Krav Maga /krɑːv məˈɡɑː/ is a martial art and self-defense system developed for
the military in Israel that consists of a wide combination of techniques sourced from
boxing, savate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Judo, Jujutsu, wrestling, and grappling, along with
realistic fight training.
Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient and brutal
counter-attacks.
It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Hungarian-Israeli martial artist
Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler as a means of defending
the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava in the mid-to-late 1930s.
In the late 1940s, following his immigration to Palestine, he began to provide lessons
on combat training to what was to become the IDF, who went on to develop the system that
became known as Krav Maga.
It has since been refined for civilian, police and military applications.
Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and
offensive maneuvers, and aggression.
Krav Maga is used by Israeli Defense Forces, both regular and special forces, and several
closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement and intelligence
organizations, Mossad and Shin Bet.
There are several organizations teaching variations of Krav Maga internationally.
Etymology The name in Hebrew can be translated as "contact
combat".
The root word krav means "battle" or "combat" and maga means "contact".
Basic principles Krav Maga encourages students to avoid confrontation.
If this is impossible or unsafe, it promotes finishing a fight as quickly as possible.
Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to
techniques that avoid severe injury; some even permanently injure or cause death to
the opponent.
Drills provide maximum safety to students by the use of protective equipment and the
use of reasonable force.
Students learn to defend against all variety of attacks and are taught to counter in the
quickest and most efficient way.
Ideas in Krav Maga include: Counter attacking as soon as possible.
Targeting attacks to the body's most vulnerable points, such as: the eyes, neck or throat,
face, solar plexus, groin, ribs, knee, foot, fingers, etc.
Maximum effectiveness and efficiency in order to neutralize the opponent as quickly as possible.
Maintaining awareness of surroundings while dealing with the threat in order to look for
escape routes, further attackers, objects that could be used to defend or help attack,
and so on.
Training can also cover situational awareness to develop an understanding of one's surroundings,
learning to understand the psychology of a street confrontation, and identifying potential
threats before an attack occurs.
It may also cover ways to deal with physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever
possible.
History Imrich Lichtenfeld was born in 1910 in Budapest,
Hungary and grew up in Bratislava.
Lichtenfeld became active in a wide range of sports, including gymnastics, wrestling,
and boxing.
In 1928, Lichtenfeld won the Slovakian Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929 the adult
championship.
That same year, he also won the national boxing championship and an international gymnastics
championship.
During the ensuing decade, Imi's athletic activities focused mainly on wrestling, both
as a contestant and a trainer.
In the mid-1930s, anti-Semitic riots began to threaten the Jews of Bratislava.
Lichtenfeld became the leader of a group of Jewish boxers and wrestlers who took to the
streets to defend Jewish neighborhoods against the growing numbers of national socialist
party and anti-Semitic thugs.
Lichtenfeld quickly discovered, however, that actual fighting was very different from competition
fighting, and although boxing and wrestling were good sports, they were not always practical
for the aggressive and brutal nature of street combat.
It was then that he started to re-evaluate his ideas about fighting and started developing
the skills and techniques that would eventually become Krav Maga.
Having become a thorn in the side of the equally anti-Semitic local authorities, Lichtenfeld
left his home, family and friends in 1940 on the last refugee ship to escape Europe.
After making his way to the Middle East, Lichtenfeld joined Israel’s pre-state Haganah paramilitary
organization to protect Jewish refugees from local inhabitants.
In 1944 Lichtenfeld began training fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness,
swimming, wrestling, use of the knife, and defence against knife attacks.
During this period, Lichtenfeld trained several elite units of the Haganah and Palmach, including
the Pal-Yam, as well as groups of police officers.
In 1948, when the State of Israel was founded and the IDF was formed, Lichtenfeld became
Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF School of Combat Fitness.
He 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.
Self-defense was not a new concept, since nearly all martial arts had developed some
form of defensive techniques in their quest for tournament or sport dominance.
However, self-defense was based strictly upon the scientific and dynamic principles of the
human body.
Before retiring from the military, Lichtenfeld elected Eli Avikzar his military successor.
With Lichtenfeld's blessing, Avikzar went on to strengthen Krav Maga with the addition
of new techniques which maintained Krav Maga's central principles of maximum effectiveness
and efficiency.
Boaz Aviram succeeded Avikzar as Chief Instructor, and was followed only by a handful of others.
An intimate account of an IDF Krav Maga "Fights" training session may be found below in the
Cohen article under Further Reading.
Upon Imrich Lichtenfeld's retirement he decided to open a Dojo Martial Art school and teach
a civilian form of the military form of Krav Maga intending to keep most of the secrets
of the system in the military, but yet teach a civilian version suitable for youth.
The first Krav Maga course took place at the Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel, in 1971,
under the direct supervision of Imi Lichtenfeld.
Some of the first students to receive a black belt in Lichtenfeld's civilian Krav Maga Association
of 1st Dan, were: Eli Avikzar, Eyal Yanilov, Raphy Elgrissy, Meni Ganis, Haim Zut, Shmuel
Kurzviel, Haim Hakani, Shlomo Avisira, Vicktor Bracha, Yaron Lichtenstein, Avner Hazan, Haim
Gidon and Miki Asulin.
In 1978, Lichtenfeld founded the non-profit Israeli Krav Maga Association with several
senior instructors.
Lichtenfeld died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.
When Krav Maga started to spread beyond the borders of Israel, there arose a need to found
an international civilian organization.
A few of Lichtenfeld's first and second generation students, among these being Arviat Zagal,
Asaf Halevi and Dan Levy, eventually formed a new, civilian, international Krav Maga federation.
Grading system Most of the Krav Maga organizations in Israel,
such as the IKMA, KMF and Bukan, as well as international KMW, use Imi Lichtenfeld's colored
belt grading system which is based upon the Judo ranking system.
It starts with White belt, and then Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Brown and Black belts.
Black belt students can move up the ranks from 1st to 9th Dan.
The time and requirements for advancing have some differences between the organizations.
In Europe the Fédération Européenne de Krav Maga and Krav Maga Academy Slovenia also
uses the colored belt grading system which is based upon the Judo ranking system.
Other organizations who teach Krav Maga in and outside of Israel like the International
Krav Maga Federation, Krav Maga Global and International Krav Maga use the same grading
system based on a series of patches.
The patch system was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld after the belt system in the late 1980s.
The grades are divided into 3 main categories; Practitioner, Graduate and Expert.
Each of the categories, which are often abbreviated to their initials, has 5 ranks.
Grades P1 through to P5 are the student levels and make up the majority of the Krav Maga
community.
After P5 are G1-G5, and in order to achieve Graduate level the student has to demonstrate
a proficiency in all of the P level techniques before advancing.
The majority of instructors hold a G level grade and are civilian instructors.
However, passing the instructor's training course is a requirement, and holding a Graduate
rank does not necessarily make one an instructor.
The Graduate syllabus also builds on the Practitioner syllabus by focusing more on developing fighting
skills.
The Expert grades cover more advanced military and 3rd party protection techniques as well
as advanced sparring and fighting skills.
People who hold these ranks tend to teach in other sectors such as military and law
enforcement in addition to civilian.
In order to progress to Expert level, one has to demonstrate proficiency in all of the
Practitioner and Graduate syllabi and have excellent fighting skills.
Beyond Expert 5 there is the rank of Master.
However, this rank is held by only a small number of individuals and reserved only for
those who have dedicated a lifetime to Krav Maga and made valuable contributions in teaching
and promoting the style.
Krav Maga organizations in the United States, South America and Europe such as Krav Maga
Worldwide, Krav Maga Alliance, National Krav Maga Association, United States Krav Maga
Association, Krav Maga Street Defence, South American Federation of Krav Maga, European
Federation of Krav Maga, Hagana System and Krav Maga Academy Slovenia also use a belt
ranking system like that of the IKMA, KMF and Bukan.
Although there are some subtle differences, the various organisations teach the same core
techniques and principles.
Competition The Israeli Defense Force held its first ever
Krav Maga tournament in May 2013.
In both 2013 and 2014 the elite SF unit Maglan won first place.
Further reading Imi Sde-Or and Eyal Yanilov How To Defend
Yourself Against Armed Assault, Dekel Publishing house, 2001.
This book is the first one published out of the only three books that were written by
the founder and his closest assistant.
It has been translated into 10 languages, including: Japanese, Spanish, Czech, Hungarian,
German, Dutch, French, Polish and more…
Aviram, Boaz.
Krav Maga - Use of The Human Body as a Weapon; Philosophy and Application of Hand to Hand
Fighting Training System.
US: Lulu Enterprises, 2009.
ISBN 978-0-557-24846-9, ISBN 0-557-24846-9.
Ben Asher, David.
Fighting Fit.
The Israeli Defense Forces Guide to Physical Fitness and Self Defense.
New York: Perigee Books, 1983.
ISBN 0-399-50624-1.
Cohen, Einat Bar-On..
"Once We Put Our Helmets On, There are No More Friends: The "Fights" Session in the
Israeli Army Course for Close-Combat Instructors."
Armed Forces & Society 37, No. 3: 512-533.
Kahn, David.
Krav Maga: an essential guide to the renowned method for fitness and self-defence.
London: Piatkus, 2005.
ISBN 0-01-303950-4.
Levine, Darren.
Complete krav maga: the ultimate guide to over 200 self-defense and combative techniques.
Berkeley, Calif.: Ulysses, 2007.
ISBN 1-56975-573-6.
Philippe, Christophe.
The essential Krav Maga: self-defense techniques for everyone.
Berkeley, Calif.: Blue Snake, 2006.
ISBN 1-58394-168-1.
Master Ofir.
HAGANA SYSTEM: Self Protection Academy Founded by Ofir.
Paris: Editions Amphora 2012.
Lo Presti, Gaetano.
Krav Maga" YouCanPrint, 2013.
ISBN 8891103357 - 9788891103352 Stevo, Allan
References
Moni Aizik, Commando Krav Maga, Commando Krav Maga México 2011.
External links International Krav Maga Federation
Commando Krav Maga International Commando Krav Maga Mexico
Krav Maga Federation Israeli Martial Arts Gurus Duke It Out For
Real Israeli Krav Magen Association