"Krav Maga, as opposed to many other systems or styles, is a survival system dealing with personal safety issues. It is a modern, highly refined self-defense method designed to be used against both unarmed and armed attackers, as well as multiple assailants.
Krav Maga is based on principles rather than specific techniques. This is an important distinction, because systems which are technique-driven do not allow for the possibility of variations in attacks, reactions to counterattacks, body types, physical limitations, environment, and other variables that will likely be present in a violent encounter."
Hope this helped.
The thing is, most people don't understand self defense in the legal sense. Krav Maga teaches you moves that will kill, or make someone seriously hurt. However, in most self defense situations you are legally only allowed to restrain someone, not kill them or kick their knees in.
So no, Krav Maga isn't a good idea for self defense. It is made for the military. If you use that stuff in the real world get ready to pay **** loads of hospital bills for the person whose eyes you just gouged.
Krav Maga is built entirely around kicking people in the bollocks, which works great in the dojo, but in the street if you have someone in the street filled with drugs or alcohol (or both) they won't feel it.
Their other techniques are taken from martial arts, but are watered down versions of the old Jutsu techniques, and you will be charged twice the price to learn them (KM charge ￡10 per hour where I live, there isn't a single Traditional MA club that charges more than ￡5)
In the photo I have attached you can see (taken from a local KM clubs website) you can see they just grab the wrist and pull the attackers arm off. Where as in Ju-Jitsu or Akikdo or Aiki JuJutsu, you will learn to grab the hand and apply Kote Geashi, so you have more control over the opponent, breaking their balance and limiting their ability to strike back.
Like I say, it's watered down versions of proper MA techniques, for twice the price. It's why many traditional martial artists refer to is as Krap Maga.
Some interesting responses here.
The short answer is "yes". It was developed for the Israeli army (Israeli Defence Force or IDF), and as a consequence is both very aggressive and very brutal. In fact, it is less of a "martial art" and more of a pure self-defence system, as Krav Maga doesn't bother with the usual baggage of culture, tradition, lineage, etc., that usually comes as part of the package with a martial art.
Why not check out some youtube vids of it and see for yourself?
It really depends on the school and the teacher. It was originally created for self defense in the Jewish ghettos around the end of WWII. It's gained popularity now, which in some ways has been to its detriment as it has gotten watered down in many schools.
If you get a good school however it can be used quite effectively as a form of self defense as many of the schools focus on hard drilling and sparring. The main philosophy behind it isn't to get good at forms but to be able to react quickly and effectively to anything that is thrown your way, so in that aspect, if it is trained in your school, it's amazing.
Basically if it's a good school it's great for learning practical self defense in a short amount of time, but isn't all that good as a form of sport fighting or traditional martial arts.
Hit or miss. No parking lot.
Hey there,
I couldn't afford a self defence course so I decided to learn some tecniques and moves from the internet. This a good system I bought http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=563
I want to learn self defense for street not for sport. Is Krav Maga good? And do you need to wear a gi? I see a place near me and people there wear black gi and belt. Is Krav Maga good when you get taken down? What is Krav Maga?
