Many martial arts focus on one range of fighting and some of the more diverse martial arts may incorporate two ranges of fighting. The ultimate goal of any martial art is to instil both the skills and the confidence in its students in order for them to be able to defend themselves in a real life situation. No other martial art does this as effectively as the Israeli system of defensive tactics knows as Krav Maga. Krav Maga which is a martial art that incorporates all ranges of fighting was created in Israel in the year 1948 by a man named Imi Lichtenfeld.
During the time period that Krav Maga was created, the Israelis were still under British rule and had to find a way to defend themselves, without bearing arms. In its infancy this martial art was one of the most brutal hand to hand combat systems as it was created to train the military for World War II as well as training the Israeli civilians for anti-terrorism defense. In 1964 Imi Lichtenfeld retired as a soldier and started to adapt the martial art for normal every day use for civilians. The association of Krav Maga was created in 1975 by Imi Lichtenfeld and his most accomplished students.
The advantage Krav Maga has over other martial arts is that not only is it extremely adaptable, it is also constantly evolving. Whatever real world scenarios that may occur, Krav Maga finds realistic defenses for them. Most martial arts (especially traditional ones) tend to teach rigid curriculums that aren’t up for discussion or change while Krav Maga encourages its students to find creative ways to use the techniques and even incorporates new lessons learned from real life encounters. Krav Maga is not a sport! It is a complete fighting system that was created for street attacks. There are no rules and students are taught to use anything in their arsenal to be able to defend themselves. This would include pressure points and vulnerable areas such as the eyes, temples, throat, back of the neck and groin. This martial art focuses on training its students in a repetitious manner as they hope to instil the instincts needed to survive a street attack. Cardiovascular and callisthenic training is incorporated into each training session, as being physically fit is a necessity. The focus of this art is to counter hard and fast. The faster you can attack your opponent the better your chances of surprising them. Most martial arts have both specialized weapons defense and training while Krav Maga teaches its students to use everyday ordinary objects as weapons. The point is how often does a person get attacked in the streets and have a set of nun chucks or a staff to defend themselves with?
When a martial art teaches you to both throw and defend against punches and kicks, teaches you joint locks and ground defense, as well as takedowns and weapons training, it is hard for anyone to use any other words then “complete system” to describe it. The world we’re living in is getting progressively more dangerous and many of the traditional martial arts, while great for exercise and pleasure, are not used to such extreme conditions. Krav Maga should be the martial art of choice for anyone looking for a highly effective system to defend themselves.
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