What is Krav Maga?

[trueaspirer]

I've heard a lot of people talking about it, but I've never actually found out what it is. What are its highlights? What distinguishes it from other arts? Anyone?

 

[trav101]

Krav Maga is the fighting techniques employed by the Israeli military and police forces. It is considered more 'modern self-defense' than 'traditional martial art'. There is a thread here under the Western Martial arts that has more discussion on it. I would link to it if I could figure out how to... :ultracool

 

[trav101]

I've also just begun my study of Krav Maga a few weeks ago, so I don't know much about it yet. What distinguishes from traditional or other martial arts? Don't really know at this point, as I'm so new and only have a tiny background in kung fu and karate. My first two weeks have been a lot of heavy bag work (kicks/punches/hammerfist/elbow) and escaping a variety of choke holds.

From what I understand, Krav Maga prides itself in realistic training sessions. I've heard that they will go into the parking lot during class, and pretend one of the students is putting groceries into a car. Then, they'll have another student 'attack' the disadvantaged person, and show how to deal with that situation, etc. So far, I've also heard the instructors talk a lot about fight psychology and criminal psychology and why/how fights get to the physical level.

Hope I helped at least a little bit. I'd be more than willing to share more stories and what my training is like if you or anyone else might want to know what goes on in a Krav training session.
Be well,
Travis

 

[JamesDraegun]

I've heard a lot of people talking about it, but I've never actually found out what it is. What are its highlights? What distinguishes it from other arts? Anyone?

Actually, someone else had PM'd me a similar question, so I'm going to use a similar response:

Krav Maga (which translates from Hebrew to mean "close combat") is an Israel'ian martial art created by Imi Litchfield. The history and background information about Krav Maga can be found here: www.kravmaga.com ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga. These are pretty accurate, but here is some info that important to know about 'Krav' (as many Americans call it):

Krav has its roots in some arts like kickboxing, ju-jutsu, and a couple of others, but it is its own martial art. It takes the best of them, and mixes its guiding principles into them completly.. those (guiding principles) being:
· avoid injury.
· go from defending to attacking as quickly as possible.
· use the body's natural reflexes.
· strike at any vulnerable point.
· use any tool or object nearby.

A couple of other principles:
'Awareness is key, keep your wits about you'- this talks about street smarts, gut-instincts, and the ability to keep cool under pressure; 'Remember, if that person is willing to bring a fight to you, bring hell to them'- learn that, if someone is going to hit you, hit them twice as hard, and keep the aggression going until they are no longer a threat (take this with a grain a salt, b/c some see that as being too overzealous in a fight, but its meant to put more power in the defender, and put more fear into the attacker). [Also, learn that 'dirty' fighting, like eye jabs or groin kicks, are not below Krav (pun unintended).]

Krav Maga is known as a 'reality-based' Martial Art (while the other types would be 'traditional-based', or 'competition-based'), and puts alot of emphasis into making the training as close to the feel of an attack on the street as much as possible. In training, we usually have some loud (though not increadibly loud) music (usually rock) on, and during these excersizes, put stress on the defender, to get the feel of what would happen in an attack in the streets. As soon as we've warmed up, we go into the situational techniques. This is where we learn how to defend from a certain situation, and can be from anything like choke from the behind, someone doing a bear hug w/ your arms being pinned, having the use of only one arm, multiple attackers, and so on. We learn how to get rid of the immediate threat, then learn how to go from there. (Though my instructor says "learn the technique and movements, but learn how to go along with a mess up, as there is no do-overs in real life") Also, we learn weapon disarms (I've worked on handguns and small knives, though weapon disarms also include stuff like bats, staffs, and many others), which, from my point of view, and from the talk of what some of the other martial artists who I have trained with, have said that Krav's disarms are extremely efficient and fast (though that's not saying that other MA's aren't).

After the disarms and situational techniques, we go into strikes (practice the elbows, the different fists, and then kicks and knees), the clinch (stand-up holding where usually both hands of both guys are wrapped around each other's head, and the knees are used efficiently in the clinch), and practicing using ferocity with the strikes and clinches. We also learn to grapple-though not extensively-knowing that some fights (though not the 90% that some stats say, I'd say less that 25%, though that might be off too) might end up on the ground, or that you might fight someone who does wrestle (but that might be clean high school wrestling, we also learn dirty wrestling). Then, after all of that, we sometimes spar. As of right now, we've only spar with the upper body, and not at full speed, we might be going harder and more equipped in a few months.

I realize that this might have been more of a response than what you were expecting, but I'm a big typer, and I always love talking about Krav, and telling some info to those that don't know. Here's hoping I answered your question!
:asian:Shalom (hebrew for "goodbye")

 

[trueaspirer]

Thanks guys, both of you -
and, JamesDraegun - Atah midahber ivrit?

 

[JamesDraegun]

Thanks guys, both of you -

No problem, trueaspirer, If you have anymore questions, just ask. I may not always know the answer, but I'll always give you what I know if you ask it.

and, JamesDraegun - Atah midahber ivrit?

Oh of course I know what that means.... :uhyeah:
Honestly, the only Hebrew I know is 'shalom', and that's from my teacher (even though he's non-Israelian, he learned some training for his Krav certificate in Isreal)

 

[spinkick]

I dont want to mudsling, but this is a legitimate question, what is it with people freaking about "military martial arts"? seriously people in the military Do not fight hand to hand the majority of the time, they are trained to use guns ... Granted some are bad *** in hand to hand combat, but maybe you guys can enlighten about krav maga

 

[arnisador]

I dont want to mudsling, but this is a legitimate question, what is it with people freaking about "military martial arts"? seriously people in the military Do not fight hand to hand the majority of the time, they are trained to use guns ... Granted some are bad *** in hand to hand combat, but maybe you guys can enlighten about krav maga

The USMC thinks H2H skills are still pretty important; see for example here:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13106
http://www.washtimes.com/specialreport/20051218-013829-7607r.htm

 

[JamesDraegun]

I dont want to mudsling, but this is a legitimate question, what is it with people freaking about "military martial arts"? seriously people in the military Do not fight hand to hand the majority of the time, they are trained to use guns ... Granted some are bad *** in hand to hand combat, but maybe you guys can enlighten about krav maga

I understand the question (I know you mean no harm or foul), and let me give you two answers:

1) Yes, you are right, most of the time, fighting is not hand to hand (that's why they train with guns). [Other] people think that just because a martial is 'the martial art that country A's military trains in' it makes that art uber-powerful and some McDojos will use lines like that to make a martial art seem great. The thing is, martial arts are taught to the military for mental reasons: Being able to be aggressive against the enemy, to be comfortable in close-quarters combat, and other things too (though I have to say, in the case for Krav (and other modern martial arts), it gives you the added bonus of having some tricks up your sleeve just in case the fight gets too up-close-and-personal).
2) I chose Krav not b/c it was Isreal's military's MA (though those Isrealian's military are some bad-*** guys, they have to be to survive, I guess:uhyeah: ), but b/c of its underlying and up-front principles that fit very well with I believe with, (like 'use anything you can to survive' and 'self-defense moves should be simple, easy-to-use, and effective even in high-stress scenarios'), those ideas that I wanted to train in a very reality-based street-wise martial art.

I hope that this answers some questions for you spinkick.

 

[Loki]

Thanks guys, both of you -
and, JamesDraegun - Atah midahber ivrit?

trueaspirer, you Israeli/American Jew?