What is Krav Maga?
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Krav Maga (Hebrew קרב מגע: "contact combat") is an eclectic self-defense and military hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel, which assumes no quarter, and emphasizes maximum threat neutralization in a "real life" context. It came to prominence following its adoption by various Israeli Security Forces.

Training

Basic principles

In Krav Maga, there are no hard-and-fast rules, and no distinction in training for men and women. It is not a sport, and there are no specific uniforms, attire or competitions, although some organisations recognise progress through training with rank badges. All the techniques focus on maximum efficiency in real-life conditions. Krav Maga generally assumes a no quarter situation; the attacks and defenses are intended for potentially lethal threat situations, and aim to neutralize these and escape via maximum pain or damage to opponents, as rapidly and safely as possible. Crippling attacks to vulnerable body parts, including groin and eye strikes, headbutts, and other efficient and potentially brutal attacks, improvised use of any objects available, and maximizing personal safety in a fight, are emphasized. However, it must be stressed that instructors can and do demonstrate how to moderate the techniques to fit the circumstances. While no limits are placed on techniques to be used in life-threatening situations, the legal need to inflict the appropriate minimal damage in other circumstances is recognised and stressed.

The guiding principles for those performing Krav Maga techniques are:

• Neutralize the threat
• Avoid injury
• Go from defending to attacking as quickly as possible
• Use the body's natural reflexes
• Strike at any vulnerable point
• Use any tool or object nearby

• You're not going to care how much damage you're going to cause.
• Cause as much damage as possible and run.
• Do not try to prolong a fight. Do what needs to be done and escape.

Again, this must be read in the context of a life-threatening situation, either to oneself or one's immediate family, for instance. Instructors will constantly stress the need, in less extreme circumstances, to match the response to the danger or risk.

The basic idea is to deal first with the immediate threat (being choked, for example), prevent the attacker from re-attacking, and then neutralize the attacker, proceeding through all steps in a methodical manner, despite the rush of adrenaline that occurs in such an attack. The emphasis is put on taking the initiative from the attacker as soon as possible. Indeed, some circumstances may require pre-emptive action, which may or may not be violent. Options here could range from "get your retaliation in first" to situational awareness (also part of the training) that might avoid a dangerous situation developing.

Techniques

Although Krav Maga shares many techniques with other martial arts, such as wing chun, kali, aikido, boxing, judo, jujutsu, karate, kobudo, muay thai, savate or wrestling, the training is often quite different. It stresses fighting under worst-case conditions or from disadvantaged positions (for example, against several opponents, when protecting someone else, with one arm unusable, when dizzy, against armed opponents). Unlike Karate there are no predefined sequences of moves or choreographed styles; instead Krav Maga emphasizes rapid learning and the retzef ("continuous combat motion"), with the sole imperative being effectiveness,[2] for either attack or defensive situations.

Krav maga instructors emphasize two training rules: (1) there are no rules in a fight and (2) one must not injure oneself or one's partner when training.[2] Training is an intense mixed aerobic and anaerobic workout, relying heavily on the use of pads in order to experience both delivery and defense of strikes at full force. This is important because it allows the student to practice the technique at full strength, and the student holding the pad learns a little of the impact they would feel when they get hit. It can be almost as taxing to hold a pad as to practice against one. Students will also wear head guards, gum shields, groin protectors, shin and forearm guards, etc during practise of attack/defence techniques, so that a realistic level of violence may be used without injury. Some schools incorporate "Strike and Fight," which consists of full-contact sparring intended to familiarize the student with the stresses of a violent situation.

Training may employ a speaker system blasting loud music, stroboscope and/or fog machine, meant to train the student to ignore peripheral distractions and focus on the needs of the situation. Other training methods to increase realism might include exercising the student to near exhaustion before having to defend, training outdoors on a variety of surfaces and restrictive situations, wearing a blindfold before being attacked, etc. The whole emphasis is on simulating real fight/attack situations as realistically as possible within the safety limitations of training.

Training will usually also cover situational awareness, to develop an understanding of one's surroundings and potentially threatening circumstances before an attack is launched. It might also cover "Self Protection": ways to deal with situations which could end in fights, and physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible.

A typical Krav Maga session in a civilian school is about an hour long and mixes conditioning with self-defense teaching. As levels increase, the instructors focus a little more on complicated and less common types of attacks, such as knife attacks, hostage situations and defense under extreme duress. First, the instructor will run a very intense drill to get the class's heart rates up. Then, after stretching, the instructor will teach two or three self-defense techniques. In the beginning the techniques will either be combatives (punches, hammer-fists, elbows, and knees ) or grappling (breaking out of chokes or wrist-grabs, getting out from under an opponent while on one's back). After that, the class usually moves to a drill that combines the techniques just taught with an aerobic technique. Finally, there is the final drill intended to burn out the students. Depending on the class - and on the instructor's mood - this drill may be at the very beginning or at the end of the class.

History

Imi Lichtenfeld

Krav Maga was developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, also known as Imi Sde-Or. (Sde-Or - "Light Field" - is a calque of his surname into Hebrew.) He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the Jewish community from Nazi militias. Upon arriving in the British Mandate of Palestine prior to the establishment of the Jewish state, Imi began teaching hand-to-hand combat to the Haganah, the Jewish underground army. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Imi became the Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time he continued to develop and refine his hand-to-hand combat method. He died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.[3]

Expansion outside Israel

Prior to 1980, all experts in Krav Maga lived in Israel and trained under the Israeli Krav Maga Association. That year marks the beginning of contact between Israeli Krav Maga experts and interested students in the United States. In 1981, a group of six Krav Maga instructors traveled to the US to offer demonstrations of the system, primarily at local Jewish Community Centers. This, in turn, led to demonstrations at the New York Field Office of the FBI and the FBI's Main Training Center at Quantico, Virginia. The result was a visit by 22 people from the US to Israel in the summer of 1981 to attend a basic Krav Maga instructor course. The graduates from this course returned to the US and began to establish training facilities in their local areas. Additional students traveled to Israel in 1984 and again in 1986 to become instructors. At the same time, instructors from Israel continued to visit the US. Law Enforcement training in the US began in 1985.[4] Instructor certification courses are offered every year in Netanya, Israel for qualified individuals [5].

After the death of the founder

After Imi's death, a number of different schools and associations developed around the world. It is generally accepted that there are many Krav Maga umbrella organizations throughout the world.

Current usage

In 1964, Imi Lichtenfeld finished his military service and adapted Krav Maga to civilian frameworks. In Israel, Krav Maga is taught, by Haim Gideon, at the Wingate Institute,[6] one of the world's leading physical fitness centers. It is taught to men, women, and children under the auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Sport and Education.

Krav Maga is the official system of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense employed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Security Forces, the Israeli Police and Military Police and its Special Operations and Anti-Terrorist Units. The IDF including their Special Forces Units, Israeli Police, and Internal Security Branches currently uses this style on a day-to-day basis.

Krav Maga is taught to all ages and abilities, at community centers, schools, and clubs throughout the world. Krav Maga is taught to Sky Marshals and commercial airline crews. It is also taught in Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, Croatia, France, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Poland, Japan, Thailand, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, New Zealand and India.

In the United States, personnel from various Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies and military units around the world have received training in Krav Maga, including the FBI,AFOSI Anti-terrorism Specialty Team, United States Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration Arrest and Control Unit, U.S. Treasury Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, State Department, CIA,several divisions of the United States Coast Guard, and police and sheriff's offices in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, and Maryland. In addition to the Special Operations Forces of Israel (e.g. Sayeret Matkal, YAMAM, etc.), several special units from other countries have adopted this system for their hand-to-hand combat.These units include GIGN, Federal Police Special Units, FBI HRT, and SWAT, among others.

References