[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Hi Idaho,
I honestly don’t have any direct experience with Keysi Fighting Method, but from what I have seen here are my impressions:
The good:
-They have the word “Method” in the name of the system. Now this could mean that they just “jumped on the bandwagon”, but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that by doing this it signifies that they realize the unpredictable fluid nature of real combat and this recognize that “move based” systems can never truly prepare people for this reality.
-While their guarding system is not as well refined, alive, or multifaceted as something like Rich Ryan’s Shield system, at least they seem to realize that “precision” defenses (like those used in boxing for example slipping, weaving, parrying, etc…) can be problematic is real world combat as individuals may throw “artless” attacks which do not fit into any discernible/recognize able strike category and this due to such “precision” defenses timing and line recognition requirements, make them difficult to pull off. This becomes even more problematic against a “swarming” style attack or multiple attacker scenarios.
-I like that they seem to generally prefer to use “durable” weapons to attack with, especially elbows.
-I like that they seem to spend a good amount of time fighting “in the trenches” as that is where many real fight begin and end.
The Questionable/Bad:
-IMO any fighting system that translates well to the screen (Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy) is probably not the greatest option for real combat as those two entities are about as different as night and day. Now it could be that the KFM people involved just really understood how to change their skills to fit the screen well, but honestly the demonstrations and videos that I’ve seen of KFM look pretty damn exactly the same as what I saw in the Batman movies. Not a great “sign” IMO about it’s usefulness in real combat.
-While I like the use of elbows, KFM seems to over complicate things and violate the laws of effectiveness, simplicity, and time in many of the skills that I have seen demoed. For instance, if you just successfully elbowed a person in the chin/head, you are just “showing off to the crowd/stroking your ego about how pretty you can fight”, extending the timeframe of the fight, and potentially allowing your opponent time to recover if you then elbow him in his arm; if you can successfully get shots on the hard drive, you are wasting precious time and energy going back and attacking the software.
-I have yet to see any videos of them executing their techniques effectively against a fully resisting opponent. Lots of stuff looks “cool” or seems like it could work in theory, but until you really pressure test it you don’t really know. I suspect that if trained hard and with a decent amount of conditioning (both physical, emotional, and mental) that it would probably work well against the average person. Against highly trained or extreme physical specimens though, I haven’t seen anything to make me believe it would be successful (unless you yourself were also such a specimen).
The Missing:
-I have yet to see any realistic weapon deployment or defensive skills (and if the skills demoed in the Batman movies are representative then I would place most of them under the “bad/questionable” category).
-They don’t seem to have any real kicking range skills, any stand up grappling/clinch range skills, nor any real ground fighting skills to speak of. Great if you start and can end the fight at boxing or trapping range, but could be problematic if someone takes you out of your comfort zone.
-I have yet to see any discussion of legal and moral considerations from any KFM people; have not seen any effective confrontation management (cerebral, verbal, and postural self defense) skills or discussions from any KFM instructors; have not seen any truly effective multiple assailant strategies; have not seen any mental and emotional conditioning/fear management training; have not seen any environmental consideration discussions; have not seen any talk of appropriation of skills to the individual, opponent, or situation; have not seen anything regarding survival skills; and have not seen anything about aversion or avoiding fights/awareness and street smarts training.
That does not mean that they may not address some of or even all of those “missing” components, just that I have yet to see them from my very limited exposure (basically what they have out on YouTube) to KFM.
Based solely on this I would classify KFM as an incomplete Self Defense/RMA system and would also keep a healthy bit of skepticism about it’s effectiveness in “worst case scenarios”. But I am also willing to keep an open mind and would be willing to change my initial impression if evidence to support KFM’s effectiveness were presented to me.[/quote]
Sento,
Thank you for the detailed response and I appreciate your help in breaking down the system. I knew you were the expert to ask. The Germans and I had a slight language barrier, so, even after the demo, I was not fully understanding what they were trying to show me. However, the Germans dont usually waste their time on something thats not efficient, so I thought I was being overly dense. From what little I saw, not for me or the people I train and work with. Frankly, the way they block punches to the head with that “crab like arms thing” was humorous, however, you know how egos abound in the community, so, laughing out loud would have probably landed me into a fight:)). If I understood his English correctly, he stated the “SAS” was training under the same system, having worked with them I dont see it.
When I was coming up, we were taught a plagiarized version of Paul Vunak’s system, the theory at the time being the warfighter always had access to some type of weapon( knife, tools, buttstock, rocks, etc) Now as you know, military combatives are MMA based. Actually, the more I learn, the simpler I want it. Wearing full gear and weapons, you better simply everything you can, not much room for spinning back kicks in room clearing. But I digress. Thank you again for taking the time to write such a detailed response.
