Krav Maga Chania part 1

My father retired out to Crete in about 1997 and for the last few years I have paid him a visit in the summers, having a wonderful yet usually booze-fuelled time in the sun kissed, beach paradise that is Plakias.

Last year I thought about training with a Greek Krav club while on holiday but the nearest one was on the mainland in Athens.

This year I was more fortunate as Dimitris Kontekakis recently converted from Pure Krav Maga to KMG in November 2014. His club has about 50 members, including a small kickboxing club and a junior Krav Maga club of children. When I contacted him he was more than happy at my suggestion that I pay him and a visit to train with them.

Plakias is fairly isolated and about 60km from Chania so I planned out getting there the day before and also laid off the beer in preparation for Kravving abroad. It took two buses to get to the city and when I rolled in, the hotel was a pleasant walk from the coach station and I checked in before phoning Dimitris to touch base. He offered to pick me up on his motorbike about 8.30pm and advised me to chill out with a coffee and get something to eat. When he arrived to pick me up I think it's the first time I've had an in depth conversation about Krav Maga, while riding through the streets of a city on the back of a motorbike.

We got to the club to see some guys already there, stretching and warming up. The heat was strong, which I assumed was the reason for the late start time, and even with two ceiling fans, the heat was something I knew I'd need to try and manage. After being introduced to everyone I got changed and we lined up for the initial Kida. We did some group warming up and more of the ever necessary stretching and then Dimitris formally introduced me to everyone and said that out of respect for "our guest" the lesson would be conducted in English, with him speaking in Greek after for the students who didn't understand it. This was decent of him as I'd imagined he would translate for me, not the other way round. Dimitris then said we would be working on blocking kicks, covering most types of both kick and defence and said he would appreciate my feedback on anything I felt like adding to the mix.

We worked as both attackers and defenders and despite going "light" during the drills (I had left my shin guards at home) me and my partner banged bones a couple of times and were hopping about, silently cursing.

I was finding the heat in the room oppressive but as we hadn't been told to take a water break, and no one else had asked to, I was determined not to be the first to ask. After about 30 minutes Dimitris told everyone to get a drink and I chugged about half a litre. I then jokingly mentioned not wanting to "wimp out" and, in the spirit of true Krav Maga common sense, he told me that I should have done as I wasn't used to training in this heat.

We moved on to blocking stomp kicks with arms and hands, and he used my wonky finger (from incorrectly blocking a kick in training with an open hand last October), to warn the others of the necessity of correct technique.

We switched to striking focus mitts, with a group of 6 in the middle and another half dozen guys holding the pads in a circle. You had to go full out on the pads with the guy holding them dictating what strikes were required by changing positions.

After this we had a pressure drill doing choke hold releases...but with the added twist of it being in the dark with the lights off. I hadn't tried this before and it got the adrenalin flowing to be fighting with shadows while INXS's "Suicide Blonde" was playing loudly over the gym's stereo to further up the mood factor.

Finally we moved on to some bag work to wind down, and then lined up for the final Kida. I was soaking wet with sweat and so tired that I was rummaging in my backpack for the Krav Maga Midlands T-shirt I'd brought as a gift, that it took 2 minutes before I realised it was someone else's bag. Finally locating it I handed it to Dimitris who grinned and said "I have one for you, but you beat me to it."

He then invited me back  in 2 weeks to train again and have a meal with him and the club.

So...I get to do this again in a fortnight.

Watch this space.

Brace Yourself

I have a snapped ACL (anterior crusciate ligament) in my left knee. It broke in 2001 and I've never had it repaired...but this year I finally will. It aches when I train in Krav and unless I wear not one but two elasticated supports on it, it will sometimes swell like a balloon and hurt like a bitch the next day. I can't go running (advice of a sports masseur/ knee specialist) and flexibility on that leg is piss poor (kicks to anywhere higher than an opponent's belly button are in the realms of fantasy). I have always regarded this injury as debilitating and something that has affected my ability to be fully effective in both Krav and the rest of my life. Last week I flew to Crete for 4 weeks holiday and made doubly certain that I packed BOTH knee supports for when I go to join Krav Maga Chania, a club on the island who have invited me to train with them.

Today I was hanging out at the beach with a few pals and got introduced to an Australian girl with a broken foot. I initially believed that her foot HAD BEEN broken and now had healed...but was probably still a bit sore.

Turns out that her foot was STILL broken and was in the process of healing. She had come to the beach with her pals, but as its access is via a rocky cliff face only...she had gone to the neighbouring beach and then swum round to join her mates....who had carried her foot brace in a bag for her. Already impressed by this I was even more inspired when she swam back round as we were leaving, rendezvoused with us at the top of the drive leading to both beaches, strapped on her brace and then clopped off down the road...at a pace slightly faster than my normal "On Holiday Stroll."

She snorted at the idea of taking a cab from the taverna 10 minutes further down the road and after we'd stopped there for lunch we walked back along a trail that required climbing fences, navigating goat paths and walking through olive groves. She didn't moan or complain once and when I asked if the brace didn't sweat a bit, she replied that it came with a sock but she'd stopped wearing it and that it now "chafed a bit" but didn't elaborate further.

On the final stretch of the walk home she asked where a good bar with dancing could be found and also a decent beach for snorkelling. She added that it should be relatively close to Plakias but only because her foot meant she was limited in range.

Meeting her today has made me realise that a LOT of what's holding me back is not actual injury or obstacles but my perception of them. While I'm not so bendy on my left side any more my main worry in training is what MIGHT happen due to the ACL being in tatters...not the fact that it actually is.

"In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision."

– Dalai Lama

For Granted

Something that I've always known, but kind of forgot, was that fitness is something you constantly have to sustain. Unless you're 18 years old you can't retain a six pack stomach and big pecs unless you strive for them.

Recently I spent a month in Crete. I drank heavily, partied regularly and ate lots of saturated fat, red meat and generally unhealthy but delicious stuff. I also drank at least 5 pints of lager a day (and usually more) and did a ridiculous amount of shots.

I'm not boasting about any of this but getting back into Krav Maga has been tortuous to say the very least. I deliberately left it for nearly a week before I went back and felt like shit all through my first session.

The following night I went to a seminar my club was holding and felt a bit better, although my concentration was wavering. Last night I went again and while I managed to get stuck in, my breathing felt like acid coming up through my oesophagus and when I tried an abdominal exercise I found my core stability had been shot to shit by the lack of exercise in the previous weeks.

Someone told me that if you are at a reasonable or high level of fitness it will take ONE MONTH of training to regain every WEEK that you didn't train.

Before I went away there were several lovely moments of Kravdom that made me feel like a warrior king.

For example...

At the Solihull class the instructor Al, got us to do a cardio based warm up exercise where one bit was inclined push ups. I did more and finished faster than ANYONE else on my group of 5, even though every other lad in the team was at least 20 years younger than me.

Another time a young bloke turned up for an induction and had to leave to throw up halfway through due to being unfit. I asked him his age and smiled to myself when he said he was 25, eighteen years my junior.

So...all that wonderful fitness and cardio based badassery has now gone for a holiday of its own. While I can still fight I tire much quicker, sweat much more profusely and my chest burns with a Sahara like intensity once heavy moving and striking gets going.

Something I took for granted (without even meaning to) was my fitness and now I'm paying for it big time.

Knowing you are strong and fit is a wonderful feeling. Wanting to power vomit due to running for 5 minutes is totally shit.

Bring on the rocket and baby leaf salads and my trusty bicycle.

(Under) Stand Your Ground

A few short years ago, before I was into Krav, and for sometime after. I would be stubborn if faced with confrontation. I couldn't fight. Hadn't been able to all my life...but I would stand my ground and get knocked down or worse if necessary JUST to prove that I wasn't a coward.

My attitude at the time was: “You may be able to punch me out, you may be able to beat me up but I'm gonna show you that I'm not afraid.”

In 2009 me and some friends got caught having a midnight swim in a pool bar in Crete. It was my friend Hannah's 27^th birthday and she loved the bar and spent most days there drinking and swimming and sunbathing. Turns out that Cretans loathe trespassers and so the owner climbed out of his chalet with a three-pronged harpoon and threatened me with it, puncuated with lots of swearing and grunts of “malaka!” which means “wanker” and is about the most insulting thing you can say to someone else in Greek.

I was monumentally angry at this and being drunk told him to go fuck himself. I then added “we'll leave OK but there's no need for THAT!” I beckoned the others over to get out the pool while the old man's son climbed out of HIS chalet in just his boxer shorts and stood next to his father protectively, glaring at me. As my friends gathered their stuff the old guy suddenly lost it and span around as Hannah bent over to get her purse and whacked her hard across the arse with the metal handle of the harpoon (this fucking thing was BIG. Sort of device you'd fire at a dolphin). It made an audible “crack!” and I tried to get in between them shouting “What the fuck are you doing?!!”

Next thing I know I'm on my back as the son had just punched me in the head. I leapt back up yelling “DON'T HIT THE WOMEN!” and again stood in between them. My friends bolted (including, depressingly, the only other male from the group who was the first to run for the sanctuary of the road) while I stood there, palms up facing these two until I was certain that my pals had gone.

Bottom line was. It ended badly, I got knocked down, but I had stood my ground and for that I felt proud.

Problem is....had I simply backed off when I saw the old man with the harpoon thing. Had I not lost my temper and sworn at him. Had I not shouted at him and then stood my ground then he probably wouldn't have lashed out the way he did. Cretans HATE trespassers and his overly aggressive posture and attitude were possibly just for show as I later found out that with no entrance gate, this bar gets people taking drunken swims at 3am at least once a week.

Now, with 3 years-ish of Krav Maga under my patch and the rank of P4 (stick defences resit pending) I find it much easier to suppress my ego and pride and think of a common sense option for what is happening in front of me. Recently I got threatened by some gobby shitbag in the street. Instead of getting into a slanging match and possible fisticuffs I pretended to call the police via my headphones and the lad buggered off once he thought the “filth” were on the way.

This year in Crete some guy groped me on the dance floor of a local disco bar. I twisted his hand away as I'd been taught and instead of freaking out or breaking his nose, simply shook his other hand (while still holding his finger) and told him not to do it again.

Ultimately Krav at its essence is about NOT fighting. It's about avoiding confrontation unless you have absolutely no choice. It doesn't make you a coward for not fighting. Instead it realigns your sense of what is important, necessary and appropriate in a situation.

Wading in fists flying and yelling may look impressive but is likely to get you killed.

Common Sense Before Valour

For the last 4 weeks I've been in Plakias. A wonderful holiday resort in Crete, Greece that my father retired to about 17 years ago. Officially it's a fishing village with an indigenous population of about 150. Unofficially it's a party town from May to October where people go to have a lot of F.U.N.

When I set off I had every intention of visiting a Krav Maga club in Athens on the mainland of Greece and training for one session with a club there. This was all arranged via e-mail before I set out but then life got in the way. The Greek KMG director was at the International Director's meeting in Israel for the first chunk of my vacation and after that my brother got sick so that didn't occur (but will either later on this year or next summer when I go back).

My brother is into martial arts, holding a black belt in Judo and a blue belt in Jiu Jitsu. He also boxes, so set up a makeshift punch bag outside my dad's apartment, hanging from one of the wooden beams, and we had the grand total of TWO sessions on that before the hangovers began to conquer my desire to remain Kravvy.

I'd also vowed I'd continue my regime of 70 inclined push ups every day and 100 abdominal crunches. Happened the first day only.

Reality is, that unless you are very focussed and seriously “into” getting and keeping super fit, a holiday is not the place to try and keep up a training schedule.

I spent a month drinking heavily nearly every day; doing shots like they were going out of style; eating ice cream for pudding meal; gobbling down a full English breakfast about 4 days a week; wolfing down a pitta gyro at least once every 2 days (a kebab with chips in it); and having hangovers that made me contemplate genocide. I did virtually no exercise (couple of scuba dives, some swimming and a lot of walking) and would sleep in till about lunchtime most days

Bottom line is that I'm now officially unfit. As much as I want to go back to Krav and train with my club again, I'm also well aware that my body needs just a little TLC before I throw myself back into this. My chief instructor Bartosz is one of the best there is, and being that good he expects a commitment from his students that I'm normally happy to give. Last year though, I came back from Plakias after a month of doing whatever the hell I liked, and nearly puked during the warm up...about 5 minutes into the session.

So this year, I've got a different plan.

On the plane from Crete to London I ordered a cup of tomato soup and a pot of lentils with spicy couscous (menu option 5), even though I was salivating at the thought of a bacon and cheese hero sandwich, a cup of filter coffee and a Twix chocolate bar (menu option 2).

I landed back in England yesterday morning at 2am (Saturday 12^th July) and slept like the dead until about 11am once I got home. I had bran flakes for breakfast, and made some soup and had a fruit smoothie for lunch and dinner. That night I chilled out in front of the TV with season 2 of “Sons of Anarchy” and again slept like the recently deceased until 11am today. I went for a bike ride of 5 or so miles (about half the distance I usually go) and came back and had a cup of soup for lunch.

I know guys who hurl themselves into Krav at every given opportunity, even if hungover or ill. Problem is that that usually invokes further issues and even possibly prolonged absence from training due to making their bodies feel a hell of a lot worse. Having trained while “under the weather” I know how you must feel at least 95% fit in order to gain anything from sports, especially something as cardio-based as Krav Maga.

My body is different now to how it was a month ago. I've gained about half a stone, I have a lot less stamina and my endurance is low. Not to mention that anyone using the toilet after me currently needs to take a canary in a cage in there with them.

Either later this week or early next week, I will return to my club and get stuck in. I'm itching to go back there now, but won't. One of the things Krav has showed me is that sometimes it pays to be patient and not run but walk.

So that one may walk in peace. Not fall to pieces.

The Third Option

Today on Facebook I saw a comment made by Anna Surowiec, a Krav instructor in the UK that said:

"It's only when you see a mosquito landing on your testicles that you realise that there is always a way to solve problems without using violence".

Before I started Krav Maga I was, like many people, approaching confrontation and the threat of it with a certain…stubbornness.

For example. I’d see a group of guys walking down the street and they’d be blocking the pavement so others had to either stop or step into the road. I would usually just walk straight through the middle of them. **

Similarly if I saw some drunk guy being a dick in a pub, I’d make a point of staying exactly where I was and not leaving or making any attempt to remove myself from the scene but neither would I look at him unless he tried to speak to me or “start”.

Finally I’d always try and help my mates out if things went bad. Problem was this was usually if we’d all had a skinful and while on holiday in Crete (where my father retired to) I’ve got drunk and had about 5 fights in 6 years and lost most of them. Reason? Stubbornness and loads of tequila shots and beer don’t really make for a nimble footed, hard hitting bar brawler.

The basic backbone of my problem was that I was too obstinate to react with anything other than bravado and anger. Reason? I was afraid of being perceived as cowardly.

Looking back on a lot of things that I got involved in (I also used to be both a Special Constable and later a paid police officer) it was a lot of luck that guided me through without getting a kicking or worse.

The overlapping effects on my life of the last 2 years with Krav Maga Midlands are that I can now assess a situation without having to prove that I’m blessed with a heroic heart.

My instructors Bartosz, Russell and Al have always said that the best way to defuse or de-escalate a situation is to simply disengage from it. During knife attack training about 18 months ago, Bartosz asked the group, “If someone comes at you with a knife what should you do?”

We hummed and haahed about a suitable answer for a few seconds but he then said, “Run. If you can, just run. You can't win against a knife. But if you can’t run…well, this may help you.”

The principles of Krav for me are that it doesn’t make you a warrior of the bus station/ pub car park/ dark alley. It does instead give you techniques and skills that help you to survive.

At the end of the day the whole thing is geared around survival, not on winning fights.

4 years ago in Crete a guy was robbed at gun point at 3am by a Greek bloke holding a small rifle. I was incensed when I heard this story and talked about wanting to take the gun off him and stick it up his arse. My girlfriend of that time said matter-of-factly, “If you do that and I’m with you and you survive the attempt, you will be single the next morning.”

Disengage and if you can’t disengage, kick to the bollocks or hit to the throat or (as Bartosz so eloquently put it) be a “nightmare” for your attacker so they fear you and back off and then that allows you to disengage.

Now… instead of being stubborn and getting into situations just to prove I had courage, I’m able to assess a situation and not get involved unless I feel it is necessary.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a part of me that WANTS to fight and stand my ground and stick up for myself and tell the bullies to go to Hell. But…now I can be a little wiser on simply walking the other way or avoiding a situation that could get ugly.

There is always a 3^rd option.

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** Have to admit I still do this one. Especially if it's outside the McDonalds on the Parade in Leamington Spa between about 11am and 6pm. Go there, you'll see what I mean.