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Because the definition is so broad, practitioners of kapap techniques in the Israeli martial arts are able to borrow moves from a variety of systems to create their own well-rounded impact defense. In the case of the first Jewish settlers of Palestine, they chose to use sticks as impact weapons because they had very few self-defense options, whereas the modern combatant using kapap techniques has many combat systems and martial arts from which to choose.

ISRAELI MARTIAL ARTS: KAPAP TECHNIQUES VIDEO
Avi Nardia Demonstrates the Use of Human Pressure Points to Take Down an Opponent

The Full Scope of Impact in Israeli Martial Arts

It’s also important to remember that impact in kapap techniques covers much more than just hitting your opponent. Instead, it requires knowledge, understanding and common sense. As a person aware of your relative position in life, do you know what impacts your body has been conditioned to withstand? Or do you know how strong of an impact you’re capable of launching?

In the end, impact in kapap techniques is never about brute strength. Use your best weapon — your brain — to make the right choice during a close-quarters conflict to escape and live to fight another day.

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When some people think about the concept of impact, they imagine a punch sending someone through a wall. However, an impact can be something as simple as a pressure-point attack, which is a powerful force applied to human pressure points — small points on the body.

Pressure-point techniques are also useful surprise moves because human pressure points are located in areas of the body that most people consider to be part of their “personal space.” This means that your opponent might not expect his personal space to be penetrated with a pressure-point technique, even during a real conflict.

While human pressure points might seem easy to learn, their effectiveness depends on the ability, skill, mental awareness and physical fitness of both the defender and attacker. For example, an opponent high on drugs might not know that he is being hit in a sensitive spot. If that happens, then it’s best to consider your relative position and use a restraining technique instead of trying to exploit his human pressure points.

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The Mask: Using Human Pressure Points to Take Down an Opponent With Just One Finger

Though it may seem improbable, you can take down an opponent just with one finger. The masking technique uses one of the human pressure points found under the nose to immobilize an attacker.

In the above video, I apply pressure with my forefinger to a point just above the demonstration opponent’s lip. This prevents the man from walking forward — but if he does, further pressure will force his head backward.

The “mask” technique helps me control the situation. With my opponent off-balance and uncertain because of the exertion against one of his human pressure points, my hand masks the opponent’s face. I can further control the situation by pressing into the man’s eyes before taking him to the ground.

When using kapap techniques such as this, avoid masking an adversary between the lips because he might bite you. From the mask, I can use other kapap techniques such as a rear chokehold, bringing his right arm under the opponent’s chin and placing his right hand alongside his own head. I then apply pressure by squeezing.

Learning Israeli Martial Arts Is a Lifelong Pursuit

There is always more to learn, and the information in the video on this page — and in the book and DVD series titled Kapap Combat Concepts: Martial Arts of the Israeli Special Forces — is just a starting point. One source will never give you a complete understanding of combat. Whether you’re a student or an instructor, it’s always important to find qualified teachers, educational outlets and other resources to add to your base of knowledge.

About the authors:
Israeli martial arts experts Avi Nardia and Albert Timen have taught defensive tactics and close-quarters battle to a variety of institutions worldwide, including the Israeli army, Israeli special forces, Israeli police and SWAT schools. Avi Nardia and Albert Timen are the co-authors of the Israeli martial arts book and DVD set Kapap Combat Concepts: Martial Arts of the Israeli Special Forces, available for purchase in our online store. For more information, visit avinardia.com and kapapacademy.com.

Israeli Martial Arts Training for Maximum Versatility

To prepare their students, kapap instructors such as Avi Nardia throw as many variables at them as possible through realistic and creative exercises. Kapap instructors train their students in potential conflict locations, which can include stairways, elevators, parking lots and cars.

A kapap instructor might also momentarily blind his students with flashbulbs or strobe lights to imitate conflicts in which they can’t see, or he may have them fight in water to overcome a natural human fear.

And in this video featuring kapap expert Avi Nardia and Brazilian jiu-jitsu master John Machado, the focus is on using the ground movements of BJJ techniques for more effective self-defense moves in kapap — in this case, self-defense moves involving a handgun.

Israeli Martial Arts Video
Avi Nardia and John Machado Demonstrate How BJJ Techniques on the Ground Influence Kapap Self-Defense Moves Involving Firearms

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Because fights never go completely as planned, kapap instructors like Avi Nardia want their students to be able to make quick decisions to assess their relative position when real conflict requiring decisive self-defense moves breaks outs.

The ground is a good place to start learning about relative position and how it works with self-defense moves because it helps Israeli martial arts beginners overcome their fear of being thrown or hit. Security, law-enforcement and VIP-protection personnel, on the other hand, might find ground-based self-defense moves as taught by BJJ techniques experts like John Machado difficult because they are taught to never fight on the ground unless they have backup.

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Whatever your combat background, however, remember that real safety in conflict depends on simple skills that address every facet of defense.

True Kapap Requires Discipline

Calculating your relative position under stressful circumstances requires practice. Israeli Special Forces units, for instance, learn how to consider and deal with variables that can affect their relative position and subsequent self-defense moves until such planning becomes second nature.

However, it’s important to understand that the questions, elements and variables a person learns to consider depend entirely on the individual because civilians, police officers and soldiers rarely prepare for the same encounters. Instead, they must all consider their own abilities and experiences to determine which techniques and positions will work best for them during a fight.

In fact, true masters of this principle from the Israeli martial arts will begin considering their relative position from the moment they wake up in the morning — long before any conflict begins. It is simply their second nature to take into account every factor that could affect their safety every time they leave their homes.

Kapap has made relative position an integral part of its current system because the principle is flexible and benefits practitioners of any skill level. Because kapap borrows techniques and principles from many systems — including BJJ techniques — students will always have the necessary tools to gain the best position during a fight. Also, kapap puts a great deal of emphasis on the first move of a fight because it will determine the combat options for the conflict’s duration.

Tim Kennedy’s H2HC experience includes Army Basic Training, Airborne School, the Special Forces Qualification Course, serving on a counterterrorism unit in Iraq, Army Rangers Training, serving as a combatives instructor for the 7th Special Forces Group, plus completing the Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) and the Special Operations Combative Program (SOCP). In addition to being a mixed martial arts fighter, this H2HC instructor is a staff sergeant in the Texas National Guard.

In this exclusive video, H2HC expert Tim Kennedy demonstrates self-defense moves he acquired in Army Rangers Training and the Special Operations Combatives Program. Although he is wearing military gear, the H2HC concepts and basic self-defense moves are applicable to attacks in civilian life.

H2HC / SELF-DEFENSE MOVES VIDEO
Tim Kennedy Demonstrates Self-Defense Moves Based on His Special Operations Combatives Program (SOCP) Training

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Tim Kennedy Puts Army Rangers Training Self-Defense Moves Into H2HC Action

In the above H2HC video, Tim Kennedy is about to be ambushed by an assailant. The man grabs hold of the Army Rangers Training expert, who immediately implements his Special Operations Combatives Program (SOCP) training and raises his left leg to execute a foot stomp. He uses a rear head butt to create enough space to turn and face the attacker for execution of more self-defense moves.

While holding the attacker, Tim Kennedy drives a knee thrust into his torso, then sweeps the nearest leg. When the opponent is down, Tim Kennedy strikes him while staying on his feet for maximum mobility in any further H2HC action.

“During the hundreds of combat missions I went on, I never saw a guy who didn’t have at least a long gun, a pistol and a knife,” Tim Kennedy explains regarding the role of H2HC in Special Forces missions. “[Hand-to-hand combat] gives guys the opportunity to make space so they can get to their tools: their gun, their knife, their cuffs and so on.”

How Did the Special Operations Combatives Program (SOCP) Develop?

“You have to have a heads-up, prepared-for-anything martial art that’s fast, dynamic and dangerous,” Tim Kennedy says. “You have to be able to do damage and then get back to the important stuff. Recognizing that, Greg Thompson developed SOCP. Now every Special Forces member trains in it.”

What Does the Future Hold for H2HC Expert Tim Kennedy?

“Of course I want to get back onto an Operational Detachment Alpha team and be a shooter, but I think — I don’t think; other people think — that I would be better used as an instructor of hand-to-hand combat,” Tim Kennedy says. “I’ve been doing martial arts for 20 years now. They know I have the ability and the experience needed to teach the Special Forces, which a lot of people don’t have.”

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Step 1: React and Respond

Counter-ambush training dictates that your battle plan of self-defense moves must integrate the body’s natural reactions to fear and being startled. At the outset of an attack, you experience several predictable automatic responses, including raising your hands to protect your head and lowering your center of gravity to prepare for movement. Both should become part of your self-defense-moves training.

The leader in the unarmed startle-response world is undoubtedly Tony Blauer. I began training with him, in his SPEAR System, a decade ago. I’ve attended several of his courses on how to defend yourself against an attacker, worked closely with him and incorporated several of the self-defense moves he espouses into my armed and unarmed programs.

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Also vital is the ability to fight back while you’re off-balance. Because it’s the first part of your response, it needs to include isolating your attacker’s ability to use a weapon, keeping that weapon away from you, pinning him to a wall or the ground, and/or establishing your own base from which to take further action.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Step 2: Gain Control

I fully acknowledge that, as a Black Belt reader, you may have dozens of great ideas about how to defend yourself against an attacker using self-defense moves to control your opponent and make his initial attack less threatening, and that they may allow you to free your hand so you can access your self-defense weapons.

Over the years, however, while training under numerous masters such as Royce Gracie, Randy Couture and Craig Douglas, I’ve cherry-picked what I think are the most efficient and reliable techniques. At least as important, I’ve taught those techniques to hundreds of law-enforcement and military special-operations personnel, as well as average citizens interested in personal defense, and found that a couple of these self-defense moves stand out as being intuitive and easy to execute under stress.

The two I teach most often — the “duck-under to side control” and the “pass and trap ” — are designed to achieve a crucial goal in any shooting-while-in-contact scenario. I’ve taught this material since 2000. At that time, while I was still a police officer, it was evident that traditional SWAT training was emphasizing shooting scenarios while the overwhelming majority of actual SWAT team activity involved controlling subjects who were nonlethal threats.

Figuring out ways to train for maintaining control of a rifle while subduing a combative but nonlethal threat became a focus of mine for many years. In fact, it was this type of training that led to my meeting Tony Blauer.

Remember that both techniques assume you’re carrying your firearm on one side of your body, presumably the side of your strong hand, and that you’ve established some level of control, as explained above. Craig Douglas is the trainer who opened my eyes to the importance of establishing same-side control before accessing self-defense weapons.

In the descriptions that follow, “same side” refers to the side of your attacker’s body that’s mated to your gun side. For example, if you’re chest-to-chest and carrying your gun on your right side, the attacker’s left side would be the “same side.”

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker: Duck-Under to Side Control

This is a tried-and-true technique from competition that has real-world applications. It works best as a segue to using a firearm when you’re in a tight clinch or pinned against a wall or the ground. I learned to appreciate the elegance of this move years ago at a combatives seminar taught by UFC legend Randy Couture.


First establish an underhook with your strong-side arm and capitalize on the opportunity your adversary presents when he lifts his same-side arm to escape or counterattack. When that arm comes up with the intent to punch you in the head or neck, you’ll be feel the change in arm pressure. Rapidly lower your body and duck under his arm, then rotate your torso off to his side as much as possible and stand up straight. Be sure to keep your hips as close to your attacker as possible while doing this. Finish by placing your head against his shoulder blade to establish some level of side control. At this point, your right hand should be clear to access your gun.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker: Pass and Trap

This is the less-technical of the two self-defense moves in this article, but it can buy you time and space to get to your gun and use it while in contact. At any point in the conflict, if you can pass the attacker’s same-side hand and forearm across your centerline and then trap it there with your torso, your shooting arm and hand should be clear to go for your weapon.


The best way I’ve found to execute the move is to apply pressure to the back of the adversary’s elbow or triceps as you attempt to pass the forearm. By applying inward and upward pressure with your arm, you’ll maximize your efficiency and recruit core (and possibly even leg) strength. Your attacker, on the other hand, will have significantly less musculature to hold his arm back or down. Also, it’s entirely possible that your efforts will initially be aided by your opponent’s efforts to move his hand toward your throat or head to attack.

Once the elbow is passed, angling your torso to block it is much easier if you’ve used bodyweight and maneuvering to press him against a wall or the ground while you established control.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Step 3: Draw and Orient Your Self-Defense Weapons Before Using Them.

Once you’ve weathered the storm and established same-side control, if your attacker continues to threaten your life, your next step is to use your self-defense weapons — a firearm, in this case — to defend yourself.

It’s possible that, through the actions already described, you’ve fought to a place where you’re no longer facing a lethal threat and can end the fight without shooting. It’s also possible that you’ve merely achieved a stalemate that could evaporate at any moment and result in your death.

In the latter case, once you perceive the need, you’ll want to draw and fire.

Now that your shooting hand is free, you can access your gun from under your clothing, achieve the best possible firing grip, pull the weapon straight up out of the holster and orient the muzzle toward the threat.

That last piece may not sound like a big deal, but it’s the crux of extreme close-quarters shooting. How do you get the gun into a position in which the muzzle is pointed at the threat, not at yourself? By remembering principle No. 4: Place the base of the grip of your firearm and your shooting-hand thumb against your torso when you pull the trigger.

Think about all the possible positions you can be in relative to the attacker at the moment you shoot. Because it’s impossible to practice every angle, focus on maintaining as much contact as you can with your adversary to ensure proper alignment of the gun. If you have any wrestling, grappling or ground-fighting experience, you know you can track an opponent’s body without looking. At higher levels, you can even predict his movements based on subtle shifts of balance and pressure that you feel as he telegraphs his next move by prepping a limb or altering the angle of his torso.

Introducing a firearm into this scenario means you can use your contact with his body to dictate the position and angle of your gun. By applying principle No. 4, you provide a stable base for the weapon to operate and increase the odds that it will operate.

At this point, you’re clear to touch the trigger and then smoothly press — much the same way you would if the gun were at extension. Continue pressing the trigger until the threat is eliminated. If the attacker stops attacking, you stop shooting.

Hopefully, you can now break contact and get out of striking distance in case of a follow-up attack. This is an essential step because the effect you’ve had on him may be psychological, which means when he realizes he isn’t incapacitated, he might resume trying to kill you. If you’ve created space and maintained awareness, you’ll be in a better position to defend yourself now that your gun is in your hand and at the ready.

Training Required

Learning to shoot guns is something you can do easily in an afternoon. Carrying them as go-to self-defense weapons, however, requires a much more serious dedication to training — one that will take your skills to a higher level than those of the average person you see on the firing range.

Preparing yourself for the many defensive situations in which you might need to use a firearm is part of that responsibility. And while needing to shoot while in contact during a lethal struggle is a worst-case scenario, you can deal with it if you apply the principles and techniques presented here.

About theAuthor:
Rob Pincus is an internationally known firearms trainer. He has produced more than 40 training DVDs and offers both end-user and instructor-development courses. For more information, send e-mail to info@icetraining.us, or visit icetraining.us or combatfocusshooting.com

I teach people to start with three simple actions: extend, touch, press. That’s shorthand for fully extending your arms to move the gun outward parallel to your line of sight, then touching the trigger and smoothly pressing it to the rear.

That sequence tends to get the job done as well as can be expected in the dynamic and chaotic circumstances during a lethal attack. Substantiation comes from videos of actual handgun shootings involving everyone from police officers to untrained store clerks.

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With that in mind, put yourself in a wrestling match with someone bigger, faster and stronger than you.

Give him a knife.

Take away your ability to use hand-eye coordination for weapon alignment. Take away your ability to maintain your position using a solid stance. Take away your ability to smoothly perform a rehearsed set of self-defense moves without interference.

Those are the circumstances that extreme close-quarters shooting addresses.

Plan of Attack

Using self-defense weapons during a real-life scenario is complicated. Even a firearm at extreme close quarters — two arms’ reach is the boundary — is more than just simple shooting.

You need to simultaneously control the attacker to keep him from hurting you, prevent him from interfering with your use of the firearm, execute the complex motor skills needed to draw your weapon from its holster and orient it toward the threat. Then you need to fire as many rounds as it takes to stop the attack while continuing to control him.

Fortunately, there are some principles and self-defense moves that will better prepare you to deal with a worst-case scenario like this. They’ve been refined through the study of countless incidents and pressure-tested in full-speed, force-on-force training with simulation firearms and impact-reduction suits. And, yes, they’ve been used successfully in real-life encounters to end lethal fights.

Of course, self-defense moves using self-defense weapons as described below require a modicum of control over the situation before they can be executed. Historically, “contact shooting” techniques have been taught in isolation, presuming either that you have some control over the situation and your body when you reach for your gun or that it will be easy to establish that control with a simple shove or strike.

In practice, this hasn’t been the case. In fact, we don’t even use the phrase “contact shooting” to discuss the skill set I’m talking about here. What I’m actually discussing is “shooting while in contact.”

This simple reframing of the problem instantly renders most of the shove-and-shoot methods practically useless as self-defense moves. If you’re actually in contact with someone who truly needs to be shot, it’s unlikely any of those techniques that presume easy control will be available to you. Before examining these self-defense moves I do recommend, I’ll look at the four principles on which they’re grounded.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Principle 1: You Will Be Using Your Self-Defense Weapons in Reaction to a Surprise Attack.

At some level, this lethal encounter must have caught you off-guard. If not, you’d have avoided it or at least gotten your firearm into your hand while you could still use it in the traditional manner (at extension) to defend yourself.

Acknowledging that you won’t be ready and that you may not have access to your preferred self-defense moves is vital to counter-ambush training. Acknowledging that you won’t be in control when you recognize that you need one of your self-defense weapons will enable you to start training by concentrating on your first task: establishing control.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Principle 2: You Will Need to Control the Other Person’s Attack.

Legally, using self-defense weapons in the course of your self-defense moves requires that a potentially lethal attack be in progress. Perhaps he’s using a knife or a club, or maybe there’s just an overwhelming amount of unarmed force.

Regardless, you cannot ignore the attack for the amount of time it’ll take you to draw and fire your weapon. Even if you’re sufficiently tough, or lucky, to weather the storm of violence long enough to fire your shots and end the assault, you could suffer serious injuries in the interim. Firing shots into your attacker and then dying from lethal stab wounds is not a win.

Keep in mind: Controlling the attack might reduce the threat so you don’t need to fire your gun at all.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Principle 3: You Will Need to Draw Your Gun From the Holster and Orient It Toward the Threat Without Interference.

In the worst-case scenario, using the firearm that’s in your holster may be the only chance you have to survive. You’ll lose that chance to use self-defense weapons such as a gun if the threat is able to foul your draw, prevent you from orienting the weapon toward him, render it useless or take it away.

Establishing specific control early on in the execution of self-defense moves — after which you stabilize the situation so you can get your gun into position to use it — is crucial.

How to Defend Yourself Against an Attacker — Principle 4: You Will Probably Want the Base of the Grip of Your Firearm and Your Shooting-Hand Thumb to Be Against Your Torso When You Pull the Trigger.

While there are many positions the gun can be in when you defend yourself, the aforementioned one will reduce the chances of you shooting yourself and having you’re a semi-automatic firearm weapon rendered unable to function. Using this technique also allows you to use your body to index the threat because other aiming options will be unavailable.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the operation of self-defense weapons such as the semi-automatic pistol: The mechanics rely on the frame of the gun (the grip area) being held stable while the slide (the top) moves freely under the pressure of recoil. This movement resets the internal mechanisms, ejects the empty brass and prepares the next round to be fired.

If you try to fire a semi-automatic from an unsupported platform or with the slide against your body, you might get one shot off, but there’s a significant chance the gun will then jam and be rendered inoperable. Similarly, if you press the slide against your body or that of your attacker, you might push it “out of battery” and prevent even the first shot from being fired.

A semi-automatic handgun goes "out of battery" and is unable to fire when its slide is not in its fully forward position. This can result when the muzzle is pushed against an attacker's body.

Finally, if you press a hard metal object into the torso of any human being, he’ll reflexively move back and push it away. That can result in a missed opportunity to fire a round into him or in the attacker getting his hands on your gun (or any other of your self-defense weapons, for that matter) and wrestling for control.

By maintaining the pistol against your body, you reduce the chance that he’ll even know you have the gun until you’ve fired.

About theAuthor:
Rob Pincus is an internationally known firearms trainer. He has produced more than 40 training DVDs and offers both end-user and instructor-development courses. For more information, send e-mail to info@icetraining.us, or visit icetraining.us or combatfocusshooting.com

A Turning Point for Kapap Techniques

After moving to the United States, I worked with some of the best defensive-tactics instructors. On one occasion, I was explaining to an International Kapap Federation instructor named Bob Jobe — a U.S. marshal who also served as a defensive-tactics trainer — what I saw Carlos Newton do — and he suggested that we call it “relative position.”

The concept holds that your position relative to your opponent’s can put you at an advantage or a disadvantage. If you’re in front of him, you’re more likely to get punched or kicked. If you’re behind him, you’re less likely to get struck simply because human arms and legs work more effectively forward than backward.

How Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Influenced Modern Kapap Techniques

That was helpful, but it didn’t complete the picture for me. At the time, I lived in Los Angeles and was training under John Machado. One day during our jiu-jitsu class, my understanding of relative position became a lot clearer.

After any move or technique, John Machado demonstrated how he could transition to any position he wanted and take control as if he was playing a game of chess. Like any good kapap student, I decided not to reveal who I was or why I was there so I could simply be the student and absorb new knowledge.

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As it’s now used in kapap techniques, relative position refers to much more than what the term implies. It includes the following variables:

• control of distance
• control of multiple attackers
• control of weapons
• levels of force
• control of your body and your opponent’s
• effects of stress
• situational awareness
• environmental awareness (lighting, temperature, etc.)
• effects on the respiratory system
• sensory stress effects
• mental endurance

All this has led kapap instructors to adopt an eclectic program composed of exercises and drills designed to strengthen the student’s reflexive ability to defend against a random attack, as well as to bolster his physical and mental combat conditioning. This program for training in kapap techniques incorporates drills that can be performed alone or with a partner and utilizes principles sometimes seen in kata training.



Proper Training for Effective Self-Defense Moves

It’s crucial to understand that when it comes to reality-based fighting, drills can show you the way, but they must not be regarded as techniques or self-defense moves to be used on the street. Drills teach mobility, distance control, body flow and transitioning.

For example, a drill might transition from standing to ground fighting to weapons use on the ground to weapons use while standing. If you’re in superior physical shape and you’re causing your opponent to tap out consistently, all you’re doing is developing your ego.

However, if you train in such a way that you focus on your control and the game, blocking him but always leaving him an “open door” through which he can escape — and to which you must guide him if he’s unable to find it himself — the training will be more effective. When he goes in the right direction, you should open his escape route, then follow up by creating another trap and repeating the cycle.

Intelligent drills that use this model will minimize injuries and facilitate learning. It’s much more productive than attending an intensive five-hour course that’s supposed to prepare you for the ring or the street.

About the Author:
Kapap techniques instructor Avi Nardia has taught defensive tactics and close-quarters battle to the Israeli army, Israeli special forces, Israeli police and students of counterterrorism around the world. In the United States, he specializes in training members of counterterrorism, military and law-enforcement units, as well as civilians. Avi Nardia is the co-author of the book and DVD set, Kapap Combat Concepts, available for purchase in our online store. For more information, visit his website at avinardia.com.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert John Machado always tells his students, “Don’t let your ego step onto the mat.”

Bruce Lee advised us to enjoy the way and not look only for the target.

My friend Ben told me that Israeli martial arts politics stink almost as bad as a rotten gefilte fish.

All that has persuaded those who teach kapap, or Krav Panim El Panim, that keeping an open mind is essential to progress in the martial arts. Unlike adherents of many traditional arts, followers of kapap embrace continuous change and ongoing efforts to upgrade their curriculum and teach kapap techniques to others.

Kapap Techniques’ Global Roots

Although modern kapap definitely has Israeli roots, it’s more of an international system because it includes numerous components that don’t exist in Israel. Its leaders know that to meet the needs of modern martial artists, kapap techniques must not be limited to the “Israeli way” of fighting. Doing so would be tantamount to throwing away all the strategies and self-defense moves that have arisen in other martial arts around the world.

Actually, appreciating the wisdom of other arts has a long history in Israel. Many of the nation’s martial arts pioneers learned their skills from immigrants. Some of the knowledge regarding self-defense moves from around the world was assimilated into what eventually became kapap techniques. Among the styles that played a pivotal role in the development of this Israeli self-defense system are boxing, judo and jiu-jitsu.

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Rather than continuing to use techniques and self-defense moves that are ineffective in combat but still taught in an army or police manual, instructors of kapap techniques have adopted a policy of evaluating and evolving — hence the recent incorporation of Brazilian jiu-jitsu into the curriculum of the Israeli self-defense system.

Enter Carlos Newton: How He Changed the Israeli Self-Defense System

In 1995 Carlos Newton, a young jiu-jitsu champ from Canada, visited Israel. Impressed by his ability and fluidity, I accompanied him to the top Israeli counterterrorism schools and was surprised at how he toyed with the instructors and the strongest students. Although he faced opponents who possessed extensive experience in a variety of arts, he outperformed them, playing with them on the mat as if they were children. Something was definitely wrong with our training.

As practitioners of kapap and implementers of kapap techniques, our mission was clear: Analyze what had happened, identify what we were missing and assimilate it into our system. We wound up bringing Carlos Newton to Israel many times, studying his training regimen and following his moves.

It seemed as if no matter where he was relative to his opponent, he could move into a better position from which he could easily apply a variety of techniques. In an effort to learn as much as possible from him, Lt. Col. (Res.) Chaim Peer, founder of the International Kapap Federation, and others in the group spent as much time as possible analyzing Carlos Newton’s methods.

About the Author:
Avi Nardia has taught defensive tactics and close-quarters battle to the Israeli army, Israeli special forces, Israeli police and students of counterterrorism around the world. In the United States, he specializes in training members of counterterrorism, military and law-enforcement units, as well as civilians. Avi Nardia is the co-author of the book and DVD set Kapap Combat Concepts, available for purchase in our online store. For more information, visit his website at avinardia.com.

MILITARY MARTIAL ARTS VIDEO
Self-Defense Moves From Tim Kennedy’s Army Rangers Hand-to-Hand Combat Training

Tim Kennedy also endured Army Rangers hand-to-hand combat training, spent nearly a year in the Special Forces Qualification Course, and is a High-Altitude, Low-Opening (HALO) sniper. And in his spare time, Tim Kennedy has fought his way to an impressive 14-3 MMA fight record.

Perhaps Tim Kennedy’s Army Rangers training has had something to do with his MMA ferocity? Whether it’s that or the other way around, Tim Kennedy’s Army Rangers hand-to-hand combat training is a force to be reckoned with. And in this exclusive H2HC video, Tim Kennedy brings his Army Rangers training to bear for a demonstration of self-defense moves from MACP combatives and SOCP combatives.

“Closing with and destroying an enemy is the most important thing,” Tim Kennedy says. “Closing the distance with an enemy to be able to destroy him — that’s kind of the principle behind MACP (Modern Army Combatives Program) and SOCP (Special Operations Combatives Program).”

Clad in military combat gear for the shoot, Tim Kennedy refers to his uniform for the next stage of setting up his H2HC self-defense moves demonstration. “So the difference in SOCP is we want to get to our tools. I will [usually carry] a whole bunch of stuff — from guns to knives, long guns, shotguns. I can’t use that stuff when I’m here,” he says, stepping right up to his opponent. “I need to be able to get away to make that distance.”

“One of my favorite [techniques] is the palm-strike-to-elbow [combination],” Tim Kennedy says, proceeding to demonstrate the H2HC technique from his Army Rangers hand-to-hand combat training. “So you wanna slam your hand as hard as you can into the face. The fingers go right into the eye, the palm of your hand straight into the center of their nose. Then you’re gonna bring your elbow up, just like a muay Thai elbow. You’re gonna tuck your chin inside your shoulder, and you snap the elbow down right into the center of his face.”

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As Tim Kennedy’s discussion of MACP combatives and SOCP combatives self-defense moves transitions to sneak attacks, he recalls some general experience from his Army Rangers training to demonstrate a potential H2HC scenario. “Let’s say somebody comes up behind you and grabs you,” Tim Kennedy explains. “As soon as you get here, you’re gonna be fighting the hands. You’re gonna make space with your hips and then slam your head back as hard as you can. As soon as you know that you’ve made contact, you’re gonna maybe smash the foot.”

After executing the faux foot smash, Tim Kennedy quickly adjusts his position. He breaks free and gets to the side of his opponent, ducking under the attacker’s arm. “Now this whole entire realm is yours,” Tim Kennedy explains. “Their face is bleeding and maybe you’ve smashed their foot. Now you can actually do big damage to finish the fight all the way to the ground.”

The training camp will take place just outside Toronto, Canada, from August 13 to August 19, 2012. Its all-inclusive design means that your admission price covers room, board and transportation—as well as tuition.

Photo courtesy of Vladimir Vasiliev

The military background of the event’s leaders, Vladimir Vasiliev and Konstantin Komarov, will be apparent in the nature of the training, which will take place in the field, in the forest and in the water, both during the day and at night. The curriculum is intended to enhance your power, speed and ability to survive, not to mention your armed and unarmed fighting skills.

For more information, call (905) 881-4711, send e-mail to training@russianmartialart.com or visit their website at RussianMartialArt.com.

KRAV MAGA AND KAPAP TRAINING DVD PREVIEW
Train with International Krav Maga and Kapap Experts Alain Formaggio, Jean-Michel Lerho, Alexandre Vanderlinden and Others!

Krav Maga Self Defense: Street Fighting
Learn how to efficiently handle a variety of street attacks through full-speed demonstrations and slow step-by-step explanations by Alain Formaggio.





Kapap / Krav Maga: Defense Against Knives
Learn how to use your environment and improvised weapons to control and disarm attackers armed with knives in short-distance and long-distance threat situations.





Krav Combat
Train in krav maga at brown- and black-belt level, where the street-fighting and hard-core combat aspects of self-defense are fully developed for real-world scenarios.

MORE KRAV MAGA!
Watch krav maga videos and read krav maga articles by Alain Cohen, Moni Aizik, Darren Levine and others as they share their knowledge and demonstrate their
krav maga techniques in exclusive krav maga articles, krav maga videos and
krav maga DVD excerpts!