Book Review: The Timeline of Self-Defense by Randy King Live
When we heard Randy King was writing a book, we were eager to get our hands on it. Randy’s an internationally renowned self-defence instructor and speaker who has taught for us on several occasions at Rencounter, so we know he knows what he’s talking about.
Now we’ve read it, his book has gone straight onto our Recommended Reading List.
We highly recommend The Timeline of Self-Defense for anyone interested in self-defence, whether you're teaching, training or a complete beginner and don't know where to start.
The book takes a holistic view of self-defence looking at preventative and pro-active skills, because we *know* self-defence isn't just about fighting.
Randy will take you through how to build a self defence strategy that works for *you*, recognising that it isn't a one size fits all approach.
He starts with his three pillars: Value (you are worth defending); Boundaries; and Community, and builds from there. Including how to handle yourself and mitigate stress in the middle of an altercation/event/fight(if it comes to that). He then also includes the important conversation of what happens after a high impact event, the aftermath and recovery.
This is genuinely one of the most enjoyable books we've read on self-defence, it's really easy to read, there's no jargon, every chapter starts with an awesome movie quote and there's bits of humour dropped throughout the book.
While Randy shares some of his own personal experiences, he also shares his students' experiences, which is particularly valuable when they have a win and nothing happens (the ideal outcome).
This book is absolutely worth your time, we'll definitely be coming back to it.
Not confirmed, but we're hoping to have Randy back at Rencounter later in the year. We'll keep you posted!
Rencounter Krav Maga
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KMG affiliated Krav Maga school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Reality-based self-defence, fitness, and really great people. Everyone was a beginner at some point.
At Rencounter Krav Maga we specialize in highly effective self-defence and reality-based training. In our classes you will be learning in a safe and supportive environment. We strive to give you fun and challenging training sessions that rapidly bring your self-defence skills to a good level, and develop your fitness and confidence at the same time. In our classes you get 100% real and powerful Kr
19/06/2026
This week our subject has been Standing to Ground, so whether that's transitioning from standing to being on the ground by falling or being pushed and continuing from there, or working with takedowns to make the transition ourselves.
However we end up on the ground, we don't want to hurt ourselves when we land, and we want to prioritise getting up as quickly as is practicable.
Lots of going to the ground and getting up this week (hidden burpees, don't tell anyone!)
This week we also had our monthly women's sparring class, it's really nice to see students grow in confidence and skills in this class 🥊
Great work from the team this week.
If you'd like to get involved we have trial classes on next week.
🏴Camp Edinburgh 2026 🏴
🚨ONE MONTH TO GO🚨
Here's what we have planned:
⛰️Arthur's Seat - iconic training location with panoramic views of the city
🔪Dynamic knife control: what to do if your initial defence fails, always have a backup plan
👯3rd party protection - using our skills to protect others
👀Soft Skills: situational awareness and de-escalation: can you spot and resolve a situation before it breaks bad?
🫂Control and restraint - as part of a team
🔫Active Shooter Scenario: what to do if the worst happens
⛑️Aftermath: emergency first aid and what to do after a violent encounter
🌞 Sunshine guaranteed*
All delivered by highly skilled and experienced instructors.
We are ready for you!
*Scottish sunshine may appear in liquid form
12/06/2026
This week we've been looking at grabs, clinching and standing grappling in classes.
It's very instinctive to grab, so whether we're defending against being grabbed or we're using grabs to control someone else to protect ourselves, grappling is an important tool for our toolbox.
Lots of fun dynamic drills to keep everyone on their toes this week!
Great work team!
08/06/2026
Situational Awareness: There's a lot of talk about what we need to be looking for when it comes to situational awareness.
There's articles that tell you how to have the skills of Jason Bourne. But what does your everyday, average, non-super-secret-agent need?
Generally: be engaged and pay attention to the world around you, and when things seem off, trust your gut, give them more attention and if you need to, you can take action. (And that action can be leaving)
Stay curious! When we are engaged in the world that we live in, we are open to seeing problems early, BUT even better than that, we also see a whole load of cool things we might have missed if either we weren't paying attention or we were entirely focused on searching for bad guys.
Good self-defence skills should make your life better, not make you live in fear.
So if you have to choose between Jason Bourne or Ferris Bueller, go with Ferris Bueller.
Look around!
(The writer is aware that both these movie references are outdated!)
05/06/2026
This week we've been on the ground in classes.
Whether that's dealing with how to fall safely with breakfalls and rolls or how to get up quickly when there's a threat, or dealing with an attack - being on the ground adds another dimension - we don't want to end up here in a self defence scenario but we must prepare for it.
Lots of good work from our students this week!
Well done team!
If you'd like to get started on your self-defence journey, join a trial class!
29/05/2026
We've been looking at defending a third party in classes this week.
We use the same skills as self-defence, but a different mindset, where we choose to step into the line to protect someone we care about.
This is something that sets krav apart from other fighting systems.
It's been a fun week! And the sun has been shining which has been great for outdoor classes on the Meadows ☀️
Good work team!
22/05/2026
This week we've been focusing on Defending Strikes and Kicks in classes.
This is a staple of krav maga fundamentals!
Once we understand the basic principles of defence we can work more dynamically and solve more complicated problems, because the real world is not static, it's messy, so training has to reflect that.
Congratulations to Kevin on passing the 100 class mark and earning his RKM mug, this week!
This week we also ran our monthly Women's Sparring class, building up our female members skills and confidence in fighting skills, this month was a groundfighting session. Always a fun session with these ladies!
Lots of good work from the team this week!
15/05/2026
This week our focus in classes has been having some fun!
Folks had been working really hard in prep for last weekend's grading so they've earned some fun!
Of course that means krav maga style fun: sticks, dirty tricks, guns, and takedowns. Of course.
Normal business to resume next week!
This week we had a visit from Janko from KRAV MAGA Department in Berlin. We've got connections across the world, so if you train in a KMG club and find yourself in Edinburgh, we'd love to have you train with us! Great to have you Janko!
Good work from the team this week, they did have fun! 😁
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