Krav Maga is a military self-defence and fighting system developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli security forces, derived from a combination of techniques sourced from aikido, boxing, wrestling, judo, and karate.
The term Krav Maga in Hebrew is simply translated as "Contact Combat"
Krav Maga is a very practical combative system.
It differs from traditional martial arts, which might focus on spirituality, or sport and competition.
Krav Maga is primarily concerned with safety in the real world – making it home alive, and having the fitness, confidence and awareness to do so.
Krav Maga is more ingrained in the physical world, and its basic principles are:
Avoiding the fight in the first place
Simultaneous defence and attack
Instinct-based movement
Targeting soft tissue and pressure points such as the eyes, throat and groin
Using weapons of opportunity that are available in your environment (rocks, sticks, household appliances etc.)
Dealing with multiple attackers
Neutralising armed and unarmed attackers
Being aware of surroundings in order to search for escape routes, more attackers, weapons or assistance
Simply, No.
Whilst we do rightly focus on improving your fitness and strength in our classes, our techniques do not require strength to be effective.
If you train with us regularly, your fitness will improve and your body will become better conditioned.
Warm ups and conditioning play a major part in our training
Yes there are. UKM follows the original belt system which was introduced by the founder of Krav Maga, Imi Lichtenfeld.
Completing belt gradings is not mandatory, but many of our students opt to participate as a measure of their personal progress.
We get asked this question a lot! The answer is not so clear cut though.
This depends heavily on you. How often you train, your ability to learn what we do and our techniques, your ability to respond under pressure and your commitment to being successful.
Book a free class with us and chat to one of our Krav Maga instructors for more information.
At UKM, we teach children a full contact self defence system based on the principles of Krav Maga.
We teach age-appropriate techniques that do not involve the use of firearms or bladed weapons.
It’s very easy for children to misunderstand fighting and violence and that is why we teach our students to clearly differentiate what is self defence and simply fighting because they want to be violent or are angry.
If they are not taught these important principles, they may well turn into a bully.
By imposing rules, principles and discipline into our training then kids will learn to understand that there is a time and place for fighting for self defence (and everything else).
Through our training and our principles, they will also learn self-control, self-respect, respect for others and other important virtues in life.