Krav Maga was created by Imi Lichtenfeld in the early 1960's. The name itself is Hebrew for Close Combat and was originally designed for use by the Israeli defense forces, it is taught throughout the world as a defensive art to both civilians and many different security forces. The art continues to evolve based on the experiences of practitioners around the world.
Imi was born in Budapest in 1910. The son of a police detective, he learned much about boxing and wrestling, winning a number of titles in the area as a young man. As anti-Semitic groups came into being, Imi and his friends worked to protect the Jewish community. His involvements in various brawls helped him to learn the difference between his sporting events and street fighting.
He was a passenger on the last ship to leave Hungary in 1940, and immigrated to England. He worked with a Czech unit of the British armed forces and served tours of duty throughout the Middle East. On discharge he went to the new state of Israel. His self-defense skills were recognized and he began teaching to various police and military units.
Like so many of the Asian martial arts, the banning of weapons, particularly fire arms, had a definite effect on the style. Over the years he refined the techniques. After his retirement in 1968, Ima began teaching the style to civilians. He passed away on January 8th, 1998. Though there were many differences in the style as it evolved it has never lost the focus of being simple, effective and realistic.
The style is predominately designed for self defense. The focus is on ensuring that the individual has the abilities to take advantage of any openings that are apparent. It also pushes the trainees physically to get them to, and keep them at, a high level of readiness for any situation.
The main principles of Krav Maga are: Avoid injury Take advantage of natural reflexes Act as quickly as possible Know and use the human body's vulnerabilities Use of the body and all objects near at hand as weapons There are no rules.
Training centers on the main areas of concern to any martial artist, defenses against punches and kicks, multiple attackers, escaping from grabs and chokes as well as being able to punch and kick effectively. Sparring in real time provides experience and establishes some confidence in the individual.
The military and police forces take things a step further with the use of weapons, how to control individuals without permanent damage and dealing with other explosive situations such as terrorism and hostage situations.
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