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Krav Maga is a practical and tactical system which teaches you how to prevent, deal and overcome all kinds of violence and attacks. It was developed in Israel by the late Imi Lichtenfeld during his remarkable military career as the chief instructor of hand-to-hand combat with the Israeli forces. We have never heard of Krav Maga before, but that does not mean it has not been around. It just did not get taught here till about a year ago when Kenneth Asuncion established the International Krav Maga Federation of the Philippines. Krav Maga is a horizontal system with a unique and logical approach. It is a modern and proven system of self-defense that's performed naturally, intuitively, practically and is carefully conceived for today's volatile world.

Krav Maga was meticulously developed to be diversified that's why it is applicable to the military, law enforcement agencies and civilians like us. An essential part of Krav Maga is its teaching process, methodology and ways of training. It includes the subjects of prevention, avoidance, escape and evasion.

One of the basic premises of Krav Maga is not to get hurt. You can achieve this by first of all having a high level of proficiency in self defense. Now, in a perfect world, no one would get hurt. But we live in the real world where sometimes even if you do have high level self defense skills, you can still get hurt. That being the case, Krav Maga teaches you how to absorb different kinds of attacks and it also teach you how to take the correct action under newly established conditions.

Now it was our turn to learn as much Krav Maga as we could in a very limited amount of time. Our certified Krav Maga instructor Dariusz, told us something to start off our lesson that we never really heard before. He said, "first and foremost know this, escape is the best form of self defense.” It took a few seconds for that statement to sink in but after it did, it totally made a lot of sense. Another basic premise of Krav Maga, as emphasized by its founder, Imi Lichtenfeld is to be modest. Trainees are taught not to boast about your skill and if you can avoid unnecessary conflicts, do so. Krav Maga also teaches overcoming your ego and controlling your mental state so it does not fail you during a confrontation. Krav Maga contains special approaches, tactics, techniques, subjects, drills and training methods. We started learning the Krav Maga way of defending all unarmed attacks, punches, strikes, kicks. We were also taught releases, how to set yourself free from different kinds of grabs and holds.

Another basic premise of Krav Maga is act correctly, which means doing the right thing at the right time, making use of your abilities and taking full advantage of the
elements and conditions that prevail in your surroundings in order to deal effectively with the situation.

We were also taught moves when attacking as well as moves when counter attacking performed to all targets, distances, ranges, heights, angles, directions and in all rhythms.

Krav Maga teaches you how to attack and counter attack from all positions. Krav Maga teaches how essential it is to sharpen one's ability to discern levels of severity of a possible attack. This is especially important for young people who must be taught the values of self-control and avoiding violence. We are all for that but at the same time it is re-assuring to feel like you can defend yourself effectively if a situation
calls for it.

Here's a quick rundown of the Krav Maga approach that we've learned so far. Try to avoid confrontation, but if you are attacked, respond with an appropriate degree of strength, sufficient to neutralize the threat and remove yourself from danger.

Remember prevent, deal and overcome. Krav Maga also teaches defending yourself against all armed attacks and threats using a knife, sharp objects or stick bars and other blunt objects.

In this drill you're taught how to deal with an armed attacker like someone with a knife. Again though, there is no way for any of us to know if we will be threatened by a single attacker. We could also very well be threatened by multiple armed attackers from all different directions, so Krav Maga prepares its trainees to function in all circumstances and scenarios.

Krav Maga teaches you how to defend yourself based on the possible places an attack can occur and also how to defend yourself depending on the position you are in while standing, on the move, sitting down, laying down on your back, side or facing down.

Let us say this again, it is worth repeating. It is essential that you remember to make full use of your abilities and take full advantage of the elements and conditions
that prevail in your surroundings. You could be in a confined place, or in an open area, in an ally, staircase or inside your car. You need to learn to take the correct action under the established conditions.

In examining the Krav Maga discipline, you learn that there are two integral, inter-related components to it. Self defense and hand to hand combat like this particular type of fighting confrontation when you are being held by your attacker at gunpoint, the Krav Maga premise being become proficient so that you will not have to kill.

The skilled Krav Maga practitioner does not need to inflict unnecessary harm upon his or her opponent so you are taught how to physically be able to disarm an opponent from being held at gunpoint, to taking the gun away from your attacker.

In Krav Maga you are trained to conclude the confrontation briefly and efficiently.

Trainees are always taught to cultivate consideration for your fellow man even during a dangerous encounter. On the other hand, heed the expression,”If someone comes to kill you, kill him first”. This refers of course to specific situations in which you have no choice, it's either you shoot and live, or die.

Krav Maga contains special approaches, practical applications, tactics, techniques, drills and training methods for different sectors: civilians of all ages, men and women, young and old, law enforcement officers, military personnel, security officers as well as undercover agents and commando units. Krav Maga is an ideal self-defense method for beginners because of its simple, no non-sense and realistic approach to safety that you can learn and apply in a short period of time. Better safe than sorry... I'm sure we all agree on that.