Short answer: you get genuinely useable basic self-defense capability from Krav Maga in about three to four months of consistent training, training twice a week. Proficiency takes one to two years. Real mastery is a decade. The reason the numbers vary so much is that "learn Krav Maga" can mean very different things.
Useable basics: 3 to 4 months
This is the level at which you actually respond instead of freezing. Your body knows what to do when a hand comes at your throat or someone grabs your wrist. You move with awareness, keep distance, and have a small set of reliable techniques drilled hard enough to come out under stress. For most adults this is what they actually came for, and it arrives faster than they expect.
Solid practitioner: 1 to 2 years
You can handle a wider range of scenarios calmly. Weapons defense, multiple-attacker basics, ground escapes, and the integration of striking and movement. You spar with control and you understand why each technique works. This is the level where Krav Maga goes from useful to reliable.
Advanced: 3 to 5 years
You become the person other people learn from. You can coach others through scenarios, adapt techniques to body type and context, and handle pressure in ways that look effortless because the work happened years ago.
What slows people down
Not the system. Inconsistent attendance. The biggest difference between someone who has usable Krav Maga in four months and someone who has been "training" for two years and still freezes is whether they showed up twice a week, every week.
What speeds people up
Private coaching, a serious gym, and pressure-testing under real conditions. At DKing Combat System in Al Quoz, we structure the first three months around the responses you actually need first, then layer in everything else. Coached by DKing Saad. Application-based, small groups, no shortcuts.