Krav Maga NYC Information

Krav Maga Institute NYC- The History of Imi and Krav Maga

As told by the students and instructors, not all self-defense systems have the credibility like what Krav Maga has. The best thing to be considered about Krav Maga is the fact that it can be used in real life, unlike other self-defense systems that are being exaggerated on movies and sitcoms. Before you hit the Krav Maga Institute NYC, and take up self-defense lessons, here’s an overview of the history of Krav Maga, and its genius creator, Imi Lichtenfeld. Krav Maga was procreated as the official defensive and fighting system of the Israeli Defense Forces. Imi Lichtenfeld was the IDF’s first Chief Instructor for combat and fitness. Today, the system of Krav Maga continuously evolves in order to efficiently deal with the changing violent situations and threats.

Imi Lichtenfeld is originally from Bratislava, and he was a champion in various fields such as wrestling, boxing, dancing, and gymnastic. During Imi’s youth days, Bratislava was full of dilemmas, including defiance of the Nazis to the Jewish population. Fortunately, Imi is capable of defending himself, since he’s a magnificent street fighter, and he’s very capable of mixing his knowledge and skills in wrestling and boxing, to the movements of his body. The Nazis considered Imi as a menacing opponent. Until the time came that he began teaching his fellow young Jews to protect themselves.

Just like the other Jews, Imi immigrated to Israel, formerly known as Palestine, after the war. He then served as Chief Instructor with the Haganah. In 1948, when Israel was established, Imi Lichtenfeld still served as Chief Instructor for both combat and fitness training. As the history tells, the novice Israel was surrounded by malevolent neighboring states, and was that time, struggling to preserve their independence. The forces of Israel were sent into training right away, and only have short amount of time to take lessons. So Imi Lichtenfeld improvised a combat system that goes with the body’s reflexive behavior, which is easy and quick to learn.  

Since Krav Maga is based on the reflexive behavior, it was justified that it truly works even under stressful situations. Because it is easy to familiarize, there are some self-defense experts who stated that Krav Maga is 6X faster and easier to learn compared to other known defense systems, and the retention rate is higher.