KMTFF News

Go on, get Defensive!

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2011-01-19T12:55:41-05:00

Learning self defence tops any girl's to-do list. And it needn't be the hardest thing in the world. In fact, being the victim may not be such a bad thing...Baisakhi Roy attended a Krav session and came out learning more than how to get out of a choke hold.

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Hurts So Good

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2010-06-24T13:30:23-04:00

T he evening after his 33rd birthday party, after dancing for six hours with the National Ballet and then spinning house music and drinking tequila with his wife at his place on the Lakeshore until 4 a.m., Jiri Jelinek says, "I'm dying just to be here." Then he sits down at Krav Maga, an Israeli martial arts studio at Dundas Street and Davenport.

Jelinek, a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, began taking Krav Maga in Mexico City where he trained with the police force; when he moved to Toronto in January, he found this basement studio online. "It's one of the closest things to street fighting," says the Czech-born dancer. "You learn how to fight against knives.

"In Europe, I was boxing and Thai kickboxing all the time, but it doesn't really go with ballet, unfortunately."

Before class begins, Jelinek, wearing long cargo shorts and a T-shirt from the movie Scarface, dons a camouflage headband and heavy black sweats. "On a day like today, coming here is really hard, but life is a fight," he says. But as soon as the teacher turns Armin Van Duren up on the stereo, the hungover ballet star starts throwing hay-maker punches and devastating kicks.

"I feel better now," he says.

The hour-long class is populated twice a week by a dozen co-ed students.

Many, like Jelinek, sport elaborate tattoos, and the first half of the program is spent throwing combinations or punches and kicks into oversized pads christened "tombstones."

"My shoulders are on fire, man," Jelinek says.

The teacher explains that Jelinek punches so powerfully because he knows how to move from all of his dance training.

Throughout the class, the teacher shouts out encouragement. "You're going to get bumps and bruises in here so you don't bleed out there," he says, as he instructs his students to fall down on their backs and punch up at the tombstones over their heads.
"I can feel the tequila coming through my pores," Jelinek says with a smile
.
The evening's last exercise involves the class splitting in half, with the tombstones thrown in between them, and the students racing on their bellies to fight for their pads. After nearly 50 minutes of punching, the objective of this exercise is to reach the tombstone first so that your opponent has to punch. On two occasions, when the instructor blows his whistle, Jelinek is first to the tombstone -- but then gives it to his opponent to hold so that he can punch more.

"I like to hit," he explains.

When the class is finally over, the instructor tells everyone to go home to cold showers. Jelinek laughs: "I'm off for a beer."

- Jiri Jelinek appears in Opus 19/The Dreamer through June 13. He stars in Onegin when the production mounts June 19. For more information, see national. ballet.ca.

bkaplan@nationalpost.com

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/Hurts+good/3145949/story.html#ixzz0rnaTGKkx

Krav Maga – Survival Combat Fitness

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2010-02-15T11:47:57-05:00

Krav Maga, which literally means contact or close combat, is a martial art featuring hand-to-hand combat techniques derived from street fighting and other martial art skills.

It is a tactical defense skill that emphasizes neutralizing threatening situations with alternating defensive and offensive maneuvers, while ensuring a quick and safe escape.

BBYO teens stay up all night for Israel

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2009-05-03T15:45:52-04:00

Source: The Canadian Jewish News

TORONTO — BBYO’s Lake Ontario Region members held an Up All Night for Israel event in support of Canadian Magen David Adom (CMDA) at Beth Radom Synagogue recently.

Emma Alimi, left, and Bailey Bernknopf, right, of BBYO’s Beth Radom chapter, are shown defence techniques by Rob Ferreira of Krav Maga Toronto.

At the April 25 event, national executive director of CDMA, Arnold Rosner, spoke to the teens about Magen David’s operations and recognized their efforts in raising more than $1,200 through the Up All Night initiative.

Rosner told the teens that the funds would be used toward the purchase an emergency airway passage pack by Magen David, Israel’s sole national emergency, medical, ambulance, and blood services society.

The teens also participated in a training session of Krav Maga, the official self-defence system of the Israel Defence Forces, led by Rob Ferreira of Krav Maga Toronto.

“The IDF training was definitely one of the highlights for me,” said Grade 9 student Jesse Freedman, who recently joined BBYO. “But the midnight falafel buffet and the Israeli folk dancing were also incredible.”

The event was one of BBYO’s first under the movement’s new Stand Up campaign.

“Stand Up is BBYO’s service, social justice, advocacy and philanthropy campaign that promotes teens getting involved in causes important to them,” said Kevin Goodman, program director for BBYO’s Lake Ontario Region.

For more information about BBYO in the GTA, contact Kevin Goodman at 416-398-2004, ext. 222, or kgoodman@bbyo.orgThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

— Compiled by CJN Staff

Gun Seminar Full!

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2009-03-04T23:14:36-05:00

The upcoming Gun Defense Seminar (April 26th, 2009) is full. Thanks to everyone that signed up! Subscribe to this feed on the right to be alerted first for upcoming seminars.

Gun Seminar - April 26th, 2009

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2009-01-31T17:47:57-05:00

Hey Everyone!! Back due to popular demand we are having a GUN SEMINAR.

*** Space is Limited!! ***

Date: April 26th, 2009
Time: 12(noon) - 4/5pm
Price: $50 pre-registration, $70 at the door
Location: 1309 Dundas St. West

Itinerary:

* Gun front
* Gun Side
* Gun Behind
* Third-party Protection

This will be a long seminar with plenty of hands-on tactical training.

You can pre-register by calling into the studio with Credit Card (647-340-5828), or registering in person.

***NOTE***
This will fill up fairly quickly everyone, so please register early!!

007 Requires Stamina

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2008-12-10T16:56:47-05:00

A great article from Metronews.ca, outlining the intense training involved for action movie stars.

My next step is Rob Ferreira’s Krav Maga Toronto, where he lets me sit in on a lesson in the martial art developed by the Israeli army. Judo and karate were once the voguish Bond martial arts, but it’s more realistic to imagine Bond, an ex-special forces soldier, learning this far less elegant discipline. “It’s really basic,” Rob tells me. “Primal is a good way to describe it. They want you to address the immediate danger by any means necessary ... Whatever the attack might be, a punch, a grab, a choke, a knife, a stick, a gun — whatever. It trains you to use your instincts.”

Students Prepare To Face Danger

info@kravmagatoronto.com — 2008-12-11T16:05:40-05:00

April Robinson-RECORD STAFF-WATERLOO

Source: http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/448721

Darren Levine demonstrates a hostage situation.
It's one thing to practise self-defence moves in a studio with padded floors.

It's quite another to put those skills into action on a moving bus or airplane, in tight quarters and on unsure ground.

"We try to replicate reality," said Darren Levine, a U.S.-based instructor of Krav Maga, a self-defence system. So when Levine came to Waterloo for a special day-long course Saturday, instructors brought in a school bus to simulate a hostage-taking.

"I want people to understand exactly what they could get into," Levine said before the drill. "And you need a simple but drastic response."

Krav Maga is practised by Israeli defence forces and used by law enforcement agencies across the United States. It's not based on martial arts, but uses practical techniques that can be learned quickly, said Michelle Brawley, of the Waterloo Krav Maga training centre at Northfield Drive and Bridge Street. About 50 participants paid $150 each to take part in yesterday's seminar.

Levine, 48, is a prosecutor for the Los Angeles district attorney's office who specializes in violent crimes against police. He has trained celebrities, but he said he gets more satisfaction out of reaching ordinary people.

"I've seen the effects of violence on families, officers and communities," he said. "Everyone's here because they want to protect themselves. That's the best gift you can give."

Before the bus scenario, Levine led the group of men and women through exercises where they blocked a knife or punched an intruder pointing a gun at them.

"It's all about keeping it simple," said Craig Silver, who came from Toronto for the session. "That's the beauty of it. It's not a complicated process."

Silver, 56, said he wishes he had Krav Maga skills 20 years ago, when he was involved in a bar fight that left him with a wired jaw.

Laura Earl, 23, of Kitchener, said she became interested in self defence after a frightening incident in a relationship. Saturday's course was her third time trying Krav Maga.

"It's intense, it's realistic," she said. "It's skills everybody but especially every female should know."