Krav maga is a brutal hybrid form of martial arts hand-to-hand combat that was founded by Imi Lichtenfeld (1910-1998). It is based on Imi Lichtenfeld’s street fighting, boxing and wrestling skills that he used to defend the Jewish quarter in the city of Bratislava (the modern capital of Slovakia) against fascist groups in the mid- to late-1930s.
After fleeing Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Imi Lichtenfeld arrived in Israel in 1942 and immediately began teaching close-quarters combat to Israel’s first fighting units. After Israel’s independence in 1948, Imi Lichtenfeld became the chief instructor of physical training for the Israel Defense Forces, and his fighting style was named krav maga, which means “contact combat” in Hebrew.
The following principles define krav maga: Strive for maximum versatility, defend and attack simultaneously, never assume that the fight is over, train from positions of disadvantage, target vulnerable areas, let reality dictate your response, use instinctive movements, train to build sound tactics and strive to get yourself as safe as possible as quickly as possible.
Krav maga’s basic philosophy is aggression and threat neutralization, which are tenets that align well with the IDF Special Forces where krav maga is standard training.
– April 30, 2012
In the turbulent world of krav maga, there’s perhaps no name that’s more respected than Eyal Yanilov. Born in 1959, he started training in the Israeli martial arts when he was 14. He began his Israeli martial arts education under Eli Avikzar but then shifted to Imi Lichtenfeld, founder of
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– December 22, 2011
This is the second part of Black Belt’s exclusive interview with Darren Levine, head of the Los Angeles-based Krav Maga Worldwide.
Black Belt: Knowing how seriously krav maga takes gun and knife defense, a stick, especially a lightweight one, must be viewed as a much lower threat.
Darren Levine: Not really. I’ve
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– December 19, 2011
As the popularity of reality-based self-defense continues to grow, we thought Black Belt readers would appreciate a closer look at what’s probably the world’s first RBSD system, krav maga. We spoke with Darren Levine, head of the Los Angeles-based Krav Maga Worldwide. His historical insights and training tips are sure
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– November 23, 2011
Are you into the close-quarters combat training styles of Avi Nardia, Albert Timen, Alain Cohen, Mike Lee Kanarek, Richard Ryan and the like? Are you interested in realistically depicted street-fighting scenarios and step-by-step breakdowns thereof? Then Black Belt has a new group of krav maga and kapap DVDs that might
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– November 8, 2011
Consider this scenario:
In Lubbock, Texas, police officers responded to calls of an elderly woman in her own home posing a threat to those around her. Unable to contact the woman, the officers identified themselves and entered the home. The woman, unwilling to believe the officers were legitimate, armed herself with
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– November 2, 2011
A good defense against any threat must first address the primary danger, and clearly the most immediate danger from a gun is getting shot. Specifically, the danger is being in the path of the bullet once it leaves the muzzle, which means that to avoid the danger, you must get
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– October 24, 2011
Consider these two scenarios:
Scenario No. 1
It’s late at night. You’re walking to your car in a parking structure. Your mind is occupied, and you’re obviously not as aware of your surroundings. Without warning, a man steps out of the shadows. You can’t see his face, but you can see the
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– September 30, 2011
I selected 10 systems that I’ve practiced and found to be self-defense worthy. It’s hard to say just one art does it all. The best advice is to try them all and get in combat shape. Ultimately, it’s not the art that’s important; it’s the individual. It’s not the technique
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– August 31, 2011
Eyal Yanilov is, by far, one of the most respected krav maga practitioners in the world today. He is currently listed as “master level 3/expert level 8″ in krav maga – the highest rank krav maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld ever awarded to any student. Yanilov’s official title today is chief
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– June 29, 2011
Would you know what to do if an attacker grabbed your shirt in a bar, at an ATM or on the street? Krav maga expert Alain Cohen shows you a simple yet fiercely effective krav maga counterattack for exactly this situation in this excerpt from his six-DVD krav maga set,
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