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The Bees Knees

I had the distinct pleasure of working with one of the top Black Belt Instructors from Los Angeles - Kelli Campbell- this past weekend in San Antonio (If you were wondering where we all were this past Saturday). We covered material from Yellow Belt to Blue Belt - My short but enlightening training experience contributed a lot of inspiration for this post - Enjoy

Knees! Knees!! Knees!!!

We have all heard it, thought it, or shouted the word, or all of the above (guilty) and you will still hear it! Knees are fantastic weapons - showstoppers they are! Most of our self-defense ends up with us throwing knees! And why is this - why do we ALWAYS end up throwing knees after nearly every defense?!

Could a punch in the face cause an attacker choking you to stop choking you? Sure. Can a kick to the groin and a knee to the solar plexus stop the fight? It sure could. Many of our strikes could take the fight out of any attacker and allow us to go home safe. However, in Krav Maga we don't train for the best case scenario we train for the worst. We don't train for the threat that is eliminated in 1 strike - WE TRAIN for the attacker who takes 20 strikes to bring down.
However, act of delivering knees needs to be addressed - please read on!

The Grip
You all know the good ol' side grip - we use this position because, again, most of our self defense techniques allow to conveniently end up here, however, it also puts us in a position where I am only fighting HALF of my attackers body (unlike the Thai clinch). It also allows for a much faster disengagement if needed. Further, we are in a better position to move faster to the outside and behind our opponent. More on that in a bit. So now that you know why we use side grip, let's talk about what your arms are doing!

The Arms
You know where to grip - just above the elbow grabbing the tricep and the other hand drapes down their chest, arm at 90 degrees, elbow down, and your hand grabbing the shirt or skin (more painful) at the shoulder. The problem that I see the most and something that I have harped about in class for the past couple of months has been the collapsing or extension of the 90 degree bend in your arm that is against your attacker.
Look at Caleb in the picture below:

His elbow is down and he's keeping at 90 degrees. This is one of the utmost important parts of this combative. If the arm is to extended you are vulnerable for the attacker to shoot in and under your arms. If you collapse it, they can wrap you up. YOU ARE STRONG AT 90!

Pulling Down
I know we always emphasize pulling your attackers down into, but what if they are much larger than you - a problem for females and small guys like myself. Pulling them down may not work, you just may not be able to to do it which is where the hips come in. If your hips are engaged and traveling forward INTO your attacker (like we tell you to ^_^ ) then pulling them down onto your knee is not necessary to land the strike - pulling an attacker down onto your knee is a bonus and adds some impact to your knee but be aware, in Level 1 we are compliant attackers. In upper levels and in the streets, do not expect your attacker to be so accommodating to your knees ^_^

Moving Off Angle
We love moving off angle in Krav Maga. Let me repeat: We LOVE moving off angle in Krav Maga. If I am square with my attacker the fight odds are even. If I am in side grip, my advantage is better. If I am to his side? Even better. Behind him? The best! Let's be honest, knees are a very comfortable solution to ending a threat. When we can't think of what to do or we mess up, we burst in for knees! However, we can be a little bit too gratuitous with our knees. Again, the scumbag on the street won't be as compliant as your partners in level 1 are. Do you really think he is just going to allow you to pluck and then deliver non-stop knees?! Hell no! He's going to do whatever he can to stop such pain!

We can defend all day but striking ends the fight. However, we are more vulnerable when we are striking because in order to strike we must leave our defensive position for a split second.

When we deliver knees note the position of the attackers hands:

Nice knee! Now what do you think will happen the next couple of times? His hands will go to where the pain is, his mid-section, and after a couple more hits it is human instinct to stop the pain which would naturally be to wrap up the next knee and you literally give it to him on a silver platter! So we move off angle -

Caleb recoils the leg after the initial strikes:


He proceeds to take a slight step off angle - now note the orientation of the attacker to the defender - there is nothing but air directly in front of the attacker


Another angle:


Special Delivery!


Incorporate this movement into your training, please! It will make you a much more effective practitioner! Always be moving, don't throw knees to the mid section all day, not only is it boring, but it's a bad habit! And for those of you who think you're bored with some of the Level 1 defenses, now try incorporating this, it should make it more challenging! When you are counter attacking, strike to the groin, the face, the groin, the body, then back to the face! Just mix it up! What you strike with is up to you, your entire body is a weapon

Move! Move! Move! and MIX. IT. UP.


(Got questions or comments? Leave them in the comments section or feel free to email me at: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))

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