Self and Military defense with Krav Maga

Krav Maga is a hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel that involves wrestling, grappling and striking techniques, mostly known for its extremely efficient, effective and brutal counter-attacks, as it is mostly taught to elite special forces around the world. It was derived from street-fighting skills created by Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, as a means of protecting the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava in the mid- to late-1930s. In the late-1940s, after his immigration to Israel, he started to provide hand-to-hand combat training to what was to become the IDF, developing the techniques that became known as Krav Maga. It has been refined for both civilian and military applications. 

Krav Maga has a philosophy which has a serious emphasis on threat neutralization, a mixture of defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression. Krav Maga is used by the IDF Special Forces units and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement and intelligence organizations, Mossad, Shin Bet, FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, SWAT units of the NYPD, French Army Special Forces and United States Special Operations Forces. 

Main Elements

 

As all, there are no rules in Krav Maga, as it is a defense fighting technique which is not regulated making it the ideal choice for personal defense! It is utilized to keep the user safe and incapacitate the opponent by any means necessary. Men and women generally undergo similar drills. It has no sporting federation as it is not regulated, and there are no official uniforms or attire, although some organizations do recognize growth through training with rank badges, different levels, and belts.

General principles include:

• Counter attacking as soon as possible (or attacking preemptively).
• Targeting attacks to the body's most vulnerable points such as the eyes, jaw, throat, groin, knee etc.
• Neutralizing the opponent as quickly as possible by responding with an unbroken stream of counter attacks and if necessary a take down/joint break/concussion.
• Maintaining awareness of surroundings while dealing with the threat in order to look for escape routes, further attackers, objects that could be used to defend or help attack and so on.

  

Training also include situational awareness to develop an understanding of one's surroundings and potentially threatening situations before an attack occurs sometimes. It also cover ways to deal with potentially violent situations, and the best part is that it emphasizes on physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible.

 Krav Maga techniques

Krav Maga incorporates techniques from traditional Eastern European streetfighting, military combat, Boxing, Muay Thai, Western Wrestling, and Ju-Jitsu.

• Arm techniques

Punches are highly emphasized in Krav Maga as main basic strikes which are useful in almost any situation. Training in boxing is highly prized in Krav Maga (Lichtenfeld was himself a boxer at national-level). Among some of the punches taught are the straight punch, palm heel strike, low punch, hammer-fist, hook, uppercut, chop, overhand, as well as a variety of elbow strikes.

• Leg techniques

While Krav Maga does use kicks, it focuses on efficient, low-risk kicks. The actual focus is on low kicks. More advanced and risk prone kicks are taught at high levels, but use of them is discouraged. They are mainly taught so that practitioners are able to recognize them in case they are facing an experienced opponent with a background in kick-heavy martial arts, such as taekwondo. Some of the leg techniques that are taught include the front kick, round kick, side kick, back kick, heel kick, slap kicks, axe kicks, various knee strikes, and sweeping.

• Defense techniques

Krav Maga practitioners are taught to go from defending to attacking as quickly as possible as the best defense is a good offense. Most blocking techniques are designed to facilitate the conversion from defense to attacking. Students are taught how to defend against kicks and punches, as well as learning how to defend against attacks from any angle

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•   Groundfighting

While Krav Maga stresses staying off the ground at all costs, it is accepted that you may eventually have no choice but to fight there. Students are taught how to get into the best positions while on the ground, how to throw certain kicks while on the ground, arm bars, triangle choke, and guillotine. They're also taught how to defend against punches while mounted, chokes, headlocks, and what to do if their wrists are pinned.

• Throws and takedowns

Not a lot of throws are covered in Krav Maga, because the system emphasizes staying off of the ground. Some techniques that are taught include the wristlock, one and two leg takedowns, the hip throw, and the one arm shoulder throw.

• Gun, knife and stick defenses

Krav Maga details many ways to remove and defend your-self against many common weapon threats as it is mainly developed for the armed services. These Krav Maga Techniques include: Gun defense techniques, Knife defense techniques, and blunt striking weapon, such as a stick.

Martial arts for self defense, and why to go for Kyo kushin

All martial arts as we know can be used for self defense, although they may not be best suited for that.
The reason i chose Kyo Kushin for self defense and recommend others to do so, is because it is simple to learn, and practical to do, as unlike most other fighting systems, this system teaches full contact, which means it teaches a person to fight and defend him/herself while fighting a real fight scenario, in which hits are not buffered down using boxing gloves or pads. It does not emphasis on rituals or preplanned moves, and focuses on a stand up fighting system which is natural, and uses a persons momentum and mind to take over his opponent in the best possible way.
Two other systems which i personally love are Systema and Krav mega which are Russian and Israeli military fighting systems respectively. You can get their details on the following links, but they are restricted to military institutions and very limited schools, so the best alternative is Kyo kushin which trains its practitioner to the closes real scenario. 

 

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_maga

Every martial art can be utilized for self defense, below i have organized the strengths and weaknesses of certain martial arts.
General Karate (Not Kyo Kushin): Lots of focus on Katas (pre-arranged "forms" of movements. Some sparring, but it's mostly low contact "point" style sparring (Kyo Kushin has full contact sparring which helps get the real feel), with protective gear (Kyo kushin kai is one of those exceptions to the generalization here, as they spar full contact - until knock down or knockout, with no protection, but with no punches to the head).

Lots of time doing traditional stances, kicks, reverse punches, etc. I'm not so sure this is very effective in self defense situations, as many of the techniques are very ritualized, and unrealistic.

Tae Kwon Do: Similar to Karate, except much greater focus on high and jump kicks. Even less realistic for defense than Karate.  

Japanese Ju-jitsu: Focus on stand up grappling, wrist locks, escapes from chokes and grabs , many throws and falls. Has the same ritualized formal practice as Karate - lots of practice against an un-resisting, unmoving attacker than grabs and then freezes, or punches then freezes. Some punches and kicks thrown in, but just a few.

My personal experience does not make me sure if this is so great against a resisting, moving opponent - because the practice methods does not allow practice in that sort of situation. The techniques are more realistic than Karate, but I'm not so sure all of them are usable in real life. Since you don't have to punch or kick to fight or repel and attack, this is ideal for use against someone you don't want to hurt - a drunken relative or friend at a party for instance. Against a determined attacker, I feel some of the primary techniques are less useful.
 

Aikido: More or less similar to Japanese Ju-jitsu, but more focus on going with an attackers force. More philosophy, less "Actual Hard" techniques. I think most of the criticisms of Japanese Ju-jitsu applies here as well.

 

Judo: Has many of the techniques of Japanese Ju-Jitsu, but has many of the "Practical" techniques removed. By taking out the punches, kicks, wrist locks,chokes, etc. you are left with some techniques that are safe to be used in a sport. Lots of throws, falls, trips, and groundwork. Most of the practice is against a resisting, moving opponent which is good.
If you can throw someone who is expecting it, and has trained in resisting it who is REALLY trying to stop you and fight back - then the odds are really good you can throw some guy in a fight who doesn't expect it. Its main weakness is that it is missing striking, and maybe some of the "deadly" techniques that might really be useful.
 

Western Boxing: Since you are practicing and fighting against someone actively resisting, as in Judo - the training has great value for actual self defense as it is practical. The weakness is that only the hands are used, there is no grappling or kicking making it once dimensional. Also, much of the body isn't a valid target as you are allowed to hit on the face, ribs and torso. It's also worth saying that the transition from wearing gloves (and fighting someone wearing gloves) is a big one as unlike boxing, a single punch can result in a complete take down in a real fight.
 

External Kung Fu: There are a lot of different styles that fall into this category, not every thing you see in a Chinese movie is a single style of kung fu, and there are some very big differences between them. There are some that focus on punching and kicking with different proportions, and others that include techniques closely similar to Ju-Jitsu (or you could say Ju-Jitsu has techniques similar to them). It's worth noting and pointing out that the basic form of Karate (Not Kyo Kushin) is basically a Japanese version of an Okinawan version of certain external Kung Fu styles.

There are forms as in Karate, and some schools practice sparring similar to Karate. The techniques are a bit different as Kung Fu in general is a bit "softer" with more circular motion, and flowing stances, versus the linear penetrative movement of Karate. Of course, that's a generalization - some styles are very similar to Karate but most of them leaves the belly unguarded which is a major draw back in kung fu as noted by Bruce lee. Some styles such as Wing Chun focus on "trapping" which involves controlling an opponents arm so as to facilitate striking, and to prevent them from striking you. Other arts, such as Chin-na focus on grappling, pressure points, and locks as seen in Japanese Ju-jitsu. I personally feel that many of the same critisms of Karate and Japanese Ju-jitsu apply here. 

Internal Kung Fu: Tai Chi Chuan is one of the best know style in this category. The other styles are Hsing-I, and Ba Gua. The main focus is on training the generation of Qi (life force or energy), and the application of Jing (the manifestation of internal power through the use of Qi). The idea being that this energy is generated internally to the body through breathing and movement, rather than through gross muscle movements as in Karate. Practice involves slow practice of forms, drills such as "sticky hands", and basically pushing ones partner. There are punches, kicks and other kind of strikes of course - but the emphasis is on the power coming and generated from the Internal methods. There isn't much sparring that I have seen or heard off. It would seem that these arts don't have a lot of application in actual self defense.

Muay Thai: This art i personally find as practical next to Kyo Kushin as it has western style boxing punches, elbow and knee strikes, and kicking. This is practiced as a sport mostly all over China, so many of the positive comments related to boxing as a sport would apply here as well. In my opinion this style has the most effective kicks of any Style similar to Kyo Kushin - utilizing a very powerful round type kicks to the leg as a common target area which is known as the low kick, used very effectively in the Kyo Kushin style. 

Any and all suggestion and comments are welcomed. All questions will be answered as soon as possible usually withing 24 hours.