Krav Maga is a martial art and self-defense system developed for the military in Israel that consists of a wide combination of techniques sourced from boxing, savate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and grappling, along with realistic fight training. Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks. It was derived from street-fighting skills developed by Slovakian-Israeli martial artist Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, as a means of defending the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava in the mid-to-late 1930s. In the late 1940s, following his immigration to Palestine, he began to provide lessons on combat training to what was to become the IDF, who went on to develop the system that became known as Krav Maga. It has since been refined for civilian, police and military applications.

Learning a fighting style for self-defense is an important way to feel empowered while also increasing your own protection. Yet, not all fighting styles equally offer the best methods of self-defense. It’s the limitations of many popular fighting styles that inspired the founder of Krav Maga, Imi Lichtenfeld, to develop a style of fighting that draws upon the techniques of some of the best styles like judo, boxing, wrestling, aikido, and jujitsu to create the more lethal but defensive style Krav Maga is known for.

Developed in the 1950s, Krav Maga, which is Hebrew for “contact combat,” was born out of Litchenfeld’s desire to protect his Jewish neighborhood from anti-Semitic thugs, leading to fights where he discovered the rule-bound training of his current fighting styles left him vulnerable in the streets where no rules applied.

Today, Krav Maga makes an excellent self-defense system because it trains students to deal with the unexpected, such as multiple attackers, weapons, and unpredictable environments—training that is much more useful in self-defense than the focus on rules and style seen in older fighting styles like boxing. While a Krav Maga fighter may not be able to hold their own in the predictable setting of a boxing ring, it is precisely their training to surmount any obstacle that occurs outside of the ring that makes it an excellent choice for self-defense.

Students of Krav Maga are trained for real-world self-defense situations from the start; training always begins with an emphasis on avoiding confrontation and escaping danger, qualities that make it a uniquely well-adapted fighting style for self-defense. Students are instructed in situational awareness, teaching them how to avoid danger through recognizing threats and turning their surroundings into weapons for self-defense.

At the foundation of Krav Maga’s philosophy is survival at all costs. Characteristics of this fighting style are often barred in the rules of other fighting styles, such as continuing to strike an opponent until they are incapacitated, using any objects available as a weapon against an opponent, and targeting the most vulnerable parts of the body. The point of Krav Maga is not to win a match through skill within the constraints of a rulebook, but to neutralize an opponent through any means necessary.

In searching for the best fighting style for self-defense, Krav Maga’s focus on immediacy and lethality above style and rules makes it an excellent and highly effective choice. A testament to the style’s utility and power is its adoption by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Krav Maga is one of the world’s most effective fighting styles for self-defense to study “so that one may walk in peace,” as said by the style’s originator, Imi Lichtenfeld.