Heard of Krav Maga? Not sure what it is, but want to learn? Well, you’re in the right place ! In this article, we will answer the question of “What is Krav Maga?” as well as covering some lesser-known points of interest.
Keep reading to discover if Krav Maga is right for you.
What Is Krav Maga?
Krav Maga is a modern, effective, and mobile fighting & self-defence system. It has been designed to work for people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. The techniques are designed to work using your natural intuition and instincts, and help develop your natural abilities to address confrontational situations in any type of scenario.
Krav Maga is “contact combat” in Hebrew, and was developed in the 1950s. Initially, it was taught to the members of the Israeli Army, and the spread of the craft into civilian population began in the late 1970s. Nowadays, Krav Maga exists in multiple forms: military, law enforcement and civilian.
The heart of Krav Maga can be reduced to a list of the three core principles of ‘Fast’, ‘Simple’ and ‘Effective’ – however the following give a little more understanding of the key concepts behind the system.
- A technique should address the immediate danger.
- Where possible, a technique should counterattack and defend at the same time.
- A technique should evolve through instinctive movements
- A single defence should be capable of protecting against multiple attacks.
- Any movement learned should complement other movements learned further on.
- A technique should be available to everyone, not just an athlete.
- At times, training should involve high stress situations, much like a real scenario.
- A technique should be tested to work from a position of disadvantage.
In any case, these principles are guidelines for the efficacy of the system in general. If these principles are not maintained, then it is possible that the system will be reduced in performance, effectiveness and lack of linked development.
Nonetheless, different practitioners might instill new principles to adhere to, on top of the ones listed for specific situations not previously covered. The beauty of the system is that as these core principles embody flexibility in response, the system can be taught for various environments for various people for various strategies in mind.
Krav Maga Is Not a Martial Art
Many people who don’t understand how it started, believe that is it just another martial art, but this could not be further from the truth. Most institutions will never use the term martial art when referring to Krav Maga.
Martial arts can be dogmatic, traditional, and rigid. And there is a lot of placement on detail and elegance of movement. Krav Maga attempts to avoid these qualities, as they present themselves as limitations to the defensive capacities of the real combat system.
Most martial arts are performed in a controlled manner with restrictions on what you can’t and can do, unlike Krav Maga, where intuitive movement is preferable – and certainly without restrictions.
Krav Maga Is Not Purely Physical
As you become integrated into the practice of Krav Maga, you will quickly come to realize that you will not only learn the physical aspect of combat. But also learn how to pick your battles.
Krav Maga is the practice of assuring your safety and the security of others. So avoiding conflict is often the best way to do so, and usually leads to the avoidance of harm.
So expect to practice your awareness, judgment, and intuition – as much as you would practice your physique, mobility, and dynamic capacities.
De-escalation is the term that is used to describe the process of taking a situation from a potentially physically violent one, to a calm resolution.
One of the benefits of learning how to defend yourself is gaining confidence, and being able to think and react under pressure.
Why Should You Train in Krav Maga?
It is the complete striking, self-defence, and awareness system. There are no showcases or competitions involved in self-defence practice. So one trains to avoid and survive the worse case situations.
If you are being threatened, you are learning how to avoid and de-escalate the situation, and if it is already in motion – you are taught how to use the most practical strikes and movements to prevail in that stressful environment.
No absolutes, no choreography, no leaderboards.
It is trained to help you save lives and live life safely on your own.
So if you want to walk in peace, Krav Maga is for you.
What Does Training Look Like?
When you begin your journey, no experience is necessary for you to learn. In the beginning stages, you will acquire a base level of abilities and understanding to progress forward.
For example, stances, strikes, basic defence against headlocks/chokes, techniques for falling and getting up, etc. Beyond learning how to deal with attacks, you will be taught how to perform under stress, and develop your awareness to prevent situations happening in the first place.
After you get the basics down, you can start to develop your skills in striking combinations, groundwork and weapon defences. You then continue on with learning how to handle multiple attacks at the same time, how to deal with complicated situations, how to defend against various weapons, and discover various advanced weapon/combat techniques from various positions of disadvantage.
Is Krav Maga For You? It’s For Everybody!
Now you have a brief understanding of the answer to the question of “What is Krav Maga?”. You have come to realise that it is a highly adaptable combat system, which is available to everyone and all. It tailors to situational expertise, and predicates upon the experience of awareness and damage prevention.
If you’re looking for a well-rounded system to help you remain confident in the safety of self, and your family – Krav Maga is for you.
There is nothing like Krav Maga as it is a unique and derivative system that has distilled the best techniques of the combat world, presenting them in an easy to learn, easy to remember and effective format for you to learn in.
If you’re interested in learning Krav Maga online, check out our course list.