Darren Levine - Krav Maga for Beginners

Why is it so important to lead with the elbow?

Leading with the elbow ensures that your hand stays up. If you think of leading with the hand, your hand may drop down. Also, since the uppercut punch starts low and travels high, if you lead with the elbow, you’ll tend to redirect the punch earlier in time.

How does the wrist rotation help?

Hold your forearm up and rotate your wrist. You’ll see the forearm widen slightly as the flatter part of the arm turns toward you. This width helps to redirect the punch farther away.

Sometimes when I practice, the uppercut punch is blocked by the front of my arm rather than redirected to the side. Is that OK?

This generally means that you are defending very, very early and getting your arm into the path of the attack rather than touching the side of the arm and redirecting. While this can happen in training, it’s very rare that we’re this early in a real fight!

When defending against kicks, there are two main possibilities: using your legs or hands. When defending low kicks, it’s always preferable to defend with your own legs whenever possible. This allows you to keep your hands up to defend punches, or frees your hands to counterattack immediately. However, there are occasions when this is not practical. For instance, if your legs are already damaged, the ground is slippery, or you’re already doubled over after receiving a blow, your legs may be unavailable to make a defense. Under these circumstances, there is no choice but to use your hands.

ATTACK→ The attacker throws a rising kick to the groin.

IMMEDIATE DANGER→ Being struck (rather painfully!). The primary danger is being hit.

SECONDARY DANGERS→ Disorientation, balance. Groin kicks are not always as bad as they appear in the movies, but they can cause a) pain that temporarily disables you and b) an instinctive reaction to scoot your hips back and pinch your knees in to protect your groin, which can compromise your balance, leaving you open to additional strikes.

SOLUTION→ Leg Defense (Redirecting)

1As the attacking foot rises, lift your forward knee up and across the line of your groin to redirect the kick, let ting it slide up and away. Your knee should lead the motion, but your foot should be almost right beneath your knee. If your knee leads too much, you’ll stop the kick rather than redirect it, and this might hurt your shin. Allow the movement to redirect the kick, rather than stop it. Be sure to keep your hands up in case he follows up with punches.

Note: Although this has less of the sliding action of an Inside Defense, in principle this kick defense is the same as the Inside Defense against a Straight Punch (page 106).

INITIAL COUNTERATTACK→ Straight Punch (page 71). Counterattack as soon as possible, usually with a straight punch. Although practice will help you learn which punch feels better to your body, you’ll find that punching with the hand opposite from your defending leg will probably give the most power.

NEUTRALIZING THE ATTACKER→ After the initial counterstrike, the defender should continue to strike to the body and face. Students must focus on rendering the attacker unwilling or unable to continue the assault.

• raise your knee and leg diagonally across the line of your groin

• your knee should lead the motion, but your foot should be almost beneath your knee to avoid creating an angle against the attack

• redirect the kick, letting it slide up and away

• keep your hands up!

The instructions say to defend with the forward leg. Do I use that leg against either of his kicks?

Yes. You should defend any front kick to the groin with your forward leg. Whether he uses his left or right leg, the line of attack will be the same, and your forward leg can defend your groin the fastest.

If we’re worried about creating an angle against the attack, why lead with the knee at all?

Because your primary concern is to protect your groin. Remember: the attacker’s kick is rising. If you think of leading this motion with your foot, the kick might have risen higher than that before you react. Leading with the knee offers the most immediate protection.

I feel like I understand the defense, but I’m always late. What’s wrong?

There may be several reasons you are late. First, you can work on identifying the attack. Do slow work with a partner, having him throw slow-motion kicks so you learn to identify how the kick looks as it begins. Then have your partner do slow work, mixing in straight punches and front kicks, until you learn to pick up the differences in body movements.

Another problem may be mechanical. Many beginners make this defense by “pushing off” the ground with their foot. This will slow you down because it requires your foot to be firmly set before it can push upward. A tell-tale indication of this mistake is the habit of quickly shuffling or re-adjusting your stance at the beginning of the defense. Instead of pushing off with the foot to lift your leg, think of lifting your knee from the hip (this is the work done by your hip flexors, or ilio-psoas). You don’t need to know any fancy terminology—just lift your knee rather than push off the ground with your foot, and you’ll find the mechanics working faster for you.

ATTACK→ The attacker throws a right round kick to the leg (knee or thigh).

IMMEDIATE DANGER→ Knee damage, temporary dysfunction of the leg. A round kick can hit the side of the knee, disabling it, or it can hit the side of the thigh, striking nerves in such a way as to temporarily disable the leg.

SECONDARY DANGERS→ Balance. Even if no serious damage is done, a strong low kick can shake the defender’s foundation, upsetting balance and putting him at a disadvantage.

SOLUTION→ Shin Block

1As the attack comes around to the leg, raise your left knee, with your knee forward and foot slightly back, and point it at the kick. You want to take the kick on the front of your shin, rather than the side. Your lower leg should have some tension but also a little give, like a shock absorber, to reduce the impact. Also, because many attackers chop down with their low kicks, keeping your foot back and behind your knee creates a receding angle so that a downward-sloping kick will slide down the leg. This helps minimize the shin-to-shin impact. Try to make contact with a hard part of your defense against a weak part of his attack, namely, your upper shin against his ankle. Fights are wild and full of variation, so we cannot guarantee there will be no shin-to-shin contact, but you should try to point your knee at his foot.

Note: Keep your hands up! The kick may come higher than you expected. For defenses against high round kicks, please see Complete Krav Maga .