A System With No Limits
We can divide krav-maga in two parts: the face-to-face combat and self defence. Where the combat is concerned, all martial artist and sportive fighters will agree that it takes months, even years to achieve a basic command of this skill. However, this is a skill that can be of greatest help when our safety is in question. And yet there is an inconvenient that must be considered by those who practice a traditional martial art or a combat sport. The rules imposed by competitions in each sport are set to protect the competitors and practitioners, allowing them to continue and progress in their discipline. However, the improvement of their combat skills will be limited by those rules. Therefore it is obvious that a traditional martial artist or sports champion will never be able to defend himself against dirty techniques that are forbidden in a competition. What is more, he will not achieve the automatism of using those techniques himself. It is obvious that during the krav-maga practice it is very important to follow the safety rules. A practitioner of krav-maga must have the possibility to attend the class, even on a high level, without any risk or danger for his health. Yet no movement must be excluded, no attack must be unknown. The objective is to get used to a certain movement (all sorts of attacks) which is performed during the practice by the partner. Consequently, this movement will become familiar and the reactions to those movements will be automatized, and will not need to be analysed over and over again in a critic situation. Even though this reaction will not be faster than the reaction of another person, who will get hit due to lack of physical conditioning, a krav-maga practitioner will be better prepared and readier to react. The krav-maga practitioners are trained to face the combat in all its forms and different situations (chokes, grabs, .). The main characteristic of krav-maga is its objective. The esthetics and appearance are not important, the priority is efficiency. Krav-maga was created in Israel where the circumstances made survival an option. Krav-maga is a system that eliminated from its repertoire everything but essential that serves to this purpose. Finally, the conclusion was drawn, that simplicity is at the heart of the problem. Facing an aggressor, determinate to attempt at ones life or health, that person is subjected to a certain amount of stress, and is more or less prepared to deal with it. If despite the situation that person manages to suppress all his emotions like fear and anger, he will be able to perform nothing but essential, engaging this way the best of his abilities to survive. Otherwise, his movements will be jerky, contracted, wide and exhausting, consequently of a poor precision. With an impropriate breathing the situation becomes critic. All this does not mean that another person will not be able to face the situation properly, but his chances diminish while he is not trained to give the best of himself and therefore reach his optimal efficiency under pressure.
" Krav-Maga Self-Défense " Editions EM
