Hi, my Krav Maga experiences are mainly related to instructors that I trained with in the US and I found the training to be very good. We incorporate a lot of Krav Maga concepts into our self protection training especially will and stress drills. I don't know anyone in the Manchester area to recommend.

My advice would be to try out some local clubs and see if it is what you want. There are a lot of different types of Krav Maga and substyles and unfortunately there does seem to be a lot of infighting between associations at the leadership level.

I'm guessing that you've chosen Krav because you want to do a self defence orientated art. So I think that you should keep in your mind, whether what you are doing is actually applicable for the reasons you are training.

So does the training focus on defences that are realistic to your lifestyle? For example some styles of Krav focus heavily on gun defence, which may be very applicable in the US, but is it as important as say defending from a haymaker in the UK? A few styles of Krav focus a lot on grappling, but would you prefer to concentrate on striking as you may think this is more effective or vice versa?

For me the overriding thing to look out for in a Krav class is regular stress and will drills that fatigue you mentally and physically. To me that is the defining aspect of Krav.

However, give all the classes a try and make your own mind up as to whether they offer what you want to get out of your training.

Hope this helps.

Steve