kravmagasolutions dot com (Can't post links yet.)

As I'm obviously completely new to this site, I would like to apologize in advance for any postings that lack forum etiquette. I have, however, read the stickies and will try my best.

Anyway, I'm new to self-defense but have been training at this academy for several months now. I will tell you what I know about KMA and hope that I can get some outsider perspectives..

There are no belts for this academy; I know IKMF does have a belt system though. What these guys have is Level 1 and Level 2. I'm not Level 2, but the main difference I've seen is that Level 2 focuses more on disarms and weapons. Regular classes are no-contact simulations as well as striking drills and workouts. After 30 hours of classes, you are then allowed to do full-contact full-speed sparring with full padding. From what I've seen, instructors also participate in sparring classes with random students.

Speaking of instructors, Matan Gavish seems to be the real deal, but he only teaches once per week. I haven't found any information online about Nadaav, but I can say that in person he seems very trustworthy (I understand this is completely qualitative); that is to say, he teaches us skills and techniques as opposed to "aggression drills," which two other instructors at the academy (not listed) always do. Omry doesn't actually teach classes. "Aggression" being, jab-cross the pad for a minute straight, then knees for a minute, etc. Hard work with no water breaks. Additionally, I would say that Nadaav teaches twice a week on average and the rest are taught by two people who don't teach as much techniques.

Anyway, my purpose in learning martial arts is to be able to defend myself on the streets, at a bar, etc. I don't really care about competitions at all, I don't care about kata or forms, and I believe that getting fit will occur in the process of training with real martial arts. So I don't care about "workouts" either.

So yea, is this bullshido? Or perhaps even better, but less relevant to this section, would this be the right place for someone like me? I'll be active in this thread, so please post thoughts comments and questions for clarification...