Recently, while shooting the shit with some friends, the discussion turned to how we evaluate martial arts. I realized that we often look at scripted techniques or how they attack. These are important, but we also need to think: How does an art defend? So I’ve decided to ask this question about some of the more famous and infamous martial arts in a new series Attacking the Defense. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at an art that creates a polarizing response: Krav Maga.

Krav Maga is an Israeli system of fighting initially developed for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). It’s goal is to teach simple techniques dealing with hand to hand and weapons defense. The founder, Imi Lichtenfield, wanted the techniques to be simple so that students could quickly and efficiently learn to defend themselves. To some, Krav Maga is an effective and lethal art. To others, it is an art made up of gimmicks. I think it is somewhere in between.

One thing to understand about Krav Maga is that there are many different Krav Maga organizations and they focus on different goals first. Some have a higher emphasis on fitness, others perform more “stress tests,” thankfully some even spar. If that sounded rude, it was. I am salty that there are schools presenting themselves as self defense schools with students who never get to actually practice their training.

The quality control in Krav Maga is not great. In this way, American Krav Maga is like Tae Kwon Do’s edgy cousin with a knife collection. I can’t speak to other countries in terms of how it is trained. I can only speak from my experience and that of my colleagues. This alone doesn’t mean Krav Maga has a bad curriculum. It covers stand, clinch, ground, and weapons. However many of its answers to these issues are dodgy, in my opinion.

Before I tee off on Krav, let’s discuss some things it does well.

Stance: Krav Maga teaches a very useful initial stance, the neutral stance. With open hands facing outward, it can be used for de-escalation. It also helps protect the head and keeps the legs in a position to move in any manner.

Simultaneous Attack and Defense: Krav teaches the idea of attacking while you defend. Don’t wait for a chance after defending, do it then. I actually applaud that mentality. Counterattacks are really potent and help a defender stop their attacker’s momentum.

Inside Defense: It’s good, it’s always seemed a little stiff to me, but it still works. Basically a ridgid parry. 

Head Movement: Krav Maga teaches slipping as well as bobbing and weaving. They also teach it relatively early in the art, which I like. This gives the student more time to practice as they move through the art. My only complaint is that it’s not practiced enough from what I’ve seen.

Covering Defense Against a Hook Punch: This is a really useful tool, I honestly think this should be their major defense against a hook punch. Covering your head with your arm gives you extra cushion to protect your head and reduces that chance of a punch slipping through. With forward movement, it keeps you protected from the point of greatest impact.

Defense Against Low Kick with Shin: Hey look, it’s a shin check! Anyone who’s ever had to spar with nak muay knows these work and work well.

Defense Against Spinning Heel Kick: This one is pretty great. Kick the attacking tool before it can fully fire. It’s a little more high level, but a solid defensive concept.

Plucking Defense: This one is okay. Whipping a kick away isn’t a bad idea, but it feels high level for a curriculum with something like 4 takedowns.

Now let’s talk about what Krav Maga doesn’t do so well.

360 Defense: The 360 Defense method is one of those things that might seem effective at first. This is mostly used for circular strikes. The defendant blocks at outward angles, think high blocks and low blocks, but with added mid angle blocks as well. One problem with the 360 Defense is that this is taught to everyone regardless of size, shape, or health. Trying to perform an outward block against someone heavier than you can really hurt.

It might work for someone in the IDF, but not for a soccer mom. It also teaches you to block low punches with your arms instead of crunching with your elbows. It really leaves your head open. Students are taught to bend at their waist when performing these motions, which makes your defense of incoming attacks weaker. Students are also taught this for knife defense. You don’t block a haymaker and a knife the same way. It’s just not great. 

Outside Defense (Green Belt): The Outside Defense series is kind of a followup to the 360 Defense. The idea is to use high defenses to redirect strikes to the head, often straight punches. It feels clunky and unnecessary to me. These defenses open you up, keep you in line for further strikes, and depend on tricky timing. They may look simple, but they don’t seem that simple to me. One exception to this is the “Outside Defense Against a Right Punch” in which you use a corkscrew punch to simultaneously shield and counterattack. That one is a solid defense, I wouldn’t try the others.

Blocking High Kicks: My problem with the way Krav Maga defends against high kicks is where they defend. The high kick always seems to be blocked at the apex of its arc and power. That’s a lot to ask of someone. Instead, why not move in to block where there is less power? 

Blocking Kicks with a Low Block: This is first explored with the 360 Defense, but shows up elsewhere in Krav curriculums, depending on the organization. It’s just not a good idea to open your head up that much, especially when you have a shin check in the curriculum.

The General Defense (Blue Belt): The “General Defense” is a technique used to cover the head and the ribs on one side of the body. It works by performing an inside block with the opposite hand and a stiff arm block with the arm closest to the attacking limb. It works okay, but when it’s performed incorrectly, the defender can get quite hurt. If the close side arm is turned in too much, it exposes a straightened elbow to a lot of force, and it could dislocate under that force.

So how do these positives and negatives look all together? Not great, but not terrible either. Krav has some solid defenses within its arsenal, but we have to remember which ones are taught earliest and most focused on. The 360 Defense is simple in concept, but it’s also very easy to do wrong. It’s also treated as a kind of catch-all defense for punches, kicks, knives, and sticks. There are other defenses for each of these attacks, but the 360 is treated as the core of the system. 

I find that there’s a lot of hard blocking in Krav Maga and students are often taught to block at the point of most impact. This seems counterintuitive to me, if you’re trying to make a simple and effective art that anyone can learn. You can’t eat a kick from someone bigger than you. If you’re in a self defense situation, they could be bigger and stronger than you. I think that for a member of the IDF (who may carry a rifle, sidearm, and knife) this is a fine system. But for civilian self defense, I don’t agree with it.

So Krav has some solid defenses in it. The cover is great and head movement should always be a part of an art. But once again, these are cursory tools in how they are trained. There seems to be a lot more focus on outside defenses that keep you in range for more punches. They do have simultaneous attack and defense. But it seems that in trying to maintain simplicity, they have collected a number of underdeveloped tools. So overall, I’m going to give this a D+ grade, at most a C.