Krav Maga Fitness and Self-Defense Comes to Minnesota

The Israeli fighting and self-defense technique known as Krav Maga is now taught in Minnesota, where I recently had the opportunity to observe a demonstration at a Minneapolis training center. What I thought was going to be just another martial arts demonstration turned out to be a self-defense and fitness class.

What makes Krav Maga unique? Unlike traditional martial arts classes like karate, judo, jujitsu and tae kwon do, Krav Maga puts form and style secondary to surviving a fight or attack. But before the instructors put on their demonstration, they gave us the interesting history of this self-defense system - from the man who founded it, to its arrival in the United States.

Krav Maga was founded in Israel by Hungary-born Imi Lichtenfeld in 1948. His father was a high ranking policeman and self-defense instructor, so Lichtenfeld was familiar with basic martial arts. Although Lichtenfeld was himself an athlete proficient in boxing and wrestling, he also fought in the streets, defending himself, his family and his Jewish community from anti-Semitic thugs.

When he was 30 years old, world events forced Lichtenfeld to leave his homeland. He ended up in Palestine (now Israel), joined a paramilitary group and taught soldiers self-defense techniques. From this was born Krav Maga, Lichtenfeld's own system of fighting and self-defense that continues to be used by the Israeli Defense Force to this day.

In 1964, Lichtenfeld retired from military service and devoted himself to making Krav Maga useful for ordinary citizens in everyday fighting or self-defense situations. Once he had qualified instructors accredited by the Israeli Ministry of Education, Lichtenfeld's system was ready to expand worldwide.

Lichtenfeld was 71 years old when he supervised the first United States course in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1981. One of the first to pass the strenuous 6-week course was a man named Darren Levine, who thereafter trained directly under Lichtenfeld, both in the U.S. and Israel. Today Levine is a 6th degree black belt in Krav Maga and the highest ranked instructor in the United States.

Since then, Krav Maga has spread from the National Training Center in Los Angeles to sites across the country, including Minneapolis, Minn.

In the demonstration I attended, the instructors used real-life scenarios to fight and defend themselves. With little concern about style or form, they used what they said was their bodies' natural instincts to make every part of their bodies a weapon. It was a no holds barred approach to survival when under attack. They also focused on using whatever was available as a weapon. In this case, of course, they used mock clubs, knives, the attacker's gun, etc.

So what does this have to do with fitness? As we witnessed, learning to fight and defend oneself with this no holds barred approach is not for weaklings. And for those of us who are weaklings, learning the Krav Maga system of self-defense and fighting with its kicks, blocks, punches and moves is an excellent form of physical exercise that will increase our fitness level in no time.

When the demonstration was over, both instructors were winded and sweating. And those of us who watched the demonstration were convinced that learning Krav Maga would be both fun and worthwhile, both for self-defense purposes and fitness.

Although there is currently just one training center in Minnesota, and none in our neighboring states of North and South Dakota and Iowa, Wisconsin has four. Of the 50 continental U.S., all but 11 have Krav Maga training centers, and more are in the works.