Krav Maga Yashir
Head Instructor: Gershon Ben Keren (5th Dan)
Welcome To Krav Maga Yashir!
Welcome to Krav Maga Yashir, we are located less than a 10-minute drive from the center of Burlington, MA. If you are looking to learn reality-based self-defense to protect yourself and/or your family, you are going to want to train in a system that has been proven to be effective at dealing with violence, and with an instructor who has first-hand experiences of dealing with violent individuals. Our school teaches authentic Israeli Krav Maga, that has proven its effectiveness in one of the toughest, most violent environments on the planet, and our Head Instructor, Gershon Ben Keren, has over thirty years working in the security industry, with a long history of working pub, bar, and door security in the UK; where dealing with knife and other weapon threats/attacks were common place. If you are looking to improve your safety and security and be able to deal with committed, violent aggressors, who intend to cause you harm you want to train in the knowledge, that what you are being taught, will work if it is ever has to be put to the test. At Krav Maga Yashir you don't simply practice "techniques" you train solutions to violence. If you are interested in experiencing our approach first hand you can register for one of our beginner Krav Maga classes using the button below.
Beginner ClassIf you are attacked just once in twenty years, you will wish you had been training for twenty years. Haim Zut (10th Dan)
Krav Maga is not a martial art per se, but a system of survival, that is used by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), to train its members in hand-to-hand/close combat. It has proven over the last 80-years to be effective at dealing with both unarmed and armed attacks, by violent committed assailants. Based on natural and instinctive movements, its techniques and solutions, work under the extreme psychological and emotional pressure of a violent assault. Real-life assaults happen quickly and at short-range, making it extremely difficult to use traditional martial arts, and even combat sports techniques and strategies effectively. In an MMA or boxing match both participants are prepared and start the match/contest at distance. Real-life encounters are non-consensual affairs, that usually start up close and personal, nose-to-nose, without a referee signaling when the fight will begin. To deal with real-life violence, you have to train using scenarios and situations that replicate reality. Head Instructor, Gershon Ben Keren is a criminologist, largely studying violent crime, who has been working in the security industry since 1990, and so knows and understands what real-life violence actually looks like.
I've been taking classes here for about 4 years now. The training is top notch backed by strong theoretical concepts. If you're looking for a school this is the best place you could go. Stephen. W.
If you are interested in experiencing authentic Israeli Krav Maga, with a 5th Degree Black Belt, who has trained and taught in Israel, and where he received his teaching certifications from, sign up for one of our 60-minute introductory Krav Maga seminars using the button below.
Beginner ClassGershon Ben Keren Google Author Talks
Google Author Talks involve invited authors to talk/lecture on one of their books for 60-minutes. In Gershon's first author talk, he describes the criminological processes that predatory offenders use to gain access to those they victimize, and once these are understood it becomes possible to predict, identify and avoid violence before it occurs. In the second he talks about spontaneous and expressive acts of violence and how in many cases it is possible to de-esacalte these situations and aggressive interactions. Both talks are available to watch below.
Krav Maga Books By Gershon Ben Keren
Gershon Ben Keren (Krav Maga Yashir, Head Instructor) has written three Amazon Best-Selling books on Krav Maga and its approach to dealing with violence. To learn more about the techniques and the solutions presented you can click on the covers to learn more.
Real World Solutions To Violence
Not all violence is the same, some incidents are planned and premeditated, whilst other occur "spontaneously" due to conflict that result from social interactions. The material in this book, focuses on the former, looking at violent acts such as street robberies and abductions etc. As well as providing detailed physical techniques demonstrating solutions to a variety of unarmed and armed assault, the book also looks at the processes that violent offenders use, to select and gain access to those they victimize.
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Tactical Survival
Miki Assulin (One of Imi Lichtenfeld's first ten black belts, and member of his inner circle), wrote the forward for Gershon's Second Book on Krav Maga. This focused on violence that occurs from social conflicts and disputes, sometimes referred to as spontaneous or social violence. In the book Gershon explains and details methods of verbal de-escalation that he uses when dealing - in a professional capacity - with individuals who are emotionally volatile, angry and aggressive and who are looking to become physically violent.
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Extreme Survival
Certain types of violence may not be common but potentially result in more serious consequences. In the US Car-jackings, Home Invasions and Active Shooter incidents are still statistically rare. However these events aren't limited to a certain section of the population, and everybody can be targeted with these forms of violence. Gershon details in print/hotographs, the Israeli solutions to Active Shooter incidents. Tactics and solutions that proved so successful that this terroror tactic was basically abandoned.
Click HereOur Krav Maga Programs
Our Krav Maga classes and programs are taught by 5th Degree Black Belt, Gershon Ben Keren, who has been training in Krav Maga since 1993. He is a 2010 inductee into the Museum of Israeli Martial Arts in Herliya, Israel and regularly returns there to train.
Krav Maga, meaning "Contact Combat" is Hebrew is the term the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) use to refer to their unarmed/close combat systems. Krav Maga
is a comprehensive martial art/self-defense system that teaches you how to deal with a variety of attacks and assaults, that may or may not involve weapons
(knife, gun, stick etc...) and which may be carried out by one or more assailants. The system teaches all of its defenses from a state of unpreparedness and
never makes the assumption that you are athletically superior to your attacker(s) e.g. you're stronger, faster etc. The underlying goal of Krav Maga training
is to get an untrained person "Combat Ready" in the shortest possible time. This is achieved by using instinctive reactions, and natural movements, rather
than forcing a person to respond to an attack in an "artificial" manner.
Our Krav Maga program is taught and run by Gershon Ben Keren, a 5th Degree Black Belt, who was trained, tested and certified in Israel. He has been training in Krav Maga since 1993, and teaches that, which is taught in Israel, regularly returning, and training with IDF members to make sure that the Krav Maga taught in the school is the most up-to-date and modern approach to reality based self-defense. If you would like to find out first-hand why our approach to self-defense training is so effective, you can sign up for one of our introductory Krav Maga classes using the button below.
Beginner Class
Our Kids and Teens Krav Maga program runs throughout the school year on Saturday mornings between 10:30 and 11:15 AM. The program is broken down into three semesters of
around 10 classes. Classes are suitable for children and teens between the ages of 5 and 17 - although the classes run at the same time the class is structured so that
kids and teens of the same age get to train together. This isn't just because of differences in size and strength etc., but because different age groups experience a
ggression and violence differently.We don't just teach physical solutions to dealing with aggression and bullying etc., we also teach verbal de-scalation and violence
avoidance etc.
Our classes focus not only on age-appropriate personal safety and self-defense but also on improving psychological, emotional and physical well-being. Classes are taught in a fun and enjoyable manner, with an emphasis on productive learning. Training is conducted in a co-operative non-competitive manner, with each student progressing at their own pace. This doesn't mean that we don't value improvement but rather that we understand this can't be forced, and we would rather help individuals realize their own potential, and become motivated to improve. If you would like to learn more about our Kids and Teens Krav Maga program, please click the button below.
If you would like to sign your kid up for a trial class, you can use the form below to do so. If the form isn't displaying it's because the semester is too far underway to bring them into the current one. To find out when the next semester starts you can contact us by clicking here.
We have been teaching our free women's self-defense program since 2010, and have created a virtual training platform that accompanies it. This can be accessed by
clicking here. Our program as well as teaching
physical self-defense techniques and solutions, also looks at ways in which it is possible to predict, identify and avoid violence before it occurs. Our
women's self-defense program also looks at the victimology of women targeted for violence, and how to act and present, in a way that means you don't appear on a
predator's radar.
Our program is evidentially and research based i.e., we don't promote "good" or "well-intentioned" but unfounded, ideas and tactics, and instead base what we teach on established facts from those who work in areas, where violence against women is experienced. Rather than stick with simplistic, but statistically unlikely scenarios, such as rape and sexual assaults, committed by strangers in public places (we do include this in our program), we deal with the more uncomfortable, and socially awkward assaults that are committed by predatory individuals the target knows, in their home or somebody else's etc. We also teach the use of OC/Pepper spray, and how to identify potentially abusive partners who may go on to commit stalking campaigns after the relationship finishes/ends. To get a better idea of our program's content and structure please use the button below.
Women's Self-Defense