Not Just a Man's World

Just over a month ago, I started taking weekly Krav Maga lessons.  There was a possibility that I was going to be going to the Middle East for seven months with work and that I would be going on my own, without Chris.  We discussed this at home and agreed that one of the conditions of me going would be that I take Krav Maga classes until I went.

As it turns out, I’m not going to the Middle East.  In the meantime, I enjoyed Krav Maga so much that I’ve signed up for annual membership to the local group and have a regular weekly session.

What is Krav Maga?

When Chris first told me that he wanted me to do Krav Maga I had no idea what it was.  It didn’t help when someone told me that Krav Maga was a form of martial art.  The reality is that it is quite different to a martial art.  Martial arts are combat or fighting arts.  Krav Maga stands for contact combat and is a hand-to-hand combat form.  However, Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression. 

Since Krav Maga is a defence fighting technique there are no rules.  No rules, no belt grading and no regulation.  The main principle is to keep the user safe while incapacitating the attacker in any way required.  As a result it is an excellent form of self defence.

By learning Krav Maga you are learning to handle any attack and should end up with a small but effective collection of strong counter attack movements to help you disable your attacker for long enough to get away without receiving a mortal wound in the process.  That said, you probably won’t manage to avoid a few good bruises along the way.

Bruises from my first Krav Maga session - a week after the session!

As my instructor told us, there aren’t very many moves because in real life you don’t want your mind to freeze with the options available to it.  Your attacker won’t stick to specific rules of combat and won’t give you time to think.  Instead there is a small pool of particularly strong moves which can be combined together in whatever way comes naturally in the situation to give you time to get away.

What is the history of Krav Maga?

There is plenty of information about Krav Maga and its history on Wikipedia.  For an even more detailed history then it’s worth taking the time to read the history page on the British Krav Maga website.

However, it’s a fascinating history and I’ve picked out the key points here.

Imre Lichtenfeld (later known as Imi Sde-Or) developed and taught the fighting system that he developed and which later developed to be Krav Maga to people in Bratislava to help the local Jewish community protect themselves from the Nazi militia during the 1930s.  In 1948, when the new State of Israel was created, Imi became the Chief Instructor of Physical Fitness and Krav Maga for the Israeli Defense Forces at their School of Combat Fitness. 

On leaving the military in 1964 he continued to refine Krav Maga to make it suitable for the use of civilians.  In 1978 Imi founded the Israeli Krav Maga Association and it wasn’t until a few years later that some Israeli instructors started to demonstrate the skills of Krav Maga in the US. 

From there Krav Maga has grown in popularity and presence across the globe.

Who is Krav Maga good for?

Anyone.  It’s reliable and effective and the fact that it is taught to special forces, police forces and groups like the CIA gives it credibility for use in high-stress real-life scenarios.  Comfortingly there are several Police Officers in my Krav Maga class.

There’s no female or male specific exercises because in the real world rules don’t apply.  The moves are minimal and simple to use so that after only a few weeks I’m already finding that I am using the same moves over and over again and can start to apply them effectively. 

I was really surprised to find that there were only a few women in my Krav Maga classes when I started (four in a class of twenty and for the last few weeks I’ve been the only woman).  I’m already convinced that Krav Maga is an essential part of the modern woman’s toolkit, unless you are living in the middle of nowhere and never go near civilisation.  Krav Maga teaches you to react effectively in real-life scenarios. 

Something I particularly like about my classes is that at the end of every session we spend ten minutes or more applying our skills with some adrenaline.  Sometimes we’ll move around the room with our eyes closed being attacked unexpectedly by a few people with pads.  Other times, in groups of four or more, one person will be attacked by everyone else in the group.  It’s amazing how quickly adrenaline kicks in, even in such a safe environment, when you are surrounded by a bunch of big, shouting, shoving men, and I’m fascinated by how much you need to rely on instinctive moves.  Adrenaline completely stops sensible thought and technique flies out of the window – hence the need for good technique to be automatic.

What should I do now?

There really isn’t anything else I can say, other than to recommend that every woman (and man) who reads this finds their nearest class and has a go.  Having read a few things while researching for this post, I do recommend finding someone who is trained by the International Krav Maga Federation if possible – the IKMF are the original group and they have a Global Instructor Team.  That said, if the instructor is part of a national body then they’ve probably also got a genuine Krav Maga skillset.

You don’t need much for a class but I really recommend that you get a groin guard.  It’s not so much about avoiding injury, but if the person training on you always has to kick gently then they aren’t training for the real world.  Having spent an entire session doing groin attacks the other week I can promise you that, even without testicles, a kick to the groin still hurts.

Enjoy yourselves! 

Here’s a video (See comment below) which gives a real feel for what a Krav Maga training session is like.

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