In Krav Maga, there are no hard-and-fast rules, and no distinction in training for men and women. It is not a sport, and there are no specific uniforms, attire or competitions, although some organizations recognise progress through training with rank badges and different levels. All the techniques focus on maximum efficiency in real-life conditions. Krav Maga generally assumes that the individual attacking will give no quarter; therefore, as a response the attacks and defenses are intended only for use in potentially lethal threat situations with the aim to neutralize and escape as rapidly and safely as possible. Crippling attacks to vulnerable body parts, including groin and eye strikes, headbutts, and other efficient and potentially brutal attacks, improvised use of any objects available, and maximizing personal safety in a fight, are emphasized. However, it must be stressed that instructors can and do demonstrate how to moderate the techniques to fit the circumstances. While no limits are placed on techniques to be used in life-threatening situations, the legal need to inflict the appropriate minimal damage in other circumstances is recognized and stressed.
The guiding principles for those performing Krav Maga techniques are as follows:
- Do not get hurt
- Quickly neutralize the attacker
- Quickly transition from defensive to offensive techniques
- Exploit the natural reflexes of the body
- Exploit all vulnerable points on the body
- Use any available objects as aids
These premises were developed in the context of life-threatening situations. Krav Maga Instructors constantly stress the need to match the response to the danger or risk.
In general, Krav Maga requires the user to deal first with the immediate threat, prevent further attacks, and then neutralize the attacker. Actions are carried out in a methodical manner. Krav Maga emphasizes preventing further attack from the attacker. As such, some circumstances may require action in anticipation of being attacked, in order to avoid the development of dangerous situations.
Although Krav Maga shares many techniques with other martial arts and is itself a blend of boxing, Muay Thai, Aikido, Judo, and Jujutsu, the training is often quite different. It stresses fighting under worst-case conditions or from disadvantaged positions, for example: against several opponents, when protecting someone else, with one arm unusable, when dizzy or against armed opponents. Krav Maga emphasizes rapid learning and the retzev (pronounced ret-zef and meaning "continuous motion" presumably in combat), with the imperative being effectiveness, for either attack or defensive situations.
Most instructors emphasize two training rules: (1) there are no rules in a fight and (2) partner preservation - which means one must not injure oneself or one's partner when training. Training is an intense mixed aerobic and anaerobic workout, relying heavily on the use of pads in order to experience both delivery and defense of strikes at full force. This is important because it allows the student to practice the technique at full strength, and the student holding the pad learns a little of the impact they would feel when they get hit. It can be almost as taxing to hold a pad as to practice against one. Students will also wear head guards, gum shields, groin protectors, shin and forearm guards, etc. during practice of attack/defense techniques, so that a realistic level of violence may be used without injury. Some schools incorporate "Strike and Fight," which consists of full-contact sparring intended to familiarize the student with the stresses of a violent situation.
Training may employ a speaker system blasting loud music, stroboscope and/or fog machine, meant to train the student to ignore peripheral distractions and focus on the needs of the situation. Other training methods to increase realism might include exercising the student to near exhaustion before having to defend, training outdoors on a variety of surfaces and restrictive situations, wearing a blindfold before being attacked, etc. The emphasis is on attempting to simulate real fight/attack situations as realistically as possible within the safety limitations of training.
Training will usually also cover situational awareness, to develop an understanding of one's surroundings and potentially threatening circumstances before an attack is launched. It may also cover "Self Protection": ways to deal with situations which could end in fights, and physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible.
A typical session in a civilian school is about an hour long and mixes conditioning with self-defense teaching. As levels increase, the instructors focus a little more on complicated and less common types of attacks, such as knife attacks, hostage situations and defense under extreme duress. First, the instructor will run a very intense drill to get the class's heart rates up. Then, after stretching, the instructor will teach two or three self-defense techniques. In the beginning the techniques will either be combative (punches, hammer-fists, elbows, and knees) or grappling (breaking out of chokes or wrist-grabs, getting out from under an opponent while on one's back). After that, the class usually moves to a drill that combines the techniques just taught with an aerobic technique. Lastly, there is the final drill intended to burn out the students. Depending on the class, this drill may be at the very beginning or at the end of the class.
Krav Maga was developed in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s by Imi Lichtenfeld, also known as Imi Sde-Or. He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the local Jewish community from Nazi militia. Upon arriving in the British Mandate of Palestine prior to the establishment of the Jewish state, Imi began teaching hand-to-hand combat to the Haganah, the Jewish underground army. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Imi became the Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for 15 years, during which time he continued to develop and refine his hand-to-hand combat method. In 1978, Imi founded the non-profit Israeli Krav Maga Association with several senior instructors. He died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.
Prior to 1980, all experts in Krav Maga lived in Israel and trained under the Israeli Krav Maga Association. That year marks the beginning of contact between Israeli Krav Maga experts and interested students in the United States. In 1981, a group of six Krav Maga instructors traveled to the US to offer demonstrations of the system, primarily at local Jewish Community Centers. This, in turn, led to demonstrations at the New York Field Office of the FBI and the FBI's Main Training Center at Quantico, Virginia. The result was a visit by 22 people from the US to Israel in the summer of 1981 to attend a basic Krav Maga instructor course. The graduates from this course returned to the US and began to establish training facilities in their local areas. Additional students traveled to Israel in 1984 and again in 1986 to become instructors. At the same time, instructors from Israel continued to visit the US. Law Enforcement training in the US began in 1985
Krav Maga is the official system of self defense and unarmed combat for the Israeli Defense Forces. Every Israeli soldier learns Krav Maga as part of their training; including all Special Forces units, such as the Sayeret Duvdevan. Further, Krav Maga is the defensive tactics system used to train the Israeli Police, Israeli Intelligence and all Security Divisions. Krav Maga is also taught to civilians, military, law enforcement and security agencies around the world.
There has also been many spin-offs to Krav Maga, such as Tactical Krav Maga (founder Itay Gil), Commando Krav Maga (founder Moni Aizak) and Special Forces Krav Maga (founder Michal Cernohorsky).
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