Krav Maga and Self Defense

During the mid 1930s and late 1940's a man named Imi Lichtenfeld developed a fighting style for close combat. He had founded these techniques by deriving them from his street fighting skills that also includes his training for boxing and wrestling. Later on, his fighting styles have been adopted by the Israeli Defense Forces where his method was named as Krav Maga. This style has been so popular nowadays that there are hundreds of Krav Maga video tutorials available.

Krav Maga is a unique martial art as it employs tactical defense skills. It is not considered a sport and so therefore it has no competitions or tournaments. It is however very useful in dealing certain immediate danger and neutralizing the enemy. Krav Maga is a very methodical training system and that is why law enforcements such as FBI, British Special Forces and Mossad adapted it. Fortunately, it has evolved to be used by civilians and not just the military. Its methods and techniques are available to the public by the Krav Maga videos.

The guiding principles of Krav Maga highlights the following: First, you should avoid getting hurt; Second, make use of the natural reflexes of your body; Third, take advantage of all the vulnerable parts of your enemy's body; Fourth, get yourself any available object that you can use as a weapon; Fifth, swiftly counteract the attack; And last but not the least, be flexible to switch from defensive to offensive positions.

Krav Maga based its training in real life scenarios such as attacks on crowded area like pubs or on the streets. It includes simulations wherein you are against a group of people and still be able to protect yourself or your partner. Also their training can almost cover worst case settings like for instance fighting with only one arm or while dizzy and against several armed opponents. Plus they encourage distractions while in lesson to prepare students to ignore them and concentrate on the needs of the circumstance. This fighting style is aim to develop an awareness in your surrounding for you to be able to predict potentially threatening situations and act accordingly.

Furthermore, Krav Maga training relies heavily on using the protective pads to assist students in maximizing their full strengths with their maneuvers while ceasing to injure the other sparring party.

As for their exercises, they are a mixed anaerobic and aerobic workout. It usually begins with warm up to increase your heart rate and proceeds to stretching.

I wouldn't suggest this kind of workout if you only need it for sport. As I have mentioned, this doesn't have any tournament where you can join and get a trophy. This is basically a defense system that is very useful in perilous circumstances.

Nevertheless, this is a great learning for you because unlike other martial arts, Krav Maga style with its Krav Maga Videos are easy to gain knowledge of and become accustomed to. They are well suited for people who don't have time to learn all the complex moves offered by other martial arts style.

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Krav Maga - The Ugliest Way of Self Defense

Gian Spencer is a cop, an Italian decent he is serious about his career and public service, but a really funny guy. Tall, not heavy-looking, though. Always puts humor to everything around him. When not in a police officer's uniform, he could pass for a janitor. When dressed up for Sunday mass, he looks like a Wall Street dude. That's Gian Spencer, a cop and a KravMaga artist.

With the name, there is a person who has everyone's fear of being attacked in dark alleys. With such a profession, there's a person who knows how to keep peace and order. With Krav Maga, there's a beast that shows no mercy for assailants and any other individual exhibiting sinister plans on him or any person within his sight. That's Gian Spencer, a cop and a KravMaga artist.

He is just like most of us. What makes him stand out is his confidence that he can protect himself, his family and his closest circle in unforeseen attacks of criminals, with or without weapons. Gian Spencer is an embodiment of a normal person, and the warrior we all want to be when threatened.

Enough of Gian and let's talk Krav Maga. Meaning "contact combat", it is the official hand to hand fighting system of Israel, employed for decades by the Israeli Defense Forces. Designed as a simple and efficient art of self-defense, "Krav" is an effective and brutal technique used against unprovoked attacks; the former you can learn and be skilled at, the latter you can get anywhere as criminals lurk in no particular territories. Those tactics the usual martial arts prohibit, Krav Maga allows. From those nasty groin kicks to the even nastier eye gouges, from the deadly elbows to the throat to the vicious wringing of the neck - Krav Maga teaches it, and enthusiasts practice it. If this sounds vicious, it is. If you think it has the element of street-fighting, well, hell, yeah!

So are there any rules in Krav Maga? Yes, there is. And there's only one. "Don't get hurt." This is the strong statement of Josef Belsari, owner and trainer of Belsari Brothers Martial Arts Academy. "When your only concern is surviving an attack, why should you consider just pinching your attacker in the nose?" By the way, Josef is only five foot and five inches, wears glasses and works at the local library. His two older brothers tease his soft-spoken ways, and his two sisters are always amused at his collection and constant humming of Bon Jovi songs. Nothing about Josef speaks he's a Krav Maga artist until he is provoked or when people close to him are in danger.

With Krav Maga, you don't get those dance-like movements in thwarting your enemies, and you don't get those "was on, wax off" tactics to defeat criminals. Josef Belsari and Gian Spencer are a strong testament that protecting yourself is not about those moves and kicks and lots of dialogues you see in martial arts movies. Both would immediately follow this statement with saying that most martial arts forms are sports-oriented and patterned to win competitions and tournaments only. With KM, what makes you a winner is that you truly defeat any attacker, whether they are pointing a knife to your face, or showing off biceps with a size and pulse of a rhinoceros gearing for an attack.

While other martial arts earns you a skill level belt or any other forms of recognition; your only acknowledgments would be being able to debilitate an attacker, or in most times, being able to move freely and with confidence that you can handle any assailant. Krav Maga trainings are informal and eclectic, liberating for many beginners as one goes though conditional drills and calisthenics, routine combat practices and then the different techniques fit to different dangers posed by any attack.

Your instincts and fitness is your best weapon in Krav Maga. When into a fight, just a few Krav moves and your enemy is down and begging for mercy. No more of those punch rally or exchange of kicks, just an instant retaliation from your body and you're done. The moves used in Krav are simple but renders your enemy helpless. Ugly? Yes.

You might wonder why this combat form is taking form and why Krav Maga videos are always sold out. It's because the truth is out about all other martial arts varieties. They work well in the movies, but they are never functional in a street attack. As military and law enforcement folks have used Krav Maga in their operations, it does not mean only people in uniform can protect themselves and their loved ones from attacks. You should be able to as well.

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Krav Maga for Women

Women were supposed to learn how to cook, to spend their time stitching beautiful portraits or having tea ceremonies with their friends. As time goes by and our ideology broadens, women fought for their own rights and place in the society. However, the danger for women never lessen, instead they grow more pronounced everyday. This is why Krav Maga video will help in training women to use the Krav Maga style to defend their selves when in unfortunate event that they are attacked.

Learning a tactical defense method through Krav Maga will prepare you when the situation arises that puts you in danger. It trains you how to avoid being injured and how to use the natural reflexes of your body. It also instills in you a sense of self-preservation and developed your awareness to foresee any possible danger to your life. Additionally, it builds up your self control so that you may be able to move from passive to aggressive state to fight back and defeat your opponent through a calm and logical thinking.

This development of Krav Maga for women is build up from valuable information provided through enforcement officials, psychologists, criminal prosecutors and other professionals with enough authority on rape cases. The Krav Maga set-up imitates the how and where women are commonly attacked.

For these reasons the fighting style for women is designed and center on rape case preventions. The Krav Maga videos teaches you on how you can fight an assailant when he chokes, grabs, bearhug or confront you with a deadly weapon. This type of martial art also employs some of the excellent technique of other martial arts such as karate, judo, muay thai and boxing. However, it emphasizes realistic scenarios and defenses more than its counterpart.

Krav trains women on how to safely and effectively throw punches to an attacker with conjunction to the usage of elbows, knees and kicks. It also incorporates building women's spirit and confidence to be able to respond both mentally and physically in an uncompromising situation and removing the danger of freezing or shutting down. With these, women will be able to improvise and make use of their environment to their advantage and defeat their attacker.

The place for training is carried on actual places such at ATM Machines, Parking lots or where women are usually harassed. Instructors put on protective padding pads and attack the student so that they may be able to partially feel what it is to be in a real threatening situation. Women are taught to defend themselves when they are under pressure such as this.

There are several martial arts that women can learn and employ. However, there is nothing like Krav Maga in defense tactics. It is much more practical in protecting oneself and extending it to your companion. Also, founders and practitioners have specifically mold the styles and methods of Krav Maga for women and how they can be of use to them. This is also great for women who don't have time to learn too long and needs to learn this high level skill in a short time.

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The Anatomy of Krav Maga

No other martial arts form comes close to the simplicity, power and effectiveness of Krav Maga. It is designed to give one the skills and techniques to supremely defeat an enemy with quick and lethal responses to attacks. The recent years has gained Krav Maga a good following because it is easy to learn, and the combat tactics involved are guaranteed to ward off unwanted and threatening individuals.

Before getting yourself into a Krav Maga training, understand the following about this full-fledged form of self-defense:

Attack the weaker points of your enemy's body - Given that your life is threatened and you can still defend yourself and fight back, your best opportunity is battering the vulnerable areas of your attacker. Krav Maga videos illustrate how you can attack a helpless body portion, and foresee with chances when these areas could be hit with your counter strike. Instead of the usual multiple undirected punches, you could learn the rabid, vicious techniques of returned attacks on the weaker points of the body that could debilitate your enemy to surrender;

Defend and attack back - In a life threatening situation, once you've temporarily overwhelmed your attacker, Krav Maga teaches you to attack back. In line with the principle that the best way to break out from a fight is to end it quickly, Krav Maga teaches multiple blocks and attacks. More importantly, this martial art form teaches how to block and attack at the same time to immediately end the fight. When a knife or dagger is up your face, Krav Maga teaches a series of techniques to avoid getting hurt, and putting your attacker down and snoring;

Three hundred percent defense - Krav Maga is mostly all about blocking methods and evading tactics during attacks. You will be trained to employ three simultaneous moves, which, upon complete execution, will render your attacker hoping someone will dial 911 - quick! The first move would be blocking using hand or foot defense, or maybe plucking to break a choke or headlock. Next would be the body defense wherein you turn or move your body to distance it from your attacker. The third principle is "moving away from the attack area" which means you go around your opponent to disadvantage his position and direction. Deflecting the first attack and then moving quickly to your assailant's inconvenient point would neutralize him. At this point, you can then regroup your counter moves to end the fight, with your attacker waving the white flag;

Situational awareness and looking ahead - Being attacked in real life is nothing compared to those movie scenes you've seen. Wherein in the silver screen you see two characters slugging it out, exchanging high flying kicks and making zombies out of each other's faces, in real life and with Krav, you cut the scene immediately, render your enemy incapacitated, and as for you, come out of the fight unscathed and victorious. As anyone can be attacked at any time and place, Krav Maga integrates in its teachings how you could heighten your awareness of events and persons, and develops your keenness for noticing trouble right from the start. In all Krav Maga videos, illustrations of how you can move away from the line of attack, and knowing the blind spot of your enemies and yours are included and explained well. Also, methods of escape and possible objects to aid you in the struggle are also pointed out in Krav Maga.

Where success of other martial arts form are only found in movies and tournaments for belts and recognitions, the success of Krav Maga can be achieved in certain victories in any attack you may fall into.

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