October 2005 - Knifes and guns in Giffnock? It’s all part of a surprising fitness regime pioneered by the Israeli army that is taking off in Scotland.

If this was a real situation, I might think about running away and getting some mates to help me out.

Thankfully, this is a self-defence class in Giffnock. It’s no conventional training in the art of unarmed combat . In addition to the slightly built 19 year-old who has defended himself from my attacks, there is a small elderly lady demonstrating proficiency in fending off the blows from a bloke double her size and half her age. People of all shapes and sizes are here and the class could easily be mistaken for an extended family get together if it weren’t for the pile of guns and knifes lying on the gymnasium floor.

This is the world of Krav Maga, a fighting system originally created for the Israeli military and now available in Scotland for the first time. Translated from Hebrew as “contact combat”, Krav Maga is practised by 200,000 people worldwide. Apart from being the standard unarmed combat of the Israeli Defence Force, Krav Maga is a favourite of law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Celebrities have been quick to recognise its value, not only as a route to fitness, but also as an additional layer of personal security. Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie are two of it’s high-profile devotees.

But Krav Maga’s Strength lies in its accessibility to people of all ages and abilities. It’s easy to learn and is based on real-life scenarios. Students are taught how to aggressively use their hands, elbows, knees and heads to stop and attacker. Blocking techniques, based on one’s natural reactions to a threat, are also learned.

The knives and weapons littering the floor of Giffnock’s Maccabi Centre might be fake practice aids, but they illustrate graphically the kind of threats the training is geared at tackling. Whether the recent United Nations report citing Scotland as the most violent country in the developed world is accurate or not, the arrival of Krav Maga in Glasgow has been greeted with enthusiasm. The class, which started last month, was quickly booked up. “There’s so much violence out there,” says 55-year-old Charles Kaplan from Newton Mearns who has been attending the Giffnock class since it began.

“I went to karate and I’m left handed, so I was that split second behind everyone else and found it off-putting. I’m no use at anything that involves regimentation. My instincts are go left first then right,” Charles explains “I’ve found I can adapt to it easily enough. I am not fit, I do no training. That doesn’t stop the willingness to try and do it. You just do it to your own level. There are guy’s here who are super-fit and there are guy’s here like me, so it’s for everyone.

Leading the class is Simon Leila, a Helensburgh based security consultant who is the only qualified Krav Maga Instructor in Scotland. There are around 150 instructors practising outside Israel and all are governed by an International federation and have to undergo rigorous training.

As someone who has taught Self Defence for 25 years, the 41 year old father of two is clearly not a man to be messed with. He’s an affable character , though, who takes particular care to ensure everyone attending his class will come away with an arsenal of potentially life saving skills.

“You can teach someone to do something very convoluted, but if it goes against their natural instinct, when fear and adrenaline kicks in, everything they’ve learned will go out of the window”, he says. “If it’s based on natural instinct, that’ll kick in . Krav Maga’s pretty much natural instinct and then all your really doing as an instructor is bringing out that, honing it and tuning it. It’s in everyone.”

According to Simon, real life self-defence situations are often over in seconds, a fact traditional martial arts systems don’t take into account. “You haven’t got time to strike poses,” he says. “you may not have the space to do your high flashy kicks or certain blocks. You may be on a plane or train, or you might be in a crowded bar. You just don’t have the space and you’ve only got your instincts to react on.

Regardless of one’s political stance on issues affecting the Middle East, there’s no denying the Israeli Defence Forces have a formidable reputation for toughness, and, some would say, brutality. So is it ethical to apply these techniques in out society ? “There’s only one ethic,” responds Simon, “Protect and survive. It doesn’t matter where a system or product comes from. Does it work? , Does it compete the task at hand? Yes.

“I think in this day and age, we are one world. A person trying to attack me with a knife is a person attacking me with a knife, irrespective of where I am in the world. I don’t question or qualify where my assailant comes from. My assailant will not have time to work out where my defence response comes from. It doesn’t matter, as long as you get home safely. Everyone on this planet has a right to self-defence.”

The psychological aspects of self-defence are a key component of the Krav Maga System. Once student have basic techniques mastered, Simon will introduce various scenario’s aimed at sharpening their situational awareness. “ It may be two people walking up to you to attack you or whether they’re just going to say hello, so you how people react, “ he explains. “It might be on the stairs or in an alley, or getting out of a car – all sorts of things, just to bring out daily life scenarios. The Krav Maga stuff is the last resort, but you’ve got that as a tool set and if you can heighten people’s awareness so they can spot things before they happen, then they don’t have to get involved.”

In the interests of research I stick a realistic looking automatic pistol to his forehead. It’s a classic “Now get out of that “ situation, but before I know it he’s simulated elbowing me in the face and the gun’s being twisted painfully out of my hand. It doesn’t matter where I point the gun at him, he disarms me every time.

The emphasis of Simon’s Giffnock class is more on potential attacks by someone carrying a bladed weapon. Although they’ve only been training a few weeks, his students are demonstrating an impressive degree of efficiency in fending off an attack. And they don’t mess about when it comes to the attacking bit either. After a demonstration in how to block, I’m subjected to an onslaught by David. The techniques work and, if this was real life, I’d be buying myself seconds in which to slam a punch, elbow or knee into my assailants vulnerable points.

After knife defences it’s on to choking each other. Again using me as a guinea pig, Simon demonstrates how to break a choke hold to the front, side and rear. It’s simple. Even the follow up moves to disable your opponent – a blow to the groin, an elbow in the chin – all follow smoothly from the positions you find yourself in after breaking the choke holds.

During the class partners are changed around regularly, ensuring we come up against a range of body sizes and abilities. I get to take on 19 year old Jordan Hyman. “Last time I checked I was eight stone, “ he says. It can be quite demanding, but I’m taking to it alright,” Jordan, who has two cousins using the system in the Israeli Army, was attracted to Krav Maga because of it’s practical nature.

I run at, and throttle, the young Giffnock man several times and he has no problem breaking my grip and disabling me. Bodyweight and strength is not a factor in Krav Maga.

I’m exhausted at the end of the one and a half hour session. Clearly there are fitness benefits to be had by trying to stop people killing you. “You go at your own pace,” says Simon. “The fitness is a by-product. The whole point is that if they ever get into trouble, they can get out of trouble”.

Krav Maga classes are on in Giffnock and Helensburgh. They are due to start in Edinburgh on October 29.