Urban Krav Maga in Sussex

Ability to Fight v's Willingness to Fight- a new students observation

2012-01-18T17:49:00.002Z

interesting discussion point below from one of my new students- look forward to all your thoughts.

"I was in a pub on Saturday and there was a massive brawl with about 20 people involved (classic Whetherspoons - don't go there often) between a group of Irish travelers and group loud chavvy guys. I wasn't involved and I hadn't been there long, so I was pretty sober, and I stood there and watched and I hardly saw, if at all, any technique or any serious punches or kicks being thrown. And it just put it into perspective how two groups, one a really loud group of chavvy guys shadow boxing at the bar with each other and a really loud group of Irish travelers, both of which were probably intimidating to most people in the pub and literally none of them could actually fight.

I'm pretty sure this is old news to you but it was a bit of an eye opener to me because I think it's quite natural for most people to assume people who are acting like that can fight or they're are pretty tough to a certain extent. But not even a single one of them could and it just amazed me to be honest. One of the travelers was even running around with his belt of trying to hit people with it (holding the buckle trying to whip people with the leather part). Just ridiculous.

Anyway I found it really interesting that it seems peoples willingness to fight (even if they can't) is what leads people to believe they are hard or to be intimidated by them rather then the fact they can actually fight. I'm sure the travelers left feeling pretty hard and a lot of the people in the pub would probably be really worried if they saw the travelers again and yet its all just intimidation.

It's changed they way I perceive people anyway and it really was an eye opener for me. I thought you might be interested to know as I'm pretty sure you worked this one out already!"

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Urban Krav maga used to defend multiple attackers

2011-12-08T17:05:00.002Z

Below are some kind words unedited from one of our new students on how he defended himself against a nasty confrontation.

An Urban Krav Maga and Mark O’Neil testimonial:

After having attended Sussex Urban Krav Maga for 4-5 weeks I was mugged at UKF bass culture (a London music event at Alexandra Palace) on the 25th of November. The techniques I had learnt even in this short period undoubtedly protected me and prevented a severe beating as suffered by others targeted during the same evening by the same gang – here are the details of what occurred:

10 000 people attended the event and the incident occurred during Nero’s set, so the arena was packed tight with people, it was dark lights were flashing and the music was incredibly loud, unbeknownst to me the gang of 5 were pointing out their targets and pushing through the crowd until they were surrounding them, one directly behind and the other four within one or two people on all sides. I was wearing a gold chain given to me as a special gift for my 18th birthday – a silly choice given the escalated price of gold and the nature of the event – but something I’ve worn every day since receiving it so I didn’t think! This was the gang’s target and many other people outside when I went out after were reporting chains being snatched.
The lad who had moved directly behind me grabbed the chain, I felt this and began to turn to my right straight away, he turned to run away into the crowd as his hand pulled on the chain to snap it, as the chain gave way his right hand was to the right of my neck because I had turned, I grabbed over his knuckles with my left hand, twisted sharply outwards and pulled his arm towards me – as per a knife to the neck from the rear drill from the class. This flung him to the floor and left him lying on his back, head at my feet and legs away from me – looking shocked. Had it just have been him I would have very easily managed to take my necklace back and prevent him from following me using any of the finishing techniques we had practiced – however I then got punched in the side of the head from my right. I let go of the first lad who I had thrown to the floor and turned to the directing of the punch realising there was another person involved to my right, he swung again and I had already adopted the rhino defence as we were told that if there were multiple assailants or when a punch was being thrown that the best way to protect your head was to adopt this defence. I drove towards him with my elbow up and his punch went behind me, his right arm colliding with my left, when I felt this collision I opened up and grabbed behind his head in a muay thai style clinch, I pulled his head down and kneed him to the forehead sending him falling into the crowd, I was then punched in the back of the head by a third attacker his punch connected hard and his hand slid past my right ear, I rotated to my left quickly and threw a punch as I turned – connecting well with his jaw and knocking him unconscious to the floor. By this time a 6ft circle had appeared in the crowd inside in which only me and the remaining boys were left the first lad I had thrown had got up and run, the remaining two pushed me across this circle from behind and ran away into the crowd leaving me and the unconscious lad in the circle – I shouted loudly after them words to the effect of “come on then I’ll have you” to ensure that they wouldn’t come back and then turned my attention to the lad lying face down to my left, he was lying face down and was beginning to stir, I jumped on his back and pulled his right arm out and behind him – I bent his wrist and locked his arm behind him as shown to us in the class, picked him up to his feet and walked him 30meters to the side of the venue where the security were. I explained that him and four other lads had just mugged me and he was escorted to the front door where he was handed over to the police – upon searching him the police found 4 mobile phones and 6 wallets in his possession and he was arrested.
Several other people outside also identified him as one of the muggers that had attacked them – however most of the lads outside had extremely swollen faces, bleeding lips and signs of having sustained a lot more damage – one lad described them snatching his chain he turned to grab it back and was then beaten to the floor and had his wallet and mobile taken – this left me certain that had I not acted in the way I had and known how to act I would have suffered a similar fate – unfortunately I did not manage to recover my chain and as the police were unwilling to enter the event or stay until it closed they did not catch the other participants – I did however report the crime and was able to give full descriptions of all involved.

Had I not attended Sussex Urban Krav Maga – I would not have been able to bring the first mugger to the floor, I would not have been able to defend myself against, or distance myself from, the second mugger, I would not have turned to strike the third mugger I would have definitely just attempted to hit the floor to get out of trouble – as per the other victims of this group. In short I would have lost my mobile, wallet and keys as well as my necklace, I would have sustained a lot more physical damage and I definitely would not have managed to get one of them arrested or have been able to describe or identify any of the gang – I think everyone can benefit from knowing how to react in these situations, I strongly believe that knife defence is something everyone should learn and having even the smallest amount of knowledge and practice made a huge difference for me.
Thanks and kind regards
JP

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

No Krav 5/10 as Hall AGM- back to usual next week

2011-10-05T16:07:00.001+01:00

MMA Conditioning Instructors

2011-09-20T11:09:00.002+01:00

Sussex Urban Krav Maga is very proud to announce that we now have 6 REPS qualified MMA Conditioning instructors.

Qualified instructors available for private lessons are:

Chris Finan
Juan Hayward
Ben Humphries
Bryan MacGuire
Mark O'Neil
Tim Singer

Our instructors now have the martial arts and conditioning grounding enabling them to train clients like UFC fighters and are able offer fun and challenging ways to increase clients’ muscular strength, endurance and cardiovascular health including using skills from the following key martial disciplines:

•Muay Thai

•Kickboxing

•Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

•Greco-Roman Wrestling

•Judo

To pass everyone had to:

Demonstrate competent ability to teach and train individual clients of various abilities and fitness levels using MMA techniques and accompanying fitness drills.

2. Demonstrate competent ability to teach and train a group using MMA techniques and accompanying fitness drills.

3. Vary MMA Conditioning program on a session-by-session basis keeping clients constantly interested and challenged

Well done all

Train Hard................Fight Easy

Mark

no krav 17th Aug

2011-08-16T10:41:00.000+01:00

I am really sorry to do this guys and its the first time in 3 years, but I am not going to be able to do Krav again tomorrow.

Have been ill since Saturday (will save you the gory details, suffice to say shares in Toilet Paper have inceased substantially).

I would not want to risk passing this on to any of you so better safe than sorry, so Krav cancelled.

Sorry we have now had an effective 3 week break, but bar war famine and death will be back next week.

Mark

Urban Krav Maga and Brazilian Ju Jitsu

2011-07-20T15:10:00.002+01:00

A couple of years ago somebody on an American forum criticised us based on his viewing of some of our You Tube clips: he said that our stuff was a mixture of Muay Thai and Judo. Now we didn’t really take that as a criticism: those are 2 well established and respected martial arts and to be honest, if somebody put together a martial art based on Muay Thai and Judo with some decent pre-emptive moves and half decent weapons defences, I’d do it. They say you should write the book you’d like to read yourself, and I guess with Urban Krav Maga we’ve tried to create the martial art that we’d like to do ourselves.

This short article will be about the Brazilian Ju Jitsu (BJJ) element in what we do: note that BJJ derives from Judo: Maeda, who founded the style with the Gracies, was a Judo-ka who never trained Ju Jitsu in his life: the term Ju Jitsu at the time just happened to be the term used at the time in Brazil for the Japanese fighting systems.

McGill was thinking on this after a discussion with one of our new affiliates in Scotland who had previously trained with another style. He had a class which was a mixture of small women and big guys: using a couple of our techniques based on leverage the women were dropping the guys on the floor with a loud crash; this was not something they would have been able to do in his previous system heavily based on punching, a very un-leveraged technique.

The development of our system really began a few years ago when Stewart began training with Leo Negao, former 4-time world BJJ champion. Leo would teach Stewart BJJ, and he'd show him some of our techniques. We begun to modify our stuff based on working with Leo and his input. He’s a big lad with a neck that is probably a welterweight in itself so close-in punching wasn’t such a good idea and Stewart had to work on some other means of getting control; establishing control is an important element of Leo’s BJJ so his input was vital in upgrading our techniques. Conversely Leo was able to integrate some of our stuff into his teaching and continues to do so.

Importantly, Leo was originally a Vale Tudo (no holds-barred style which allows punching, elbows, butts, knees etc) fighter who did BJJ to enhance his ground game, he has also trained extensively with Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort and Minotauro so his stand-up and groundfighting style was readily adaptable to a reality-based sytem like ours. This wouldn’t have been quite the case with more sport-oriented grappling styles.

Leo’s input became very important to our teaching and from November 2009 he has done the Instructor Courses with Stewart. The style we have produced is something more than a straight combination of Muay Thai and Judo/BJJ, though we fully acknowledge our huge debt to those and other systems such as Western boxing and Freestyle Wrestling. Urban Krav Maga is an integrated fighting system based on the principles of leverage learned from our martial arts backgrounds and fighting experiences. For example, punching people around the head with bare knuckles will hurt those knuckles; if the guy is a lot bigger than you, you will probably hurt your knuckles more than you hurt him so we recommend hitting with the heel of the hand, taking his eye out or taking him down aggressively. Our takedowns are based on solid BJJ/Wresting principles but as we’re doing this for the street, we show how to takedown without going to ground with the bad guy. On the ground we teach people how to get up quickly as a priority but we also teach various guards, locks, chokes, armbars etc.

People need this knowledge as this is what some of the bad guys will try to pull so we have to make sure our students know what to expect and how to counter: if you don’t know how an arm bar is set up, how do you expect to be able to defend it? They also need this knowledge for when Plan A – getting up straight away – goes wrong. We known that there are many Instructors out there who say that all you need on the floor is to be able to bite, gouge, strike etc to be able to fight grapplers; frankly they need to spend some time on the floor with grapplers like Leo to realise just how wrong this can be; you need a firm grasp of at least the principles of ground-fighting to defend yourself adequately on the floor. I must confess that I at one time subscribed to this fallacy, but a few sessions rolling with Leo disabused me of the notion quickly and painfully.

Check out our YouTube channel here for an indication of what we teach:

http://www.youtube.com/user/stewartkrav?feature=mhee

Spicer Fight Update

2011-07-15T23:53:00.000+01:00

A great first fight for Spicer. Very proud despite a loss. Started off beautifully and exactly to plan, with some great head shots, knees and a chance for an early submission with a good guillotine that he just could not quite get sunk in. For my money he was well ahead, relaxed and causing the guy some real damage with low kicks.

Unfortunately he made one mistake and gave the guy a chance to get his back against the fence and a rear naked choke was set in and game over.

However I was greatly impressed with how Spicer kept his focus as we had a few issues outside of the fight. Firstly he nearly failed the medical with a recorded heart murmur and I quickly had to disabuse the doc that there was any issue, then we find out our semi pro is now pro and the rounds are now 5 minutes and not 3 and elbows allowed, then we get into the ring only to have to wait for 5 minutes as the opponent cant find his gum shield, rather than do a no contest we agree to come back further down the bill- exit the cage, get halfway back to the dressing room and the gum shield is found, so we run back in and get them to agree to start the fight.

Hope to have a video shortly so you guys can see it, but Spicer can walk tall and a good future fighting awaits.

Search & Rescue Event Cancelled

2011-07-05T09:08:00.002+01:00

Chaps

In the last 3 weeks the organsiers of the event have gone from 8 teams to 3, therefore therefore they are having to cancel this year’s Challenge

Apologies for the short notice and thank you for your continued support

Kent Search and Rescue

2011-06-23T19:53:00.001+01:00

We now have two teams for KSAR 09 July ·from 10:00

Location: Swattenden Centre, Cranbrook, Kent

Swattenden Lane

Cranbrook, Kent TN17 3PS

A mixture of mental and physical challenges based on Search and Rescue

Team 1

The What

Brian

Juan

Juan’s plus 1(!)
Dean

Team 2

The Who

Mark

Mark

Charlie

Plus 1 KSAR chap stuck without a team

entry is £100 per team- those who have not paid please bring to next class if possible.

ALL funds raised go to this very worthwhile charity

KSAR exists to offer a special service to the Police, RAF Search & Rescue Units, other emergency services and local councils throughout Kent, and the rest of the UK if called upon. The unit is manned by volunteers and is operational 365 days a year. We are activated at the request of the police and other emergency organisations.

On average 1800 people go missing in Kent every year, although they do not all require a full call out or search. We have a high percentage in the Kent area of people that can be classified as being vulnerable and will need our assistance. These include the elderly and those suffering from senile dementia and children that go missing for a number of reasons.

Our aim is to alleviate the suffering and distress, not only to the missing person but to their families
and to reduce the pressures of manpower resources of the police and other emergency services.

Thank you for your support

Mark

The 5 Levels of Urban Krav Maga

2011-06-10T14:34:00.002+01:00

We are drawing near to the conclusion of a revised syllabus for UKM featuring 5 levels (Level 1 Incorporating the Top 10 attacks that some of you have completed).

We estimate an average student should be able to complete this in 5 years- though depends on aptitude, previous experience, commitment etc.

More details to follow once ready to publish

Train Hard................Fight Easy

Mark

NO classes on the 15th and 29th June

2011-06-10T14:33:00.001+01:00

Please remember no classes on the above date due to alternative used for the Hall etc.

Keep training though

10th Legion MMA

2011-05-27T16:06:00.003+01:00

Spicer "The Ginger Ninja" fight poster above.

Please let me know as soon as possible those who need tickets. I wont be able to travel up with you this time as will be working the corner!

Results from the Buses

2011-05-19T18:03:00.007+01:00

Well done to everyone who attended the buses course, some great bruises to show for it.

A few pictures from the day here, for more please see the facebook site.

Mark

Krav on the Buses

2011-05-05T19:43:00.002+01:00

A reminder that Krav on the buses is the 15th May 10 to 14:30 at Plumstead Bus garage. Pettman Crescent. Plumstead.

Those who have not paid yet (£30) please let me have your money by this Wednesday as places are restricted with a waiting list and I will pass any unpaid for places over.

I have space for 3 more in the Battle Bus for those who want a lift- first come first served. twitter/email or facebook me.

Train Hard.........Fight Easy.....get a Bus!!!!!!

10th Legion Invasion of the Warriors and no class 6th April

2011-03-16T10:51:00.003Z

Well done to everyone at the 10th Legion on Sunday.
Results posted below.
No class on the 6th April.

PRO

Main Event - 10th Legion Championship Fight
Welterweight World MMA Title 77kg
Jess Liaudin Def Rafael Silva

Unanimous decision

Co Main Event - 10th Legion Championship Fight
Welterweight European MMA Title 77kg

Pete Irving
Iron Wolves (UK) Def Morten Djursaa Jensen
(Denmark)

Unanimous Decision

10th Legion Championship Fight
Welterweight British MMA Title 77kg

Merv Muholland
IFS Ireland Def Panikos Kleanthous
Urban Kings

TKO first round

Lightweight MMA 70kg
Fadi Jameel
New Wave Academy Def Alexandre Vieira
Moring Team (France)

RNC first round.

SEMI PRO FIGHTS

Lightweight MMA Title Fight 66kg
Ramon Silva
Team Negao Def Tom Tailford

Toe Hold first round

Welterweight 77kg
Wes Nunns
Selby MMA def Finbar Doran
IFS Ireland

Arm bar first round 45 sec

Welterweight 77kg
Faruq Omar Azam
Andrew Scott def team negao
IFS Ireland

Descision

Lightweight 70kg
Kieron Coxon
Iron Wolves def Justin Watson

Unanimous decision

Total Martial Arts
**SPECIAL EVENT** - Boxing Match - **SPECIAL EVENT**
Leo Negao
(Brazil) def Simon Liste
Iron Wolves

Unanimous decision

AMATEUR

Lighweight 70kg
Ben Jones def Marcelo Mansur
(Independant) urban kings

Decision

NO class 1st December. Cancelled due to SNOW

2010-12-01T09:09:00.002Z

Chaps

I am cancelling tonights class.

It is still snowing heavily here and latest forecast is for more. The hall car park will be unusable and I wouldnt want you to get stuck and have to pay my fees to tow you out!

Normal service resumed next week and we will go for next weeks class in street clothes as planned for tonight

Iphone and Ipad App now available and On Line Shop

2010-11-22T10:32:00.004Z

The Urban Krav Maga i-phone app is now available.
This app effectively covers the first two DVD's of the Top 10 attacks, distilled for the iphone.
At the introductory price of £2.99 for 2 hours of material it represent great value.

Just don't look at it while walking down the road as you might not have time to find the right response to the attack!

On Line shop also now available from my site, further updates due soon so you can order SUKM products as well as generic UKM material.

NO training on the 17th November

2010-10-13T09:58:00.000+01:00

No Krav on the 6th October as Hall AGM

2010-09-20T11:39:00.001+01:00

No training on the 15th September

2010-09-03T11:51:00.003+01:00

got to be down in Southampton to run a seminar so no training on the 15th chaps

NO training 18th August as On Hols

2010-07-26T12:27:00.001+01:00

KSAR

2010-07-11T19:40:00.004+01:00

Well done and thank you to our two teams in the KSAR challenge

A great days fun all for a good cause.

Cant believe one of our teams got all 4 up a very high, very narrow pole to stand at the top then jump off

Well done everyone

pictures up on face book and will get them onto the site soon

Testing Times

2010-07-09T09:28:00.002+01:00

A very well done to Sean, Lee and Juan for completing their testing of the top 10 attacks great effort on a hot night guys.

Will get the photos up on the web site soon, meantime they can be seen on my facebook page and the SUKM group site on facebook (though not all of them are on this page yet).

KSAR this weekend, for those attending wear your SUKM T-Shirt if you have one please and bring spare clothes to change into after if last year was anything to go by.

Need to change the team round a bit, so I was thinking the below- let me know if any probs.

Team 1

Mark

Chris

Matt

Lee

Team 2

Juan

Charlie

Dean

see you Saturday and the rest Wednesday

take care and

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

KSAR

2010-07-07T09:43:00.002+01:00

Gents looking for a volunteer for saturday as we have unfortunately a drop out due to illness for the KSAR event.

If anyone can step in that would be great, will start at 11 down at Cranbrook.

Please let me know as soon as you can if you want to be involved or existing team members if you have someone you can rope in- must be over 18

thanks

See you tonight

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

Too Hot to Test

2010-06-28T17:37:00.002+01:00

Chaps I am worried with this weather that it will be too intense for the grading on Wednesday and we may have fainting/heat exhaustion etc and I don't want to do this outside for obvious reasons

I also am still recovering from a broken foot so would not be able to fight you effectively!

So I know its a pain but if you can all do an alternate day lets doe next Wednesday instead

therefore this week will be a normal lesson and I will go over any part of the top 10 you want to re-cover ready for the testing

Cheers

Train hard..............Fight Easy.............Stay cool

Mark

No Classes Wednesday 23rd June

2010-06-18T09:17:00.002+01:00

Guys as advised on Wednesday, no training next week as don't think I can compete with the world cup and don't want you to feel guilty at missing a session!

The following week will be the test for the brave soles taking that on.

Even if you are not being tested, please come down as they will need people to pressure test them- you will need to be a member of the club and the BCA for this as it can be a bit more "enthusiastic" than normal.

See you in two weeks time

Till then

Train hard...Fight Easy

Mark

F.A.S.T. aka The Bulletmen

2010-06-15T19:05:00.002+01:00

Chaps just a reminder that I would still like to do this day training, but need 20 of you and it does cost £60 per head so not cheap but worthwhile.

Have a look at the info when you can and let me know, if we can get up to about 15 I can get more in from elsewhere.

F.A.S.T

In the modern world, there seem to be more and more reports of innocent people becoming the victim of unwanted attention, abuse, robbery, attack, road rage, rape or even murder.

The reality of these situations is always grim and ugly. There is little in normal life that prepares us for it. That’s where F.A.S.T. comes in. F.A.S.T stands for Fear Adrenaline Stress Training. It is a world renowned method for self-protection training.

F.A.S.T. courses offer training in skills such as
• awareness
• assertive behaviour
• avoidance
• target hardening (how to not look like a victim)
• situation control
• control of your personal space
• using your voice
• simple, effective defence techniques that work.

All training is done in an adrenaline environment so you learn not to freeze and panic when you need it. It will feel very real.

How you react to a situation can mean the difference between success and failure, life or death. The F.A.S.T courses will show you how your body reacts under severe, adrenaline fuelled encounters and then how to turn that reaction into a positive outcome. The defences are practiced full-on against our padded ‘Bulletmen’.

Don’t just take our word for it though.

“All of the members of the Royal Marine Police had nothing but praise for both the system and the instructors who displayed a professional approach which was aimed at a good level. From the feedback received, I can say that the afternoon was a resounding success.
D.H – Royal Marines Police Training

“The people you portray during your courses are scarily accurate. I see people like this every day in my job.”
N.C. – Gravesend Council

“I would recommend the F.A.S.T. Defence method to anyone working in the security industry or dealing with the public on a daily basis, and that includes a mother walking her baby. ”
T.R – Plymouth Pavilion Security Manager

“Just wanted to say how impressed I was with the course on Saturday. I found it a really supportive environment and I certainly learnt a lot! I am amazed at how you all make the scenarios so realistic and recognisable.”
Dr. K. A. - Malvern

KSAR

2010-06-15T10:05:00.002+01:00

Just a reminder guys that I need to have your £20 entry fee this week for anyone who wants to be involved in the Kent Search and Rescue day.

Don't forget we also have a page on facebook now, just search under Sussex Urban Krav Maga.

See you Wednesday

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

SENI 2010

2010-06-02T12:44:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys

had a great time at SENI over the weekend, but it was hard work.

Some photos up on my facebook page that I have been told I must now have though its all a bit too much for me!- so feel free to have a look there.

Revision of top 10 attacks over the next few weeks, so hope to see you all tonight

Till then

Train Hard.......Fight Easy

Mark

grading & KSAR

2010-05-27T13:15:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys

further to my announcement yesterday, looking to do a grading on the 16th June for Juan, Jon, Sean & Steve if you guys are up for it- if anyone else who has been training regularly for at least 6months would like to give it a go then let me know. Therefore next two weeks we will focus on the top ten attacks in readiness and the 16th's training will largely be taken up with the testing.

Still after one more person for KSAR to make up two teams so if you are interested,please let me know by the end of the week so I can get us registered.

Will have a date for our first fight club imminently.

Till next care

Train Hard...Fight Easy,,,,,,,,,mayve see you at SENI!

Mark

SENI & KSAR & Saturday Morning Fight Club

2010-05-13T16:35:00.003+01:00

Greetings Chaps

Just a reminder that SENI is coming up on the Bank holiday weekend.

I will be going on the Sunday by train so if anyone wants to go and want some company on the way up (will go from Wadhurst probably) then get in touch. see http://www.senishow.com/. McGill and Leo are doing a demonstration in the afternoon and we have a stand there which I will try and avoid manning!

For KSAR is have the following names- Me, Charlie, Chris, Lee, Steve, Juan so need two more to enter two teams- please let me know if you want to join in with this great event.

As mentioned the other week, now we have mats, I am thinking of doing a saturday morning fight club once a month where we will do less self defence type scenarios and more "full on" MMA Sparring to amateur conditions, Fight Drills, Reaction and Speed drill etc etc. Cost for this will be £10 per session and be say from 9-11. May also have some guest martial artists and still keen for the bullet men to come down.

For all the above please email me or respond to this blog with your comments.

Have a good weekend

Train hard..........Fight Easy

Mark

KSAR Challenge

2010-04-28T15:53:00.003+01:00

Hi Guys

The KSAR challenge (Kent Search and Rescue) is back on this year.
We entered a team last year and I am sure those who took part and won their medal will tell you it was a great event and for a great cause- see also the old blog post and pictures on this

Some further info below, please let me know if you would be interested in being in a team this year and we will sort out- See me for further information.

KSAR CHALLENGE 2010
What is it?
The KSAR challenge is an annual event, designed to challenge teams during a mixture of mental and physical tasks. The tasks will be related to the skills required during Search and Rescue, but no previous experience or skill is essential, just the ability to have fun and enjoy the day. It is a charity
event with all profits going to support Kent Search and Rescue

Who can enter?
Mixed teams of 4 people over the age of 18 years.

When and where is it?
The event will take place at a Secret Location in Kent Sat 10th July 2010. The day starts with a compulsory team briefing at 1030hrs. All teams will be told of their actual start time prior to the event.

What do I need to bring?
Normal running/exercise clothing and footwear will be suitable. Teams will be responsible for carrying their own water and snacks. During the event all specialist equipment will be given to the teams prior to commencing a task. A BBQ and refreshment stand will be available near the control centre.

What do I get out of it?
Supporting Kent Search and Rescue whilst having a fun and action packed day
Medals will be awarded to the first three teams, with all competitors receiving a certificate

Wednesday

2010-04-09T17:29:00.003+01:00

Just a reminder guys that we are back on this Wednesday the 14th, but don't forget then away for the 21st.
Hope to get the go ahead to store the mats in the hall shortly then probably from the 28th we will be able to do some ground work etc.

As summer is approaching I am selling off the hoodies to save me carrying them round till next winter so available on a first come first served basis at £18 (usual price £25). Let me know if you would like one and which size.

Look forward to seeing you all Wednesday.

Train hard..Fight Easy

Mark

Easter Closure

2010-03-16T16:40:00.002Z

Dear All

As attendance always dries up a bit over Easter and the sun is shining I am taking the opportunity to have a wee break, so there will be no class on the Wednesday after Easter Monday, i.e. the 7th of April and also no class on the 21st of April - Usual classes in between time.

Have now got 9 gee mats for ground work and reckon I need about another 9 to get a good sized coverage so hopefully will keep an eye on Ebay and be ready for after Easter to have a padded floor.

Also have the possibility of doing a 1 day live firearms course if anyone is interested, if so let me know on Wednesday, see you all then.

Train Hard.........Fight Easy

Mark

Results from the Buses

2010-03-09T17:00:00.003Z

Thanks to Chris, Steve, Juan, John & Dean for putting in a great display on the buses, well done guys, McGill is always impressed with the commitment and aggression you show in the training and in the pressure tests.

Will post some video of the day hopefully soon.

Had a good endorsement from the CEO of the Master Sken academy who turned up and loved it.

Just a quick note to say how Fui Mee, Lee Ann and I enjoyed your 'Fighting on Buses' workshop on Sunday. It was superbly practical and clearly proved why so many techniques that look good are of little value in real life close encounters of the wrong kind!

We look forward to attending more of these. Please convey our thanks also to your great team of instructors.
Very best regards.
Swee Lip Quek
CEO, Master Sken Academy

For those of you who don't know, Master Sken is an awesome Muay Thai fighter and teacher very well known in the business, see his website here:

http://www.mastersken.com/

See you all on Wednesday.

Train Hard..............Fight Easy

Mark

Krav on the Buses

2010-02-22T11:13:00.002Z

Hi Guys

Just a reminder that I have reserved 5 places for Krav on the Buses on the 7th.

This is a very popular event so we do need to have payment up front to guarantee your place, so if you are intending to come please bring you £20 on Wednesday (discounted from usual price as we have supported this over the years and always get a good attendance)

Many Thanks

Train Hard.........Fight Easy

Mark

Krav on the Buses and Clan Wars

2010-02-08T13:34:00.002Z

Dear All

The next “Fighting on the Buses” seminar will be on 7 March 2010 at Plumstead Bus Garage from 10:30am to 2:30pm. This is the very popular seminar in which we run through how to defend yourself if attacked/threatened in a confined space such as a crowded bus. This is a very popular course so apologies, but advance payment only please and let me know if you wish to attend as soon as possible please. The seminar is £30.

Clan Wars Irish MMA TournamentLeo Negao and McGill are going to attend this increasingly prominent event this Friday, it’s going to be shown on P4 tv, Sky Channel 281. see here http://www.p4tv.com/And highlights will be on LA Muscle channel. Stewart will be doing the pre-fight interviews and Leo and he will be presenting the belt to the winner of the Irish Featherweight Championship. Leo and Stewart will both have to wear suits for the event and will adopt the Tag Team title “The Accused"

See you Wednesday

Mark

Train Hard................Fight Easy

New Video and London KettleBells

2010-02-03T11:49:00.003Z

Back from skiing guys and look forward to seeing you all later tonight.

Just to let you know that we have a new promo video available on you tube or on the home page of my site for your delectation and enjoyment!

We also have secured a deal with London KettleBells with some good discounts, so if anyone would like to order Kettlebells, grips or Power clubs etc then let me know.

See you all later

Mark

Train Hard...........Fight Easy

An endorsement for UKM

2010-01-13T16:23:00.002Z

An endorsement for UKM from someone who knows!

"I work as a Bodyguard doing convoy protection and personal security detail in Iraq. I always train in Urban Krav Maga at Beyond Fighting. When I'm home on leave. Beyond Fighting's self-defence training is some of the most realistic I've experienced, perhaps even more so than in my current job or as a Special Reconnaissance soldier in the Army . I Would recommend Urban Krav Maga to anyone wanting incredible fitness and conditioning and the best self-defence training I've ever done"

Danny, Close Protection Operative-Hostile Environments.

Our core busines is training civilians and we don't make a big deal out of supposed military connections but this is a strong testament from an experienced guy serving in a tough environment.

Our aim is to equip the student as soon as possible to defend themselves against the most common attacks.

We strongly recommend that, if you can, you choose a Licensed Urban Krav Maga Instructor.

Urban Krav Maga is the only style of Krav Maga that:
(i) has been asked to provide a British Combat Association Masterclass;
(ii) has produced 2 highly acclaimed DVD sets in 2008/2009;
(iii) has been created - and continually updated - by a number of Martial Artists experienced across a range of disciplines;
(iv) has a syllabus based around defending the 10 most common attacks you are likely to face in the street;
(v) teaches a range of pre-emptive strikes and moves adapted to work for people against bigger/multiple opponents;
(vi) has Leo Negao, 4-time world Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion as an Instructor; Leo is also our Advisor on groundwork and regularly trains the top Instructors.
(v) has been asked to run the Krav Maga stand at 2010’s Seni show, the biggest Martial arts exhibition in the UK

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Snow.Bloody Snow

2010-01-13T08:26:00.002Z

OK getting bored with this now and its costing me a fortune!

Just been out and couldn't get too far past the village and thats on the main road, back roads unless in 4X4 -forget it-, had about 2 inches this morning and its still snowing with bad ice out there (I nearly went into the back of a snow plough that had helpfully stopped in the middle of the road for no apparent reason).

I am happy to try and open up tonight if people want to , but appreciate for most of you it is quite a drive- once you get here I dont think you will be able to use the car park either!

So if anyone is intending to come tonight please email/call me and if we have enough I will open up. Please don't text as I am at home and there is no signal so I will not receive though the mobile will divert to me.

Speak soon, Keep training, maybe see you!!!

Mark

Bulletman. F.A.S.T training

2010-01-11T17:15:00.002Z

Dear All

Barring another dump (from the sky not from me!) hope to be back training this week.

I have also been able to arrange some training against the Bulletmen if you might be interested with the F.A.S.T team.

The enables us to expand a bit further on reality training than we can do in normal classes without killing someone!

They will come down to us with 3 instructors, two who will be dressed as the legendary Bulletman, enabling you to practice techniques full power, and full contact against them.

The course will be 4.5 hours and cost £60- to make this worthwhile we need 20 of us, and you can bring along non members.

F.A.S.T. courses offer training in skills such as
awareness
assertive behaviour
avoidance
target hardening (how to not look like a victim)
situation control
control of your personal space
using your voice
simple, effective defence techniques that work.

All training is done in an adrenaline environment so you learn not to freeze and panic when you need it. It will feel very real.

How you react to a situation can mean the difference between success and failure, life or death. The F.A.S.T courses will show you how your body reacts under severe, adrenaline fuelled encounters and then how to turn that reaction into a positive outcome. The defences are practiced full-on against the padded ‘Bulletmen’.

Some comments from people who have been on these courses and if you want to see some of this being used, see you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sznNjNq5a7E

“All of the members of the Royal Marine Police had nothing but praise for both the system and the instructors who displayed a professional approach which was aimed at a good level. From the feedback received, I can say that the afternoon was a resounding success.
D.H – Royal Marines Police Training

“The people you portray during your courses are scarily accurate. I see people like this every day in my job.”
N.C. – Gravesend Council

“I would recommend the F.A.S.T. Defence method to anyone working in the security industry or dealing with the public on a daily basis, and that includes a mother walking her baby. ”
T.R – Plymouth Pavilion Security Manager

“Just wanted to say how impressed I was with the course on Saturday. I found it a really supportive environment and I certainly learnt a lot! I am amazed at how you all make the scenarios so realistic and recognisable.”Dr. K. A. - Malvern

Please do email me if you/your family/Friends etc would be interested in attending and then I will book and arrange a weekend that works for all.

Train Hard........Fight Easy

Closed Again!

2010-01-06T08:55:00.003Z

Discretion being the better part of valour, I am cancelling tonight's Krav.

On the basis that at the moment I have 8 inches of snow in front of my gate before I even manage to try the ungritted road, I'm not going anywhere!

Sorry guys, stay safe and warm and see you next week.

Global warming my arse

Mark

Open Again

2010-01-05T11:56:00.003Z

Greetings All,

Hope you all had a great Xmas and happy and safe New Year.

Time to burn off all that excess now so you dont end up looking like the chap above.

Weather allowing classes back on again from this Wednesday, though I am sneaking in a bit of skiing so no class on the 27th of this month.

Hope to see you all wednesday

Train Hard........Fight Easy

Mark

Xmas closure & Rash Guards

2009-12-01T16:02:00.002Z

Hi Chaps,

Just to let you know have the Xmas closure hot off the press.

last class will be the 16th December with normal mayhem resuming 6/1/2010.

Some private lessons will be available over the break.

Have a limited stock of the Rashguards winging their way to me and should have for Wednesday, available on a first come first served basis at £30.

Last class of the year will be a student choice, so please email or respond to this post with anything you want covered, either stuff we have already done or just a burning self defence situation you want to know how to deal with.

Till next time

Train Hard..Fight Easy.

Mark

Krav on the Buses, Rashguards, Chav down and SENI

2009-10-19T09:13:00.006+01:00

Morning all,

A few updates

Training back to normal this week.

We have a date for Krav on the buses at Plumstead Bus Garage as usual ,on the 8th of November 10:30 to 14:30, cost £30 for SUKM members. Please let me know if you want to attend as soon as possible as numbers are limited.

New Rashguards now in, beautifully modelled above, price is £25, so let me know if you would like one.

New DVD should be complete in the next week or so.

Just desserts on this you tube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oefo00eB_1Q just shows how his adrenaline suddenly worked against him!

We’re officially doing the Krav Maga stand at Seni this May, dates are 29 and 30 May and it’ll be at the Excel arena. We got the gig because the organisers have seen our stuff and liked it and we have a good reputation. So put it in the diary and hope to see you all there.

For those of you who dont know SENI- this is their blurb.

Taking place every two years in a fantastic Olympic venue, Seni is the most informative, interactive,educational and inspirational expo on the planet with sixexciting zones to truly offer something for everyone-from MMA to Traditional arts, from Olympic Sports to Health and Fitness and from Self-Defence to musical forms and tricks across a thrill-packed weekend. After taking in seminars, demonstrations, tournaments and open-mat sessions you can catch your breath by visiting the hundreds of trade stands that promote the very latest, cutting-edge innovations and give you the opportunity to pick up fantastic special offers and a range of incredible freebies.

Worlds leading fighting arts exhibition• Classical Warrior Zone Covering all traditional products• Fightsport Zone MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai and Kickboxing products• Powersport Zone Strength & extreme fitness equipment & nutrition • Survival Reality based products and services• Tournament Semi contact & submission companies

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

No Classes 7th & 14th October

2009-09-28T10:32:00.002+01:00

Greetings All,

Unfortunately we can not use the hall on the above dates due to AGM's and other commitments, so last Krav for a couple of weeks this week, next back 21/10.

Sorry about this, as you know I am looking at some other venues to overcome this issues that we seem to have had lately and to give us access to better facilities.

Will keep you all posted and see you this Wednesday.

Train hard.............Fight Easy

Mark

NO class 2/9

2009-08-31T17:16:00.003+01:00

Hi Guys

Just took a phone call from the village hall, we cant use 5 Ashes this week as the wonderful British workman have failed to complete their building works on time, so no classes this week I am afraid, but hopefully back to normal next week.

Sorry, but keep training!

Mark

We Are Back !!

2009-08-25T14:05:00.002+01:00

That's it Summer is over, Krav starts again tomorrow and I cant wait.

Trust you have all been keeping your training up so we don't have to start off too gently!

Hope to see you all back again, and have had a lot of new enquires, so if they all turn up we will have about 10 newbies!!

Search continues for additional venue, but should have some news on that shortly, fingers crossed.

Till tomorrow

Train Hard..........Fight Easy

Mark

Summer Holiday Closure

2009-07-21T18:47:00.002+01:00

Greetings all,

Just a quick note to confirm holiday dates for your diaries.

Our last class will be on the 29th July.

No Classes 5/8, 12/8 or 19/8.

First class back will be the 26/8.

May look at doing a Summer Krav BBQ on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon when I am back round mine, bring food and booze and I'll cook it (and drink it!). Let me know who would be up for that and we can start looking at dates/arranging.

See you all Wednesday

Train Hard......Fight Easy

Mark

UKM Vs KSAR

2009-07-14T18:49:00.006+01:00

UKM took on the might of KSAR (Kent Search & Rescue) and all they could throw at us on Saturday, thank you to Juan, Charlie & Chris who made up the team.

We had a great time, climbing high, rescuing bodies from underground cave mazes, pulling a screaming pilot out of a burning plane that had hit a car and numerous other exercises.

A few photos attached for those we left behind.

All though we didn't win it, there is always next year when I am sure we will enter a couple of teams.

£400 raised for this worthwhile charity.

Train hard......Fight Easy.....Keep searching!

Mark

Krav on the Mountains

2009-07-14T15:10:00.007+01:00

Hi guys,

Some pictures of the intrepid mountain climbers, will put some of these up on the web in the next few days.

Next blog will be results and pictures form Team Krav takes on KSAR! see you tomorrow.

Train Hard.....Fight Easy and stay off the mountains.

Mark

The True Spirit of Urban Krav Maga

2009-07-08T16:32:00.002+01:00

Chaps,

Tonight's training is dedicated to the guys I have "hijacked" and called Team Krav- Brian, Chris, Lee and Gareth.

Despite appalling weather conditions they all summited Mont Blanc, a two day event has now tuned into 5, having to spend an extra day up the mountain before they could reach the top and then being caught in Blizzards on the return, resulting in them having to build a snow cave and survive a night out out on the mountain.

It resulted in two of the team eventually having to be choppered off suffering with snow blindness, but could of course have ended up far worse.

Their fitness, determination and never give up attitude go them through one of the most extreme tests of survival, that few of us will ever have to endure.

Well done to all and look forward to seeing you back soon.

Meanwhile Team Krav gathers again this Saturday on a slgihtly less dangerous task to undertake a rigorous days testing involving search and rescue and survival techniques (shame it wasn't the weekend before last might have helped on the mountain as Chris is in both teams)

Myself, Charlie Chris & Juan will do our best to uphold the honour of team Krav and win the event.

Hope to see you all tonight

Train Hard......Fight Easy

Mark

mont blanc, search and rescue challenge

2009-07-02T09:43:00.004+01:00

Hi Guys

Just a quickie, firstly good luck to the intrepid "Team Krav"!! who are about to go and climb Europe's highest mountain, Mont Blanc on Saturday/Sunday (I dont count Mount Elbrus as its Russia), poor Charlie is being left behind due to her Krav war wound, but Henno & Chris (and Brian ?) will I know forge their way to the top and I look forward to the pictures of you guys up there in the new edition Krav T's- we will make sure we get those out to the press on your return.

re KSAR challenge next weekend, some more info below- we do need a team of 4, cost £50 for the team, all proceeds to KSAR, if interested please email me by Friday, and I will enter us in and provide more info next Wednesday.

Till next time

Train HARD.....Fight Easy and Stay cool

Mark

What is it?

The KSAR challenge is an annual event, designed to challenge teams during a mixture of mental and physical tasks. The tasks will be related to the skills required during Search and Rescue, but no previous experience or skill is essential, just the ability to have fun and enjoy the day. It is a charity event with all profits going to support Kent Search and Rescue.

Who can enter?

Mixed teams of 4 people over the age of 18 years.

When and where is it?

The event will take place at a Secret Location in Kent Sat 11th July 2009. The day starts with a compulsory team briefing at 1130hrs. All teams will be told of the Location and their actual start time prior to the event.

What do I need to bring?

Normal running/exercise clothing and footwear will be suitable. Teams will be responsible for carrying their own water and snacks. During the event all specialist equipment will be given to the teams prior to commencing a task. A refreshment stand will be available near the control centre.

What do I get out of it?

Supporting Kent Search and Rescue whilst having a fun and action packed day.
Medals will be awarded to the first three teams, with all competitors receiving a certificate

Another Week, injuries and Kent Search and Rescue

2009-06-26T16:41:00.004+01:00

Greetings All

An injury packed week!

Neil bought down by Rigo "The Snake" with possible fractured ribs via the Training Karma of he who injures gets injured and then Steve "I don't like kickboxers" B, taken down with a dislocated Knee adding to his wrist injury- hope you all get better soon guys- hopefully Charlie will be brave enough to come back soon as well.

We had our final class at Eastbourne for the Summer with a good rumble in the jungle and the guys from down there will be joining the 5 Ashes massive this week so could be a hot and sticky one as we should also have a couple more newbies starting- the need to find a bigger hall in this area increases.

If any one wants any kit, let me know- still have some gloves and all the tshirts with me, and groin guards turn up pretty quick so see me after/before class and I can order what you might need at trade prices.

As some of you know I am involved with Kent Search and Rescue and they are looking for teams to enter their "Are you tough enough" challenge in July- I will attach to an email the details but would be cool if we could enter a couple of teams for this worthwhile charity- again let me know at class.

Till next time

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

New Instructors Urban MMA, BCA Masterclass & the Tee's

2009-06-11T09:39:00.004+01:00

Morning All,

Firstly, congratulations to Jamie Douglas, Geff Francis and Peter Bilitsch for getting through the Instructor Training process. Jamie will be doing mostly private lessons in London and is our first Oxbridge graduate instructor; Geff will be opening up a club in the Brighton area; Peter will shortly be moving to Stirlingshire and will be training up there.

BCA Seminar.

Urban Krav Maga have been asked by the internationally renowned British Combat Association (BCA) to provide a masterclass on 13 September 2009. This is the first time any Krav Maga organisation has been asked to give such a seminar in the UK and reflects the respect within the self defence community for Urban Krav Maga.

This will be held on the 13 September at a location to be confirmed, but it will be Oop North.

McG will be doing the gig with Leo, and our Northern guys at Beyond Fighting; I will advise more details when I have them, but the following is an outline of what we intend to do at the seminar- Likely to be very off patch for us, but if anyone is interested I will provide further info idc and perhaps if we have enough we can always take the Battle bus up there depenidng on final location.

Likely schedule:

1.Takedowns, takedown defences, what to do immediately when taken down, escapes from common attacks and pin-downs on the ground and how to finish on the ground when you’re the attacker. Leo Negao will lead this session.

2. Knife threats and knife attacks and basics on handling gun threats. There will be regular breaks to revise the groundwork taught earlier in the day and building in the knife work through the pressure testing mechanism described below.

3. 35 minutes revision/pressure testing. Attendees will work in Groups of 3, the victim in the group will be taken down aggressively, he/she will have 5 seconds to get up before the third party starts to put the boot in (gently!); when they get up they will have to handle a knife attack/threat or deal with a gun in the face – then we rotate the victim.

DVDs

Looking at a couple of options re the new groundwork DVD with Leo, including the possibility of NAP producing something but under a slightly different basis from last time. Will report back on this soon.

The UKM set has been available from Amazon for a while and has some good feedback. This is shown below.
Let me know if you would like any.

See the buyer reviews on the bottom half of this page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Urban-Krav-Maga-6-DVD-Box/dp/B001MU45VC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1244633715&sr=8-1

T-Shirts
I know steady but.................Will have some of the death head ones tonight, and our new SUKM ones are being printed this weekend so will have(!!) for next week.- Believe it when I see it, but we are sooooo close!

That's it for now, see some of you tonight, rest next week, stay safe and till then

Train Hard.......Fight Easy

Mark

This week and beginners

2009-06-05T15:48:00.005+01:00

Hi Guys

Interesting weeks training- we got to use mats for the first time on Thursday , which hopefully you guys enjoyed with a few take downs and we managed to break people on Wednesday.

Poor old Charlie received our first real broken bones Krav injury with, a spiral fracture of the metacarpal, as she said we have now found the limit of the bendiness of her body!(something Chris has never managed!)- we will need to look at minting a special medal for her- she is in plaster at the moment so will be out for a month or so, giving Chris a chance to get to her skill level and Neil to work on his apology!!

Charlie I think you should come down though and let us all sign your cast and we could have it mounted as a trophy!

Rigo was another man down , trying to take out MMA Jon, but have not heard how he is doing .

And then Mark and Neil blew a head gasket (well Mark's A Team van did) and did not get home till midnight.

Despite all that we had some excellent new beginners join so welcome aboard guys

Good news is that our Eastbourne guys are going to brave the dangers of five ashes and come down on a Wednesday. If we do start getting in the 20's again at 5 ashes then we will need to look at another venue in the area- a new judo club has started up recently so I am going to see if I can track them down and use their venue as they will have mats etc and there is the possibility of fitness first in Heathfield- if anyone has any other suggestions then please let me know.

We have 12 people confirmed for the beginners session on the 20th so that will now definitely go ahead, if anyone wants to come along who has not confirmed, please let me know asap

Have a good weekend

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Eastbourne & Beginners Seminar

2009-05-31T10:13:00.002+01:00

Morning all,

As regular attendees will have noticed the number of Eastbourne members attending the Thursday classes has fallen over recent months and has been very low for the last month, averaging between 1& 2! with the numbers kept up by the support of the multi site users from 5 Ashes.

With summer upon us, there is always a further reduction in people attending classes, and therefore with regret I do not feel that we can continue with the Eastbourne site.

Thursday the 25th of June will therefore be the last class at Eastbourne.

5 Ashes will of course continue and all our Eastbourne members are welcome and indeed encouraged to have their membership transferred and come along on a Wednesday.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us in Eastbourne and to Tim & Stephi for the work they have put in.

On a more cheerful note (if we have enough numbers!), a beginners seminar will take place on Saturday the 20th June at 5 Ashes 9 till 1 covering.

1. An introduction to Urban Krav Maga
2. Self Defence- Reality versus Fiction- A guide to Self Defence
3. The Top 10 Attacks
4. An introduction to Urban Confidence

As advised previously this will be free to everyone doing their beginners package, £10 for members wishing a refresher and £30 for non members wanting to "have a look".

Can anyone who wants to attend please email or phone me by this Wednesday the 3rd of June please so I can confirm the booking with the hall- for those who have already expressed an interest, please do take a couple of minutes to confirm again.

Thank you

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

Upcoming Seminars, DVD and T-Shirts

2009-05-22T10:03:00.002+01:00

Morning All,

Good to do a full weeks training and see a few new faces, with Chris not breaking any of them.

Some general Krav news below, and anyone who has not expressed an interest in a 1/2 day beginners course on a Saturday but wants to come along, please let me know as soon as possible as I will be getting the dates and booking this over the next few days.

Forthcoming Seminars

We have weekend seminars coming up. The candidate instructors will be attending these courses; they are open to all and have proved in the past to be a very effective, intense way of covering the syllabus.

Dates:22 –24 May; on the Friday we work from 7pm to 10pm, 8am-6pm on the Saturday and Sunday.
5-7 June, the same timings as above.

Location:London Fight Factory, Hanbury Street, Bethnal Green – Directions are here: http://www.londonfightfactory.com/contact/contact_us.html

Prices for the Non-Instructor Students:For those of you wanting to attend on a seminar basis as a good way of covering the syllabus quickly and to enjoy some intensive training, the costs will be:1 day £110 (including a Friday session for free)2 days £200 (including a Friday session for free).

If you want to do 2 weekends it will be £380; See here for an indication of that which we will be covering over these 2 weekends: (for the 19-22 June dates put aside for a Seminar, we will probably do another session on the bus –please let me know if you’re interested).

http://urbankravmaga.com/instructor-intensive-coursesPlease let me know as soon as you can if you wish to attend one of the Seminars.

DVD

We’re currently working with Leo Negao on producing a comprehensive DVD covering self defence on the ground. This will utilise Brazilian Jiu Jutsu and MMA principles for self defence. You can see Leo in action here in his most recent fight:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9OKu3g2sxo

The DVD will also cover knife attacks and threats. We’re producing this ourselves so the price will be competitive. More information to follow. Hopefully we will have ready for next month.

T-Shirts

The now legendary SUKM T-shirts (legendary only because they seem to be being spun out of gold the time it has taken to get sorted), may now be available for the end of next week/beginning of the following. £12 each or 2 for £20.

Some of you also saw the new "Deaths Head " one last night so I will be bringing some of these along as well next time. £15 each.

Till Next Time

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

UKM A beginners Guide and 14/5

2009-05-05T15:03:00.004+01:00

Hi All,

Back from the sunny Isle of Wight and itching to get training.

I have had the chance to have some thoughts while away and with the number of newbies that we have, I thought I would run a Saturday morning beginners class covering the following:

1. An introduction to Urban Krav Maga

2. Self Defence- Reality versus Fiction- A guide to Self Defence

3. The Top 10 Attacks

4. An introduction to Urban Confidence

This 1/2 day course (probably 9-13:00) would be free to anyone who is a member of SUKM and still within their beginners package, £10 to existing members and £30 to non members.

All are welcome and if we have a good response then I would like a volunteer from our senior students (who have passed their test) to work with me as assistant instructor for the day (you wont have to pay!).

Anyone interested Please email me if you would be up for this seminar and I will sort out some dates.

This will then give us a chance to concentrate on the next level in our normal classes, though of course we do need to keep coming back to these basics to ensure if becomes second nature

If this proves successful then I could do some more themed seminars over the year.

Secondly I have been luckily enough to be invited to the Army Benevolent Fund event next week with HRH Prince of Wales and the Gurkha's among others so I may not be able to get back in time for classes in Eastbourne on the 14th, rather than do both things badly I will do one well and go out with the Army (& Chas!)- sorry to muck you around, but Thursday bunch please feel free to come along to our 5 ashes class instead on the Wednesday.

See you all later in the week

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Those Crazy Russians, Press Comment, AOB

2009-04-24T12:33:00.005+01:00

Hi Guys

Hope everyone is all OK after this weeks training and some hard pressure tests.

Just a couple of bits, at the end of this blog is comment from one of our students who had to use the Gun defence in Russia recently.

SUKM also appeared in the papers last week (With a picture of Charlie!) and for those who didn't see it, a copy can be reviewed on the gallery pages of my site.

Still sitting here waiting for T-Shirts- no wonder we are in a recession when we have appalling service like this.

If anyone has any aspect of self defence they want me to cover please do let me know and I will incorporate it into a training night- so if there is any particular attack you are concerned about or indeed have been subject to and what to know what to do, email me and we will cover it next time.

Finally don't forget NO training next week, next training 6th and 7th of May- ensure you do your homework(!) picture certain attacks happening and work out how to get out of them (trust me, it does work).

UKM Gun Defence works in Russia

"I was being driven away from a business meeting in Novosibirsk (Siberia) and I had my window open as I was smoking and sitting in the front passenger seat. As we pulled up to the traffic lights 2 rough looking guys that were crossing the street ran up to the car, one to the drivers side and the other to my open window, this man pulled a gun. He shoved the pistol right inside and tried to grab me yelling to open the doors (as they were locked and the drivers window was up the other man was banging on it). Straight away I grabbed the attackers right hand (the one holding the gun) with my right hand pushing away and then grabbed the gun with my left hand. I had trained with Paul exactly how to deal with this particular gun (a makharov russian army issue and one of the most common in this part of the world) so I made sure my hand was over the slide and my thumb under the hammer. I executed the disarm by pulling his wrist towards me and tearing the gun from his hand. The driver put his foot down and we were gone leaving the attacker standing in the middle of the road with his gun in my pocket.

All that happened to me was a bleeding thumb and a massive hit of adrenaline.
I started training with Paul specifically for this reason. I spend half my time in Knightsbridge and the other half in places like Novosibirsk
(Siberia) where incidents like this are all too frequent. If I hadn't trained with Paul I don't know what would have happened. For sure I would have lost my company car,wallet phone etc but also maybe I would've been killed.

I have only been training with Paul for 3 months but he makes everything so easy to understand that I already feel confident with a large proportion of the system. Thanks Paul I will be now upping the number of sessions I train with you".

Train Hard.......Fight Easy

Mark

Urban Confidence, Man Down and welcome back Steve

2009-04-17T15:36:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys,

Really enjoyed this weeks training, thank you, some really good pressure tests and nice techniques.

A couple of updates, The next Urban Confidence event (www.urbanconfidence.co.uk), takes place on the 19th September and we will be taking bookings soon (as soon as Simon updates the website that is), so book early to avoid disappointment.

We had Tim collapse on us yesterday with his old mans back, but hopefully my osteopath will put him back together again before he goes off to New Zealand, otherwise I will just have to take his place (Stephi stop hoping)- it is probably gods revenge for the synchronised warm up that he made you all do (though I have to say it did look rather cool- will have to get him to do that again when he and Stephi are back in 3 weeks)

As T&S are away we might have a struggle getting in on a Thursday so if we do please bear with me/us as required- worse case we can always do it outside(!)

Don't forget training next week but not the week after.

Finally was great to see Steve B back at 5 Ashes this week, have missed him over the last month so welcome back Steve (just need to sort out Jim now).

Train Hard...........Fight Easy

Mark

Krav MMA on You Tube

2009-04-06T16:17:00.001+01:00

2nd post for today, but check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAj70Q6Wojc

Leo Negao and Stewart McGill doing some training in preparation for the new DVD, Krav MMA: Ground and Knife. This will show how MMA and Urban Krav Maga principles and techniques can be melded and applied to defend yourself on the ground and against the knife. DVD coming out soon

Hey No One Died!

2009-04-06T10:36:00.002+01:00

Well that was a funny old week of training, our first call out of an ambulance and we hadn't even got started.

Thank you to everyone who helped with our casualty, you ll be pleased to know he is fine (as far as you can be after that crack to the head) and may be back!

Sorry for that making the lesson a bit odd, but adapt or die!

With the next two weeks being Easter, can you all email me to let me know if you intend to come this week/next so I can get an idea of numbers/experience and do a bit of planning accordingly- would hate to just be there on my Jack Jones.

There will be no classes on the 29th and 30th of April as I will be away on hols, normal service resumes 6th May (another bank holiday week!).

Have chased up the tshirts today so will keep you posted on that

Hope you all had a good one, see you Wednesday/Thursday.

Train Hard..............Fight Easy

Mark

the logos

2009-03-31T15:52:00.004+01:00

Forgot to post these for you guys. See you tomorrow/Thursday

This week

2009-03-27T10:11:00.002Z

Thanks all for this week, some good sessions.

Thank you also for the feedback on the new tshirt designs, hope to go to print later today and with a fair wind will have some for next week.

Anyone who has not got groin guards and gloves, please think about getting these soon as you can otherwise we cant get everyone sparring and putting some more effort into the defences/attacks. I can get these for you if required, it is about £10 for a groin guard and £20 for the gloves.

Last call for the buses seminar as I need to confirm numbers with McGill later today, so if you have not yet paid/confirmed let me know now please.

Have a great weekend all, keep safe

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Summer Show, Buses and a T-Shirt!

2009-03-20T10:02:00.003Z

Dear All,

Thank you for a good weeks training and nice to see so many new faces at 5 Ashes this week, without Chris being there we managed to not break anyone which is always a bonus, so hopefully they will be back!

We have been asked to put on a demonstration at the 5 Ashes Summer Show on the 25th of July. Now I have never been to that so it might mean doing something in front of two people and a dog, but I am looking for volunteers, need at least say 5 but the more the merrier and will probably do a "gentle" form of pressure test as then we can show a load of techniques one after another, then bugger off down the pub.

Please let me know asap if up for this as I need to let the organiser know.

Also a reminder buses on the 5th of April. If you want to come along to this please let me know by the end of this week and let me have your money at next weeks classes.

Hopefully finishing off the design for the rear of our new exclusive SUKM T-shirts this week so should have in stock soon.

Till Next time

Mark

Train hard..........Fight Easy.....Never Give Up

Urban MMA- Clan Wars 2

2009-03-06T16:05:00.002Z

Dear All,

Second post today, our colleagues over in Northern Ireland run an MMA competition called Clan Wars, they had a small one in the club the first time but now things are picking up and they are getting a second bigger event on the way ie Clan Wars 2.

They started Clan Wars as they do a lot of MMA style sparring so students had asked if they could get a small MMA fight team together.

In their first event they did very well with 4 wins, 2 loses and 3 draws which was pretty good as most were beginners and first timers.

They are now holding Clan Wars 2 in August and will be holding more towards the end of the year so with the cheap flights from England, they thought they would get out an invite to all other UKM clubs to see if they had students who would like to participate either in August or the next one?

They are not licensed for full Pro rules but have an amateur d class which is normal amateur and amateur c class which is a semi-pro ie head shots standing but no head shots on the ground.

They compete against other MMA and ju jitsu clubs from Ireland and try and match up with similar experience ie beginners against beginners and guys with more experience matched fairly too - they are very strict on this matter.

If any one would like to give this a go get in touch with me and you can see the guys at play at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz7SrQymREc

Mark
Train Hard ..........Fight Easy

Krav on the Buses Volume 2 & Urban Confidence Offer

2009-03-06T14:00:00.005Z

Hi Guys

Good to see you all over the last few days.

Jus to let you know we have a date for another of our popular Self Defence on the Buses 1 day courses working with the Police and hosted by the Founder of UKM Stewart McGill (with a little help from me!)

Date for this is the 5th of April at Plumstead Bus Garage. 10:30am -2:30pm. Price £30 payable in advance and gives you the opportunity to learn how to defend yourself in close quarters. Places are stricly limited (there is only so many we can fit on a bus!) so its first come first served.

If you want to attend please let me know as soon as possible- NB You must be a member of SUKM for this and be insured with the BCA, if not price for the course will be £50 to include membership.

See earlier posts on this site for additional details and comments on the day.

We also have a few tickets still available for the Urban Confidence Seminar- see www.urbanconfidence.co.uk which I will let you have with an early bird discount and give you £10 for any additional people who sign up to the seminar that you introduce.

Till Next Time

Train hard...Fight Easy.

Mark

New Logo

2009-02-26T13:14:00.002Z

Hi Guys,

A quiet night last night with our lowest turn out ever for various reasons, but hopefully back to normal tonight.

Thought I would give you a sneeky peeky at the proposed new "Front" logo exclusive for our club rather than the general Urban Krav Maga logos, we are working on the "Rear" logo now for tshirts, branding etc

See you all tonight.

Mark
Sussex Urban Krav Maga...Fighting Fit.

Urban Confidence

2009-02-18T14:19:00.003Z

Its arrived! The long awaited premier self defence and confidence building event of the Year!

This unique event has been put together by myself, Stewart Mcgill Chief Instructor and founder of Urban Krav Maga and Simon Jordan , The Confidence King (and student!).

This is the first event of its kind in the world and will be starting in Sussex before being taken national, so this is your chance to be in at the start of this incredible journey with us.

This special 1 day event will show you how to spot the early signs of danger, pre-empt physical attacks and defend yourself from ongoing physical and verbal assault, using techniques designed for today not 200 years ago!

We will teach you the skills required to become more confident in difficult circumstances.

To ensure everyone gets the most from this day, space is strictly limited to 100 guests so book early to avoid disappointment.

see http://www.urbanconfidence.co.uk/ for more details and to book online.

See you all soon

Train Hard.....Fight Easy, with Confidence

Mark

Body Weight Exercises

2009-02-16T12:06:00.001Z

You asked for it, here you go a list of some body weight exercises for you:

Main body parts used.

Legs
Squats
Squats Hold with Jump
Squats with Kick
Squat with punch
Squat to ReachClock Lunge
Overhead Lunge
Jumping Lunge
Single Leg Squat
Backward Lunge
Walking Lunge
Boot Strapper

All Body
Turkish Get ups
Plank
Running Arm Circles
Side Lunge
Jumping Jack
Squat Thrust
Alternating Leg Squat Thrust
Fast Feet
High Knee Run
High Fives
Sledgehammer
Burpee/Partial Burpee/Bastards
Body Roll to Standing/Press Up Body Role to Standing
Kneel to stand
Star Jumps from crouch
Wood Chop

Arms/Chest
Press Up
Press Up wide to Narrow
T Press
Press up with Knee Lift
Press up to Shoulder Press
Step Swap Press-Up
Press-Up with arm and leg lift
Slow Diamond Press Up
Open and Close Grip

Stomach/Core
Plank
Two Point Box
Bicycle
½ sit ups
Leg Lift
Single Leg Flop
Double Leg Flop
Russian Twists
Pointer Plank
Seated reverse crunch
Superman
Lying Leg Cross
Jacknife
Leg Lift
Punch Up
V Sit/Jack Knife
Leg Up Crunch
Plank with leg lift

Finishing Them Off, Take Notes and Exercises

2009-02-13T17:17:00.002Z

Greetings

Typing away here with a nice bruise on the back of my hands from the bear hugs and a few aches so always a good sign of a good few days training.

We have had some really good pressure tests this week as we have taken the intensity up slightly, but please ensure the technique your are using is fully complete, i.e. don't just take the knife etc and stop. Steve B in particular has really got to grips with this and is carrying on to "destroy" his opponent with great follow up attacks delivered with real aggression (and as importantly for us/you control!)- well done Steve.

Don't forget to take notes, I know a lot of you write them up at home which is cool, but always feel free to do so in class, will always give you time to do it.

I have now typed up some body weight exercises and will put that on a separate blog in a moment if I can get to format nicely and not take up all the page.

Finally please do sign up to the blog so you get auto updates- which hopefully those of you who have done so do get, as I will be taking the old auto advice off this weekend.

Train Hard...........Fight Easy.

Mark

London Buses..................Sorted

2009-02-08T19:23:00.004Z

Well done to everyone today who attended the bus course.

I hope you will agree a great days training and McG was very impressed with the pressure testing and with the girls in particular showing nice levels of aggression.

John the policeman, I am sure bought it home to you just how prevalent knife attacks and threats are in the UK and London in particular, and whilst this may be concentrated in our cities, the knife culture has unfortunately spread even to our leafier corner!

We will keep coming back to knife attacks and threats so you will have plenty of chance to keep up the skills you learnt today.

Thank you for keeping up the reputation of SUKM and see you all Wednesday and Thursday.

Train Hard.....Fight Easy (and don't get the Bus)

Mark

Mind Body and Kick Ass Moves

2009-02-06T12:39:00.002Z

Ok 2nd post for today.

We have the opportunity to have Chris Crudelli come down and do a seminar at our club(s) if you would like to.

You may know Chris’ work as the Star of BBC & Dave, ‘Mind Body & Kick Ass Moves’, ‘Kick Ass Miracles’ & ‘Kick Ass in a Crisis’.- see www.crudelli.com for more info

I appreciate he is a more traditional martial artist than we are, so not really relevant to a lot of what we do, but the seminar includes basic forms and applications, body alignment, co-ordination as used in the issuance of force, mind over matter exercises, Qigong (Ki Skill) for healing and martial arts, basic to advance disarming methods of a stick, knife or gun (which we might disagree with!) so you might like to see how different arts approach the same problems.

Cost would be £40 and we would need at least 20 (may do this as a joint one with our friends at City Krav Maga to get the neccessary numbers).

Let me know if any interest.

Mark

Weather & The Buses, Blog Sign up and Urban Confidence

2009-02-06T09:44:00.004Z

Morning all

Good classes this week as ever, thanks for all your hard work.

For those on the Buses with me Sunday, weather currently look all OK, so this is definitely on. Please get to mine by 08:30 per email- let me know if any issues.

Jim forgot to give you your gloves, remind me Sunday please.

If you haven't signed up to the blog yet, please do so as you will get auto advised of any updates as I will be taking off the current auto advice shortly due to its restrictions. It is straightforward to do- 5 have managed so far- thank you.

I will then post a list of body weight exercises on here as requested by some of you for your own home practice.

Our Urban Confidence Seminar is nearly ready and will take place on the 11th of April at the East Sussex National- more details will be provided soon, but we believe this seminar is the first of its kind in the world linking self defence techniques with practical applications to boost your confidence and ensure those techniques work in the pavement arena under extreme stress.

Don't forget your "Homework" running though those hammer fists and getting used to using them at different angles of attack etc.

Till next time

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Female Urban Krav Maga Student Fight back -and wins.

2009-02-03T13:12:00.001Z

One of our lady students was attacked recently. She handled it brilliantly and the attacker was left with more than a few bruises. Read the story below:

“I was just getting off the 381 bus just outside Waterloo Station around 2:30am after attending a party with some friends. I was alone as my friends were gone, and the bus was at its last stop. I stepped off the bus, walked a few meters, the bus pulled away and a man seemed to come out of nowhere. He was around 6ft 3“-6ft-5” tall, and stocky holding a beer can in his hand. He came straight towards me shouting and swearing right in my face, I was a little surprised, but was not too startled as there was really no time to figure out the situation.

Before his hands came up I dropped my bag and went straight into his face with an eye gouge, gripping his head tight with a mixture of finger tips and nails, which sent the beer can flying and his hands straight up to mine. I held on but was pushing hard which sent him backwards; I got in 2 palm strikes to the nose, managed to knee him in the groin twice but it was a bit unsteady with the 1st kick and the 2nd kick was the one he seemed to feel. He fell backwards on the ground holding his nose and groin, I fell down on him too as I was leaning in towards him with the palm strikes making me unbalanced, but as I was getting up I continued on him with 4 more palm strikes to the face… as I hurried away I called for an ambulance for him.

The lady, let’s call her Margaret, did a fantastic job here, particularly as she has only had 10 lessons with us. From a training point of view we see this as vindication of our practical, scenario-based approach.

If it kicks off there’s a good chance that you’ll be holding a bag, so we condition people to drop the bag and counter attack aggressively. We teach pre-emptive strikes as a fundamental part of the syllabus, who knows what would have happened if Margaret had let this jerk continue and lay his hands on her (I suspect that she would still have knocked the hell out of him but I’m glad that I’ll never find out).

We also train for the real chaos and mess of a real fight - things go wrong, Margaret shouldn’t have let herself get taken down by the guy but she responded perfectly by continuing the assault on the guy. N.B. the use of heel-of-the-hand strikes rather than punching: very effective close-in, where most fights actually take place, and you don’t end up with aching and cut knuckles.
Congratulations to Margaret and her teacher, Aasim.

Mark

Back to Normal and some thoughts from The British Combat Association

2009-01-30T13:33:00.003Z

Hi guys,

Thanks for a good class last night despite lower numbers than usual, and hope not too many sore throats from chokes! and thanks to Steve R for kicking the class off.

I have finally had some sleep and feel back in the human race.

Classes back to normal next week so look forward to seeing you on Wednesday and Thursday.

I had an email from Peter Constandine the other day (Head of the BCA) which really confirms what we in UKM believe and I am sure he wont mind me copying some relevant bits below.

When I first started out on my martial arts career all those years ago I, probably, like everyone else who was looking for a way to protect themself, eventually believed that the 'physical'skills I had learned were the answer to all problems.
This was the myth of martial arts, reinforced by instructor, to instructor, to instructor created a blind obedience not only to the almost magical capabilities of their style over anything else,but to the very dangerous brain washing about the particular martial arts street effectiveness.
It was a myth. I had never fully bought into it for the simple reason that there were too many contradictions, even before I started working the doors. It was never explained why we practised stances, blocks and a whole host of techniques and then when we fought did absolutely none of them! I worked the doors solely to see how what I knew would stand up to the public, 'red in tooth and claw'.
It didn't without serious modification.There has been enough written about this, particularly the need for pre-emption to form the prime, tactical option and I like many others soon discovered this unassailable truth. That was my first wake up call; that an Eastern martial art with all its complexity and cultural baggage does not work in a Western,alcohol fuelled social environment. This is the problem with martial arts instructors who have no practical experience demonstrate in magazines so called self defence moves that wouldn't work against a ferret with a wooden leg and a bad attitude.

The second wake up call I had came when I became involved in the security industry, specifically the world of Close Protection and the Territorial Army. This could be summarised as the primary requirement for a permanent 'situational awareness'.

Till Next time

Train Hard......Fight Easy

Mark

Buses, Classes & Stuff!!

2009-01-23T09:42:00.002Z

Hi All,

Great two days training thank you for that and good to see repeat faces at Eastbourne and some joiners, I know a few couldn't make it, so next week we should be up in numbers again.

Dates for the buses is getting closer, if anyone want a lift up with me let me know and will do on a first come first served basis as we now have one too many for the "O'Neil Battle Bus".

Remember no class on Wednesday at 5 Ashes as I will still be skiing, but back for Thursdays but may be a bit late in which case Steve R will start the class off and do the warm up etc- so be gentle on him.

Till Next Time

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

Eastbourne Up & Running!

2009-01-15T22:50:00.003Z

Hi Guys,

Thanks to the Five Ashes crew for their support tonight at our new club in Eastbourne, it was much appreciated.

Great venue (thanks Tim) and another good bunch of people- hope you all enjoyed it.

Well done to everyone undergoing the rigours of a pressure test for the first time, there was some excellent retention of techniques there and real commitment to keep going which is what makes all the difference in surviving.

Will cover more next time on F. A. T. (Fitness. Aggression, Technique)

Don't worry if it all felt too much to remember we will go over these techniques again as we build over the coming weeks and it will become second nature as the muscle memory starts to kick in.

Hope to see you all back again next week and feel free to come along on Wednesday at Five Ashes if you would like to.

Till next time

Train Hard.................Fight Easy

Mark

About Last Night

2009-01-08T09:25:00.002Z

Morning All,

Great first lesson back thank you, Hope Tim's back is OK and not too many black eyes (and t*t's)from sparring!

Have reserved 10 places for the buses at the moment.

Confirmed I have, Sonja, Steve B, Jim, Chris and Charlie with possibles for another 5, can I ask that if you think you will become a definite, that you let me know by the end of this week as we now have a waiting list from other clubs, and its only fair that we release places to them if our possibles cant do it. Happy to car share so if anyone want a lift up there with me let me know-first come first served but I can take 6 in my "bus"

Slide show of the test is now on the website for you to download and view at your leisure and I have asked the paper for a copy of the photos they took.

Till Next Time

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

New Year, New News!

2009-01-05T15:50:00.003Z

Happy New Year All,

Thought I'd start my 2009 blogging with some update of progress in the UKM world.

News 1
Classes

Don't forget we are back to normal this Wednesday the 7th and the new club in Eastbourne launches 15th Jan.

If you have anyone who want to come along to this please ask them to get in touch with me first so I can review numbers etc.

News 2
Buses!

We have at last got a date for Self Protection and third party protection training on a range of London Transport Buses.

This will take place on the 8th of February at Plumstead Bus Station. We will arrive at 10:00 for a briefing and cup of tea(!) . With training starting at 10:30. We will probably work through till about 14:30. So a good solid 4 hours training with the course run by the Founder of Urban Krav Maga and one of the most experienced Reality Based Self Defence practitioners around, Stuart McGill.

The seminar is priced at £30 per person for SUKM members, so is less than £10 per hour for some pretty exclusive training that may just save your skin sometime!

We may be joined by our colleagues from other Urban Krav schools and our private students as demand for this type of training is, as you can imagine, very high, so places are strictly limited and on a first come first served basis, though our club has first pickings, so if you do wish to attend please email me as soon as possible, but by the end of the week at the latest please.

News 3
Urban Confidence.

Stuart McGill, Simon Jordan (The confidence King!) and I are also now working on a public seminar titled Urban Confidence, to expand on some of the techniques for building confidence that some of you have already experienced, along with how to project that in a self protection environment, techniques to use to get you out of trouble-verbal deescalation, pre-emptive strikes etc etc.

This is provisionally booked for the 28th of February and is open to all with more details (price, location, timing etc) to follow idc, again if this is of interest to you and your family then please do let me know so we can start gauging numbers.

Look forward to seeing you all again on Wednesday and working off those chocolate and cheese belly's!

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Eastbourne Urban Krav Maga

2008-12-19T18:34:00.003Z

Dear All,

You will notice some changes to the website over the Xmas period as the photos are added on etc, but one of the main changes/announcements, is that thanks to Tim's work behind the scenes, on the 15th of January we will be opening up our second School at The Royal Signal TA Centre in Eastbourne.

This class will run every Thursday and will be from 19:00 to 21:00

Existing Students are welcome to train at both location (see revised pricing) or of course just continue with your current class on a Wednesday which will continue and remain our main base.

The additional class is to keep up with demand in our current area and also allow expansion into Eastbourne where I hope we will have some good numbers from the TA centre (and of course you already know 2 of them with Steph and Tim).

Please do come down and support the new venue, your first attendance there will be free and thereafter if you wish to train at both centres (or indeed any of our other sites world wide) then their is a multi site payment option.

Otherwise first class after the break is the 7th of January at Five Ashes when I should have an update for the Bus training, and I look forward to seeing you all then.

Have a great (and safe) Xmas and New Year, keep alert and see you in 2009!

NB Picture is the nerves before the test!

Train hard......Fight Easy

Mark

Tested & Unbreakable!

2008-12-18T11:20:00.006Z

Hi Guys,

I will do a longer blog later, but havn't got the time now, but thought I had to say well done to everyone last night.

Chris, Sonja, Steve & Charlie you did fantastically well throughout the test and should be proud of your achievements.

Special thanks to everyone who helped, fantastic team work displayed and I am sure your joining in the beasting for the testees really helped them through it, thanks also to the Confidence King for his pre fight "mind setting" and for taking the photos.

I have an awful lot of really good photos to go through and will arrange to put them on a slide show on the main site over the next few days.

If you would like any of these to go with your certificate let me know and I will burn a CD- but had to just put up crazy eyes Charlie on the blog doing her best Tomb raider pose!

Keep Training Hard.......and Fighting Easy!!!

Mark

The Test is Coming

2008-12-15T09:48:00.002Z

Morning all,

Just a reminder that Wednesday is test night for the brave soles taking it on.
If anyone has any questions about the top 10 attacks then please don't hesitate to call/email/post on the blog.

Normal lesson for first hour then testing for the second. Everyone not testing please do come along as will need your help and there is the pub after.

Have a lot of kit that people have ordered, so to ensure I can buy Xmas presents this year, please do bring along the money that is owed!

Looks like we are nearly sorted for our new venue in Eastbourne as well (thanks Tim) with more details to follow idc.

Look forward to Wednesday

For now

Train Hard.......Fight Easy

Mark

Fight Club

2008-12-04T09:55:00.003Z

Morning All,

Hope you enjoyed the slight change to the format yesterday moving into a bit more fighting as a warm up etc. We will continue to build on this over the weeks to come.

No Class next week (10th) next one the 17th when we will be testing those brave souls on the Top 10.

We will do a hours class first where we will revise any technique in the Top 10 requested by the testees and then will do an hours testing followed by Pub.

For the testees, we are very fortunate in that Simon - "The Confidence King" , has offered to help get you ready for your "ordeal", by doing some pre test mental strengthening while you are in your "bunker" waiting to come out. - see his site at http://www.simonjordan.com/

If any one has any questions feel free to comment on the blog or email me.

Till Next Time, enjoy your week off and

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Testing

2008-11-27T09:52:00.003Z

Hi Guys and Girls,

Good effort last night on the slashing knife attacks, think we are getting there and hope not too many bruises from the break falls.

Maz good to see you there despite being ill and putting in a cheeky take down!

Just a reminder, NO training on the 10th December and 17th will include the test and Xmas Drink.

As next class will therefore be the last before the test, if there is any part of the top 10 in particular that you want to spend some time going over then please let me know.

Even if you are not taking the test please come along as will be good to "use" you in the pressure test and we will do a good hours lesson before hand in any event.

Testing will take around 1 hour.

Dont forget in any class you are welcome/encouraged to take notes as we go along.

Till next time

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

About Last Night and Xmas Closing

2008-11-20T09:44:00.008Z

Thanks for a good evening guys, couple of pictures from it here- will take some more over the weeks to come and put on the main website.

Can anyone who wants to take the top 10 test let me know as soon as possible please so I can get this sorted- date will be the 17th December if we have enough.

Last class will also be the 17th December (with a Xmas drink after at the pub opposite) as we close for the Xmas break with the first class of 2009 on the 7th of January.

In addition there will be no class on the 10th of December as I will be away so for those taking their test you only have two more lessons before it!

Till next time

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Staying Safe on Public Transport

2008-11-17T13:20:00.007Z

Hi Everyone,

As I mentioned in class, we have the opportunity to do a one day course with the police on a London Transport Bus(es).

As you know a lot kicks off on the top floor of buses and our police contacts in south east London have agreed that we can do some more training with and for them at Plumstead bus station.

This will be an excellent opportunity to test techniques in a restricted space (and learn new ones/improvise on the ones you know) and see how to get up effectively from a compromised sitting position.

I was hoping to do this before the year end, but with the current testing of the next round of instructors this is not going to be possible, so we will look to run the course during January, probably on a Sunday.

Appreciate you don't know the dates yet, but to make this worthwhile we need to have some good numbers, so can you all give me an idea if you would like to attend please- travel time is about 1 hour from our club and I am happy to take a few people in my "bus"- price will be around £20/£25 per person for members- and if we do open it up to non members then this will be £45 to include your membership as you must be a member of SUKM and therefore also be insured to attend.

Train Hard ...........Fight Easy

Mark

Fight Night

2008-11-12T22:35:00.003Z

Well done tonight all, great class and I was very impressed with the Milling- Steph and Charlie I would pay to see that fight (no not in that way!!!) really good aggression from everyone, and you all turned it off at the end of the round as well, which is just as important.

Grappling as you saw can be quite technical, but good effort, with Richard showing some great grappling potential.

Punches are really starting to come together now with the Jab, cross, hook, elbow and now hammer fist in your arsenal- so we will start putting these together in combinations.

I would like to look at starting some sparring soon so will need to have a chat with you about buying some kit as you will really need some gloves and will cover this next week.

Now we are starting to revise some of the top 10 I am really seeing the difference as I am sure you are with your technique and getting it to work smoothly.

Someone please remind me to take some photos next week as I forgot again and any members that i did not give out the top 10 to, remind me next week or I can email to you if you prefer.

Shame Steve and Sonja missed a class for the first time but we will get them up to speed next week.

Well done all and I am looking forward to next week already.

Till next time

Train Hard..Fight Easy

Mark

Top 10 Attacks-Sorted!

2008-11-06T09:13:00.002Z

For those who have been there right from the start (well done all) we have now completed the top 10 attacks and will carry on with revising these over the next few weeks.

Because I am too kind to you (!), I will write up some words on each as an aide memoir and let you have next week but all other techniques we go through you need to make your own notes if you are not already, as this will help it sink in- so please do bing a pad and pencil to class.

We will do a night of testing the top 10 for those that would like to and will do this beginning of December, no reason why everyone there tonight can not do this- it will be a lesson of pressure testing!!

Excellent pressure testing last night with the techniques executed extremely well or, even where you forgot them you kept going, and that is the key to surviving.

You are all starting to move like fighters, just need to remember not to get sloppy on the techniques when training and make sure you do finish it all the way and not stop because you don't want to dump your opponent on the floor. And start slow, no need to rush in at full speed at the start.

Forgot to take some pictures which I will do next week and I will try to get you out on time!!

Need to sort out a Xmas drinky poos if you are up for it and either do another night or perhaps easier as you all are travelling in from different places to go over to the pub opposite after training the week before Xmas. Let me know your preference.

Until next time.

Train Hard.......Fight Easy

Mark

"James Bond" Theme

2008-11-03T15:12:00.006Z

Dear All,

Thought that with James Bond back out we should do some weapons work this week, so Guns, Knives (threat and attack) and revision of two of the top 10- preempt and headlock coming up!

See you all Wednesday.

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Training Update

2008-10-30T10:22:00.002Z

Morning All,

Just a quick note following on from last nights training.

I think trying to do all those bear hug defences was one hug too far, though you did all handle the situations very well and Charlie and Sonja in particular did some great take downs in the pressure test.

Next week may revert to teaching just one technique of each and see how you feel about that, for instance may do gun defences but just to the front, and not the rear, side, on knees etc as well, but spread that out over the coming weeks.

Let me know if you think that will work better for you that way or if you would prefer to learn all in one go.

From those who have been with me from the start we have one more Top 10 attack to cover and you have done the lot, so we shall start doing more revision each week on these as well (this will also ensure all the newbies get these covered as soon as possible), and then if you are up for it we will have one class where we test the lot in one go!!!

Till next week take care and

Train Hard...Fight Easy

Mark

We're Going to Need A Bigger Boat!

2008-10-22T21:53:00.002+01:00

Wow guys,

A great class thank you, everyone worked extremely hard and the beginners did a Sterling effort in the pressure test at the end (and indeed throughout all the class).

Might have to look at doing some other days at this rate, maybe a Saturday morning!

For the newbies, will try and spend some more time next week going over the principles of UKM in a bit more depth and the role of FAT (Fitness Aggression and Technique) in what we do and why we train like we do.

Hope you don't all ache too much tomorrow and hey you've got a week to get over it!

Forgot to mention in the class, but hopefully before Xmas we will have the use of some Buses up in London and we can do a class in one of those one weekend in a very realistic setting.

Take care and thank you once again for making this a great class.

Till next time

Train Hard............Fight Easy

Mark

Next Class 22/10/08

2008-10-10T13:16:00.006+01:00

Just a reminder that there is no class on the 15th of October.

We re-open on the 22nd of October.

Look forward to seeing you all again then, plus the 5 or so new faces we should have.

Enjoy your week off!

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Urban Krav and the Military Police

2008-10-08T15:26:00.003+01:00

Greetings all

You will have seen on our website some pictures of the training we did with the Military Police (some more here) building on the self defence techniques that they are already taught and use against belligerent squaddies.

Well I am delighted to let you know that 2 have applied for our next instructors course and with their background knowledge and practical application, have been accepted for the November intake at the The London Fight Factory.

I look forward to meeting up with the guys and having a roll round the mats with them!

Some kind comments from the training day with the MP's

......"as a female in the armed forces, and particularly the RMP, I deal quite regularly with male soldiers. Sometimes, during the course of duty individuals can become quite aggressive. We are taught CQC with Aikido style grips, holds and take downs, and how to take control physically of various situations but being familiarised with Urban Krav Maga was extremely insightful. The moves are extremely easy and seem natural and it was a really good work out too..." Female SNCO Royal Military Police

..." I have a fair amount of martial arts experience and have boxed for many years. I was surprised firstly how simple the moves are with Urban Krav Maga and that they have great effect once executed. Secondly, the instructor was extremely professional and helpful which inspires you to work hard and take everything on board. It certainly is a system that could be utilised to great effect during close protection work and when dealing with aggressive "pumped up" individuals, particularly in hostile environments / theatres ..." Male SNCO British Army

Don't forget change of venue for tonight is my gym "The O-Zone" !! with a presentation followed by some "light" training.

Until later

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Where we are so far

2008-10-02T20:00:00.002+01:00

Dear All,

First of all thank you to everyone for making it a great training night (again), there was a lot to take in, but the effort you all put in right from the start with the warm up through to pressure test in the dark(!) and beyond was fantastic, thank you all for taking on board so much, and you will be amazed and the improvements you have made already which you will really see when we start to revisit what we have done.

Thought I would just remind you what we have covered so far and which techniques are from the top 10 attacks, just to help your revision- hopefully I have not missed any!

Week 1
From common attacks NO1- Preemptive solutions
Groin Strike
Torso twist take down
B*tch Slap

Common Attacks No6.
Swinging Bottle attack.

Week 2
Knife Threats to the front- side of neck and underneath Chin with variations on take downs/disarm.

Common Attack No10.
Side Headlock-preemptive, punches coming in and choke.

Week 3
Common Attacks No3.
Sideways on single hand lapel grab- 3 versions.
Defense against knees when in headlock.

Common Attack No9.
A slash with knife, most commonly a 3 to 4" lock blade knife or kitchen utility knife.

Common Attack No10
Swinging Punch to the Head

So well done everyone that is a lot of new techniques to take in each time (effectively 6 new ones last night!!), as we build on these we will keep coming back and refreshing.

...........and on completion of the top 10 attacks, before we move onto the rest of the level 1 syllabus we will use one training night to pressure test the top 10 in one go and hopefully award all of you your certificates.

Look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday at my house, if you have not yet confirmed attendance, please do so and thank you to all those who have already.

Until Next time

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

another day another senseless death

2008-09-30T14:40:00.001+01:00

It seems that if we are not reading about the global financial meltdown then it is about the senseless slaughter of someone on our streets.

Today the news managed to combine both with the report of the Banker murdered when he tried to step in to help.

These headlines are headlines because they are exceptional and for every one reported there are many occasions where someone steps in and diffuses the situation with no harm to themselves or others

It is amazing that despite a lot of headlines like this, brave people of conscience do still try and stand up for others and do what they can- from the early stage reporting I have seen, his literally fatal mistake was to hang around after.

If you are going to become involved then you must always leave the scene/area as soon as you can, before their reinforcements arrive or they decide to give it another go- never stand around "accepting the applause of others"- they wont step in to help you.

A lot of problems also occur when you have gone to ground either with your head making contact with the hard unforgiving concrete first or with the punishment you then get, over the coming weeks we will cover this in more detail, even it it only saves you from injury when you slip on an icy pavement, its worthwhile learning.

Hope to see you all tomorrow.

Train Hard....Fight Easy

Mark

Last Nights Class

2008-09-25T14:19:00.003+01:00

Dear All

Just a quickie to thank everyone for the effort they put in last night, I was extremely impressed but the "dont give up" attitude you all displayed, particularly in the final pressure testings, having done quite a lot of physical work prior and for most of you coming from no fighting background.

Thank you for making it so easy to instruct such a great group, you are all picking things up very quickly.

I hope you are not all aching too much, especially as we ran out of time for a good warm down and stretch and that all those "newbies" will be sufficiently inspired to come back next week.

When I can get my USB link to work I will post some of the pictures on the blog and once we have enough good ones will, with your permission, add them to the main website.

If any one has any question from last night please do not hesitate to call or email me and I would recommend that you do all bring a notebook and pencil along to class as there is a large amount of techniques we will cover and it is useful to have something to read and do homework with!

If you would like to be automatically advised when I have put some more ramblings on here, let me know and I will add you to the subscribers list.

Until next time

Train Hard.....Fight Easy

Mark

Navy Day

2008-09-24T14:21:00.004+01:00

As promised a few piccies from the day with the Navy.

Special thanks to Navy Command and Lieutenant Simon Latus Commanding Officer of HMS Ranger for allowing the use of his Ship for the day and unlike last year we managed not to break anything!

Until Next time

Train Hard........Fight Easy

Mark

Class Tonight

2008-09-24T09:57:00.002+01:00

Greetings guys and girls.

Looking forward to another class tonight after a long day with the Navy yesterday- will post something on this later if I can get my camera to work and upload the pictures.

We have quite a few new people coming tonight if everyone turns up, so if those who attended last week will indulge me I will spend sometime going over an introduction again so we all know where we are and where we are going.

Time for some knife threats tonight I think so see you all later.

Train Hard............Fight Easy

Mark