Krav Maga is a brutally effective self-defense system designed to teach practitioners how to defend themselves and others against common attacks in the shortest possible amount of time. As it was developed to train groups of Israeli Defense Force recruits of varying ages, it was designed from the ground up to be effective for men and women of all sizes. It is intended to be easy to learn, easy to retain and easy to use under stressful conditions. It is entirely about real world threats and is not a sporting "art".

Krav Maga is a very pragmatic and flexible system unencumbered by rigid ancient traditions. Top level IKMF instructors such as Eyal Yanilov, continuously work with soldiers, law enforcement officers and civilians to ensure that the system evolves as new threats emerge. Some aspects of Krav Maga even deal with defenses against hand grenades, the use of modern firearms and defending against carjackers, subjects that are rarely addressed by systems that focus on competitive tournament fighting.

Krav Maga emphasizes practicing under stressful conditions, such as fighting while exhausted, defending against multiple attackers and defending against armed attackers. The goal is train students to be good at defending against the threats they are most likely to face in the real world and only expose them to less common threats after they master the basics. For example, a civilian student must excel at defending against common chokes, punches, kicks and stabs long before they are taught how to deal with a grenade.

Although Krav Maga does include ground fighting techniques, it emphasizes striking rather than grappling. The goal is to neutralize threats as quickly as possible so that you can then escape to safety. The assumption is that your attacker may have allies, so it is imperative not to remain tangled up with someone on the ground while others have time to surround and pummel you.

An important component of Krav Maga is instilling an aggressive mindset in practitioners. If attacked, Krav Maga students are taught to immediately and reflexively respond with devastating attacks until the attacker is no longer capable of being a threat. There is no gradual escalation violence or sporting back and forth exchange of blows, but rather a shockingly ferocious flurry of attacks meant to end the battle before the opponent even realizes that they are meeting with resistance. Krav Maga is about survival and is not intended for sporting contests.

It was originally created by Budapest-born Imi Lichtenfeld (Sde-Or) as a means of resisting anti-Semitic violence in 1930’s Bratislava and 1940’s Palestine. In the late 1940’s, Imi became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the Israeli Defense Forces School of Combat Fitness where he continued to develop Krav Maga for decades as a solution for real world violent attacks. Given Israeli’s historical problems with terrorism and anti-Semitic violence, Krav Maga has been continuously field tested and improved since its creation.

In 1981, Krav Maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld, Eyal Yanilov and four other top Israeli instructors traveled throughout the United States performing demonstrations at large metropolitan Jewish community centers. A demonstration in Atlanta was televised, providing the first popular exposure to this fighting system for most Americans. Near the end of this trip, Eyal Yanilov and Reueven Maimon gave demonstrations to both an FBI office in New York and the main FBI training center at Quantico.

The success of this visit to the United States was later followed that year by a group of 22 Americans who traveled to Israel to take a grueling six week course on Krav Maga from Eyal Yanilov. When these students returned to the United States, many of them shared their new skills with others and created the first US based teaching framework for Krav Maga. Throughout the 1980’s, more people traveled to Israel to learn Krav Maga and prominent Israeli instructors returned to the United States to teach Law Enforcement officers.

The International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF) was established as a formal way to insure that students and teachers outside of Israel are kept up to date with recent changes to this fighting system and ensure a standardized basic skill set. Top IKMF instructor Eyal Yanilov, who helped the founder co-write the earliest comprehensive Krav Maga instruction manual, is now the top instructor for the IKMF and frequently travels to IKFM schools in the United States and other countries to ensure that the latest and greatest methods are being shared. Although other Krav Maga groups and associations exist in the United States, most are based on the teachings of that original group of 22 Americans who traveled to Israel in 1981 and most of these organizations lack the benefit of the most recent techniques and teaching methods used in Israel and shared via the IKMF.

Krav Maga tests are long exhausting affairs meant to prove that a student can effectively use their techniques even when they are mentally and physically exhausted. It is traditional for students to end a long and grueling test by defending against many continuously attacking opponents from all directions. Each test covers ALL material learned up to and including the level being tested, and thus each higher level of test is longer and covers more material. For example, a Level 2 test is equivalent to retaking an entire Level 1 test and then immediately following it with a test of Level 2 material. This approach ensures that students are never allowed to forget their fundamentals, and advanced students must demonstrate an increasing level of mastery of their basic techniques in addition to basic competency with new material.