Krav Maga: An Essential Guide to the Renowned Method--For Fitness and Self-Defense

I have studied various martial arts for years. I was fortunate enough to have had an instructor early on whose primary focus was practical self-defense, in other words, what would actually work in a street fight, mugging, ambush, etc. The techniques in this book are the same I have learned over the years. They are practical, and they work. The thing about this book I was happiest to see was the instructor's admission that: in a fight, you're going to get hit/hurt, possibly more than once, and that you must defend yourself to the best of your ability while striving to end the fight as quickly as you can with the appropriate amount of force (you're not going to immediately gouge the eyes out of some drunk who's a little overly friendly in a bar, but you may need to if he follows you out and tries to rape you). I also like the fact that he has included reality: it may take several blows from you before your attacker succumbs. Don't just hit a man once in the throat; hit him as many times as you safely can. Overall a good read, and if you can remember and apply these techniques in a crisis situation you're ahead of the game, but it still doesn't take the place of taking a class in a martial art and feeling what it's like, under controlled conditions, to actually block someone's strike, grapple with them, punch back, etc. But remember and apply these techniques if necessary, and this book very well could save your life.

This book is AMAZING. I've often been a critic of martial arts books because it's very hard for me to learn from books. The creators of martial arts books don't always make it easy to learn from their books either...and let's face it, some martial arts don't lend themselves well to book form. David Kahn has OUTDONE himself with Krav Maga: The Contact Combat System of the Israel Defense Forces. The format of this book is very eye catching and uses a lot of bold text, boxed text and special sections to hold the readers attention. While much of the material can be considered "basic self-defense" by some standards, I found myself learning a new perspective on every nearly every page. Even though I've seen these techniques before, I had never seen them packaged and categorized in the way David has done it. I'm going to make a bold statement here...I can actually learn Krav Maga from this book! That's right! We all know that going to a class is the best way to learn any martial art. But this particular book even surpases DVD's in my opinion in an applicable way to learn effective self-defense. I try nearly everything that lands on my doorstep for review. I enjoy a lot of it, but nothing, not one thing on this website has impressed me the way this simple book did. I wish I owned 50 copies and could give them out to family and friends. If you follow what David is saying and practice in the SUPERB way he has it laid out, you will learn self-defense and Krav Maga. I am following David's 12 week program right now and I will finish it. I was VERY sore after the first day which was a suprise! This isn't just a fitness program or something, you are drilling the techniques and building muscle memory. Summary: I have quite simply never come across a martial arts book THIS inspiring and THIS good...ever...period. It's a MUST READ for anyone concerned about self-defense, fitness or Krav Maga.

Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it's definitely worth owning. One such book is David Kahn's, "Krav Maga." After a brief introduction, David gives you a good basic overview of Krav Maga including some of its history. From here he goes right into a section on philosophy, which is very good, and one in which I would have to agree with about 90% of what he has to say. The next section in the book gives a good overview on the proper mindset needed in order for you to prepare yourself for combat. Something a lot of books fail to do, but not this one. David also gives you a basic understanding of the vital/vulnerable points on the human body. David's next section is rather brief to my liking, but still a good overview on the basic principles involved in striking correctly for maximum effect. This section covers such strikes as; punches, palm heel strikes, elbow strikes, and eye gouges. There is also a small section on blocks and parrying as it is called in boxing. The following section covers various lower body strikes and kicks along with kick defenses, which include deflections, blocks and grabs. This next section was particularly interesting in that it discussed close combat fighting and techniques essential to this section. Such as; falling, crawling, clinching, takedowns, defenses against tackles, etc. The escape section was very enlightening as David covered the basic principles of escape from basic grabs, chokes while standing, chokes while lying down, head locks, hair grabs, and bear hugs. Like most books that try to cover too much in one volume, I feel that the sections themselves although very well done, tend to be too brief on the proper execution of each individual technique. However, having said that, this is to be expected as the scope of this book is intended as a basic overview of the complete system, not a single volume devoted to one particular technique. The only fault that I have with this book is the fact that I would have preferred actual photographs for demonstrating the techniques, rather than illustrations. I felt that a lot of what David was trying to explain got lost with the use of illustrations compared to if he would have used actual photographs. The book continues with a brief section on basic strategies, which I found to be very solid. It then finishes with a basic training section which covers stretching, training programs, a 12 week training routine, and sparring. Overall, this is a very good basic overview on the art of Krav Maga, and one you definitely want to acquire, especially if you decide to join a Krav Maga class. And that is not a bad idea at all.

I originally got into Krav Maga as a mean to help me reduce weight while doing some type of "useful" workout. I mean by useful some type of workout that I could get something out from it besides the original purpose of losing weight. In this case it was personal defense. Why Krav Maga and no other type of "martial" art? I was drawn into Krav Maga because to me it is a no nonsense method of "martial" art. It just gets to the point. Defend yourself and neutralize your opponent by any means necessary and by using the human body's instinctive moves. These instinctive moves with "follow ups" are easily explained in David's book and is what, to me, makes Krav Maga a true modern martial art. I'm telling you all, I am not a "sports" person and I have been taking Krav Maga classes almost non-stop from more than one year now. What started as a means to help reduce weight, it quickly became (after just the first class) a need to have more and more. I can consider myself a Krav Maga Junkie. I just can't get enough! David's book is so well explained that it is like having your private instructor at home. Well done David! I can't wait for a second book!