The Martial Arts Centre

A History of Krav Maga

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Krav Maga (Hebrew for contact combat) is a self-defence system developed in Israel that involves striking techniques, wrestling and grappling.  Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient, brutal counter attacks.  It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Imi Litchenfield, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, as a means of defending the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava in the mid-to-late 1930s.  In the late 1940s, following his immigration to Israel, he began to provide lessons on combat training to what was to become the IDF, who went on to develop the system that became known as Krav Maga.  It has since been refined for civilian, police and military applications.  Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasising threat neutralisation, simultaneous defensive and offensive manoeuvres, and aggression.  The system is used by the Israeli Defence Forces, both regular and Special Forces, and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement and intelligence organisations.  Outside Israel, Krav Maga is used by various special police, military and intelligence forces, such as American CIA, FBI, US Marshals, USAF, DEA, Federal Air Marshals and various police departments (SWAT teams), etc.

 

We have a direct lineage with the source.