Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault

You should be careful with any fighting system that tells you that you can successfully evade a gun barrel that's pointed at the back of your head.

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 Imi Sde-Or and Eyal Yanilov's, "Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault." This book starts out with a basic definition of Krav Maga and the basic principles behind the self-defense system and the techniques in which it encompasses. I am a firm believer in the underlying principles being far more important to a particular technique than the technique itself, and I am glad to see that the authors of this book feel the same way. Throughout the entire book, each section begins with the basic principles on which the techniques are based and how they are to be applied. This is a true sign of an excellent martial arts/self-defense book. The next chapter takes a look at various ways of holding a knife during an attack. As well as, a few defenses that can be used against an imminent knife attack. These defenses are primarily against stabbing attacks. One negative comment that I must make concerning this book is the authors' use of high section kicks to the head as a counter to a knife attack. Although I will be the first to admit that it is possible, it is not something that I personally would recommend that anyone try, even if you are extremely adept at high section kicks. It would only take one small mistake for you to end up a hen instead of a rooster, if you know what I mean. The following chapter goes over several various techniques that can be used when you are threatened by someone with a knife. This is quite a bit different than being attacked by someone with a knife, and is some cases, is a lot more dangerous. This is followed by a chapter on various defensive techniques that can be used if you are attacked by someone yielding a stick. The next couple of chapters really bring out the meat and potatoes of Krav Maga. That is the sections dealing with defenses against an opponent armed with a firearm. The first section briefly explains the difference between a revolver and an automatic pistol. It then jumps right in on how to deal with threats from an attacker yielding a handgun, and how to disarm them. The second section deals with how to defend against attacks with a rifle, shotgun, and submachine gun. Although these things may seem a rarity in American society, they are all too real in Israel where Krav Maga was born. Therefore, I tend to believe that these can be effective. However, in my opinion, you should only try them as a last resort. I found the next chapter to be quite unique, especially the section on how to deal with a hand grenade. I surely hope that I never am faced with a situation where this becomes an issue, but if it does; this book shows some very practical ways to deal with it. After the hand grenade portion, this section goes into a detailed look at how to handle a situation where you aren

Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault is straight from the horse's mouth. Krav Maga is a "combatives" system of hand-to-hand combat. I refer to fighting systems as "idiot systems" and "expert systems"-not very flattering, I know. The idiot systems are quick to learn and easy to retain and effective when used ruthlessly. The expert systems take a long time to learn and consistently dedicated refresher training to retain, but when mastered are more effective than the idiot systems. I prefer the idiot systems, myself. These idiot systems include combatives such as Krav Maga, Russian Sambo, and the various hand-to-hand combat systems used by the world's militaries. I must explain that my background is military-hand-to-hand combat includes both unarmed fighting and weapons used in close quarter combat. NOTE: this is a book about self defense-"don't get hurt" and "act correctly" are two of its principles. My initial hand-to-hand combat training in the Marines had a different purpose-kill the other guy first because I was in a desperate situation and unarmed against an enemy who was duty-bound to kill me. This book doesn't specifically teach you how to kill-the emphasis is defensively removing the threat long enough to escape. The target audience of this book isn't the police officer charged with apprehending a violent criminal or the soldier confronted with an enemy who must be killed or disabled immediately (if not sooner)-this book is aimed at the private citizen who counters the assailant's attack. While I like the counters, and feel that they will work, a determined attacker will not be dissuaded simply because his pet technique fizzled the first time. Sometimes, as the text says, "if someone comes to kill you, kill him first." Krav Maga is a defensive art (Sambo is much more offensive) and the goal of "Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault" is "Become proficient, so that you will not have to kill." Sorry. I won't be proficient enough to both avoid getting killed by multiple armed assailants and to stop deadly force assaults without really hurting them. I am not Superman. The techniques in this book do give me lesser force options because not every assault is a deadly force situation. "How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault" covers counters to knives, guns, sticks, and hand grenades. Several "real-life stories" testify to the effectiveness of Krav Maga as a combatives system. The Page 93 and Page 108 stories of self-defense are compelling because they cover people foolishly misusing handguns and successfully disarming them without injury to either defender or careless person. Many self-defense problems do not require that the defender kill the attacker. Police use the force necessary to subdue and apprehend. Private citizens use the force needed to stop the assault-not always a "deadly force" assault, but will you stand still while someone pounds on you? In the two cases mentioned in the sidebars

This book is by no means a "teach yourselfe Krav-Maga" book, and was not intended to be either. This book does not teach you how to block an attack and it does not teach you how to kick ore even how to throw a straight punch, so it is not aimed at the novice, but it contains a vide variety of information on how to deal with an armed assault just like it promisses. It teaches principples and aproaches that are truly unique. I am a black belt in Taekwon-Do ( ITF ) and i feel pretty safe whenever i am out on the street, but this book has given me an extra edge in selfe defence.... so if you want to expand your horizont and are looking for a way to feel more comfortable with armed opponents this is a great opportunity.But remember, the teqnicues need to be praticed in order to work in a real life and death situation :D

The first rule of KM is "Don't get hurt!" What do you do when you see the knife in the fight - 1. RUN! (No macho last-man-standing...) 2. Get a longer weapon. 3. As a last ditch, life or death resort, go hand-to-hand, then RUN! KM will teach you things you can effectively use after your first class going to your car in the parking lot. It does not take years of study, complex choreographed jumping and hand swirling and theatrics. If you can't learn a technique to some degree of usefulness in five or ten minutes, it won't help you in a street attack. This book is, unfortunately, fairly advanced, being aimed at weapons defense. The basics of punch, kick, elbow, knee are essential to weapons defense. Is KM "nothing new?" Depends on what you mean by "new." Krav Maga was developed for the Israeli Defense Forces with the aim of training large numbers of ordinary citizens (remember, mandatory conscription in Israel) in a very short time to defend themselves successfully. KM is based on boxing, street fighting, grappling and, being an open system, changes its techniques and incorporates from other systems. In my four plus years of KM study in nice safe Seattle, we have changed some of our moves, studied techniques from Ju Jitsu, Capoeira, Safta, Marine Corps CQB, Muay Thai kickboxing, joint manipulation, Tae Kwon Do and other systems. We have instructors come in, occasionally, to show us other systems.KM is for the ordinary person as well as police and military. An attacker is not likely to be a trained weapons fighter, just a loser out to get cash or valuables. Knife attacks are up as penalties for gun use become more severe. Sometimes, the loser just hurts you for kicks - not much else happening in his miserable little life, maybe.Is KM worth learning? Yep. The very best in every situation? Often, maybe. The be all and end all? Nope. But it has been very useful for some classmates in tough circumstances. Put this one on your list, read it, then take a class. You will be glad you did.

You no longer have to travel to L.A. or the "Big Apple" to get a taste of the increasingly popular self defense and fitness method called Krav Maga. This new book gives you some valuable tips on how to protect yourself on today's mean streets from armed attackers. And its written by the late creator of the system and one of his students- who happens to be the head of one of the major Krav Maga organizations! I liked this book because of its no nonsense approach to personal protection- from safety in training to getting mentally tough. Other books I thought were in the same league are "The Close-Combat Files of Colonel Rex Applegate" by Applegate and Melson; "Krav Maga for Klutzes" by the Personal Shield Foundation; "U.S. Marines Close Combat Manual" from Paladin Press.