Krav Maga

Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art. Translated from Hebrew it means “contact combat”. It can be a very effective means of women's self defense.

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

Krav Maga students are trained in combative techniques such as hand, foot, elbow and knee strikes, head-butts, gouging and biting. Escapes from chokes, grabs and holds are taught as well as grappling and fall breaks.

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. It 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.

Awareness of one’s surrounding is emphasized and many clubs discuss body language (yours and other peoples). Conflict management should also be covered. Game plans may include: avoidance, escape, verbal conflict management, preemptive strikes and plan ‘B’.

Mental visual scenarios are utilized for plan development. Every day objects are used as improvised weapons. Confidence growth will be an important part of the training, as even confident body language will be beneficial in conflict avoidance and management.

Krav Maga 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 the 1930’s fascist and anti-Semitic factions appeared in central Europe and Ima was involved in many clashes and fights with them, both alone and with his friends. These altercations helped to hone his talent to become an expert practical fighter. He fought along side the Haganah resistance for Jewish independence.

In the mid 1940’s he instructed several elite units hand to hand type combat learned from his experiences. The State of Israel was founded and the Israeli Defense Force was started. Ima was asked to become Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and self defense.

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 Krav Maga and that is how it began to spread to other cultures.

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