Krav Maga - A Mean Martial Art

chillibreeze writer — Mariette Valsan

You are walking on the familiar street, homeward bound as usual. But much later than your usual time. The street takes on different dimensions in the dark, and looming dangers are ever present. All you are armed with in case of attack is your purse, and various accessories that crowd it. Scary scenario, is it not? And in a place where attacks and looting are commonplace, self-defense should be developed as an instinctive attribute. But in today's scenario, learning and training for a martial art develops only certain reflexes and skills that the art focuses on. Wholesome martial arts are hard to find, which is the very reason why Krav Maga chooses to draw influences from the practical aspects of all martial arts and use it in practical application.

The origins of Krav Maga are much debated to date, but the name "Krav Maga" is a Hebrew phrase which roughly translates to mean hand to hand combat. Krav means "combat" or "battle", and Maga means "contact" or "touch". It is eclectic hand to hand combat system developed in Israel. Principally designed as a form of self defense against the Nazis in Czechoslovakia during the second world war, it matured into a fighting system during the Arab-Israel; 1948 war. It has since been refined as both a military and civilian form of defense. Unlike most martial arts, Krav Maga is a survival skill. Its philosophy emphasizes threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers and aggressive endurance in a "him-or-me" context. This is very different from the usual human tendency of the fight-or-flight conflict. It usually moves beyond that to a defense-or-attack dispute.

Krav Maga is based on the principle of having no principles to govern it. Unlike most martial arts, there are no hard and fast rules to Krav Maga, and no built in distinctions in training for men and women. The techniques that define the art generally focus on training the students in real life attack scenarios. This automatically implies that the defense mechanisms have evolved in the 21st century to the use of commonly accessible objects that can be handled as weapons. A range of these objects include the usual of knives, batons, guns, and sharp objects, but extend even to the common lipstick, credit card and key chains and key rings, that can be strategically used for self defense.

Says Amar Sukhi, expert in the field and part of the Krav Maga Association of India (also the MD of Security and Personnel Pvt. Ltd.), "This form of self defense is more practical than those that are caught up in the principles of fighting. Sometimes, a long hard practice session is the best way to understand how a martial art works, rather than knowing the theory of it inside out. For at the end of the day, it is what use one can make of it in real danger that matters."

The essence of Krav Maga lies in its practicality and flexibility of usage. It allows the student of the art to apply his or her skills from other martial arts to defend themselves, and add to the rich diversity of art forms that Krav Maga already is. It can, in essence, be looked at as an ethnic uniting of martial art forms from around the world. Krav Maga has incorporated moves from boxing, Muay, Thai, Aikido, Judo and Jujitsu. Training includes realistic fighting, with and without weapons, fighting in conditions of stress and exhaustion, simulating a fight against several opponents, with the use of only one arm, while dizzy and fighting against armed opponents. The actual art lies in "retzev", meaning continuous momentum, which plays a crucial part in both training and maneuvers.

Some schools incorporate the "strike and fight" mode of fighting, which consists of full-contact sparring intended to familiarize the student with violent and stress-filled situations. Training within extreme visual, aural, and verbal circumstances increases concentration and encourages the student to block out all peripheral distractions while they are in combat mode. And, though all these attack forms are specifically lethal, the primary mode of attack is defense. As in all martial arts, violence is discourages, and focus remains on not straying into the attack mode for as long as possible.

In fact, Krav Maga emphasizes on the following:

Do not get hurt
Neutralize the attacker as soon as possible
Transition quickly from defensive into pre-emptive attack mode
Use the natural reflexes of the body
Exploit the opponents vulnerability
Employ the aid of any available object
Never, ever give up

Today, Krav Maga is increasing in popularity as a martial art form of the post-modern age. The Israeli Science of Military Self Defense Krav Maga has been successfully taught in India since 2002, and has since spread to not only civilians, corporate and film stars, but also to the police squads, special operations squads, the demolition squad and the security force of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...

—About our writer:

Mariette,

"A straightforward woman, for whom sometimes the lines between reality and dreams are blurred. Not suffering from any form of schizophrenia, the English literature graduate from St. Xavier's College prefers to make the world her oyster. Opinionated and strong-minded in the real world, the literary world opens greater avenues to turn those traits into highly beneficial ones."

>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:

More resources for Writers on Chillibreeze.com

Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:

Assessment of your writing, editing and proofreading skills

Writing courses

Expert Feedback on your article

An opportunity to promote yourself on our website

Top websites for Indian writers

Tips and resources for Indian freelancers

Book Publishing services

And more………………..

Explore our writers’ section using the links on our left-hand side menu.