Training for the Situation –
Not Just the Technique

A curriculum creates structure in something that is inherently complex.

Violence does not follow a syllabus. A confrontation may involve distance, movement, verbal interaction, strikes, grabs, weapons, multiple people, environmental restrictions or the need to protect somebody else. Prevention, avoidance and de-escalation may be more appropriate than physical action.

Trying to train all of these variables simultaneously from the beginning would not create freedom – it would create confusion.

KMG therefore organizes learning progressively.

We generally address common problems before less common ones, easier skills before more difficult ones, and controlled learning before increasingly realistic application. As students progress, difficulty and demands increase so that previously acquired abilities can be used under greater physical and mental pressure.

The curriculum gives instructors and students a common framework while leaving the ultimate objective unchanged: to solve a self-defense problem as effectively, safely and appropriately as circumstances allow.

One of the central ideas behind the KMG learning process is the progression from closed to open skills.

Closed Skills

In a controlled learning environment, the problem is largely known.

A student may know which attack is coming and which skill is being practiced. This allows attention to be directed toward movement, timing, positioning, accuracy, safety and the important checkpoints of a technique.

Repetition here has a purpose.

It creates a reliable foundation.

KMG describes closed-skill assessment as being concerned with the accurate and consistent execution of movements according to curriculum checkpoints.

Open Skills

Reality, however, is not predetermined.

An aggressor may move differently than expected. The environment may restrict movement. There may be more than one person involved. A technique may fail. The situation may escalate – or suddenly present an opportunity to disengage.

Open-skill training therefore introduces uncertainty.

Through dynamic drills, summary drills, scenarios and simulations, students must increasingly perceive, decide, act and adapt rather than simply reproduce a known response.

The question gradually changes from:

“Can you perform the technique?”

to:

“Can you solve the problem?”

The KMG levels are best understood not as a collection of certificates, but as milestones in a long-term learning process.

Practitioner

Build the Foundation

The Practitioner journey establishes the fundamental skills and principles of the system.

Students build their technical base while gradually learning to connect skills, recognize situations and apply what they have learned through drills and increasingly variable problems.

The emphasis is on creating something dependable:

Understand it. Perform it. Begin to apply it.

Graduate

Integrate and Adapt

At Graduate level, the emphasis increasingly shifts toward integration.

Skills from earlier levels remain relevant, but must now function under greater pressure and complexity. Practitioners are expected to deal with changing circumstances, unknown attacks, resistance and unsuccessful initial actions.

The question becomes less:

“Which technique belongs to this attack?”

and increasingly:

“What does this situation require?”

The curriculum specifically expects increasing proficiency in tactical decision-making, adaptation, initiative, appropriate use of force and performance against non-compliant and increasingly resisting partners.

Expert

Understand, Decide and Perform

Expert development demands a deeper integration of technical ability, tactical understanding, mental capacity and judgment.

At this stage, practitioners are expected to apply the complete foundation accumulated through previous levels while dealing with increasingly complex conditions.

They must demonstrate not only what they can do, but why they choose to do it.

The Expert curriculum places explicit emphasis on rapid adaptation, recovering from mistakes, appropriate scaling of force, tactical awareness, decision-making and performance against increasing resistance.

The progression is therefore cumulative:

We do not leave the fundamentals behind. We learn to use them with increasing freedom.

Why We Test

Testing should reflect what we train for.

A level test is not the destination of training.

It is a checkpoint.

It gives the practitioner feedback, gives the instructor information about the student’s development and helps KMG maintain comparable standards across countries, schools and instructors.

And because competence has several dimensions, assessment cannot consist only of demonstrating isolated techniques.

The KMG performance-test model therefore moves through a spectrum that can include:

isolated techniques → combinations → continuing problems → multiple attackers → scenarios → simulations.

This allows different questions to be answered.

• Can the student perform the skill correctly?
• Can they recognize when it is appropriate?
• Can they apply it against resistance?
• Can they continue when the first action does not work?
• Can they adapt when the situation changes?
• Can they remain functional under pressure?

The assessment model consequently considers more than technical cleanliness. It also looks at factors such as timing, outcome, decision-making under stress, physical and mental capacity, tactical performance, safety and legal compliance.