Gian Spencer is a cop, an Italian decent he is serious about his career and public service, but a really funny guy. Tall, not heavy-looking, though. Always puts humor to everything around him. When not in a police officer's uniform, he could pass for a janitor. When dressed up for Sunday mass, he looks like a Wall Street dude. That's Gian Spencer, a cop and a KravMaga artist.
With the name, there is a person who has everyone's fear of being attacked in dark alleys. With such a profession, there's a person who knows how to keep peace and order. With Krav Maga, there's a beast that shows no mercy for assailants and any other individual exhibiting sinister plans on him or any person within his sight. That's Gian Spencer, a cop and a KravMaga artist.
He is just like most of us. What makes him stand out is his confidence that he can protect himself, his family and his closest circle in unforeseen attacks of criminals, with or without weapons. Gian Spencer is an embodiment of a normal person, and the warrior we all want to be when threatened.
Enough of Gian and let's talk Krav Maga. Meaning "contact combat", it is the official hand to hand fighting system of Israel, employed for decades by the Israeli Defense Forces. Designed as a simple and efficient art of self-defense, "Krav" is an effective and brutal technique used against unprovoked attacks; the former you can learn and be skilled at, the latter you can get anywhere as criminals lurk in no particular territories. Those tactics the usual martial arts prohibit, Krav Maga allows. From those nasty groin kicks to the even nastier eye gouges, from the deadly elbows to the throat to the vicious wringing of the neck - Krav Maga teaches it, and enthusiasts practice it. If this sounds vicious, it is. If you think it has the element of street-fighting, well, hell, yeah!
So are there any rules in Krav Maga? Yes, there is. And there's only one. "Don't get hurt." This is the strong statement of Josef Belsari, owner and trainer of Belsari Brothers Martial Arts Academy. "When your only concern is surviving an attack, why should you consider just pinching your attacker in the nose?" By the way, Josef is only five foot and five inches, wears glasses and works at the local library. His two older brothers tease his soft-spoken ways, and his two sisters are always amused at his collection and constant humming of Bon Jovi songs. Nothing about Josef speaks he's a Krav Maga artist until he is provoked or when people close to him are in danger.
With Krav Maga, you don't get those dance-like movements in thwarting your enemies, and you don't get those "was on, wax off" tactics to defeat criminals. Josef Belsari and Gian Spencer are a strong testament that protecting yourself is not about those moves and kicks and lots of dialogues you see in martial arts movies. Both would immediately follow this statement with saying that most martial arts forms are sports-oriented and patterned to win competitions and tournaments only. With KM, what makes you a winner is that you truly defeat any attacker, whether they are pointing a knife to your face, or showing off biceps with a size and pulse of a rhinoceros gearing for an attack.
While other martial arts earns you a skill level belt or any other forms of recognition; your only acknowledgments would be being able to debilitate an attacker, or in most times, being able to move freely and with confidence that you can handle any assailant. Krav Maga trainings are informal and eclectic, liberating for many beginners as one goes though conditional drills and calisthenics, routine combat practices and then the different techniques fit to different dangers posed by any attack.
Your instincts and fitness is your best weapon in Krav Maga. When into a fight, just a few Krav moves and your enemy is down and begging for mercy. No more of those punch rally or exchange of kicks, just an instant retaliation from your body and you're done. The moves used in Krav are simple but renders your enemy helpless. Ugly? Yes.
You might wonder why this combat form is taking form and why Krav Maga videos are always sold out. It's because the truth is out about all other martial arts varieties. They work well in the movies, but they are never functional in a street attack. As military and law enforcement folks have used Krav Maga in their operations, it does not mean only people in uniform can protect themselves and their loved ones from attacks. You should be able to as well.
