Development of Krav Maga קרב מגע

 

The master Imi Lichtenfeld 

In the late 1930s, anti-Semitic riots threatened the Jewish population of Bratislava. Together with other Jewish boxers and wrestlers, Lichtenfeld helped to defend his Jewish neighbourhood against racist gangs. He quickly realized that sport has little in common with real combat and began developing a system of techniques for practical self-defence in life threatening situations.

 In 1948, when the Israel was founded and the IDF was formed, Imi became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time he developed and refined his unique method for self-defence and hand-to-hand combat. After he finished his active duty, Imi began adapting and modifying Krav Maga to civilian needs.

The method was formulated to suit everyone -- man and woman, boy or girl, who might need it to save his or her life or survive an attack while sustaining minimal harm, whatever the background of the attack.

To disseminate his method, Imi established two training centres, one in Tel Aviv and the other in Netanya.

In 1964, Lichtenfeld retired from the Israeli military. He then modified Krav Maga to fit the needs of police forces and ordinary civilians. He trained teams of Krav Maga instructors, who were accredited by him and the Israeli Ministry of Education. He also created the Israeli Krav Maga Association in 1978. On January 9, 1998, Lichtenfeld died in Netanya, Israel, at the age of 87. Today Krav Maga continues to develop and adapt to the changes of violence, making it one of the most effective, easy to learn self-defence systems in the world.

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All About The Instructor

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 Christopher has over 16 years experience in different martial arts, Krav Maga and self-defence, and has been teaching for 5 years. One of Christopher's greatest passions is to teach, and especially to encourage and empower people through Krav Maga and fitness. 
 Shalom Krav Maga students are taught on a rotating curriculum, learning everything from Intro Level white belt to Level 6 – black belt techniques. We provide smaller size classes to ensure that everyone learns all techniques, and no student gets left behind. Classes begin with a short prayer, a 10 minute warm up and Krav Maga style circuit training to high energy music. Then lessons are split between a combative and self-defence technique, with lots of time to practice, before wrapping up with a brief cool down stretch. A strong emphasis is placed during lessons on situational awareness and deescalating potential dangerous people. The main goal of Shalom Krav Maga is peace, keeping people safe and getting out of danger as quickly and effectively as possible.
Student fitness levels and safety in training are taken very seriously, and students are monitored at every stage of class to ensure a positive experience and excellent learning. 
The training curriculum has been prepared by the Global Martial Arts University and was designed for safe and effective learning of the various Krav Maga techniques, taught by a certified Krav Maga instructor. 
​ Christopher is keenly aware of what his students need and he can deliver the training that is best suited to the needs of his individual students.
​If you have read through our website and have come to a clear understanding of what we have to offer, why not contact us to sign up for our next class. We are sure that after attending your first class, you will feel more confident that you can effectively defend yourself in dangerous situations.

Call us to find out more.