Krav Maga, Self Defense On The Street

Alright let’s start to get to know some new self-defense, perhaps some of you might have heard about it already. Have you heard of Krav Maga? Self-defence itself is not a new concept at all and Krav Maga came from a need for self defence on the streets. It’s called "contact combat" Krav Maga is a self-defense system that consists of a wide combination of techniques sourced from aikido, judo, boxing and wrestling, along with realistic fight training.

Krav Maga, Self-Defense On The Street 

Krav Maga was derived from street-fighting skills that focus on real-world situations, extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks. Krav Maga started with the birth of a man named Imre Lichtenfeld (also known as Imi Sde-Or) when he was born in 1910 in Budapest, Hungary. He was very good at his sports like wrestling, gymnastics and boxing. In 1928, he won the Slovakian Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929 he won the adult championship in both the light and middleweight divisions.

Although boxing and wrestling were good as sports, they were not always well suited to the sometimes brutal and aggressive style of street fighting that they were going through. Lichtenfeld began to re-evaluate his idea of fighting and started to adapt the skills and techniques that he had to suit the style of fighting that they were doing. This evolved into the fighting that we know today as Krav Maga, and from Krav Maga in Melbourne to Krav Maga in New York, the principles remain the same. 

In 1944, Lichtenfeld started to train fighters in the best way he knew how - with training in physical fitness, swimming, knife use and defence, and wrestling. There was no regulation or grading in Krav Maga until they incorporated Judo training into the sport which gave them grading and the ability to rank students. 

In 1968, a principal student of Imi Lichtenfeld’s (and his first black belt), Eli Avikzar, learned aikido and left for France in 1971 where he received a brown belt. When he returned, he worked as an instructor alongside Imi, and they improved Krav Maga by incorporating more counter defences.

The role that Krav Maga played in the arm increased a great deal after this time, and every physical education instructor was obligated to learn the art of Krav Maga. Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression.