Women's Self Defense in Boston

Krav Maga Gradings & Belts

A belt doesn’t make a fighter. Belts and levels however are necessary so that a practitioner can determine and judge their own progression through the system. Gradings are also a great opportunity to focus the mind on honing techniques and concentrating on skills development. The grading system used at the Boston Academy of Krav Maga is organized into three groupings: practitioner levels, graduate levels and expert levels (these levels are represented by various colored belts).

Krav Maga Practitioner Levels

The “Practitioner Levels” concentrate on developing the core, foundational skills that underpin all the techniques in the system. Students are taught how to move effectively, maintain balance/stability, align themselves properly with their attacker(s) and develop power in their striking. They are taught to respond quickly and aggressively to attacks and make correct and proper decisions in threat situations (such as muggings and perceived sexual assaults). As well as being tested on physical ability, students are also expected to demonstrate knowledge around the dynamics of violent and aggressive incidents.

As students are always reminded, the skills and techniques they learn in the Practitioner levels will be those that they will use 90% of the time in real life conflicts and assaults.

The five “Practitioner Levels” are represented by the following belts:

Level 1 (Yellow)

Level 2 (Yellow with Black Stripe)

Level 3 (Orange)

Level 4 (Orange with Black Stripe)

Level 5 (Green)

Krav Maga Graduate Levels

The Graduate Levels are mainly about developing the skills necessary to deal with more complex situations and skilled aggressors. In the practitioner levels, although students learn to deal with situations involving knives, guns and other weapons, they do not have to demonstrate the ability to deal with multiple attackers (who may or may not be armed). Many more situational components are thrown in at these levels e.g. demonstrating defenses when seated and/or in enclosed spaces – this type of training is introduced in the practitioner levels however it makes up the core of the training in the graduate levels.

Students at Graduate level are also expected to demonstrate “fighting spirit”. Any real life encounter requires a person to act emotionally as well as physically – if anyone believes they can maintain a state of Zen Calmness they are: 1) wrong and 2) not using their body’s gift of adrenaline. This idea is fostered throughout the practitioner levels however it is understood that some people take longer than others to develop it. By the time a student gains their graduate levels we are confident that it will be there in quantity.

A lot of the training is also geared towards dealing with aggressors who are able to respond and counter effectively to the initial defenses that are executed.

When a student reaches the graduate levels they are eligible to train as instructors and complete the assistant and full instructor courses.

The five “Graduate Levels” are represented by the following belts:

Level 1 (Green With Black Stripe)

Level 2 (Blue)

Level 3 (Blue With Black Stripe)

Level 4 (Brown)

Level 5 (Brown With Black Stripe)

Krav Maga Expert Levels

The Expert Levels are associated with the Black Belt or Dan grades that most traditional martial arts systems use. Many s specialist areas are covered in the belts as well as increased high stress situations.