The New World Of Self Defence- Andy Norman’s Defence Lab, Krav maga and Judo Self Defence

This blog has taken various forms over the last 12 months or so. However it is quite a successful blog these days. Yet the most successful articles I believe are still to come as the self defence world is on the verge of something special. I explain why here:

Recently I posted that the Keysi Fighting Method is no more after Andy Norman left the team. In Fact Justo will carry on with his new project I believe is called Keysi By Justo whilst Andy Norman  has created Defence Lab.

This has created some what of a divide in the self defence community. Keysi was growing and growing quickly to become a worldwide brand. It was seen in the movies and had Hollywood backing. Both the Police and FBI trained in the system and have supported it. I too felt that Keysi could have gone on to be the worlds most well known and studied form of self defence. They seemed to have a great product, huge promotion and demand was increasing. They made self defence ‘cool’ with their logos, videos and having been featured in Batman it was “The fighting style of the Dark Knight”.

However not everything lasts and the early end of the former KFM will give rise to the new products by both Andy and Justo. What these will look like is still to be seen.

Judo for Self Defence

The major news out there at the moment may have gone unnoticed by most. The British Judo Association officially announced that they are going to step foot into the Self Defence World. This was announced in their recent edition of Matside magazine and also via this video.

So what does this mean? Well until the British Judo Association (BJA) reveal their final product it is difficult to say. However the sheer size of the BJA is quite scary in terms of self defence. They have around 31,000 members and at least 800 clubs. If the product is right they have instant market domination along with an instant team of instructors. The UK market could be engulfed by such a product if marketed correctly. However just as Defence Lab and Keysi by Justo have yet to reveal themselves, so has British Judo’s.

However despite the grand plans of these systems it is still clear that other arts have a major market share. Krav Maga is perhaps the leader in this respect. It may shock you to learn that there are 49,500 searches for Krav Maga in the UK every month on Google. YES THAT IS ALOT!!

You really need to compare this with the keysi Fighting Method that gets just 1,900 searches per month!! That is a major difference but you would have had to have been sleeping under a rock not to notice that Krav Maga is everywhere these days.

The Future

So what does the future hold for self defence in the UK? Well at this time it is difficult to say. However I can give an opinion about what I would like to see.

The ultimate quest for any self defence student is ‘status’. By this I mean that self defence should be cool, it should be seen as a pastime that others would like to do. This all comes down to branding and marketing. Something that Krav Maga and Kesyi did very well.

As for the techniques. Well the world has changed. We are not in the Bruce Lee era. Instead we deal with a range of gang and anti social behaviour issues. The fight that you could find yourself in does not only exist in your local pub. Instead it is actually outside your door or on the street corner as you walk past with your wife and kids. One on one fights are a thing of the past, the rules of gentleman have gone.Instead we have groups that possess ‘pack attack’ mentality.

I hope to see a self defence system that takes these things into consideration. Only time will tell. I am sure that the Krav Maga artist will say they are at this point already, and to that I have to agree. They have done very well. Although having researched it, viewed the videos and read the books, it still doesn’t quite ‘do it’ for me. I’m not saying that it isn’t a good system, however I have seen a lot of footage and the bio mechanics for me just weren’t right.

Bio mechanics was something that I have focused on for a while and at a recent Andy Norman seminar he went through this. Basically Andy stated that you should be Mike Tyson on your feet, on your knees, sitting and on the ground. That makes bio mechanics a whole different ball game.

So the future needs to be something special. The self defence world has moved beyond what is out there now. The one punch KO, the pre emptive strike, trapping and even the power slap are now so overly taught that they become almost the staple diet for any RBSD teacher. When the opponents are using MCAT, steroids and are far more experience in violence than the average prison guard, we need systems to match this new era. Lest see what they come up with.

I will be keeping you informed as I find out more on all the latest systems.

Andrew