Krav Maga which is the Hebrew word for contact (close -) fight, is originated in one of the most beautiful and historically most interesting countries of our earth. On the other hand this land comes into the headlines because of assassination attempts, bomb attacks and never-ending political and religious conflicts. For the friends of martial arts Israel was so far probably rather a white mark on the map, but whom may it surprise that just one of the most efficient self-defense systems of the present time was developed there. Krav Maga the official close combat and self-defense system of the Israeli army, the police and security forces was developed in an environment where the Israeli military could not devote many hours of hand to hand combat training for their personnel. Therefore the Krav Maga system was developed to bring students to a high level of skill, in a relatively short period of time. It is also taught in the institutions of the Israeli Education Ministry. Krav Maga was originated by Imi Lichtenfeld who developed it during his remarkable career, first as chief instructor of the hand to hand combat with the I.D.F. then within various civilian frameworks.

Everything is permitted

The idea, behind the Krav Maga can be summarized with a few words: "everything is permitted, when you are fighting for your own or others lives!"

Becide physical training the instruction contains the development of a mental dicipline and the ability to master violent situations under stress. The student learns to use the trained techniques in dangerous situations reflex-like and to keep an appropriate mental attitude. Great importance is attached to the training of this mental attitude and discipline as a prerequisite of the control of a situation. Based on the analysis of innumerable incidents that can occur in reality the reaction on violent situations will be practised in the training. Handling armed and unarmed opponents belonges to this as well as e.g. the practice of the learned techniques at confined or dark places under utilization of all local conditions. These training methods are used in most Israeli elite units and proved their effectiveness often in the reality.

The Krav Maga system covers two main parts, self-defense and close combat. Self-defense as the basis of the system contains learning of different techniques, which enable a defense against a multiplicity of violent attacks, like fist attacks, kicks, strangleholds, armed attacks with a knife, baseball bats or pistols.

Close combat is the more fastidious phase of Krav Maga, that teaches the advanced student how to disable the attacker fast and effective. It covers the elements of the actual controlling of the fight like tactics, the combination of different techniques, feints and physiological aspects of a fight.

Krav Maga is a modern highly developed self-defense and combat system against attacks on the street or sexual annoyances. The techniques taught in Krav Maga contain similarities with those of Ju Jitsu and Karate but without spectacular and demonstrative features. Thus there are no Katas or even sport competition because there exist no restrictive rules for fighting.