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Sharing Videos on Social Media
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
December 8, 2025, Israel
Wing Chun Kung Fu
New York, 1990, on "vacation", which means more martial arts training. I go through the Yellow Pages, (for youngsters, that was our "internet", the way to find things). I call up as many martial arts schools as I can. I want to experience as many styles as I can. In Israel I am training with Itay Gil in full contact kickboxing and Krav Maga. While in the USA I am training regularly in Oyama Kyokushin full-contact Karate, and Wing Chun kung fu with Sifu Chun Kwok Chow, but I want to see more. New York City has many nightclubs, many restaurants, and many attractions, but those do not interest me. I want to take advantage of the Cultural diversity of martial arts; Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Thai, American, Russian, Brazilian, Police. I train in many places, meet interesting people and discover new ideas. Many of these ideas will someday in the future influence the unique style of IKI Krav Maga.
But there was one place I did not train, Bak Mei - White Eyebrow Gung Fu. Why? I called the school and the master answered in broken English. I am honest and never want to create the impression that I am a potential long-term student. I am just a visitor, and I want to watch a class, perhaps join in, if permitted.
His answer was brief - "If train- train, no watch - watch. Goodbye." (click).
In years to come I would experience some Bak Mei and I respect the style and use some of their strikes. But today I understand this master. If train - train, if not...we are not interested.
Videos on Social Media
There are many these days who share videos on social media. I do not. Nor do I allow IKI students to share our IKI techniques on social media. Promotional videos are OK, but not full techniques. I shall explain, as I have been asked this question many times.
Why did the Chinese Bak Mei master turn me down? For the same reason I do not post videos online. His message to me was, I am not interested in spectators, if you are serious about training, if you are ready to make a commitment, then you are most welcome, but if not, if only "watch Watch", then goodbye.
I understand the reason instructors post videos on social media, they want to increase their business, they want more students. Perhaps this works, I do not know. But here is my angle; people post videos, to me these are not impressive and only exposes their weakness. People comment, criticize, mock. And then arguments ensue. People get defensive, there is rarely if ever a true open-minded enlightened discussion about techniques. There is rarely any actual learning going on. It is always, My school is great, yours is dog shit. And when the comments begin it becomes going down the rabbit hole, you cannot get out of it. To me it is pointless.
But there is a deeper reason. Imagine the following hypothetical situation. You are a professional driving instructor. You know how to drive in the rain, in the snow, you know how to handle an oil slick on the road. You see someone driving and it is clear to you that they do not know what they are doing, they are heading for trouble, putting themselves and others at risk because they are not properly trained. At the stop light, you pull over and say, "Hey Buddy, you don't know what you are doing, your driving is reckless." and someone shouts back, "OK, genius, you show us how!"
But that is not the way to learn, that is not the way to teach. You will have to come to my driving school, learn the fundamentals first, safety, and then, step-by-step, you will learn how to navigate the road, how to handle ice on the road, rain etc. It is a Process! There is a method. And, as a professional driving instructor, I do expect to be paid for my time.
Similarly with self-defense. I see a technique that makes my hair turn gray, and I say NO!!! That is irresponsible to share this with people looking for a quick fix on Facebook. And the comments will follow: Some will say, How Dare You! You cannot question techniques handed down from "master" Pu pu you! or Gun shoe do, or Chaim Liebeflem or whoever. And others will say, OK, show us your technique. But showing you a random technique without first teaching the foundations is pointless and useless. There is a system, there is a method. Without understanding the foundations, the ABCs, it will not make sense.
The eye can fool us. Anyone can make a technique look good on video. Hello! That is what the movies are all about, Fantasy! So sharing my video without being able to properly teach it, is pointless and may even lead to further confusion. My "staring" in the video and looking super impressive, can be as deceitful as all the others. I need to teach it to you, and that involves you coming for training or signing up for my online program, which I dont like to advertise as a comment on videos by other associations. I am not a headhunter. I am not making my comments in order to attract customers from other peoples' pages.
And even if I were to share a video online, there would be questions, and I would have to answer, and explain, and send more videos to clarify certain points, which is exactly what I do with our IKI online students! This is my time; this is my job! Should I spend all this time explaining a technique to someone who is not committed to training with me?
When one posts a technique online, what happens, either you end up wasting a lot of time in pointless arguments, or, if your technique is really good, you are giving away the store for free.
I do a lot of charity work, but I work hard for a living and feel I deserve to be paid, this is my only job, and I am fully devoted to it. I have spent decades developing a system which I feel is of great value. Now I know the viewers out there, they are looking for free material. Again, I do not know how successful these other schools are in recruiting new business from these free video lessons, but my feeling is that there are a lot of people out there who are not "Train - train", they are "Watch -watch", and Watch Watch are not welcome here.
The Chinese master of Bak Mei, whose name I do not know, gave me a piece of wisdom that day. We are not commercial. If you want to train, we are here for you, but if you just want some free material, a video here and there, a Quick Fix, but you will never come to class, then goodbye.
I feel my techniques, strategy and tactics are superior to what I see presented on Facebook, and I worked very hard to develop these. If you are serious, you can sign up, invest a whopping $18 for the first month and I will send you 50 videos as a Gift!. But if you are just "Watch - Watch", then I repeat the words of the master, goodbye. and I have no time for arguing with a bunch of self-declared experts.
Note: If an instructor puts a video online, if it is bad, low-quality, then you embarrass the entire organization. You cause harm to all your fellow instructors who will lose potential students. and if you put out a quality video, correctly showing the technique, then you have violated the terms of the organization, you are giving away for free what is not free to be given. Promotional videos which do not go into detail, are fine, we all need to make a living and keep the schools operational. But let us not give away our hard work for free. What is given for free is not valued. I have learned that the hard way.
Training in Chen style Tai Chi Chuan in Chinatown, NY.
I have trained in a wide circle of martial arts, covering many systems and cultures. All play a part in IKI Krav Maga, not your average Krav Maga. Much deeper, and broader. If you want to be a part of this journey, join IKI for the price of a couple of cups of coffee per month. You will not see my videos on Facebook or Tiktok or whathaveyou.
Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt Hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
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All that and more in this unique book.
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