Krav Maga is Hebrew for ‘Contact Combat’.

It was conceived in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld who introduced and developed the system for use by the Israeli Defence Forces. It has since been adopted by law enforcement and militaries around the world and remains, today, the most popular system among police, military, security, and defence personnel worldwide. 

The basic principle of Krav Maga is effective and efficient self-defence and combat in situations when there are no rules and no referees. This principle accounts for the realities of a real-life confrontation, which are very different to a scheduled fight in a ring with a single, known opponent.

Krav Maga is a constantly evolving system of self-defence, fighting, and third-party protection that teaches its students to protect at all costs and defend with everything at their disposal.

What does that mean in practice? 

Krav Maga studies how your body instinctively moves and reacts when attacked. It uses and hones these reflexes for the purpose of self-defence.

The training focuses on using these existing reflexes and on building muscle memory, so it is relatively easy to learn even for people with little or no martial arts experience. Krav Maga has been specifically designed to take advantage of the inherent weaknesses in any attack and attacker with the objective of ending a fight quickly and effectively.

Krav Maga teaches practitioners to attack the most vulnerable parts of the body, which can be done in a number of ways through takedowns, kicks, and knee strikes.

It follows that you should avoid exposing these vulnerable areas when fighting. Krav Maga training builds a deep, instinctive understanding of how to defend from attacks.

How is Krav Maga different from other systems?

Krav Maga is designed for offence and defence, it is not just defensive system

Krav Maga’s goal of realism exposes students to un-telegraphed attacks of all types and helps prepare them for better responses to any threats. It also teaches effective defences in the pre-fight stage, utilising de-escalation techniques. Finally, it teaches practitioners how best to take advantage of the weaknesses of people who attack.

Eyal Yanilov, Imi Lichtenfeld’s direct successor, is the head of Krav Maga Global (KMG). It was Eyal who brought Krav Maga to the world, adapting it to civilian use and helping grow the system globally.

KMG’s Krav Maga System integrates the science of human physiology and the experience of its practitioners in the military and law enforcement, whose feedback helps the system continue to develop and evolve as the world changes around us. 

The KMG system is constructed from three integrated parts, noting that these distinct pillars may merge into one in an actual confrontation:  

• CQB, Armed and Unarmed Hand-to-Hand Combat – defeating an opponent quickly and effectively in close combat. This involves different elements of a fight: tactics, techniques, combinations, psychology and mentality of a fighter. Use of knives, sticks and guns for attacks are integrated into this.

• Self-Defence Techniques – defences against both armed and unarmed attackers. The techniques are eventually practised under stress, in simulations of adverse conditions and environments, such as in the dark, on the ground, indoors and outdoors and in situations that limit the practitioner’s movement.

• Close Protection and 3rd Party Protection – defending a third-party (a friend, family member, VIP, or fellow officer) against all kinds of attacks and threats. Dealing with one or more attackers, moving, evacuating, and taking care of the other person, functioning under different conditions in different environments and locations.

Science within Krav Maga

Every technique that is adopted by KMG and taught to its practitioners is first extensively stress-tested. With elite units around the world training Krav Maga regularly, the system has been stress-tested widely and has been forced to adapt as scenarios new threats develop. When a new type threat is identified, the threat is workshoped within the system, tested, and then rolled out to the instructor network. 

For example, there has been an increased number of knife stabbing attacks where the attacker uses an underhand (‘oriental-style’) stab using the rear hand but uses the lead hand to simultaneously push the defender, effectively ‘ranging’ the attack.

The defence for this attack is now incorporated into Krav Maga training. This dynamic nature is what keeps Krav Maga so relevant and so valuable to military, law enforcement, and civilian practitioners. 

Moreover, over the last few years ground combatives have become more prevalent in the community as MMA and ground submission wrestling have become more mainstream.

I cannot speak for all schools, however most good Krav Maga schools will also incorporate ground combatives training such as Sambo, pancreation, or BJJ into their teaching.