What is Krav Maga and who is its founder?
Imi Lichtenfeld (Imrich Lichtenfeld), the founder of Krav Maga, was born in Budapest in 1910 as the child of a Hungarian Jewish family. In those years, he was involved in wrestling and boxing and did gymnastics.
Who is Imi Lichtenfeld?
Lichtenfeld found many opportunities to improve his techniques throughout his life, which included military service, wars, and asylum. Lichtenfeld, who worked as an instructor in the Israeli army after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, retired in the early 1960s and adapted his techniques to civilian life in his own gym, where he implemented the current basic curriculum of Krav Maga.
According to Imi, the basic principle of self-defense is to take counteraction as quickly and decisively as possible (using the attacker's natural body movements). Krav Maga, which means "close combat" in Hebrew and was developed by Israeli military forces, was actually born as a fighting and survival system.
Imre "Imi" Lichtenfeld (May 1910 – 9 January 1998), also known as Imi Sde-Or was a Hungarian-born Israeli martial artist. He is widely recognized for developing Krav Maga, an Israeli martial art.
The aim of Krav Maga is not to fight, but to defend oneself by attacking easily injured parts of the human body and neutralizing the opponent. In Krav Maga, where many fighting and sports disciplines such as Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Ninjutsu, Kenjutsu, and Aikido are combined, it is important to develop your "awareness" rather than knowing the fighting techniques. You may be an expert in Krav Maga, but if you are caught unconscious in a simple street attack, it may be inevitable that you will be beaten. In Krav Maga, speed and agility are your greatest weapons to prevent your opponent from making a counterattack.
In Hebrew, Krav means "battle" and Maga means "contact" or "touch."