Krav Maga

The Israel Defence Forces developed Krav Maga and specifically used it in military wars for self-defence. The art later gained popularity among civilians who also learned the skill for self-defence. Krav Maga was originally founded by Imi Lichtenfeld. In the early 30s, this championship boxer and wrestler fought in Czechoslovakia against fascist forces. He used his street fighting skills and combined them with combat sports techniques to defeat his opponents. This saw him come up with an effective combat system (Krav Maga) for self-defence that was adapted and used by the Israeli military. He began teaching the Israeli defence force (IDF) this form of martial arts in the 1940s.

Besides being skilled in wrestling and boxing, Imi incorporated Karate and Judo skills into Krav Maga. He trained together with Eli Avikzar after winning his first black belt and they incorporated the techniques into Aikido as well. After his retirement in the 70s, Lichtenfeld came up with a version of Krav Maga suitable for civilians. Its popularity and power made civilians to improve their skills in self-defence.

The basic principles of Krav Maga include targeting the body’s weakest spots, launching rapid counter attacks, using basic repeatable strikes, combining self-defence techniques, and combining offensive attacks.