History of Krav Maga
Krav Maga (pronounced Krahv Muh-gah) is a non-competitive, eclectic self-defence system developed in Europe that involves striking techniques, wrestling and grappling. Relative to other systems, Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations, efficient and versatile counter-attacks, and ease of learning. 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 against fascist groups in Bratislava in the mid- to late-1930s. In the late-1940s, following his immigration to Israel, he began to provide lessons on combat training to what was to become the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), who went on to develop the system that became known as Krav Maga (the name derived from two Hebrew words: Krav, meaning Combat; and Maga, meaning Contact). It has since been refined for three applications: civilian, police and military. The military version is taught to regular and special forces in Israel, FBI and CIA in the United States, Air Force units in Macedonia, and also to many other military, police and special forces around the world.
Founder of Krav Maga – Imi Lichtenfeld
Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive manoeuvres, and aggression. Krav Maga is used by IDF Special Forces units, as well as in other military units, Special Forces, police and special services, law enforcement and is one of the fastest growing forms of self defence in the world.
A key principle of Krav Maga is finishing a fight as quickly as possible. Because there are no sporting rules, individuals that are trained in Krav Maga are not limited to techniques that avoid severely injuring their opponents. However training and sparring drills provide maximum safety to the students by the use of protective equipment and the use of reasonable force.
Men and women undertake the same training drills and due to its reality-based training focus, there are no “patterns”, “forms” or “kata” in Krav Maga, as there are in traditional martial arts. It has no sporting federation and there are no official uniforms such as a gi. Usual training attire consists of a t-shirt and loose fitting trousers. Krav Maga is also one of the few martial arts in which footwear is habitually worn due to it being ‘reality based training’.