Author: aviadmin

“A knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his metal truly tested” ~ UNKNOWN

Copyright © 2014 Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert

In a forthcoming DVD produced in conjunction with Budo Magazine, we’ll share ideas from traditional Martial Arts and CQB with modern day variations and techniques.

Teaching Martial Arts and Combatives, I often see ‘heroes.’ It’s said that after a war the marketplace is loaded with heroes and hero stories. Israelis at the age of 24 are writing autobiographical books about themselves. I’ve met many new Grand Masters. I’ve met men that after taking only a few days training with me, where they could hardly survive, are now Grand Masters! Students that I’ve kicked out of the Army and Police Academy are now the ‘real-deal’, accompanied now with their own war stories and life experiences. It all makes me wonder how the Israeli Martial Arts got watered down to the level that is prevalent today.
This new wave of Martial Artists and web-surfers run from one movie to the next movie fad, and they seem to only study the Martial Arts in waves and set their dreams and goals on a movie depiction of what some hollywood-type thinks is the latest/hottest Martial Arts and they fail to understand that it’s the man who makes the title and not the title that makes the man.
Close Quarters Battle (CQB) ideas are not new.
“To study the old is to understand the new.” — 
Hanshi Patrick McCarthy

Suijutsu (水術 in Japanese) history tells us that fighting could take place anywhere, and that thereby a Samurai had to be ready to fight in every situation — immersed in the water of a river or the sea for example. In the old days a Bushido person had to study many arts from horsemanship to swimming and even writing and music and culture so as to be open minded and to have a broad viewpoint and to also have skills.

As a joke I always said that in Israeli Martial Arts we have also ‘Sue Do’: the art of suing! Around 2000 there were many lawsuits all over due to some dirty moves by a few greedy lawyers that had travelled to Israel for a few days, including sight-seeing, and when they got back they were experts in Israeli Martial Arts and they actually tried to trademark it. When I moved to the USA, I was one of the few to fight it. As a result of that, they attacked me in many forums, in any way they could including paying internet criminals to slander me by building an on-line blog that called me a fraud, citing that they were the real deal. None of them served in the Israeli Army an hour or even n the Israeli Police but somehow they miraculously knoew the real Israeli Martial Arts and sold certificates to teach it! It was really funny as the certificates were signed by Imi Lichtenfeld, who had passed away 15 years before, but he still managed to sign the certifications.

During that time I said I’d fight in court, or on the on-line forums, anywhere on the internet, in sea or air as that’s a part of my trust of what is CQB. You should able to fight in any field that you may find yourself in. I fought the slander and I never went down. It wasn’t and still isn’t right.

When we teach and study combatives remember: the point of Combative Martial Arts is aggressiveness, fearlessness and determination. The spirit of not giving up. And when I see different combative systems I can see no matter where and when they were ‘made’, they have a common lineage back to all of them. But this line is also brutality and we have to remember one more fact – age. And don’t forget injuries. Most combative arts are taught to kids between 18 to 22 who are in th best fitness of their lives! Any former soldier will admit that ‘yes, we were young and yes the body paid the price with injuries that we carry for a life-time.’ All admit that we must listen to the body and train smart.

I was invited to Wingate Sport University in Israel to lecture on the subject ‘slow is fast.’ I was paid by the Isaraeli government to explain the idea of how bones are on a continual growing process until we’re almost 22, and how all the stress on bones and joints can create damage for that will last us a life-time. How the muscles are faster to grow and adapt, but how the bones, joints and ligaments are slower to gorw and adapt and why we need to train slower to build a system. When asked why we get our young people into the Army in Israel at the age of 18, the answer is simple: they are too young to understand, easy to manipulate and direct. At an older age they would be smarter and maybe also refuse.

After seeing so many soldiers, police officers and special forces soldiers for so many years as a trainer I could see also different injuries. What does it mean to kill a person? “The weight of knowing that you’ve killed another person: is heavy. I’ve seen guys lose religion over it, and I’ve seen guys gain religion over it, through a course entitled ‘The Anatomy of a Kill.’ It was about what bullets do to people” he says. “How they tumble through the body, what kind of damage they do, the difference between soft organs and hard organs, what happens when the bullet hits what, how to deploy the round earlier so it pulls earlier and does more damage.” A friend asked me how do you train for it and how do you teach for it? It’s a hard issue. Do we talk to civilians or Army?

In my days I used to take my Counter-Terrorism Unit student to the hospital mortuary and show them bodies. The parts after bad accidents. I remember two friends that had been in suicide bombing situations and both said that each time they went in with the right mindset, they acted professional as a doctor or nurse would in the same situation, but that once they made a mistake and went in with the wrong attitude and mindset and lost it. So we can build, but that doesn’t mean that one day we won’t fail.

Combatives is a hard subject and this is why I like to keep teaching part of swordsmanship when I teach combatives as it’s the ultimate CQB using a sword in a mêlée. A mêlée is disorganized close-combat with a group of fighters. A mêlée happens when groups fight together in combat with no regard for group tactics or fighting as a unit. Each combative fights alone.
“Among many types of fighting encompassed by the general term ‘close combat’ includes the medieval and ancient mêlée and the modern terms hand-to-hand combat and close quarters combat (CQC.) Close combat occurs when opposing military forces engage in restricted areas, an environment frequently encountered in urban warfare. Military small unit tactics traditionally regarded as forms of close combat include fighting with hand-held or hand-thrown weapons such as swords, knives, axes, or tools. In modern times (since World War II), the term ‘close combat’ has also come to describe unarmed hand-to-hand combat, as well as combat involving firearms and other distance weapons when used at short range. William E. Fairbairn, who organized and led the famous Shangai Riot Squad of the Shanghai Municipal Police, devised a system of close-combat fighting for both soldiers and civilians which bears his name, ‘the Fairbairn System,’ incorporating use of the handgun, knife, and unarmed martial arts fighting techniques. Since that time, the term ‘close combat’ has also been used to describe a short-range physical confrontation between antagonists not involved in a military conflict, for example in riots and other violent conflicts between law enforcement personnel and civilians. Hand-to-hand combat, sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H, is a lethal or non-lethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range (grappling distance) that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons.

[1] While the phrase ‘hand-to-hand’ appears to refer to unarmed combat, the term is generic and may include use of striking weapons used at grappling distance such as knives, sticks, batons, or improvised weapons such as entrenching tools.

[2] While the term hand-to-hand combat originally referred principally to engagements by military personnel on the battlefield, it can also refer to any personal physical engagement by two or more combatants, including police officers and civilians.

[3] Combat within close quarters, to a range just beyond grappling distance, is commonly termed close combat or close-quarters combat. It may include lethal and non-lethal weapons and methods depending upon the restrictions imposed by civilian law, military rules of engagement, or ethical codes. Close combat using firearms or other distance weapons by military combatants at the tactical level is modernly referred to as close quarter battle. The U.S. Army uses the term combatives to describe various military fighting systems used in hand-to-hand combat training, systems which may incorporate eclectic techniques from several different martial arts and combat sports.Close Quarters Combat (CQC), Close Quarters Battle (CQB) or Close Combat Fighting is a physical confrontation between two or more combatants.

[4] It can take place between military units, police and criminals, and other similar actions. In warfare it usually consists of small units or teams engage the enemy with personal weapons at very short range, up to 30 meters, from proximity hand-to-hand combat to close quarter target negotiation with short range firearms. In the typical close quarters combat scenario, the attackers try a very fast, violent takeover of a vehicle or structure controlled by the defenders, who usually have no easy way to withdraw. Because enemies, hostages/civilians, and fellow operators can be closely intermingled, close quarters combat demands a rapid assault and a precise application of lethal force. The operators need great proficiency with their weapons, and the ability to make split-second decisions in order to minimize accidental casualties.Criminals sometimes use close quarters combat techniques, such as in an armed robbery or jailbreak, but most of the terminology comes from training used to prepare soldiers, police, and other authorities. Therefore, much material relating to close quarters combat is written from the perspective of the authorities who must break into the stronghold where the opposing force (OPFOR) has barricaded itself. Typical examples would be commando operations behind enemy lines and hostage rescues.Although there is considerable overlap, close quarters combat is not synonymous with urban warfare, now sometimes known by the military acronyms MOUT (military operations in urban terrain), FIBUA (fighting in built-up areas) or OBUA (Operations in Built Up Areas) in the West. Urban warfare is a much larger field, including logistics and the role of crew-served weapons like heavy machine guns, mortars, and mountedgrenade launchers, as well as artillery, armor, and air support. In close quarters combat, the emphasis is on small infantry units using light, compact weapons that one person can carry and use easily in tight spaces, such as carbines, submachine guns, shotguns, pistols, knives, and bayonets. As such, close quarters combat is a tactical concept that forms a part of the strategic concept of urban warfare, but not every instance of close quarters combat is necessarily urban warfare—for example, a jungle is potentially a stage for close quarters combat.

source: CQC Manuals

After teaching for many years I see how spirit and mind must be in place. Many times it’s more important than just the body conditioning in combative arts. The problem is in thinking about how to share it with students, mostly young and inexperienced, who may have their eyes on only the shiny armor and the brave knight, and also how to make them understand Zanshin and Kamae.

While talking with a friend from traditional Martial Arts I could see how Kendo explained it to me and that’s what I learnt best from Kendo, and now as a teacher. I was very surprised, but at the same time happy to hear and understand Kamae.
(心の構え) Kokoro no Kamae is the posture of your heart and mind. In Budo training you assume a posture so that you guard your weak points and make it difficult for an enemy to attack you; and at the same time, it is a strategy to expose the enemies weak points.
If you face an enemy without a kamae, you will be an easy target. Learning basic usage of kamae is among the first lessons beginners study. We physically adjust ourselves in certain ways in response to what the enemy shows us. We learn that from each kamae there are more favorable ways to move attack and defend and less favorable ways. You learn the strengths and the weaknesses of each posture and how to use them strategically against various types of attacks. You even see kamae in sports. Football and basketball for example use formations to respond to their opponents formations and have options to use based on their opponents adjustments. Kamae is also present in games like chess and of course in war in terms of battle formations.
Beyond physical kamae (just placing your arms legs and body in specific ways) there is mental kamae. If we look at he physical basics again, even there is present a mental aspect. You want to use your body in such ways as to lie to your enemy. This is basic Kyojitsu Tenkan 虚実転換…  Kyojitsu Tenkan basically explained means that what the enemy can perceive and react to is not truly what your intention is. If it looks like your leg is open to an attack, it is not, if it looks like your arm can be grabbed, that is because you want them to grab it. Your true openings are hidden, and your true strengths are hidden as weaknesses. Many people never develop these skills, even at this level (and they miss most of the art by doing so) so it is not surprising that when it comes to mental and spiritual kamae not only do the vast majority never even think about it, they never train it nor gain skill with it.
Life is combat NOT sport!
Make your fighting stance your everyday stance.

– Miyamoto Musashi



“Beware the ego, it will be your downfall…”

Ritual Cat

When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice.

source: traditional

A few days ago radical Muslims kidnapped three young Jewish kids and murdered them in cold blood. This act set about a new wave of hatred in Israel. Many Israelis demanded revenge. This is an ongoing story and was broadcast internationally – touching everyone. ‘An eye for an eye’ is the demand of many for revenge.If this is the way it will be the way, then we will soon be blind. This one act led to the attempted kidnapping of an eight year old by Jewish radicals, religious terrorists, that was at the last minute saved by his mother. SHe was able to thwart the kidnapping. The very next day these Jewish radcials managed to kidnap a 15 year old Muslim kid and burned him alive. What a shame, and how inhuman. The mother of one of the Jewish kids that had been murdered, Naftali Frenkel, R.I.P. said “there is no difference in blood to blood, or religion… a murder is a murder.” These words by a mournfing mother show that she is a warrior. Warriors do not lower themselves to the standards of other people; they live independently, according to their own standards and code of honor.

I find these words most important in these sad days in Israel as I see how low people can go. It makes me sad, and sick at the same time. Three terrorist’s kidnapping three kids and killing them simply because they are radical Muslims and the kids were Jewish. In Return six radical Jewish men kidnap a poor Palestinian Muslim child and brutally murder him in the most evil of ways — by burning him alive. These actions are not representative of Israelis and nor by the religious belief. These people are sick criminals and evil humans. These are not warriors, these are cowards. It’s a shame to even call them human. Terrorists are terrorists and war criminals, whether they be Muslim or Jewish or represent any religion. As responsible teachers, we must stop this crazy world from degrading further through education and by making warriors that will follow friendship love and peace.

Religion is not the problem, there are plenty of wars started by atheists (Hitler, Stalin et al). The problem is human nature. Unfortunately far too many people are just sheep who will blindly follow the dogma of whatever group they identify with. Whether it be Islamic fundamentalism or political correctness, the problem is still the same: group think, intolerance and the arrogance to believe that you are right and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong.

To hate is easy. This is why in traditional Martial Arts we teach our students to teach with Love and peace and tolerance and when we need to teach combatives, sometimes it’s just teaching how to hurt or how to kill, but we forget the manners and values. When you research the old Japanese military ways, they always followed Jutsu: Kenjutsu changed to Kendo Jujutsu to Judo from just art and skills to ‘The Way.’ The way of the modern era of teaching is from love and peace and tolerance, and not just skills. Today in MMA we face going backwards to just teaching skills and how to hurt and win, but not to make a very important point. Do we also teach in the right way and to the right people?
This made me leave the ‘family’ and build my own family that will follow those values and morals and here is the story of the ‘family’:

One day a man travelled deep into the jungle and met a monkey. He said hello to the monkey and was surprised when the monkey returned his greeting with “hello my friend!” The man didn’t know monkeys could speak, and so he asked the monkey to about this. The monkey said “yes we can speak, we just hide it.” The man then said “we humans say that monkeys and humans are of the same family.” The monkey was really happy to meet his ‘new’ relative and didn’t stop exclaiming “my family, my family!” Suddenly, out of nowhere a lion attacked both of them and the monkey pulled the man up into his tree and climbed high up to a safer place. The lion said “throw the human to me, and I will eat only him and I will set you free.” The monkey replied “no way, he is my family.” Through the long night the man eventually got tired of trying to out-wait the hungry lion below, and so he asked the monkey to watch over him as he slept and said that when the monkey would go to sleep and he would watch over him. While the man slept the lion asked the monkey again to let him eat the mand, and he’d let the monkey go free. But the monkey replied again “No. We are family.” When the man woke, he told the monky to sleep and stated that he’d keep watch over him. The Monkey went to sleep and the lion asked the man to “throw the monkey down to me to eat and I’ll set you free! The man didn’t think twice, and he threw the monkey down to the lion, but the monkey woke up quickly and before the lion could set his paws on him he jumped back into the tree and climb back up to where the man sat safely. This was really embarrassing to the man. Both knew what happened, but no one spoke of it. Then the lion fell asleep and the monkey said to the man “let’s go!” and he walked him safely all the way back to the edge of the jungle and said goodbye. As the man started walking, the monkey called him and said “can I ask you favor?” “Yes!” the man said, happy that the monkey still considered them friends depite what the man had tired to do to the monkey. The monkey said to him “would you please not mention to anyone that we are family?”

This brings me back to the Israeli Martial Arts, as I have been stabbed in the back by ‘friends’ and other greedy people that had been too ready to sell my friendship for almost no money and I decided to simply say “Please don’t mention that we’re family.” I have since buil my own family called WARRIOR, as warriors follow their heart and keep their values and morals! This is my family!

©Copyright, 2014 Maj. Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Tim Boehlert www.defendublog.com

Empty Hands

In our new Avi Nardia Academy DVD produced by Budo Magazine, we teach about the bridge between old school martial arts and modern CQB (close quarters battle).

My experience as a Major in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and later as official trainer for Israel’s top counter terror unit taught me that cultivation of the warrior mind and spirit must be considered as the priority over simply training the body. When I look at the current state of combative arts, I see too many students being impressed by the flash and glimmer of so called war heroes and self proclaimed grandmasters. Some of these “masters” are people who barely survived a few days training with me. Others, I kicked out of the IDF or police academy. Without giving these people any more recognition than they deserve, my goal is to explain to the next generation that a knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his metal truly tested.

         In order to provide some perspective, I wanted to develop this DVD to show the bridge between old school martial arts and modern CQB. I want to thank Chris Shabazz, a great Sensei and full contact karate fighter under Sosai Masutatsu Oyama’s school of karate for his participation in the filming. We filmed in Shoshin dojo, which means “beginners mind.” Training in this historic dojo always inspires me to continue with the spirit of “Always a student, sometimes a teacher.”

         The following article, by Ken Akiyama, is a primer for viewers of this new DVD. I hope you enjoy the film and thank you for your support.

-Avi Nardia, Founder, Modern KAPAP

Teaching the Old School of Close Quarters Battle

by Ken Akiyama with Avi Nardia

While the original combative focus of many traditional martial arts has been minimized, these arts still hold important lessons that reach far beyond the purely physical dimensions of combat. To survive in the fight of your life, you need much more than muscles and a tattoo. Furthermore, shiny muscles are basically useless to a teacher who is focused on developing his students. That’s why new learners need to look beyond the shine and shimmer for genuine teachers.

One of the most unique characteristics of Avi Nardia’s school of KAPAP is that he developed the system based on extensive experience in the training methods and techniques of old school martial arts. Of course, there are plenty of clubs that haphazardly take ideas from books and the internet and mix them together. However, Avi’s Modern KAPAP is exceptional because it is based on his unique intelligence, charisma and an old school education in the combative arts including: 4th dan in Kodokan Judo, 6th dan in Kendo under Master Kubo Akira, 7th dan in Japanese Jujutsu under Hanshi Patrick McCarthy (also my teacher), and black belt in RCJ Machado BJJ. Factor into this equation, his experience designing the Israeli special forces recruit training program and service as official CQB trainer in Israel’s top counter-terrorism unit. The result is the world’s fastest and most intuitive system of self-defense: Avi Nardia’s Modern KAPAP.

When we look at Avi’s system of KAPAP, we see a compelling presentation of martial arts as translated through the lens of the world’s top CQB instructor. For all the strengths of TMA (traditional martial arts), there are aspects of TMA training that are either impractical or unfeasible for the average civilian, police officer, or soldier. As such, Modern KAPAP is partially defined by Avi’s genius system for identifying what not to teach as part of KAPAP.

Einstein is often credited for having said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Whether Einstein actually said that or not, these wise words aptly explain why so many systems of self-defense will fail under pressure; they are either too simple, or too complicated. Most of our students do not have the time or desire for years of study into esoteric martial arts; they need to develop a good level of skill in a concise manner. Therefore, the biggest secret of Avi Nardia’s school of KAPAP has nothing to do with the techniques. The secret is the mental training and that is why Avi filmed this DVD, to show how old school concepts are used for training modern self-defense and CQB.

The samurai knew that mental posture and an indomitable spirit were paramount to success on the battlefield. In the old days, a samurai had to study many arts including horsemanship, swimming, and even writing, music, and culture in order to cultivate an open mind, emotional balance, and of course, tactical proficiency. Thus, the samurai were trained as warriors of mind, body, and spirit; ready to fight in any situation.

Miyamoto Musashi is regarded by many as the greatest swordsman of all time. In his Book of Five Rings (1645), he wrote, “Make your fighting stance your everyday stance.” In budo, fighting posture is known as kamae, and it is a central theme. In fact, the study of old school martial arts is so emphatically centered on kamae that casual onlookers typically misjudge what they are looking at when they witness traditional training. What they do not understand is that the study of physical posture is actually a means for developing posture of the mind and spirit. One of our goals at Avi Nardia Academy is to ensure that these teachings are not lost like the ancient archery techniques of the Saracen warriors.

The study of history is an abundant source for inspiration and lessons in humility. Let’s remember that warfare, CQB and self-defense are not new subjects and over the millennia, mankind has probably forgotten as much as we actually know about these complex subjects. Take for example, the Danish archer who defied modern experts by resurrecting old archery techniques. He studied ancient books and resurrected lost techniques from the Saracen warriors for firing arrows with astonishing speed and accuracy. By studying the old school, he set “new” world records that were long believed to be impossible and therefor deemed as mythological.

In this new DVD, filmed in Shoshin dojo, Avi shows the connection between old school budo and modern CQB in several ways. One demonstration includes the compelling parallels between live sword iaido (sword drawing) and proper handling of a handgun. Firearms may be the latest advent of individual weaponry but they do not escape the timeless wisdom and logic of the old school.

Another integral facet of self-defense training is intelligent body conditioning. On this DVD, Sensei Chris Shabazz demonstrates powerful body conditioning methods with explanations of the benefits and precautions of the exercises while Avi provides an important perspective on being intelligent when choosing training practices.

Many military combative systems tout themselves as being the most “lethal and destructive” Unfortunately, many of those claims might be true, but not in a way that you expect. Combative and MMA programs are typically designed for men between ages 18-22 who are in top physical condition and have already been prescreened and selected based on outstanding fitness and high-risk personality types. Despite their fitness and enthusiasm, many recruits and students of such programs will sustain injuries that will last them a lifetime. Such injuries may be deemed acceptable in some military programs and sports, but in Avi Nardia Academy, we teach “Safety first, safety last.” In our school of teaching, high risk training is not necessary in order to develop combat effectiveness for a professional soldier, police officer, or for an office manager who is learning self defense in her free time.

This DVD video is educational, inspiring, and eye opening. I highly recommend the film to practitioners of all styles, old and new. Knowledge is empowering and this production by Budo International will make a great addition to your collection, bringing along with it the spirit of “Sho-shin – Beginner’s Mind.”

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Ken Akiyama

©Copyright, 2014 Maj. Avi Nardia & Ken Akiyama

Awareness in Budo
© 2014 Avi Nardia & Ken Akiyama with Carlos Newton

I first met Carlos Newton when he was 17 years old. Back then I could see that he had talent, but to accomplish what Carlos has achieved takes more than just talent. His success and skill is the result of hard work and we know that hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard.

Over the years, Carlos and I have shared friendships and crossed many bridges together. It was a long time ago when Carlos was one of very few experts allowed as my guest in Israel to teach the Special Forces. More recently, I was honored to complete a big circle by sharing knowledge and friendship with Carlos’s son Nick, who is now a young man of 17 years age.

During the last few years, Carlos and I have worked on many new projects together. Working with the Cree and Inuit tribes in the Arctic has been quite an adventure. 300 miles of remote roadway lead their native land; isolated territory inside the arctic circle where the temperature drops to minus 45 degrees. Our project is to teach martial arts to the tribes in order to reinforce their cultural traditions and values.

Carlos and I have also been teaming up on seminars and this year we produced a DVD with Ken Akiyama and Budo Magazine on the theme of “awareness”. Awareness is a key subject in martial arts. In order to gain skill in martial arts, you must first gain awareness of yourself, your fears, who you are, what you are, and most of all, what you want to be. Only after studying yourself can you begin to study others and only after knowing yourself, can you know others. The more you are aware of in life, the more you can make from this life. In martial arts strategy, the more aware you are of what is happening around you, the greater your ability will be to accept and counter.

Awareness is very important to study, as being aware will enable you to observe the first rule of self defense – action is always faster than reaction. In military and sport applications, we step into challenges and even seek conflict. However, in self defense, we seek to avoid conflict and escape. Often times a military unit’s mission will be to seek out the enemy and engage in combat. However, the idea behind civilian self-defense is to avoid conflict and escape without harm. There is a big difference and now you can understand why many teachers who teach military systems are missing the point of self defense. The application of military combatives is completely different from context of self defense. Police work is another context that has it’s own unique characteristics.

Good self-defense requires good awareness and great self defense requires great awareness. I know an Israeli combatives expert designed his system to teach his guys only 5 moves. His strategy is based on one tactic – if any one comes close you, kick the groin. He shared an anecdote to support his strategy. He said that a cat will always climb a tree to escape any danger. He said that if you give your students too many different ideas that they will not be able to think under stress. I immediately replied with a question, “What if there is no tree?”

Some teachers attempt to support their theory of oversimplification with scientific research. An experiment that was not related to martial arts was performed which showed that when people have many options to choose from, they will require more time in order to make a decision because they are seeking the best option. This research is valid when it comes to something like choosing a meal at a restaurant of selecting a piece of ripe fruit.

A system of teaching that is based on the assumption that the students are incapable of thinking seems like giving vitamins to a dead body. Why would you teach people who don’t have the capacity to think? I always explain to my students that a jet pilot needs to calculate many things in high speed. The pilot must be able to react quickly, and with awareness of many concerns while keeping the plane in the air. That example proves that we humans have the ability to make decisions under stress.

One secret to this ability is to cultivate a mindset of action, rather reaction. As I mentioned earlier, the best defense is to attack first. Even United States law allows preemptive action if you sense an immediate threat. You have the right to throw the first strike and still be protected under the right to self defense.

In the last seminar with Carlos Newton, Ken Akiyama and myself, we taught that action is faster than reaction and how you can use gravity and object mass (weight) to help you to hold your opponent down. We shared ideas from Aiki Kenpo Jujutsu, Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and invited a few guests to share their own ideas in free fighting.

In the spirit of expanding awareness, we also taught about the importance of studying “what if” scenarios, the chain of attack, and cause and effect relationships. Ken Akiyama demonstrated some ideas from a big project we are working on to share movement drills that are very effective for developing strength, and relaxation. The ability to move your body in a relaxed way is a vital skill for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and self defense.

Jiu Jitsu is about understanding actions and reactions. When you can predict the effects and vulnerabilities of your actions, you can always block your opponents options before you attack. When you do this, your opponent will become very frustrated. When that happens, you destroy your opponents ability to think. When your opponent can not think, you win. That’s what makes jiu jitsu a great game of strategy. Strategy is the study of action, reaction, and forethought. Strategy requires awareness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Most Difficult Journey Is The One You Must Make Within Yourself…”
– Hanshi Patrick McCarthy

©Copyright, 2013 Maj. Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert

Just a few years ago a group of Krav Maga practitioner’s tried to gain market-share with the only skill they knew, slander. They tried to character assassinate me using lies and nonsensical claims. Using a few guys that I had removed from KAPAP: One was a war criminal, and once I found out, he was out. One was kicked out of the Israeli Army for being AWOL and shameful and I also refused to allow him to test to get in YAMAM unit. One was an Ex-YAMAM member that tried to become an instructor, but wasn’t good enough, and instead the YAMAM unit took me as it’s Instructor. One guy was discharged from the Israeli Army with Mental Health issues after just 3 weeks of service. He claimed to have training from the Israeli Secret Service, but in reality he was merely trained by a guy that was once a military driver. The second was an Air Force technician and the last hardly served in the Army having the lowest IDF military profile 31, which meant that one more point down and he would be out of the Military. Yet this ‘great team’ managed with real Kapap that popped up after 15 years, to claim there was no Kapap, but since Kapap had gained popularity, now all Krav Maga best sellers were becoming KAPAP. This ‘team’ claimed that Kapap was the YAMAM system, but they forgot that I instituted it and set it in YAMAM with Lt. Colonel Chaim Peer. This ‘team’ united with a pedophile that was convicted 6 times in Israeli court for raping his students. But ‘now’ they are the ‘real-deal’!

One day my kid came home from school and asked me why in school when they ran a Google search on my name, it popped up that I was a fraud! This was one of the most disturbing moments of my life. How can evil win? These criminals were even using the power of the internet and internet forums to try and set bad names and slander on my father RIP. That was when I decided to fight back.

My father taught me lots of things, but the first and most important was respect. What’s the meaning of respect? My father never spoke of his past, of wars even though he’d been in 5 wars and was one of only a select few men that can wear the dress Red Wings in Israel! I asked my father just two weeks before he died to talk to me about his past, but he said “we did what we had to do, not for reward, but we defended what we believed in, and our country, and for what we built and our families and nothing more.”

My father lost his two parents when he was 11 years old. He moved to live in Israel and did not have an easy life. I remember as I visited and then lived in Japan that my father would go to work at 5am, and on a cold day I just understood what he’d said many years ago to me: “I may have hard work but I will manage to send you to the best schools and get the best education so you can have successes in life.” I owe him my successes for sure, as I also became an officer in the Army even though I wasn’t interested in it, but he pushed me hard to choose the good ways in life.

After my father died I understood how many people loved him and respected him and then understood how ‘rich’ he was. In this article I’ll try to share some ideas as to why I continue to ignore evil and push it away. Evil people and my enemies: enemies are never my friends as bad people are just bad people. This opened my eyes to study more. As hard as the slander has been it’s taught me a lot and made me a better person. I can also say that it has shown me a lot about my friends, as Martin Luther King said “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” And yes, my friends kept silent as many would like to be taller by stepping on others.

I try my best to teach with love and peace, keeping ego away as in Machado BJJ there is a great quote: “leave your ego at the door when you enter this dojo.” I’m old school. I try to instill in people good values and good morals and good education, not just skills of physical techniques, and in my school there will be no bullying or egotistical martial art. That brings me to a nice read to share with you by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy:

“People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.”

I dreamt I had an interview with God. “Come in” God said. “So, you would like to interview Me?” “If you have the time” I said. God smiled and said: “My time is eternity and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?” “What surprises you most about mankind?” God answered: “That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…”

God’s hands took mine and we were silent for awhile and then I asked, “As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?” God replied with a smile:

“To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved.

To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives.

To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis!

To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.

To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them.

To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.

To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings.

To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.

To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently.

To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them… and likes them anyway.

To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves.”

I sat there for awhile enjoying the moment. I thanked Him for his time and for all that He has done for me and my family, and He replied, “Anytime. I’m here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me, and I’ll answer.”

“People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.”

I try to get my students to journey more inside themselves and not so much into others – “The Most Difficult journey is the one you must make within yourself…”

In the last several years I have travelled almost non -stop to teach KAPAP and today we have KAPAP world-wide from near the North Pole to the Antarctica and all around the world.

I didn’t target rich people, as I have no interest in the rich ladies of Beverly Hills fighting in their tight pants “doing the fierce Israeli Army system.”

I want to teach communities and poor people and to give people something more in martial arts that’s not about showing off. And that has gotten me into becoming ‘Sensei on the Road’ – and where the road ends, the adventure begins.

I’ve started to teach native tribes and travel into real-life communities teaching, but I find myself mostly studying and looking into myself. I’ve studied that when you see the tribe leader living with his village and when his village is floating, his home is floating too. That shows me that our way of life, with our leaders living in golden temples, is far from us…

Teaching martial arts make me wonder many times about life, as martial arts is the study of life – where most real Grand Masters are at best fools. If they had really been smart they would have found something better to do and more profitable.

What is teaching?

All GREAT teaching comes from the heart – there are no words for it. Finding words to explain the ‘Do’ – way is like throwing stones at the moon.

In the last few months I’ve been teaching in a new project for Native Indians from the Cree and Inuit tribes and have also started a great study myself about life and visions of life from their perspective.

When I was a kid I always loved cowboy movies, but I was always on the side of the Indians. The older I got, the more I understood why. I could feel their spirit, and it spoke to me more truly than western money ideas and perspectives of life. Here are some inspirational quotes that I’ve found
that we can all learn from, provided by Native Indian Tribes – that are
still valid today, and which are new inspiration and guide posts for me,
and hopefully for you as well.

“I am poor and naked, but I am the Chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.” Red Cloud

“Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.” Cree Indian Prophecy

“Our first teacher is our own heart.” Native American proverb

“When the blood in your veins return to the sea, and the earth in your bones return to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is you who belong to this land.” – Unknown

“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” Ancient American Indian proverb

“Certain things catch your eye, But pursue only those that capture your heart.” Old Indian saying

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” Cherokee expression

“Lose your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself.” Hopi

“We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.” Qwatsinas, Nuxalk Nation

Here is an outline and Mission statement that I provided to present my program:

Project Mission Statement:

“Through this project children will develop healthy attitudes and social skills through targeted physical activity in interaction with peers. Through the success of the process of mastering different skills and activities which are included in this project children will develop self-confidence and build a positive image of themselves and their environment. Sports and physical activity greatly decreases the degree of aggressiveness, i.e. to divert it through creative engagement in physical exercise. In developing this project, the focus was the current situation of the society and of all the problems facing today’s society, families and young people, such as alienation, violence in the family and among peers, the impact of media pressure and the internet, enjoying the opiates… In order to achieve objective and realistic knowledge children need to be trained. With this project of martial arts we want to form a strategy that will help children and young people in the wider understanding of their environment and their place and role in the family and society. Young people at this age are not mature enough to understand the issues and they can still be affected in a positive way to social values. One solution would be to promote and popularize sports and we believe that the School of Martial Arts was one of the ways to promote human values and increase the level of sporting aspirations in young population.

The objectives to be achieved by the implementation of the proposed project:
The project aims to introduce sports and Martial Arts to students in elementary and secondary schools, so that their interest directs towards activities that help them achieve better living conditions, promote mental and physical development. Practicing sports in adolescence contribute to the prevention of violence and drug abuse and create awareness among youth about the value system.

Informal education project activities :
Within the project and in addition to sports activities it will be worked on the role of sport in the wider context of the development of interpersonal relationships and communication. Through various forms of sporting activities, in addition to physical education, students develop general sportsmanship affirmation and positive learning attitudes and positive life values such as developing trust among people, identifying and resolving miscommunication and misunderstandings, as well as a positive view of diversity and tolerance. Developing trust between people is essential for mutual respect, open minds, understanding and empathy. You can thus promote the development of communication skills and team cooperation and positive appreciation of diversity. The achievement of the trust, communication, competence and tolerance enables easier development of personality, behavior modification, and prevention of potential conflicts within the family and society.

The goal of informal and educational activities :
Raising awareness of social perception, i.e. awareness that the accuracy of the observations of others depends on the precision with which we highlight (collect, perceive) certain information (verbal and nonverbal.) This experiential knowledge improves the personal observations and increase confidence in interpersonal communication situations. The project aims to converge youth sports to their interest directed towards activities that allow them to better living conditions, promote mental and physical development, and further information and encouragement that takes part in the development of the same.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Aristotle

“Know yourself and you win all battles.” Sun Tzu

Authors: Avi Nardia and Tim Boehlert ©copyright 2013

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Tim Boehlert www.defendublog.com

©Copyright, 2013 Maj. Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert

“Born to Fight… But I Choose Peace & Love”

Avi Nardia Sensei & Ken Akiyama Sensei

I was recently asked when I first learned how to “fight.”

My philosophy is that I began fighting upon my first breath. I was born in a hospital emergency room; fighting to live, and I fought in intensive care for months until it was safe to be taken home.

Since then, I have been in many fights: from the streets of Tel Aviv, through a war in Lebanon, to my service with the YAMAM counter terror unit and more. All of these experiences reminded me to respect and appreciate life as a gift. I draw inspiration from the Latin word ‘spiritus’, which means ‘breath’, ‘soul’, and ‘vigor’ in English.

This is to explain that martial arts involves much more than fighting other people. There is a great deal of depth in learning martial arts and such learning shouldn’t be rushed. You can’t be a swimming teacher the first time you fall into a pool.

The Spirit of Israeli Martial Arts

The more I teach Israeli martial arts, the more I wonder if anyone understands these arts or if it’s just a fashionable image. Israeli martial arts are not the best in every way. For example, Filipino martial arts have depth of knowledge in stick and knife fighting, thai boxing and karate focus more on impacting, whilst grappling and BJJ excel on the ground. So, what defines the Israeli systems?

Hanshi Patrick McCarthy taught me that, in order to understand a martial art, it helps to study the culture and people who developed it. For example, Japanese martial arts come from a culture of conformity; while Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is more laid back. Each art is shaped by the attitudes of the people who develop them. To describe Israeli culture, I will say that if you tell me something fantastic, I want to see it; if you show me something incredible, I want to feel it. Only if your claim passes this test, will I believe you. Israeli martial arts are focused on practicality; that is why I like to describe Avi Nardia Academy as “Practical Martial Arts.”

I recently designed a knife with FOX Knives called the ‘Israeli Tracker.’ My inspiration for the design was based on the spirit of the knife as a practical tool for basic survival. A survival knife must excel at tasks such as cutting rope, building fires, building shelter and so much more. First and foremost, the knife is a life giving tool; yet most systems only show how evil the knife can be. Any fool can take a life, and even a child can fatally wield a blade. Further to the point, why not just use a stone?

In order to prove this concept, I would like to teach a workshop called “Only Knife.” In this course students can use any knife they want. Immediately, they will have to think, “How will I survive, camp, and build a shelter with karambit?” The karambit is for sure the last knife I would choose for a special forces team. They need a tactical knife that can work and perform functional duties. At Avi Nardia Academy, we teach students to understand the knife as a whole, and not just as a killing tool. We also teach about the use of force and point out that what is taught in many knife classes will be considered murder by a court, and not as self defense.

At my academy, we don’t fight because we hate the man in front of us. We fight to defend our friends and families behind us. The ultimate spirit of Israeli martial arts is understanding that you will never have another opportunity to defend yourself. We must use mind, body, and spirit in conjunction with techniques, principles of motion, and situational awareness. It’s not the better technique that wins the fight for your life, it is the spirit of determination to survive; the spirit of never giving up.

Shin Gi Tai

Recently, my Aiki Kenpo Jujutsu teacher, Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, spoke of the ancient Chinese maxim: “shin gi tai” Condition the body, cultivate the mind, nurture the spirit.

Nowadays, many people only pursue the way of the body; mostly with the new wave of MMA. However, it’s often overlooked that most top MMA fighters have a background in one primary style such as jiu-jitsu, karate, or thai boxing; not just “MMA” as its own style. It is very important for new students to understand that.

I have competed in a variety of contact martial arts, trained vale tudo fighters, and some of my friends and students (including UFC champion Carlos Newton) are world renowned in sport fighting. Thus, my words are based on experience. Sport fighting is a way to explore ourselves and our abilities, but it doesn’t teach us how to deal with losses in our daily lives, the deaths of people we love, or losses in business. Competitions are a small part of life, and a small fight when compared to standing face-to-face with something as dangerous as cancer, for example.

Whereas sport is a fight for achievement, a personal battle is a fight for survival. Survival requires the ability to think in challenging situations, develop and maintain physical health, and training the ‘spirit’, itself. Sun Tzu pointed toward this idea when he wrote, “Know yourself and you win all battles.” __This is the key to transcending from being a sport fighter into being a true warrior.

During the past few years I have been involved in survival training projects in the arctic, desert and jungle. My academy holds training camps in the jungles of Thailand called ‘Warrior by Nature’ with meditations on nature itself. When you go into the jungle, the heat, humidity, flies, snakes, bees and other dangers constantly tempt you to give up. Everything there wants to kill you. This environmental stress, combined with long days of thai boxing, MMA and KAPAP Combatives creates an experience which challenges one’s mind, body and emotions. Training in these extreme conditions inspired me to reflect on how important mental fortitude is.

After the jungle, I worked on a project in the Arctic with my old friend, student, and UFC champion, Carlos ‘The Ronin’ Newton. We developed a martial arts program for native Cree and Inuit tribes, based on Avi Nardia Academy. We experienced real arctic training at – 45 degrees, where any mistake could be your last. It was an honor to be welcomed into the community and to study how these tribes live on a daily basis in this astonishing cold. The whole experience was sort of a spiritual revival and when I left, the kids came and hugged me. I was proud to have done something for them that they understood and valued. This experience with the Inuit and Cree reminded me of an old Native American saying: “Certain things catch your eye. But pursue only those that
capture your heart.” The wisdom behind those words gave me pause to reconsider the past, present, and future of KAPAP and Avi Nardia Academy.

KAPAP: Then, Now, and Into the Future

When I returned to Israel after 8 years studying martial arts abroad (mostly Japan), I was recruited back into the Israeli Army by Lt. Colonel Avi Harus (RIP) to create a new hand-to-hand system for Army special forces recruits. I had previously been a senior NCO and was by that time a field grade officer at the rank of Major.

When I assessed their existing program, I found that the martial arts system they were practicing hadn’t been updated in more than 30 years. I developed a new hand to hand curriculum that was more practical, effective, and fit the mission of the school. This program I developed here was the basis for what would later become one of the world’s most respected martial arts.

When Israeli’s elite counter terror unit wanted to refresh their system, every CQB trainer in Israel applied for the prestigious position; including former operators. The unit is called the YAMAM and it is the special operations division of the Israeli national police; renowned as one of the most experienced and combat ready units in the world. All of the applications and proposals for this prestigious position were reviewed, and I got the job.

As Master Sergeant in the YAMAM, I worked with Lt. Colonel Chaim Peer, a highly respected man from the army’s top special forces unit (similar to Delta force in the USA). Lt. Col. Peer brought great knowledge of unit needs and tactics, and with my knowledge of martial arts, we created a new close quarters battle system for one of the most elite combat operations units in the world. I named it KAPAP.

KAPAP was a mostly forgotten WW2 era Hebrew acronym which means “Face to Face Combat.” I named the new system KAPAP in order to ensure our new system was distinguished from krav maga styles. For reference, ‘Krav Maga’ became the default name for military hand-to-hand from the late 1960’s onwards.

When we first developed KAPAP we were specifically building a program for specialized unit of operatives. However, it wasn’t long until our new system was recognized as an extremely effective and cutting-edge combatives program. Even though our system was not originally intended for the general public or even martial artists, KAPAP quickly gained popularity and a strong reputation amongst the CQB community.

Eventually, I moved outside of Israel and began sharing principles and methods for civilian and police defensive tactics. KAPAP continued to grow and during these last few years, I’ve been traveling non stop for teaching. Now, I have a great team of instructors with KAPAP schools throughout the entire world. We have even taught KAPAP in Antarctica. In just 15 years, KAPAP has moved from
being a system for a small group of operators to a worldwide, world class system for all.

My primary focus is on continually growing and developing the quality of my instructors so that the same message, techniques and spirit can be learned in every school. In order to accomplish that, organization is essential. Following the encouragement of my friends and teachers, I built Avi Nardia Academy as my worldwide team of schools. As I also carry black belts in Karate, Judo, Japanese Jujutsu, and Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Avi Nardia Academy is a school of practical martial arts that includes hand-to-hand, knife, stick, firearms, and everything in between. We teach traditional, sport and combatives under a single flag for anyone who wishes to learn and progress with only one major prerequisite: integrity.

KAPAP is no longer just the “Martial Arts of the Israeli Special Forces.” I am honored to have a wonderful student aged 72 in my academy. This is an example of KAPAP as I see it progressing into the future. We need to support civilians; including women, children, seniors, and teenagers. I see my personal achievements in life very differently than I used to, and I now value teaching handicapped children in a disabled centre as more important than teaching special forces.

I teach from the heart and as a warrior. My ethos is centered on truth, love, and peace. I encourage my students to be compassionate, without being vulnerable.

The interesting thing about people, whether they are physically strong or weak, is that we can all choose to be kind, respectful and peaceful.

Authors: Avi Nardia and Ken Akiyama ©copyright 2014

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Ken Akiyama

KAPAP: Krav Panim el Panim, The Art of “Gaku Jutsu–Do”
Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert (11/13)

KAPAP (Krav Panim el Panim – face-to-face combat) is a Martial Art form from Israel, mostly considered a modern and reality based Martial Art, but I prefer the name ‘Practical Martial Art – PMA.’ Those two meanings of KAPAP as a modern and reality based Martial Art has created a certain amount of confusion in the market lately, so let’s clarify it.

The early days of KAPAP takes us back to the ‘old days’ in Israel, 1930 through 1940, when it was a generic name for face-to-face [Hand-to-Hand] combat. The name was used even before Israel was declared and established as an independent state in 1948. Until the late 1960’s it was used as a generic name by different Israel security forces. The system was based on judo, Jiu Jitsu which takes us back to the Japanese understanding of Martial Art with teachers such as Yehuda Markus, Gerson Kopler, Michel Horowitz and many other trainers and teachers from that early period. It is interesting to note that in Israel most of the older people would be more familiar with the term Kapap while the young generations would be more familiar with the name Krav Maga.

Krav Maga was one of the many systems that were born out of the old days. On my return to Israel from the Far East, where I was studying Asian Martial Arts for eight years, I was asked by the Army Lieutenant Colonel Harush Avi to create a form of Krav Maga for young recruiters as a part of preparation for military service. At the same time Israel’s top counter terrorism unit, YAMAM, had recruited me as a member of the unit and the trainer for the CQB and hand-to-hand program with the rank of Staff Sargent Major (highest NCO). My task was to re-write and re-structure the old program and to incorporate new training methods. In this mission I teamed up with Lieutenant Colonel Chaim Peer, who was well-experienced in military and other security forces. The system that we developed together was later recognized as reality-based mostly for the idea that “It is better to be a student of reality, than to be a master of illusion.” Most of the moves and training were connected and tested in reality-based situations. At the same time the true idea and meaning of Kapap were missing. That was not the Kapap that we had in mind.

Kapap is a system that consists of three aspects: traditional, sport and combat. A whole system cannot not operate without those three dimensions. It’s like a family tree: the tree with no roots falls down easily and it’s branches fall off, dry and die quickly.

For the last 15 years Kapap has been in the civilian marketplace and we’ve tried monitoring the quality of it by denying 75% of students who apply for it. Even by having that filter we feel many times that we are getting the wrong people. In the old days students would have asked for admittance to the school. What we face today is overblown advertisements, and attempts by students to get into the schools and teachers who are ready to sell certificates by e-mail without ever seeing the students just in order to build up a system! In Kapap we do it old-school style: our students need to ask for admittance into the organization. They must regard us as teachers and we will teach them as it was done in the old days.

Lately I have started considering KAPAP more like Zen teaching. It could be due to the time that I spent practicing Kendo in Japan, which is very noble Zen swordsmanship.

In our modern era the sword has been supplanted by the introduction of modern firearms but the values of morals and ethics which should be passed to the students through the Martial Arts is the same. The gun is modern archery. During a knife fight it is important to keep the right distance and to reach for the vital points of the opponent in order to win and at the same time keep him out of your safe zone. In order to solve the distance problem people have created spears and bows and arrows. The gun could be seen as a small spear which is a bullet filled with black powder and the ignition or explosion of it as the string’s power. And again if Zen was the way of archery, there is no reason why the gun should not also be considered the same. Once I started teaching surveillance and awareness I noticed that most people were talking about gun disarming, but none of them had ever used a gun in real life. It was a red light to me that so called “masters” could not even take the magazine out of the gun or clear a malfunction or jam. It was very scary to see that those “masters” actually taught people.

Only by merging the following three aspects will you get a true understanding and knowledge of the gun. Gun usage, gun retention and gun disarming are those three significant aspects that bring you to that level. By missing only one dimension of it you will fail. All those ideas led me more into the research of the Asian way of fighting. In the old days a true master was not recognized as such by himself but by the others. Today people are self-proclaimed ‘Grand-Masters.’ Therefore I want to emphasize the importance of ‘Gaku’ , ‘Jutsu’ and ‘Do’ – the traditional way of teaching and learning Martial Arts.

‘Gaku’ means academic learning which occupies our minds. ‘Jutsu’ is the practice and study of the actual techniques in order to defeat an opponent. And the ‘Do’ is ‘The Way,’ the spirit we all try to attain in our lives in order to gain the true knowledge of ourselves and the world. That’s the main idea of Kapap: “Always student, sometimes teacher.” That’s why the Martial Arts teacher was also known as “Shinan–Jaku.” It means ‘pointing to the South’, like a compass, because in the Japanese tradition, pointing to the North was considered bad luck. The teacher was considered to be a compass pointing to the right direction for his students. Those three aspects of learning Martial Arts occupy mind, body and spirit.

Kapap’s compass is set to point to integrity first and most students and Grand-Masters are missing this quality today. Someone told me that Israeli Martial Arts has no integrity so I explained it to him this way: While most Grand Masters today are self-made, did not have any real teachers and they follow ANY way, that’s a compass that has no direction other than income.

You may see that some people in Israeli Martial Arts are students that have been kicked out from other schools and organizations for reasons that I see each day. I kick out some bad apples from the Kapap basket, and the next day they are Grand-Masters of Kapap, or they have or made their own new “Real Kapap”, based on lies and more. Then they try to sell evil lies about their teacher and try to take him down.

During my early training, when the teacher kicked you out of his dojo, that was the biggest shame you could ever face. Today you just cross the street or open Google and find a new organization to send you your Grand-Master certificate!

So to keep integrity in the Martial Art’s today is a real struggle. Most Grand-Masters today have only done maybe one week in Israel and then they certify themselves! How many people really lived in Israel and studied for years in the Israeli Martial Arts? When I was in Japan my teacher asked one of my students “so, how many years have you studied in Israel?” My old teacher is blind today, can hardly walk in his old age, but it seems to me that he gave me the best class as can we really call our students – students.

The compass needle always leads the way, but are our students ready follow? Or if you don’t award them a colored belt or advance their rank but tell them to train harder, will they the next day become ‘director’ of a new organization and call you fraud? How can anyone call his teacher fraud if he himself teaches what he was taught exactly?

I have been a victim of character assassinations by students that I kicked out of my dojo and Kapap as they shamed themselves. I kicked one guy from our Level 1 training out that was from France, and the next day he went from Level 1 to a Level 5 Instructor, even though we only have four levels! I kicked one guy out of the Israeli Army, and he proceeded to load the internet with lies, he just forgot to mention that I kicked him out of the Israeli Army for being AWOL! And the stories go on and on!

So in this world it’s hard to find real integrity and everyday I see more of the shamed that have been kicked out of many Israeli organizations inventing new Krav Maga organizations. The marketplace is seeking worthless paper certificates and not real study. It’s about ego and bullying, not Martial Arts.

Someone asked me about a guy that had some some certificate signed for Kapap or Krav Maga, and I answered that bathrooms are loaded with papers signed by some butts — it’s not the paper that makes you, it’s who signed the paper, and how easily he signed it and for how much money? In Kapap under Lt. Colonel Chaim Peer, the price is expensive: tears, blood, sweat. If you can’t pay in those denominations, keep being the director of some “real” system!

Jutsu is something that’s the most basic and it is introduced first in the art, for physical methods are the most basic root methods of an art, but it’s not the most important goal. Training is followed by Gaku, which is a study of the historical and technical. Then follows the philosophical and spiritual implications.

A beginner will have no idea about the physical movements, so he has to go through a lot of techniques first to integrate the movements into one’s own body. If the goal is purely for sport, winning contests, or for pure physical health or self-defense, it can stop here and that’s fine for what it is.

As the student improves his technique he has to realize that there’s some kind of technical underpinning. He needs to study and take his own initiative to read books and research into why the techniques are done a certain way. To some people this would seem like a waste of time, but knowing a bit about the history of Kendo will enlighten a Kendo competitor. Theoretical and historical knowledge adds to the physical capabilities of the student. Gaku and Jutsu work hand in hand.

Eventually every advanced student will come to the point of asking himself some deeper questions about the meaning of his/her training and how this activity fits into our lives and changes us as human beings. Here we see the influence of the art on spirit. This is the ‘Do’, the MOST important part of the learning process. We see our lives being changed by the art in a positive direction and giving us larger perspectives. Without any concern for Do, budo training would be merely recognized as a system whose only purpose is beating up or killing someone else.

It is not necessary to divide the three as you train. Jutsu is informed by Gaku, and both are enveloped by Do. While in the beginning gaining technical mastery is most important, as one progresses, Gaku and Jutsu also begin to take center stage, although Jutsu should never be neglected. In the end, a balance between the three is struck, where feedback loops move back and forth between the three categories, increasing the knowledge of all three.

But remember, without integrity you can’t find the Kapap way and at the end of the day each of us stands in front of his/here own mirror, and we can lie to all but not to ourselves! When I stand and look in my mirror, I like what I see and know that I will work harder and be a better student.

“Lose your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself.” Hopi

Photo Credit: Mauro Frota w/An’Ichi Miyagi Sensei, Higaonna Dojo

And this personal message:
To: Avi Nardia
From: Mauro Frota

Sensei, the photo was taken in a private class with An’Ichi Miyagi Sensei while I was living at the Higaonna Dojo, sleeping at the floor (a little like Karate Kid) 🙂

One day, An’Ichi Miyagi Sensei told me that he was coming to teach me a private class. I told that to Morio Higaonna Sensei and he told me to clean the dojo to receive his master. And so I did. We trained Sanchin and Tensho kata, along with basic kata Gekisai, and lots of talk about martial arts philosophy and moral values. He gave lots of examples from his own teacher, the founder of Goju-Ryu karate, Chojun Miyagi. After that he made me promise to write him a letter and visit Okinawa again. And I did so. At the dojo, he was always with a white belt, and during the opening ceremony, instead of being in front of me, he asked me to be beside him. I will never forget that day – it was my birthday present, as I was turning 21 in that same day.

Hope to see you again soon to keep on learning Kapap from you, especially because you treasure my background and give importance to moral values.

Avi Nardia and Tim Boehlert ©copyright 2013

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Tim Boehlert www.defendublog.com

“Mind, Body, Spirit”

Avi Nardia & Tim Boehlert

KAPAP [Krav Panim El Panim] is an Israeli Martial art that today is an internationally recognized system that started out as a bridge between Martial Arts systems.

KAPAP was put together when I was chosen to become the unit Instructor for the YAMAM, a top Israeli counter-terrorism unit. As Israel’s top unit, any instructor would hope to get this assignment. I admit that I was the worst and that’s why I was chosen. Many former unit members tried to become instructors for the unit the unit. The YAMAM command looked into the program that I built together with Lt.Colonel (Res.) Chaim Peer. It was the most up-to-date system for hand-to-hand combat that met their needs. We built the system as a bridge between systems and by analyzing many different Martial Arts systems. We also relied on our own experience in the Martial Arts, while ourselves holding black belts in some Martial Arts.

We asked Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, one of best reality, traditional and combat Martial Artists from sport to combat, to be an advisor to start what today is known as KAPAP. Today it has gained popularity, and many times we slow down so as to build slow – it’s better than building too fast. We want the right people and refuse most of the people that pass the First Level with us. We take more than 75% of the students that try to become instructors out. Some of those become new ‘Grand Masters’ the next day! But understand this: this is not our market nor the people that we want to share with.

With his years of tactical and army experience, Lt. Colonel(Re.s) Chaim Peer and I added more and more to our ‘bridge’ by upgrading and progressing KAPAP. Everyday we add more layers with the help of many friends and teachers. Over the last several years we have added Machado RCJ Brazilian Jiujutsu. Many systems claim “we don’t want to fight on the floor on in the streets!” or “we don’t want to fight a knife!”, but we still need to study it to be a well rounded fighter and Martial Artist. You won’t be able to choose where and maybe not when you will fight, or if it ends up on the ground, as a close-quarter combat scenario, if it’s on stairs, in an elevator or even while you’re eating. It could even happen while you are watching in a movie theatre, or sitting in your parked car!

KAPAP is a Martial Art that could be called “Banana” as far as we are concerned and it would still be KAPAP with the same mind, spirit, body and ideas and principles, but we keep the name KAPAP to preserve the heritage and with respect to Israeli Martial Arts Roots. What makes a system is not it’s name, but rather the people that stand behind the system. After 15 years of building the name KAPAP, we now get slandered by some that say I am not the real KAPAP and it can go all the way back to the world’s oldest book, the Bible. “Hast thou killed, and also inherited?” — Have you murdered and also inherited? At first they will murder you, through your character and then they will try to come to the marketplace based on lies. But they inherit whom they murder, to build themselves and to look taller by slandering others and standing on their shoulders. The very shoulders of those that built what they now try to stand on, as Real KAPAP, real Krav Maga.

As Martial Artists, we understand human weakness and life and deal with it. Eleanor Roosevelt said ‘Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” For every case of slander, rather than waste valuable time, or energy trying to defend our Art, we choose instead to post a new DVD, or a new book, and to share more ideas, not to talk about small people, but to talk about ideas and share more.

We are establishing a new workshop based on the idea of “with only a knife.” It will be a workshop that stems from years of observing in the martial arts the attempts of many to try to sell more ‘reality’ or ‘real-deal’ training that uses slogans such as “Blood on my hands” with Rambo stories. These marketing ideas also present the knife and it’s associated fighting skills as evil tools in many ways. How bad can it be in a fight when we all already know that a person with a knife in his/her hand or a gun is stronger than that same person without this tool? But it is different with a gun. A gun is used only for one goal: which is to take life. This is why I mainly claim that I don’t like guns, even though I have used guns since I was six years old and taught firearms for many years. ANother important point to note is that you never fight with a gun or a knife, but you always fight the person that holds it. This important principle should be kept in mind – in any fight with a weapon, you are not facing the weapon, you are facing the attacker, and your attack should be with this in mind.

I see myself as a teacher of swordsmanship and draw from sword principles. Guns demand less skills than swords, so we introduce into the battlefield the values of the sword in the fight — the value is teaching spirit, mind and body. I always use it in my teaching, the sword of giving life, not the sword of taking life. We all know that any fool can take a life, but to give life is an art and real skill with wisdom. This is why when I see how some advertise knife or gun training with slogans like “with blood on my hands”, it’s a shame. Guns are made to defend and not to take life and its sad when sometimes we need to do so. It’s not something to be proud of. In my travels I’ve heard many ex-Army Rambo-types claim that others are only good paper-shooters, but that they can shoot people. I’d rather shoot paper targets to improve my skills, than be a war criminal.

Last year I designed a knife based on this concept. Growing up in the shadow of my father, it’s based on an Army knife that was used in the first IDF units. It served not only only for hand-to-hand combat, but also as a tool to help prepare food and use in the field. My father used it for years in the kitchen, and that is how I grew up, with this knife always in our kitchen, to use as a tool not to take life. How do you know that a person is good knife man? You give him a knife and ask him do some work with it. Any fool can kill with it.

So, along with my friend Toby Cowern, who is an arctic survival teacher and our KAPAP survival instructor, we have designed a new program to further develop the mind and spirit while using survival skills. We’ll share new ideas and knowledge with our students. I’ve just returned from demoing it to the Croatian Police and Special Forces units, and they adopted it! They were impressed with the program and ideas that were used for survival and mental training to develop inner power and will.

In last few years the Karambit knife, which is only an evil knife, can cut but no more so than any other knives already present in marketplace. For some it is the ultimate knife. It’s similar to what happened during the early days of the Nunchako, which was popularized through a popular movie. It’s touted as a knife that can do all kinds of tricks, but is that realistic and can it serve as a tactical knife? The answer is simple: you grab your Karambit knife and we’ll grab our survival knife and we’ll go into the woods and do some work and see how well each performs. Army troops and Special Forces troops need to cut ropes, cut through metal, build shelters in the field, find mines in the ground and more. Let’s see if the Karambit knife can do it or not? Well, we already know the answer to the question. If it’s being touted as a tactical knife, used for killing, we have firearms. If your primary gun malfunctions, you will move to use your secondary handgun, and all these movies that show fighting with knives — that’s for the movie audiences, and not for real soldiers. This is why I think that the Karambit knife has nothing to do more-so than to take a life, which any stone will do the, and the same as any knife.

Our mission as teachers is also to teach compassion and not to take life. Teaching swordsmanship always starts with a lot of respect. In doing Iaido the first cut is done slow so as to teach the mind careful control. It is done this way to teach us that life and death matter, and that when a life must be taken from any reason, it is not a game.

Taking a life is a sad act, a serious and unpleasant matter, either to save one’s own life or that of another is a terrible cost. It’s a very sad and hopefully unnecessary act that if we can prevent it, we need to do so. We must keep teaching our students with humanity and compassion, and set it with skills. We must teach not only the body/physical skills, but we must also add the philosophical mind and mentality into it and teach the use of inner will power.

We may look strong and healthy from the outside, but without our inner power and strength we can easily break under small stress. Our mental strength and our mind is not built with strong walls to withstand the earthquakes or the tsunami’s of life and stressful situations that we will find ourselves in from time to time.
As Martial Artist’s we seek to teach and study the reality-based Martial Arts and thus realism in our techniques and moves and ‘system’, but how can we do it really?

We can train to disarm an aggressive opponent armed with a knife or gun,but how can you defend yourself against a cowardly slanderous person or co–worker who will do anything to get your work? “Real Deal” people who try to pull you down so that they look better without ever having the skills to show it? Can you defend yourself from real life? Can you continue to teach real Martial Arts without falling into economic problems or without selling out yourself and your art? Can you fight so many competitors in this business who see threat in your success and will do all they can to try pull you down by using any crazy slander that they can? Can you fight, and stand in these economic times and keep your beliefs and teach what needs to be taught: this study called ‘Martial Arts’ or Budo or even KRAV Panim El Panim (KAPAP)? Can you fight sickness and your own health, the death of close friends and loved ones? Can you fight a car accident or a failed business? We study, teach and hold a ton of techniques that we can use to defend against an armed attacker, multiple attackers, against kicks, punches and chokes but can we use these techniques to win against our personal failures or tragedies? Can the study of Martial Arts also defend us in our everyday lives and how do you build our own inner power?

Without inner power, I would quit Martial Arts and perhaps life. When I was born, I fought with little chance to live as a newborn in this world due to blood poisoning which led to other problems that left me in the hospital for a very long time during my early childhood. Growing up in a new country now called Israel, by a spartan father that lost his parents at the early age of 10, my father had to take care of himself and his two brothers which led him to devote his life to Israel, serving in 5 wars defending his family. My father taught us not to fight those that we hate in front of us, but to fight to defend those that we love who are behind us. Pushing me into Army life at 14 years of age, I myself have grown up in the Army academy. I can’t compare what I did to what my father did, as I am not made with the same inner power as my father. To think about the hardships he had and to survive as he did, I can only try follow in his footsteps based on his strength and inner power, and hope to be as brave and courageous as he was – to follow in his path, and try to understand the most important word he taught me for Martial Arts or life: Respect.

In my life I’ve survived many assassinations attempts. During the Lebanon war, I was shot at more than a cat with 9 lives! I lost best friends. One was the youngest Colonel at age 27, but he didn’t make it to 28, and this is called success? It’s called devoted loyalty. To share, giving through love and peace. By defending his country, he gave the most that any human can – his life.

I survived the assassination of my life by Krav Maga proponents, Jewish men, my own blood? Everyone warned me about my enemies. I have been assassinated by ‘friends’ – evil people. Some were co-workers that joined forces together to try to character-assassinate me. How would you deal with it? When your son comes home from school and asks you why while using an Google-search,his father’s name his name pops up as fraud? His father is described as a fake self-defense teacher. The character assassination was perpetrated to try to destroy me and take me out of the Martial Arts marketplace. Our name is our flag. Some ‘funny’ group, led by a guy that I removed from the Army for being AWOL and for committing Army crimes, tried revenge and built his name and group name by using terms like ‘real-deal’, or “blood on hands” – is he a hero? As one of my friends said, “I’m not a war hero, but for sure a hero of life.” You can fight one lion but not 100 rabbits. The skunk does his best publicity and the slander didn’t help anyone to win in the marketplace. Martial Arts is a skill, but slander is a shame.

I have survived at the same time 6 tumors, attacking me one after another. I’ve had 6 surgeries. Even through the loss of my father, this group of evil people, one with documented mental illness that was dismissed from the Israeli Army, they continued to slander me. Shame on them. I lost two friends. One was shot on the border of Egypt and Israel after he took a terrorist out. I lost one of my best friends, and maybe the last real friend I had. He was a real hero an humble. Thanks to him, many suicide bombers had been taken out and many terrorists eliminated. Life is the real art and he was defeated by cancer. We spoke and joked just two weeks before he died, and he asked me if I was worried. he wanted to know how I dealt with my health issues and I asked him how he dealt with his. He said “I stopped being afraid of death and accepted it.” That’s the Samurai spirit. We open our arms to death. We love life, but accept death. To live for tomorrow, but think every day is our last, and how will you use it best? By sleeping or doing things? This is why my day has 25 hours. I get up one hour earlier to do more, to share more, to love more, to talk for peace more. To help make our world a better place and to be a small part of it enjoy it. Every day is like my last, but I plan to have a long life. I was also faced with a bad car accident last year. The policeman that showed up to my accident couldn’t imagine that I even got out alive! Yes, I am a cat with 9 lives. I am born and die many times, every day, that’s why every day is my birthday! I don’t wait for my real birthday to be happy and smile and share my birthday cake.

Asking questions only led to more questions. Sometimes I’d start with answers and leave the questions until later and for others. Live the day. Try to explore who you are and make yourself better. Work on your mistakes and improve upon them. By accepting being beaten in life, meeting all hardships head on with understanding, love and peace, you will develop inner peace and respect. I’ve met some really great people that are truly humble and kind human beings, with understanding toward humanity and respect to others.

“Good medicine is always bitter” training is not always fun, but there is a lot of fun and appreciation afterwards. Students think they do their best, despite the fact that they don’t know what their best is. The teacher is the students ‘fear,’ not because he is himself fearful, but because he understands and shows students their weak points. As much as a student receives from the teacher, he convinces himself that it is it all due to his own efforts. Teachers deserve respect because of their destiny as a parent or priest, and which may end up with nothing. But as with my own teachers, their spirit carries on even as they are no longer with us. This is why we bow to Shinzen, to thank the great spirit, and to remember that all we know is only so as they had passed it onto us. We need to obey and to pass it onto our students.

Teaching and study should not be done with ego, but only with love and peace.

Nature is a great teacher, this is why we always hold training in nature and also survival training to complete all this study about inner power mental stamina.

To write this column I drew from Zen ideas Kodo – the ancient ways, by Kensho Furuya ,R.I.P., [1948 – 2007], ideas from my teacher Hanshi Patrick McCarthy [Aiki Kenpo Jiujutsu and Koryu Uchinadi], from my teacher Professor John D. Machado [Machado RCJ Brazilian Jiujutsu] and from my personal life.

Authors: Avi Nardia and Tim Boehlert ©copyright 2013

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Tim Boehlert www.defendublog.com

“Shooting: How Close is Too Close?” 

Avi Nardia, Benjamin Krajmalnik (“Krav-jmalnik”) & Tim Boehlert

When students ask me “what is the most dangerous gun?” I always say “your fork as most of us will die from over-eating and not from gunshots.” For a few years students, instructors and even the folks at Budo Magazine have asked me to put together a DVD on firearms instruction, but Lt.Colonel(Res) Chaim Peer, KAPAP founder always refused to give civilians too much info as he wanted KAPAP to be only for our people. Experience had shown that others would copy KAPAP and call it different names. He always said that ‘Integrity’ was to do the right thing. Not many see it, but in today’s Martial Arts marketplace, there are many, many opportunists, 24 year-old kids that leave the Israeli Army, and then call themselves Grand-Master, or ‘Real Deal’ and then try to call everyone else a fraud and slander them using their own DVD and background information of study to claim that THEY are the only ‘Real Deal!” So, after a very long time I managed to ask Chaim Peer for his permission to create a new DVD, and thus we have created a new Kapap Firearms DVD.

Personally I don’t like firearms, even though I have been around them since I was born as my father served in the Israeli Army. To see firearms in our home was natural, and as a kid I used to play on his Jeep or with some of his military gear, as it was always around our home as part of my father’s visits home from the Army. Sometime’s I would even drive the Army ambulance, as my father later became an Army Medic/EMT.

At around 6 years old, my father spoke with me and explained firearms to me, citing specifically the ones that had been in our home, an Uzi and an AK-47 . He said “I know you know where it is and if you touch it with out my permission, I’ll smack you!” and then he smacked me – as he caught me with a smile on my face, smiling about the ideas to come. He then said “this is a very bad thing, a gun, BUT I know you may want play, so if you want to, all you need to do is ask me but please don’t do it without my permission and without inspecting it FIRST.” He then taught teach me the second rule,”Safety First,Safety Last.”

These two rules I will hold with me forever and they are more important for me today as a firearms instructor as I see so many people fooling around with guns. During this past year a firearms instructor, a “Rambo, Real Deal deadly guy” shot one of his own student’s four times! I thank God that the student survived. As a joke, we say in Israel, “…the instructor is also a bad shot” as a macabre joke. But EGO caused this accident, nothing else.

This event led myself and Ben Krajmalnik, who also served in the Israeli Army/IDF to come out with a new basic DVD to explain a little about firearms and safety and to share some basic techniques to train with firearms. Mostly I don’t like to teach firearms unless I know the students personally, or if she/he is in Law Enforcement or coming from a friendly Military service. Firearms are made only for one purpose – to kill. This is why I’m not much in favor for it and in any firearms class I always state to my students “if you carry a firearm, you need be ready to kill! It’s not for fun, it’s not for ego and to show who has the bigger gun as most people play with guns to extend their ego.” In my experience I have had many students from the best firearms instructors, but when I left the the Israel’s top counter-terrorism unit, I understood that mostly we didn’t really know how to shoot properly. The art of shooting is more than shooting people and too many ex-military personnel say things like “I’m not a paper shooter” – that’s just egotistical.

I have had lots of firearms instructors from many fields such as hunting, sport shooting and even Army counter-terrorism experts. Shooting can be done for Combat or for Sport or recreational, and some do it only for fun. The sport is very demanding and hard but combat requires less skills, but it’s goal of using the gun is ONLY to kill.

I have studied the gun from all three methods of training and from so many instructors and mindsets, and I then understood many mistakes in the Israeli systems that I studied first, like “point shooting.” Point shooting, which is GREAT for self-defense at close distances and is helpful to break the 21-foot rule – The Tueller Drill – is a self-defense training exercise to prepare against a short-range knife attack. Sergeant Dennis Tueller, of the Utah Police Department wondered how quickly an attacker with a knife could cover 21 feet (6.4m), and so he timed volunteers as they raced to stab their target. He determined that it could be done in 1.5 seconds. These results were first published as an article in SWAT magazine in 1983 and in a police training video by the same title, “How Close is Too Close?” Point shooting is great for this scenario, BUT by not using gun-sights you create different problems and one BIG mistake with Israeli firearms training is to walk with an unloaded gun (for safety) but if you find yourself in this scenario you can’t use one hand to try and load under stress as you may need that hand to block a knife attack and use your other hand to draw your weapon with. It’s a very common mistake go with an unloaded gun, so if you carry a gun you must be ready to use it in anytime you carry it.

Introducing: Instinctive Point Shooting Combat (IPSC)

Safety with firearms and handling firearms in the use of self defense and protection.

Point Shooting is the skill of quickly discharging a firearm (usually a handgun) with minimal or no use of the sights on the weapon.  It is a method of shooting that relies on instinctive reactions and kinematics to engage close-range targets. This shooting method is used in fast and dynamic situations when there is no time to use a gunsight or in low light conditions. Point shooting does not rely on sights and instead places the gun below the line of sight, but still in the field of vision. Since the sights are not employed, the shooter focuses on the target. The point shooting method is often referred to as threat focused shooting.

The purpose of Instinctive Point Shooting Combat Training (IPSC) is not to develop marksmanship or to develop competition skills. It is not for shooting holes in paper targets and it is not a skill for hunting small game. The purpose IPSC training is to enable you to quickly and effectively stop someone from making you a victim. IPSC trains people to survive life-threatening situations and trains you to react in a fraction of a second in order to defend your life and protect innocent people. It is a self-defense discipline.

You cannot shoot another person on mere suspicion.  The innocent citizen or police officer must wait until a predator or terrorist makes an overt act, putting the citizen in a situation where they must react to their actions. In a gunfight the aggressor has the advantage and the defender is a second or two behind them. Against this terrible disadvantage, the citizen must be able to overcome lost time with a combination of speed and accuracy.

IPSC shooting trains you to survive a gunfight, even when the aggressor has the advantage. We teach speed and accuracy in an armed encounter because you need to be the survivor.

There are no rules in a gunfight, knife fight or street fight; there are only facts, which when understood, can give you a winning edge:

Fact: Almost all gunfights, knife fights and assaults occur at distances of under three meters.

Fact: Most gunfights and assaults are over in two to three seconds.

Fact: A high percentage of gunfights and assaults occur in dim-light or where sights are hardly visible.

Fact: In a spontaneous life-threatening situation, the body undergoes changes that degrade our fine motor skills because our vision is focused exclusively on the threat.

Conclusion:

To win in a gunfight or to survive a life threatening assault requires great speed and accuracy; drawing and firing the gun at close-range without the use of sights. This is Instinctive Point Shooting Combat.

Violence – recreational or otherwise – is a part of society, and in the new era of terrorism it knows no boundaries. Whether we like it or not, violence is going to be a feature of our lives for a long time to come.  Rather than ignore it or hide from it, we must learn to handle it.  The objective way to live with violence is to avoid it, deflect it or reduce its impact by being prepared for it.  We do not get to choose the bad things that happen to us.

A person’s natural instincts – which include spontaneous reaction to sudden attack – are formidable powers that usually ensure survival if they are harnessed correctly. In my experience there are two factors that interfere with our ability to defend ourselves: inappropriate equipment and inadequate training.  These things have killed (and continue to kill) innocent people.

After many years of involvement in personal security I have reached the conclusion that in order to harness the natural survival instincts of the human body, equipment and training must be kept as simple as possible. Attacks are sudden and without warning and a huge advantage during an attack is a concealed handgun capable of immediate action.  Requiring no time-wasting, no two-handed loading operation or a frantic search for a cunningly hidden safety catch, it is available in a split second. It is a handgun that can be pulled, pointed and fired repeatedly with ease, as well as capable of being carried safely.

The training and the equipment recommended by IPSC is calculated to keep people safe with minimal impact on their daily lives.

Authors:

Maj. Avi Nardia www.avinardia.com

Benjamin Krajmalnik www.defensivetraining.net

Tim Boehlert www.defendublog.com

© Copyright, 2013 Maj. Avi Nardia, Benjamin Krajmalnik & Tim Boehlert

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