What basic self-defense techniques should beginners know?
The proper way to hit somebody in the face bare-handed…When hitting somebody in the face bare-handed, most people should strike with the lower palm of their hand (just above the wrist) and not their knuckles. This is because most people don’t have big monster hands and thick wrists. The human hand wasn’t built to hit things that are hard. It breaks easily. Further, the wrists flex and this takes power out of the punch kind of like a shock absorber.Most people can hit much harder with this part of their hand than with a fist. Aim for the side of your attackers chin like you are trying to spin his head around like a top. That’s how you knock somebody out. The nose is the second best target. Punching somebody in the nose won’t knock them out, but it’s a great “attitude changer.”The next is the front stomp kick. It doesn’t look fancy, but it’s a great “get away from me” kick.Practice these moves over and over again. Make sure you can do them powerfully and accurately WITHOUT having to think about it. They should become second nature.The throat punch:This punch is such a “fight stopper,” it’s banned in MMA.Remember: When it comes to defending yourself successfully, you’re better off practicing a few moves 10,000 times than practicing 10,000 moves a few times.Lastly, aggression. When the time comes to defend yourself, don’t be nice. Don’t be civilized. Use overwhelming violence. Practice aggression. Just like animals in nature, smaller people have to equalize the fighting equation by being aggressive. Be a wolverine!—Michael LevyI competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu(BJJ) and Submission Grappling for 6 years. I’ve studied numerous other Martial Arts including Karate, Ninjutsu and MMA. I’m the founder of 4MartialArts.com, The Martial Arts Search Engine, which is part of the 4Search.com network of 2000 topic based search engines that, let you search accurately by topic and interest, without tracking.
Is there a concept of realistic and real-life sparring in Krav Maga (KM) classes, even for the white belts? If yes, how is it done?
Sparring is indeed very important, and a indispensable part of any kind of self defense training. One reason is that it works as debugging and ensures that we don’t train crap that does not work. Other reasons are that sparring is good for training aggression, stress management and above all to train as close to reality as possible.Training trechniques MUST progress to the point where you train against actively resisting opponents in a stressfull environment. I have heard of Krav Maga clubs that dont do sparring. I belive that is a huge mistake, and practically invalidates the club in my opinion. Most likely they skip sparring because it can be intimidating to new students, and they put their business above the material they teach.Tommy Blom, who is one of the highest ranking practitioners in the world, has written a blog post about sparring and how he recommends it be included in training.Fighting - Sparring for Krav Maga, by Tommy Blom | KMGIn Krav Maga training we work a lot with ramping, which is also apparent in the blog post by Tommy Blom. So things start, as described in the original question, with a demonstration of a technique, dry-drilling, partner drilling going on to summary drills and sparring etc. While sparring is super important, it is just as important to work on the techniques with dry-drilling, partner drills etc. Each step of the ramp builds upon the one before and prepares the student for the next step.What this means is that there is little real gain from throwing a complete beginner into intense full-contact sparring. We give them some tools and techniques first, then we start them out with slow-fighting and light sparring. Full contact sparring will come… and it will come against multiple armed opponents.Safety is something that should never be overlooked. We will often do ground fighting (like the BJJ sparring you mention) from the start. But real sparring with kicks and punches require a bit more preparation.
What is the average profit of a martial arts dojo?
There are a few very insightful answers already on here, but you might need to boil it down to the basics. You will need to create a budget. This includes rent, insurance (which is usually really expensive for a school of martial arts), utilities, phone, and decor. On top of this, you will need to establish contacts for a uniform/belt/peripheral (sparring gear, etc.) provider, factor in advertising costs, and research where you would even want to set a school up to begin with. Of course, the easy method as per Ed Parker for a location would be to set up near a McDonald's! That's just the beginning. Now, then you'd need to get together your criteria for lessons, set up a schedule for group classes, private lessons, weapons classes, and maybe even think about hand-picking students who excel for potential assistant instructors. You'll also need to establish tuition costs, costs for peripherals, and if you want to charge to test. Bear in mind profits could be higher if you are part of an association or chain, but you may have to sacrifice your own itinerary to conform to said association. I am not attempting to make a blanket statement, but generally, the "full-time" instructors I have seen have had to sacrifice much of their respective art's integrity in order to maintain a profit. That could include advancing students when they don't necessarily deserve it, charging too much for testing, or holding sleep-overs and pizza parties to help generate more revenue. In short, it depends on what sort of person you are. If you are like the stereotypical old Chinese man on a mountain top, you likely won't rake much in, but if you're more like a suave car salesman who can sell ice boxes to Eskimos, you'll turn a tidy profit. In closing, bear in mind that just because one might be a fantastic martial artist, or even a phenomenal teacher, that doesn't necessarily add up for a successful school. Take some business courses at a local community college too. I have seen a wide gamut of people like my instructor who operates a not-for-profit organization, to slick USSD style teachers who drive Hummers. Good luck to you in your endeavors.