Can Krav Maga Be An Effective Form Of Self Defense?

Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art. Translated from Hebrew it means “contact combat”. This is purely a self defense method. It is not a sport; there are no competitions or tournaments. All techniques are no holds barred for real life situations. It is methodical training system to first deal with the immediate threat, prevent further attacks and neutralize the offender.

The guiding principles are:

Do not get hurt

Utilize natural reflexes of the body

Exploit all vulnerable points of the body

Use any available objects as weapons

Quickly neutralize the attack

Rapidly transition from defensive to offensive

Training stresses fighting under worst-case conditions such as: when protecting someone else, against several attackers, an armed attacker, with only one usable arm even blind folded. Krav Maga emphasizes continuous combat motion. Full protective gear and padding is worn during training so that the students can learn not only how to use their full strength, but to understand how the full impact feels. Sometimes distractions are provided during class so that the students learn to ignore all other diversions and focus on the sparring lesson.

This martial art was founded by Ima Lichtenfild. Born in 1910 in Budapest, Hungary, he grew up in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He won national championships in boxing and wrestling and was also greatly influenced by his father who was a self defense instructor, besides being a chief detective inspector.

In 1981 six Israeli experts traveled to the United States and gave demonstrations to Jewish Community Centers. Afterward twenty-two Americans traveled to Israel to become students of the martial art and that is how it began to spread to other cultures.

For more information on Krav Maga please visit: Self Defense for Women: Krav Maga