I recently ran across this article: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0…
It states Krav Maga is this huge fad, something I have heard for years from other martial artists. The article goes on to state it is offered in many mainstream gyms citing David Barton’s network of gyms. Yet I cannot seem to find 1 mainstream fitness gym in my area that offers it, yet most offer a boxing class that ‘fundamentally sound and realistic'(their words not mine). Even when researching David Bartons gyms it seems only his Miami location offers Krav, though all offer a boxing class similar to whats described above.
I did some Google Trends searches. In one it is absolutely eclipsed by the more traditional martial art of Karate, traditional fitness routine of Yoga, and even the legitimate flash in the pan fitness fad Zumba: http://www.google.com/trends?q=Krav+Maga…
Even when I researched it against other currently popular martial arts it doesn’t show any real difference in popularity compared with Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, or Tae Kwon Do : http://www.google.com/trends?q=Krav+Maga…
So how popular is it really outside of the martial arts community? I don’t see it really having the mainstream appeal everyone is claiming it has. Is it’s popularity just Hollywood smoke in mirrors and an over statement by our niche community, or am I just missing something?
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Realistically How Big Of A Fad Is Krav Maga?
Posted on December 1, 2010.
Krav Maga isn’t a fad, its not beautiful so people dont call it enough of an art for it to be a huge Martial iart, its ruthless and made to kill.
Krav Maga is a close hand to hand combat fighting style. It was not created to be a “sport” but rather a way to train people (Israeli soldiers originally) to effectively fight in close quarters. It teaches the student to disarm attackers in any situation (gun, knife, etc) and to disable the person, even kill them. Police forces all over the US are trained in Krav Maga.
So to answer your question, it IS popular, just not in the mainstream martial arts community. This is mainly due to the fact that is is not a “sport” and instructors tend not to want to teach just anyone how to maim their opponents. This is a style that is no hold barred, advocating techniques such as eye gouges, etc.
It’s probably as big a fad as karate, Taekwondo, ninjutsu, and every other martial art that reached a level of popularity at some point. One of my roommates signed up at ATA just for their KM program (he’s since left them). A guy in my stats class also takes KM. Like everything I listed above, it will gradually become just one more martial art program that only serious people will stick with.
It would be awesome if more people who actually studied Krav spoke about it, and the people who have never had a thing to do with it other than fanboyhood kept quiet about it.
Is it a huge fad? Not really.. not compared to say BJJ and MMA, or “Grappling” in general as far as popularity of Martial Arts or people seeking classes.
In the Martial Arts community or even in the Martial Arts fan community, it is definately prominent. Mainly because someone who watched fight science or read one or two articles in Black Belt magazine think that it is “Ruthless and Designed to kill”.
It is the modern day “Ninjutsu” in the fact 10 years ago people would say the same things about Ninjutsu that they are saying about Krav today…”it’s completely ruthless and only meant to kill”.
The people saying it were mainly ignorant of any training in it, other than some mythological idea of it. The same is with Krav Maga currently.
It’s a Martial Arts fad, but not something the average person knows much about, if at all. Now the average fanboy of martial arts, guys with little to no training but think they know alot about Martial Arts will spout it’s virtues to high heaven.
The guys who have actually trained in it, can tell you a far different picture.
Smoke in mirrors. There is nothing mystical or magical about fighting. Effective striking, take downs, positioning, submissions. A submission in a real situation means the person is incapacited or about to be. Eye gouging, fish hooking etc. is a hand and arm that isn’t fighting for position, which is more important than trying to cause some cosmetic damage.
I believe, in some ways, it is a fad in much the same way as Kempo or Kung Fu was a few decades ago. But that does not mean that it is not effective. Some of the X-fitness/Krav Maga facilities appeal to a certain “fad-based” clientele, but it is not accurate to compare those kinds of places with facilities that teach actual Krav Maga.
A lot of the heat has dissipated from Krav Maga over the last few years.
Also, Krav Maga, by its very nature is not going to have mainstream appeal. I’ve seen lots of people come in to where I train THINKING they want to learn Krav Maga after watching or reading something on it, but after one or two visits they’ve had enough. Most people just don’t have the wherewithal to subject themselves to that kind of training on a regular basis.