’t back up either and there is stuff lying all over the ground.  Plus, it’s just a nice, creepy atmosphere, much scarier than the pleasant, well-lit gym.

You are a freaking genius.  We are totally doing the obstacle course in the parking lot!  I’ll tell you how it goes.  I can’t wait!

Really?  Cool!!  Where are you?  Texas?  Wished I were there, this should be fun…  BTW, you can also have one of the people in the garage ask for the time first, then suddenly attack, when the defender is distracted.  So, you just never know what will happen.  Sometimes the person is friendly, sometimes he isn’t.  Oh, and if one of your students actually has a car parked along the way, he could even try to push the defender into it, the way a real attacker might do.  Anything to make it more realistic.

Good luck and tell me how it goes!

We did the eye jabs to the grapefruit today.  Man, those things were juicy & we were all covered in grapefruit by the end of it.  It was interesting to see them hesitate & be a little nervous before they began to strike & then start going crazy after a couple of strikes.  A few ladies poked holes all the way through their grapefruit!

I told the other instructor about the obstacle course.  She thinks its a great idea, but wants to wait a few more weeks, until the beginner ladies have more confidence & will go harder.  She’s right.  Same with the guy coming in to attack me.  A few of the students are still dealing with the after-effects of being assaulted, I’d rather wait & be sure they’re ready then have them quit because they were overwhelmed by something we did in class. 

Yeah, I thought about trying to drag them into my car during the obstacle course, we’ll see if that’s going to be feasible once we get the thing set up.  I’d also like, early on, to have someone standing there, maybe texting or something like that, and as soon as the student passes them they start to walk behind them.  Nobody likes that!  Maybe they attack or maybe they are just walking to their car.  I think I’d like to do the course myself first, to make sure its really good to go.  We start street clothes training the day after tomorrow.

Yes, we’re in Austin.  I love this town!

not sure if its krav, but can vouch for the effectiveness of ear slaps. but you have to be extremely careful training them…better slapping the shoulders for training…easy to break the drum and they will screw up the balance very easily

Yes, ear slaps can be very disorienting.  Although, if there’s a choice, a good groin kick or eye gouge may give stronger results?

The grapefruit thing can get messy, but I always notice that most students really like to go outside and work on these kinds of things.  Makes sense, though, to wait with the obstacle course until they are more proficient with their defenses.  Here is a video that shows guys from KM Hungary training, first on a bus and then outside, which is very cool, then, at about 2:30 of the video, you can see one guy go through something akin to a KM obstacle course.  It’s edited a bit, but you can get the idea, in this case he is inside a large corridor, there are doors to the right and left, he walks through, walks into some of the rooms.  Some are empty, then there are various scenarios in other rooms.  Guy sitting at a desk, multiple attackers… also guys with shields he has to get through.  Looks like pretty cool training, basically the indoor version of a KM obstacle course:  http://noolmusic.com/my_video/urban_tactical_krav_-_maga_-_people_video.php

Might take a bit to load, but it’s worth to look at the training, also on the bus.  It’s close quarters there, so much harder to fight and sometimes the defender is seated and the attacker standing.  They do a couple of LV1 techniques there.  Of course, you may not be able to get access to a bus, but, if you wanted to train on something similar, you could still arrange seats and maybe a sofa, so people can practice these techniques from a seated position as well.  Or also go inside a stairwell.  Even though the principles of the techniques are the same in all settings, it still feels different doing them in various environments and sometimes you may need to make small adjustments to the technique or the counters, depending on where the attack takes place.

You can also do a simpler version of the drill shown at the end of the video.  We did this one time in an advanced class.  One student had to wait outside, the door to the training room was closed, then, after a while, the student was given a signal to open the door and go inside.  Sometimes, there was an attacker right at the door, with or without weapon.  Then, there could be a second attacker, who had been hiding behind the heavy bag and a small partition, attacking while the defender was still busy fighting the first.  Or sometimes there was no second attacker, or the first attacker was elsewhere in the room.  One time, the defender was told which attack he would face upon entering the room.  It was rifle, right by the door, and so the defender did that a few times.  Then he had to wait outside, but the instructor - unbeknownst to the student outside - had the attacker switch weapons.  Now he had a knife instead of a rifle and, of course, upon entering the room, the poor student was pretty much stabbed to pieces while trying to defend a non-existent rifle.  Was a good learning experiment, though.  NEVER be sure of anything.

So, even if you don’t have a large corridor and many rooms as the guys did in the video, you can still work on these things on a smaller scale (and adjust them to LV1 and LV2 material).  But entering a room and not knowing what’s coming once again feels very different from just practicing the defense next to a dozen other students with loud music playing.  It’s much less predictable that way,  And, of course, you can also turn down the light, to make it even harder.  This whole thing could simulate being in your home and hearing noises, fearing there might be an intruder and then walking into different rooms to check it out.  Oh and, as an experiment, you could even have scary music playing inside the room (from a horror movie or such), just to see if you can freak them out a bit more.  Or have one attacker wear a scary mask.  Just anything to throw them off, but then still force them to defend.

Alex Millauer - 21 July 2009 06:33 PM

Yes, ear slaps can be very disorienting.  Although, if there’s a choice, a good groin kick or eye gouge may give stronger results?

Not sure if your asking or if this is a statement?

It may be a tough call, but I think we may on a cerebral level understand the goin kick and the eye gouge a bit more..Obviously, the groin is the first target every littlle girl is taught to aim for…a lotta bang for your buck there….cool..double meaning i managed to get a dirty comment in on a women’s SD topic LOL..Sorry, wasn’t meant that way

Ear isn’t quite so obvious of a target and is accessable in frount grab or rape type mount as head lowers. Its doesn’t take much of a shot to break the eardrums. I got dropped by a very lite double slap by a uncoordinated aggressive noob. he broke his next partners eardrum. Truth is he did not hit him that hard, very lite slap….looked pretty painful

Groin and eyes are expected targets, ears not so much

I suppose it was neither, I was just sort of pondering… : )

I know the ears are good targets.  I also know someone who got hit in the ear and whose eardrum burst.  Apparently, the punch was painful, but not disorienting and the true damage did not become apparent until a few days later, when the ear became infected.

I suppose for maximum effect a double ear strike would be best, but I’m wondering if it would take a bit more precision than a groin or eye strike.  Also, from a KM point of view, you are always trying to deal with the danger first and give an immediate counterattack whenever possible.  So, if a guy is choking you, for example, your hands would be free to strike the ears, but, in KM, you would rather use the hands to defend the immediate danger (the choke), then use the leg to kick the groin at the same time as the defense is made.  Or, if someone grabs you in a bear hug, you would use the hands to push against the attacker’s hips, keeping him back, so he can’t get in close to lift you or dump you.  Then use knees to the groin.  If he’s close already, you can dig into the eyes and jaw to make leverage and peel his face sideways (or forward), making it impossible for him to lift you. If you were to hit the ears instead, you might hurt him, but he may still be able to take you down and then you are in a worse position and he might get a chance to recover and then retaliate.

I do think the ear strike is a good weapon, though, and would always keep it in my arsenal.  Maybe to use it as a secondary counter, or to distract, if it’s right there, easy and quick to do, then go to another counter after that.

Double strike as its concussive as well as pressurized….all targets are of opportunity and simplicity…Mr Whitmans krav book tells a story about Imi saying if it ain’t simple people won’t use it.

I was thinking the other day about all these techs I’ve seen for front grabs…when 3 fingers to the throat will end it

Miss Parker, both Alex and John know me from online for a number of years. I’m not an instructor, nor do i do krav, so take my posts with a grain of salt.. I claim no expertise

Hey, Miss Parker, have you tried out any of the drills yet?  How is it going?

Miss Parker - 19 July 2009 02:14 PM

I’m teaching a women-only krav class & am brainstorming ideas to make it more interesting.  We’re running it like a regular level 1/2 class with exercises added that focus particularly on issues women face. We’re working a lot on palm heels, elbows, and knees, to give a smaller female lots of bang for her physical buck.  Following are some other activities we’re doing or considering doing.  I’d very much appreciate any comments or suggestions y’all might have!

*Tomorrow I’m bringing to class a bunch of halved grapefruits on which to practice eye gouges.  I’ve heard it gives a decent approximation of how it might feel to the striker in real life, but mostly I’m trying to get them to cross a mental boundary by making it more “real”. 

*This week we start street clothes training - heels & skirts & shopping bags & all.

*I’ve read repeatedly that when experiencing an adrenaline surge people can’t dial 911.  They either repeatedly dial 411 or forget to punch the “call” button after the numbers, or they’re shaking too hard to function.  So I’m thinking we’ll do a hard stress drill, then make them run quickly to their (turned off) cell phones & have them dial 911.

*Since women are often grabbed from behind we’ve been working on just turning in with a very hard elbow or side/back hammerfist, then once they’ve really got that we’ll add more combatives.

*Every woman I know is wary when alone in a parking lot, so we’ll be working out there.

*I’d like to do some version of John Whitman’s “decide right now where is your line that must not be crossed” talk, and practice opening strikes.  Making that decision in class that day saved my behind a few months later, so I think its a crucial element, but I don’t want to mangle it.  Not sure yet, how we’ll introduce it.

We have every fitness level in class from athletes to the *extremely* out of shape, but every one of them is game & has an awesome attitude.  So that’s it!  Comments, questions, concerns?

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