A Bit of History
Krav Maga, popularly translated "contact combat" or even "close combat", is a term that has unquestionably acquired spectacular renown in the past decade or so. As always happens with these things, many have come out of the woodwork claiming to have in some way invented or participated in it's inception, but the paternity of the style cannot be argued. Imi Lichtenfeld developed its bases. Krav Maga has evolved over the years into a more and more capable system of self defense.
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Imi Lichtenfeld (Sde-Or) the creator of Krav Maga.
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.
The generic name in Hebrew means "close combat." The word maga (מגע) means "contact" and the word krav (קרב) means "combat," but the literal translation "contact combat" could be confused with "full contact" martial arts, such as "full contact karate". These are NOT at all the same and so a differential must be noted here. In full contact karate there are still rules. In a confrontation on the street, your life, or the life of a loved one may be at stake. For this reason, Krav Maga takes a no quarter mindset.
In Krav Maga, there are no hard-and-fast rules, and there is no distinction between training for men and women . It is not a sport, and there are no specific uniforms, or sparring competitions (sport kumite), although some organizations recognise progression through training with rank badges, belts or affiliatoin to a specific group by the wearing of logo bearing attire. 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 recognized and stressed.
The guiding principles for those performing Krav Maga techniques are:
Neutralize the threat
Avoid injury
- Use the body's natural reflexes, postures and instinctive reactions
Strike at any vulnerable point
Use any tool or object nearby as an improvised weapon
Go from defending to attacking as quickly as possible - Preferably/Usually Simultaneously
According to a description written for the self-publication media site Associated Content, the basic premises of Krav Maga are:
- You're not going to think about how much damage has to be caused, your training will help determine this instinctively.
- Cause as much damage as needed and escape.
- Adapt the damage to the situation, injuring to degree is paramount.
- Do not try to prolong a fight by punishing the aggressor, even if deserved. 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 (see also Fight or Flight Response) 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.
Although Krav Maga shares many techniques with traditional martial arts, such as wing chun (a.k.a. Wing Tsun), kali, aikido, boxing, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Japanese jujutsu, karate, muay thai, savate or wrestling, the training is often quite different. It stresses fighting under worst-case conditions or from disadvantaged scenarios (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 retzev ("continuous combat motion") through Adrenal Stress Response Training. By using a scientifically researched series of exercises and drills, the participant's body and mind learn to fight while under adrenal stress. This does a more than adequate job of simulating the physical and mental conditions a person will experience in a real force on force encounter.
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 (Partner Preservation). Training is an intense mixed aerobic and anaerobic workout, relying heavily on the use of pads in order to experience both delivery and absorbtion 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/defense 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. Keep in mind that sparring is a bit like doing the splits. The splits will measure your flexibility, but will not necessarily increase your flexibility. In the same way, sparring is a great tool to measure your progress, however, it does not necessarily improve your ability to fight. Here is why: In a fight, there will be intense moments of incredible physical and mental stress, followed by either one person or the other being injured or taken out of the fight. Sparring goes on too long and allows the body to go through peaks and valleys where stress is reduced and the participants allow one another to recover. This simply is not realistic training to prepare for a "real fight"!
As an example, 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.
Krav-Maga includes the subjects and techniques of:
- Prevention, avoidance, escape and evasion.
- Dealing with throws and falls in all directions and angles.
- Attacks and counterattacks, performed against all targets, distances, ranges, heights, angles, directions and in all rhythms. Executed from all positions and postures.
- Use of all sorts of common objects (improvised weapons) for defensive purposes.
- Defending against all unarmed attacks: punches, strikes and kicks. Releases from all sorts of grabs and holds. Defending all armed attacks and threats of knife and sharp objects; of sticks, bars and other blunt objects; of all kinds of firearms.
- Dealing with the above attacks when sent from all possible directions and places; When they are performed by a single or multiple attackers; When they occur in all possible places, from all positions and postures. Including in confined or open areas; in an ally, staircase, car; On all types of surfaces; In water; When in limited space or movement; While standing, on the move, sitting down, laying down on the back, side or facing down.
- Personal physical and mental control.
- Krav Maga prepares the trainee to function in all circumstances and scenarios, in all combat and fighting environments, according to their needs, the risks they are facing and job descriptions. Krav Maga enables and brings technical, tactical, physical/mental growth and improvements.
Krav-Maga contains special approaches, tactics, techniques, subjects, drills and training methods for many different sectors of society: Civilians of all ages, men and women, young and old; Law-enforcement officers; Military personnel and units; Correction/Detention service officers and wardens; Security officers; As well as: Close protection officers; Undercover agents; Antiterrorists groups; Air-marshals; Special Forces/Commando units.
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: third party defense, 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.
Krav Maga was essentially developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, also known as Imi Sde-Or. (Sde-Or meaning "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.
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. Instructor certification courses are offered every year in Netanya, Israel for qualified individuals.
After Imi's death
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.
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