– From Kickstarter to today’s elite resource for Israeli Krav Maga
In 2015, with a view that streaming would eventually supplant DVD use, we embarked on creating Mastering Krav Maga Online. We launched MKM 1.0 in 2016 through the generous back of Kickstarters. We are now proud once again to launch MKM 2.0 in the spring of 2019.
Our idea to create a comprehensive online krav maga training program evolved after hundreds of supportive customers, mainly from my media sales on Amazon.com, contacted me directly urging me to create a step-by-step online krav maga program. The platform will allow us to interact directly with remote students.
Teaching Israeli krav maga through our media began in 2004. After being featured in a New Yorker article, St. Martin’s tracked me down at Makor where I first began teaching krav maga in Manhattan. My terrific editor, Marian Lizzi, asked me if I’d like to have the book “ghost written” as many martial arts and self-defense instructors evidently do. I responded that I had written an 120 page thesis, South Africa and the American Civil War, to partially fulfill my A.B. degree at Princeton University. So, I thought I could give writing a book a solid shot. That initial shot, Krav Magapublished in 2004 by St. Martin’s Press, turned into a bit of a fusillade as we now have published six krav maga books with a couple more in the offing.
Our video productions originated with one of our great students, Areyah, who approached me and said we must put these tactics on tape. He kindly agreed to do the filming. Mastering Krav Maga Volume I began filming in 2009 and was finally release in 2011. Volume I was a literal and figurative hit garnering “Amazon’s Choice” for krav maga for many years in a row. Mastering Krav Maga Volumes II, III and IV were subsequently released in 2013-2015. I was fortunate, to receive permission from the Marine Corps’ Combat Camera to include select footage of our actually training some amazing Marines.
We realized though, that only so much material could be compressed into DVDs. While the DVDs, I hope and feedback seemingly confirms, present all of the core material necessary for almost any kind of self-defense situation, there was more we could do. Accordingly in 2015 though present day, we continued to add expansions and updates. Mastering Krav Maga Online adds now about fifty percent more materials and continues to grow by developing special modules and formats for ease of learning and by allowing a student to zero in on his/her interests or particular concerns.
Not all krav maga is the same. Krav maga, while increasingly popular, has also developed somewhat of a dubious reputation as an exercise fad due unqualified instruction. The online program, in part, is designed to teach and demonstrate what krav maga is; and, perhaps, equally important, what it is not. Many people equate krav maga as simply another type of exercise routine with a few self-defense mechanics thrown in, rather than the effective, no-nonsense, and when necessary, brutal self-defense system it was designed to be. My goal is to allow responsible people to learn proven self-defense first while concurrently deriving great strength and conditioning.
One of the risks we face is vetting the people who wish to join the Mastering Krav Maga Online network. Obviously, we do not wish to have anyone with criminal or malicious intent to partake in the material. Of course, we cannot guarantee that every criminal/morally unacceptable person will be prevented from accessing the material, but, we will try to do our best. We will electronically interview anyone wishing to join. To this end, we will also monitor the IP address for those joining and disallow the same member to use multiple IP addresses. We also hope to make the material available to interested U.S. law enforcement and military personnel at minimal or no cost, but, paying for capacity without charging potentially thousands of interested current police officers and servicemen/women may prove to be challenging.
Over the years we have sometimes been type-casted as only working with the professional law enforcement and military communities. We do take considerable pride that the hand-to-hand combat instructors from the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command (Imperial Beach), U.S. Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence (Quantico), U.S. Army School of Combatives (Fort Benning), and the Royal Marines (Portsmouth) along with the professional defensive tactics instructors from the FBI and DEA Academies (Quantico) and the New Jersey State Police Academy (Sea Girt) have all vetted, welcomed, and distinguished us from others. Nevertheless, the bulk of our teaching is directed towards delivering civilians from harm’s way. If we are capable enough to help train instructors from the U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations and MCMAP, U.S. Army Special Forces, U.S. Air Force Special Operations, Royal Marines, Royal Navy, FBI, U.S. Marshals, DEA, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshals, Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Police, Philadelphia Police, New Jersey Transit Police, Amtrak Police, DOD Police along with a myriad other law enforcement agency instructors, we are confident we can help you.