The hapkido instructor’s way is a way of incorporating the “hapkido way” into all aspects of your life while training, teaching or existing within the community. It is a way of life that co-ordinates your mind, body & spirit in such that not only will you be a better martial artist, but a better person and member of the wider community. Hapkido helps students & instructors to develop more positive personal characteristics, so that during times of social calm – they stand out as leaders and mentors, and during times of social unrest – they have the abilities and mental fortitude to protect their families, friends & country, as well as themselves.

How do you define a good instructor? A good instructor is an effective instructor. Teaching self-defence principles that can be applied in real situations, teach your students to understand and adhere to “the hapkido way” principals of: (1) respect, (2) mental & physical focus, (3) loyalty, as well as manner and interpersonal skills for inside & outside the gym. Teaching hapkido is more about the physical and technical aspects of the art. It is about the instilling the concept of mental strength to overcome any short comings that a student may have physically. It’s about encouraging students to push themselves to the next level, attempt hurdles of increasing difficulty. This will assist their development of self-esteem, confidence and mental focus that will afford them the strength to achieve their goals and go beyond the mental weaknesses that others will put on them.

Krav Maga is designed to provide the most effective response for an individual across the whole range of situations in which one’s safety is in danger. Consider that when someone attacks you and you are able to fight back, any action that you take can be said to have an ‘opportunity cost’, that is the cost of the action you didn’t take weighed up against the one you did. Given that when your life is in danger your aim is to survive it makes sense to ensure that your efforts in defending yourself are focused on inflicting as much damage on your attacker as possible so that they are neutralised and no longer a threat to you. As such krav maga encourages attacking the most vulnerable areas of the body. The groin strike for instance is a staple of many techniques as are eye gouges, kicks to the knees and all manner of strikes to the face targetting the nose, ears, temples and so on.

Krav maga teaches numerous blocks and ways of coping with all the kinds of physical attack one can encounter. However the system teaches that we should block and attack simultaneously if possible, and if that is not possible then to counter attack as soon as possible and then make our escape. Why is this the case? Well to put it bluntly unless you are Neo you can’t stand and block a continuous flurry of attacks without getting hurt. Many knife attacks in particular involve not one, but numerous attacks in quick succession. As such counter attacking represents your best bet of blocking the attackers thought processes and allowing you to escape or neutralise him.

In krav maga you are trained to deal with attacks using three simultaneous strategies if possible. The first would be the hand or foot defense, which would involve blocking or deflecting a strike or maybe plucking or otherwise breaking a choke or similar attack. The second is the body defense and this simply involves turning or moving your body to remove it from where the attacker is attacking to. So for instance against a straight punch to your head you move your head and upper body to the side. The third principle is ‘moving off the line of attack’ and simply involves moving round your opponent so that the line of attack, that is the direction in which he is or can attack you is no longer going through you. This is important for numerous reasons.

A typical fight in a movie often involves two people facing each other and essentially slugging it out as if they were characters in Street Fighter. Numerous blows are thrown, blocked, taken and so on until a victor emerges. Being attacked in real life is rarely this simple. Attacks are made without warning, from all different angles and by single or multiple opponents. As such it’s very important to be continually aware of your surroundings and to be able to recognise danger signs and react instinctively. Krav maga teaches situation awareness with various kinds of drill and training.