Krav Maga

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Krav Maga

Focus	Hybrid
Country of origin	Israel Slovak Republic Hungary
Creator	Imi Lichtenfeld
Parenthood	Kapap, Street fighting
Olympic sport	No

Krav Maga (pronounced /ˌkrɑːv məˈɡɑː/; Hebrew: קרב מגע‎, IPA: [ˈkʁav maˈɡa], lit. "contact combat" or "close combat") is an eclectic hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel.^[1] It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, as a means of defending the Jewish quarter during a period of anti-Semitic activity in Bratislava in the mid- to late 1930s. In the late 1940s, following his immigration to Israel, he began to provide hand-to-hand combat training to what was to become the IDF, developing the techniques that became known as Krav Maga. It has since been refined for both civilian and military applications. Unlike most martial arts, Krav Maga is essentially a tactical defense skill. Its philosophy emphasizes threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggressive endurance in a 'him-or-me' context. Krav Maga is still used by the Israel Defense Forces and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement, Mossad, Shin Bet, FBI and United States special operations forces. There are several organizations teaching variations of Krav Maga internationally.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Etymology

The name in Hebrew means "Hand-to-hand combat." Krav (קרב) meaning "combat" or "battle" and Maga (מגע) meaning "contact" or "touch". (Oxford Hebrew-English dictionary)^[7]

Basic principles

There are no rules for Krav Maga fighting, and no built-in distinctions in training between men and women.^[8] It has no sporting federation, and there are no official uniforms or attire, although some organizations do recognize progress through training with rank badges, different levels, and belts.

Techniques generally focus on training combatants in conditions approximating real-life scenarios. Krav Maga trains combatants for situations where losing would be potentially fatal. Its attack and defense maneuvers aim to neutralize the threat and facilitate rapid and safe escape. These include a variety of fast and fluid crippling attacks to vulnerable body parts through various efficient and often brutal strikes. The improvised use of any available aids is encouraged - maximizing personal safety in a fight is emphasized.

Krav Maga training programs involve rapid learning, with offensive and defensive techniques introduced from the first lesson and retzev (pronounced ret-zef and meaning "sequencing") playing an important part in both training and maneuvers.^[9]

While no limits are placed on techniques to be used in life-threatening situations, during training the legal need to minimize damage is generally stressed (at least in civilian contexts), and instructors are required to demonstrate how to moderate the techniques to suit the seriousness of the circumstances.

Krav Maga basic training emphasizes the following:

• Do not get injured or injure training partners.
• Employ pre-emptive defensive techniques
• Change quickly from defensive into offensive techniques (i.e., respond to an attack with overwhelming force), in the quickest time possible
• Use the most instinctive, quickest reflexes of the body
• Exploit the opponent's vulnerabilities to their extreme
• Employ the aid of any available objects^[8]

Krav Maga trainees learn to deal first with the immediate threat and then prevent further attacks, if necessary by neutralizing the attacker. Training is conducted in a methodical manner taking the practitioners' strengths and weaknesses into account.

Basic training

Krav Maga has taken many techniques from various martial arts; however, unlike the set routines and choreographed moves in some martial arts, Krav Maga teaches realistic fighting and self-defense – attacks in social settings (pubs, clubs, street etc). Typical training often includes exercises simulating fighting against one or several opponents and/or protecting another from the first class on. This can also involve a debilitating scenario – the use of only one arm, while dizzy and against armed opponents.

1. SELF - DEFENSE

Provides a complete range of techniques which provides the combatants with all the means possible in order to protect and defend themselves and overpower their attackers. It consists of defense against all types of aggression - be it punches, hits, kicks, strangulations, holds, armed attacks or threats (e.g. knives, guns, sticks, grenades, etc.). The student of Krav Maga also learns to apply different methods in varying situations, both familiar and unfamiliar, which may hamper the freedom of movement, such as attacks in the dark, in a seated or horizontal position etc...

2. HAND TO HAND COMBAT

Represents a more advanced stage of Krav Maga where one learns to neutralize one’s opponent rapidly and efficiently. This stage includes elements necessary for hand to hand combat situations, from combinations of techniques used against assailants to tactics, from unexpected reactions to decoy attacks. It also includes the psychological dimension of combat.

Krav Maga emerged in an environment where violence, mostly of a political nature, was rife. It has had ample opportunity to be tested and improved under real-life conditions, proving itself to be an ideal means of defending oneself in the face of extreme danger. This unique training method has received international recognition as an innovative and highly practical self-defense system, and more recently has been taught to U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, as well as to different police units in South and Central America and in Europe.

Krav Maga is a modern, practical and proven system of self-defense, carefully devised or the needs of our present day dangerous and unstable world. It is characterized by a clear and logical approach to self-defense and fighting confrontations, which enables one to achieve a relatively high proficiency within a short period of time.

Krav Maga was thoroughly developed to be diversified, and thus is applicable to the military, law-enforcement agencies, and civilian needs as well.

The system has consistently earned the praise of experienced fighters, Martial Arts experts, and military and police officers for its highly practical applications. It also appeals to beginners because of its simple, no-nonsense and realistic approach to personal safety. Krav Maga practitioners consider it to be the ideal self-defense method for men, women, young and elderly people of all ages and physical abilities. ^[10]

Basic training is a mixed aerobic and anaerobic workout, relying heavily on the use of protective pads. In striking this helps the trainee practice maneuvers at full strength, while the holder experiences the impact felt when getting hit.

Various personal guards are available for protection, offering a realistic level of violence without risk of 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 within extreme acoustic, visual, and verbal scenarios prepares students to ignore peripheral distractions and focus on the needs of the situation.^{[citation needed]} Other training methods to increase realism might include blindfolding or exercising trainees to near exhaustion before dealing with a simulated attack as well as training outdoors on a variety of surfaces and restrictive situations.

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

Classes will feature a warm up to raise the heart rates, moving on to stretching. Various techniques are then shown which end in a retzev (fluid defense/attack).

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" - a calque of his surname into Hebrew). He first taught his fighting system in Pozsony (Bratislava) in order to help protect the local Jewish community from the Nazi militia. Upon arriving in the British Mandate of Palestine, Imi began teaching Kapap 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 15 years, during which time he continued to develop and refine his hand-to-hand combat method.^[11] In 1978, Imi founded the non-profit Israeli Krav Maga Association with several senior instructors.^[12] He died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.^[13]

Expansion to the USA

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 demonstrate their system, primarily to local Jewish Community Centers. The New York Field Office of the FBI and the FBI's Main Training Center at Quantico, Virginia saw it and expressed interest. 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 U.S. Law Enforcement training in the U.S. began in 1985.^[14]

Current usage

All Israel Defence Force soldiers, including all Israeli Special Forces units ^[15], learn Krav Maga as part of their basic training, although most non-Special Forces trainees only spend a small amount of time training in Krav Maga, up to a week of training for a few hours per day.^[16] Further, Krav Maga is the defensive tactics system used to train the Israeli Police,^[17] Israeli Intelligence and all Security Divisions.^[18] Krav Maga is also taught to civilians, military, law enforcement and security agencies around the world.

The Swedish Army uses Krav Maga lightly in close combat training for urban warfare. Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Serbia, include Krav Maga in some of their special forces training, such as Serbia's PTJ - a counter-terror unit under the ministry of internal affairs. The Singapore Defense Force also uses Krav Maga as its hand to hand combat training.

Leadership

There are numerous organizations around the world teaching Krav Maga or variants. Since the death of its founder, differences have arisen, with competing claims to heirship. Some organizations and individuals claim to be the sole heir while others contend it is an "open" art which should not be owned by any person or group.

Eyal Yanilov, founder of the International Krav Maga Federation, is the highest ranking authority (Master Level 3) of non-military Krav Maga in the world.^[19]

See also

• List of Krav Maga techniques
• Hand to hand combat
• Marine Corps Martial Arts Program
• Imi Lichtenfeld
• Jujutsu
• Kapap
• Special forces
• Israel Defence Forces

References