Krav Maga Blog - Jun 2012

Principle 5 – “Switch between attacking high and low targets. Don’t focus on or become blind to just one target” Our system looks at using soft strikes (gouges, finger strikes, open hand strikes) to soft and vulnerable targets (eyes, throat and groin) as a means of overwhelming and “short circuiting” a person in order to open them up. This creates the opportunities that allow us to follow up with hard strikes, such as punches, elbows and knees as a means of finishing/ending the fight. The reason we initially attack this way, is that soft strikes require little accurate body positioning,...

Principle 4 - Change from “prey” to “predator” in the shortest possible time – defense and attack should be as close together as possible or attacks should be pre-emptive. There are three components of and reality based self defense system: simple instinctual techniques, physical fitness and an aggressive mindset. When your heart rate hits 180 BPM (Beats per Minute) due to the effects of adrenaline, your ability to perform complex techniques disappear, and when your adrenaline wears off, whatever superhuman powers it gave you will got to; all you’re left with is your current fitness level and your aggressive mindset. I don’t...

Principle 3 – “Lay down as much continuous firepower in the shortest possible time i.e. “assault” the attacker. Don’t allow gaps/spaces between your strikes and attacks as this gives the opportunity for your attacker...” Sparring is something that two people do as a pair together; a fight is something that two people do to each other and an assault is something that one person does to another. Sparring as invaluable a training aid as it is, is a poor reflection and replication of an actual street fight. In a sparring match both individuals get the opportunity to both attack and defend...

Principle 2: “The nearest weapon should attack the nearest softest target (eyes, throat or groin). Use attacks, which bypass an attackers “pain management” system e.g. bite, slap, eye rake etc. Use strikes, which give you the most “bang for your buck” and are the easiest to pull off.” The nearest weapon attacks the nearest softest target is an artillery principle that a gunner’s (artillery) officer once told me over a pint. I think this is both an obvious military principle and one that makes perfect sense from a self-defense/Krav Maga perspective. Imi Lichtenfeld, the founder of Krav Maga, talked about the...

Along time ago, I wrote down a back of a cigarette packet list of “principles” on fighting that I worked out in a coffee shop one morning after a training session. I came across them again in an email I sent to a friend. I might re-word or emphasize things a bit differently but this is how they originally stood: 1. Disrupt then damage, then destroy or disengage. Disruption can be as simple as attacking an assailants balance. 2. The nearest weapon should attack the nearest softest target (eyes, throat...