Krav Maga – Israeli Martial Arts

Krav Maga is an eclectic martial arts style from Israel focused on winning in “real life” combat situations. It uses strikeskicksgrappling and many other self-defense techniques. Krav Maga was developed to finish a fight as quickly as possible and therefore all attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body (i.e. groin). This martial art is utilized by the Israeli Defense Forces. A number of the elite Israeli military units also use the martial arts system known as KAPAP.

Main Elements of Krav Maga

  • Krav Maga Techniques – This section provides detailed instructions and videos for many Krav Maga techniques (i.e. kicks, strikes, self-defenses, escapes, ground fighting, etc.).
  • Krav Maga Weapon Defenses – This section looks at various Krav Maga self-defense techniques used against an attacker armed with a gun, knive, club, etc.
  • Krav Maga Belt Levels – This sections looks at the belt colors and requirements for various Krav Maga belt levels.

History of Krav Maga

Krav Maga is an Israeli martial arts and was founded by Imrich Lichtenfeld.

According to the International Krav Maga Federation, “Imrich (“Imi”) Sde-Or (Lichtenfeld) was born on May 26, 1910, to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, with a father who provided him quite an unusual childhood. Samuel Lichtenfeld, his father, was a chief inspector on the Bratislava police force and a former circus acrobat.

With his father’s encouragement, Imi engaged in a wide range of sports, such as swimming, boxing, wrestling and gymnastics. He trained at a Gymnasium owned by his father, who taught self-defense. Imi excelled in wrestling both as contestant an as trainer, Also winning several awards in these fields.

In the mid thirties, Fascist and anti-Semitic groups appeared in Bratislava, threatening to harm the city’s Jewish community there. Imi led a group of former boxers and wrestlers to defend his Jewish neighborhood against the fascist gangs. This group attempted to block the anti-Semitic gangs from entering the Jewish quarter. Encountering as many “street fights” as he did, Imi quickly realized that sport had little in common with real combat and began developing a system of techniques for practical self-defense in life threatening situations.

In 1940 Imi fled the Nazi occupation of his homeland, and boarded the last immigrant ship that succeeded in escaping the Nazis’ clutches. He boarded the vessel “Pencho”, which shipwrecked on the Greek Dodecanese Islands, and arrived to Palestine in 1942.

At his arrival, Israel’s early leaders recognized Imi’s fighting abilities and in 1944 he began training fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness, swimming, wrestling, use of the knife, and defenses against knife attacks. During this period, Imi trained several elite units of the Hagana and Palmach (striking force of the Hagana and forerunner of the special units of the IDF), including the Pal-Yam, as well as groups of police officers. After the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the formation of the IDF he became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF School of Combat Fitness. Imi served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time he developed and refined his unique method for self-defense and hand-to-hand combat.”

Krav Maga Organizations

Before he died, Imi Lichtenfeld delegated his closest students to expand his art and start teaching Krav Maga in different countries. This led to the creation of multiple Krav Maga federations. The following are some of the largest and/or best known Krav Maga organizations:

  • Krav Maga Worldwide (formerly Krav Maga Association of America), founded by Darren Levine in 1983
  • Israeli Krav Magen Association (K.A.M.I) founded by Eli Avikzar in 1989
  • European Federation of Krav Maga (FEKM), founded by Richard Douieb in 1997
  • International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF), founded in 1996
  • South America Federation of Krav Maga, founded by Kobi Lichtenstein
  • Krav Maga Global (KMG), founded by Eyal Yanilov in 2010

Variety of Krav Maga Self-Defense Techniques

Krav Maga – Knife Training (with Marine Corps)

Krav Maga Training

Image provided by Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. Krav Maga organizational information provided by Guillaume Chan, Krav Maga Guild, http://kravmagaguild.com
  2. International Krav Maga Federation, About Us, http://www.kravmaga.co.il/showitem.asp?itemid=About%20us