Krav Maga as an \"Art\" and as a \"Self Defense\" System

It was perhaps Plato, who coined the phrase, “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”, a phrase that really does explain how the “origins” of Krav Maga differs from that of many other martial arts. Krav Maga was designed with one very simple premise in mind: how to get a previously untrained person to be able to defend themselves from the most common type of attacks that they are likely to face, in the shortest possible time. It is great to know how to defend against a low roundhouse kick etc but how often will you have to deal with such an attack in a reality based situation? In the ring or cage, very likely, on the street probably low to never.

                  British Police Statistics “suggest” that the most common street attack/assault is a push followed by a punch. I have no idea if there are similar statistics taken in the US but my guess is that real-world violence differs very little (with the exception of firearms in the US and the prevalence of knives in the UK) between the two countries. Most male-on-male fights, in Western culture begin with some form of verbal exchange, followed by a degree of pushing/pulling that eventually leads to someone throwing a committed but unsophisticated overhand right/swinging clubbing right hand attack. No ring/professional fighter would ever make such an attack however your average drunken assailant, with a grudge against you, in a bar room setting, is more than likely to throw such an attack, against you.

                  You can train how to defend against a lead hand, rear hand, and front hand hook combination till the cows come home however if nobody chooses to throw such an attack you’ve been developing skills outside of reality – of course practicing and developing these skills will support your street realistic techniques and give you a greater appreciation of your own combinations and offensive skills. Of course a ring/cage fighter will probably not be tested with these unsophisticated street style assaults and will never have to deal with an attack, such as a bar room right, inside their chosen sport.

                  Once you start looking at the most likely situations you will have to face, you will see how many traditional martial arts and combat sports may have lost their street edge or reality based origins and how in the “modern world” it may be much more applicable and realistic to build a system from the bottom up; creating solutions to the most likely situations that a person is going to face and who has a limited amount of time to both train and get proficient – this was the way Imi Lichtenfeld approached the idea of “self-defense” and “fighting”. If your martial art doesn’t present and practice solutions to a simple push and a punch style of assault etc it is hard to make the claim that it is reality based. There is nothing wrong in studying a ring or combat sport for its own worth and to supplement your other training etc but proficiency within that controlled environment does not always equate with proficiency on the street. I often think that a combination of certain arts can give you the components e.g. Judo will teach you how to handle pushing and pulling, boxing punching etc, but you will need to practice and find away to join the two art together – this was the approach Dennis Hanover took to “Israeli Self Defense”.

                  Training in another art/system can help develop skills and hone technique however the feeling of “reality” differs from that which is experienced in a controlled environment such as the training mats, cage or ring. You want to train for reality, then you need to look at the type of assaults you are likely to face and train train the techniques that offer proven solutions for dealing with them. The beauty of Krav Maga is that it can be trained in a short time as a self-defense system and over a longer period as an “art” e.g. I can teach somebody to flinch and block a swinging overhand right with a 360 block and I can also teach them to “rip” the arm by turning their hips and rotating the forearm; a skill which takes a much longer time to develop, especially when you want to combine it with a powerful strike. I often think our approach is to give a person something that is simple and immediately applicable and then over time develop the movement as an art, turning your “self defense” skills into “fighting” skills. The way to achieve this? Practice. See you on the mats tomorrow.