New York Self Defense Academy

All my life I have been involved in some form of fight training. Granted, there has been a lot of “off and on” in my training, but I have always trained. It’s something I need in my life, I think that in a past life I was a warrior of sorts. Or maybe it was just all the abuse and bullying that I endured as a kid that made me want to learn how to fight. Hah, I think that’s more likely than my being a warrior. Mike Tyson said it best, “I was tired, tired of being humiliated in the streets.” I think that is why many of us choose to train, we don’t want to be victims anymore. So we become “controlled monsters.”

In any case, I finally got around to checking out this Krav Maga school in Forest Hills. My wife came out to watch us train as well. I met Sensei Avi on the way in, we arrived at the same time. He came off as a cool dude, and welcomed us to the school.

After sometime a few more guys arrived and we got to work. We started off with some standard calisthenics and stretches. After everyone was nice and warmed up, we went right into some self defense drills and techniques. I’m not sure if you guys are familiar with Krav Maga, but it is a no nonsense street survival form of self defense. Sensei Avi put it this way, “If I fight in an octagon, with a bunch of rules, I might lose. But in the street, I will always win.” I happen to agree with him on this. I spent years training in “cage fighting,” and a lot of what I learned there would not be very good to use on the streets. Especially in a multiple attacker scenario! I mean who wants to try to apply a triangle choke while the guy’s friends are kicking you in the back of the head?

As part of the training we did some real life simulations, one of which provided me with a nice accidental bare knuckle right on the tip of the chin. It’s a bit sore right now, but you know how it is. If you are not prepared to get hit, then don’t train! It definitely comes with the territory! I’ve had my mouth split open many times in training, as such I know to always were a mouth guard when fists are flying. This probably helped me last night because it locked my jaw into place. While my chin is bruised, my jaw is fine. Of course, you don’t stop training when you get clipped! In the streets there is no “Oh, I’m hit, time out.” So I just kept on going as if nothing happened. My wife noticed it too, and she was like “Hey, its fight training right?” Yes my queen, yes it is!

I enjoyed the training, and I feel like this type of training is definitely useful for the streets. I plan to join the school and continue training with these guys. My only concerns are some unconfirmed logistics in regards to the location, but we can cross that bridge when we get there. I’ll just be sure to not get locked into any long term contracts, but I definitely want to continue training here.

Sensei Avi is a tough, yet patient instructor. If you’d like to check out the school, contact Sensei Avi. The school can be reached at 718-263-KRAV (5728), and their website is ActiveKravMaga.com!

2 Comments

    • Yes sir! Thank you for having us, it was a good class! Don’t worry about the chin, I only wrote that to emphasize that the training is real! In training, you will always get hit, or armbar too hard, or dropped on your butt, etc! It is better that it happens in training, than in the streets! You just gotta keep on going! Hooah!

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