What do other martial arts think of Krav Maga?

February 9, 2008 11:57am CST
The only martial art I've done is Krav Maga and I've read on forums very negative things about it. Is this because it is a relatively new martial art? or is there something flawed about it? Is it viewed as being a bit of a jack of all trades master of none?
5 responses
@uath13 (8192)
• United States
9 Feb 08
I'm afraid it's either new enough or localized enough that I haven't even heard about it much less seen any examples of it put to use yet. I couldn't tell you.
2 people like this
11 Feb 08
It's been around since 1930's so in martial arts terms it's new and it's Israeli not asian in origin. In Scotland it's not widely known but I thought there was more going on in america. If you have seen the Bourne films or the TV series Alias, you will have seen Krav.
@uath13 (8192)
• United States
11 Feb 08
I haven't seen either. I'll probably get all the Boorne & watch them some weekend.
2 people like this
12 Feb 08
The bourne films are really good, I'm sure you'll enjoy them
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
10 Jul 08
I think the reason people might get a negative impression of Krav Maga is because of the principles involved. Krav Maga focuses on neutralizing an enemy as quickly as possible with as little injury to the self as possible. Krav Maga also uses principles such as using any tool or object available to use as a weapon and striking any vulnerable body parts of your attacker, with one of its basic premises being to cause as much damage as possible and flee the scene. This makes for a fighting style that uses some brutal and crippling attacks. In the wrong hands, Krav Maga could be very dangerous and cause unnecessary injuries and casualties.
31 Jul 08
Krav doesn't have any competitions at least not that I know of, so it doesn't have the same problem as ninjutsu. You hit the nail on the head with the last thing you said as Krav is the system used by the Israeli army and special ops.
@shawnfph (18)
• China
30 Jun 08
hehe,i never heared this kinds of martial arts before,will you show me some picures or vidios on this ?
1 person likes this
2 Jul 08
It's not a widely known martial art and has only been around for about 60 years. It is a mix of various other martial arts not a pure form. Here is a link to the official website for more info. http://www.krav-maga.com/index2.html
• Australia
11 Jul 08
krav maga is a strike first ask questions later kinda of art, whilst it is effective, it does not train the ethics into it students unlike traditional martial arts. ioh and ireal is in the middle east which happens to be in asia
1 person likes this
21 Jul 08
It was developed to help jews defend themselves against fight nazis in Europe and as a result doesn't have much in the way of ethics but what is the point of ethics if you are under attack. As far as I'm concerned if someone is intent on harming me then I have a right to defend myself and if that means going too far to ensure my safety then so be it.
@mymelodake (1338)
• Philippines
23 Sep 08
i watched an episode of this on fight quest and one of the hosts mentioned that illegal moves in other martial arts is legal in krav maga like eye gouges and groin kicks )or something like that). i'm not a martial arts enthusiasts and i don't know much about krav maga other than what i've seen on fight quest, but the only thing i can say is that it's probably the way it is since it is developed in modern times for protection and it's only slowly popularizing as a sport. i know most if not all martial arts started as a way of protecting oneself, but today it's more of a sport and not real fighting, like you really want to hurt or maim your opponent.
1 person likes this
23 Sep 08
Krav has a lot of what other martial arts would call illegal as it is all about defending yourself. You're right most of them have become sports and more to do with style than actually hurting someone. At the moment there are no Krav Maga competitions and I hope it doesn't as it should stay the way it is as a defence system.