For two hours a day, two days in a week, it feels like most of the world is silent – the only words hitting the ear drum with pressing constancy are that of Krav Maga teacher Sensei Sadashiv Mogaveera commanding to “go for the groin.”

He gives this command a hundred times (a little exaggeration) in the two days, and after a couple of Krav Maga classes, the instructions finally enter the psyche and get permanently embedded in the brain. And they keep playing, over and over again like a bad LP.

But that still does not make it easy to attack the groin, even during Krav Maga class. The men wear groin-guards but for many of the female students, the fight is actually in getting the instruction from the mind to the floor of the class and at some point on to the street.

Krav Maga which is styled after Israeli combat techniques came to India only a decade ago. It is unlike Judo and Karate which emphasises on stylised moves and where progression is based on different coloured-belts. Krav Maga, simply put, makes a learner physically and mentally street smart and more aware of his environment. Explains Sensie Sadashiv: “While in other martial arts, the stress is on attaining excellence in form; this one focusses on using natural reflexes to fight off an attack, making it more fluid and practical for self-defence.”

Sensei Sadashiv is an IKMF certified Instructor for Civilian, Military, VIP and children.

During training, women are usually pitched against men so that they get a taste of real life scenario. And as a student, there is no better feeling for a woman student than pinning down a guy after breaking his defence totally.

The training is tough – more than an hour is spent in warm-up which is everything from running, squatting, push-ups, sit-ups, and somersaults, high-jumps, crawling on one’s elbows, running backwards, running on one’s knees and much more – all jumbled together.

Post the warm up, the fight training starts. Different defence and attack techniques are taught. From striking with a knife to warding off a knife attack, punching and ducking a punch, mugging and staying clear of muggers, choking and breaking free of a choke, hitting and side-stepping a blow.

Students fight each other. At the end of the class, a few sport bruises. Some even meet with minor accidents but it is all part of learning. Sadashiv and his team know well to control the odd student who sometimes get aggressive and ‘into the character’ while fighting.

While most learn Krav Maga for self-defence, a few come just for the activity since it is an excellent full-body workout.

So ‘real’ is the training that after a few lessons of Krav Maga, the dishum dishum of Hindi movies appear totally senseless and stupid – somewhere a feeling of wanting to engage in a real street fight creeps in.

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