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About Krav Maga

About Martial Arts in Woburn

Our school in Woburn teaches the Israeli Martial Art of Krav Maga. This is a system of hand-to-hand fighting that was developed within the IDF (Israeli Defense force) and continues to develop and evolve to meet ever new threats and dangers. Unlike most martial arts that teach students how to move in unfamiliar ways, Krav Maga works with the body’s natural defenses e.g., if you are choked or strangled your hands will instinctively come up to your attacker’s arm/hands in order to pull away and clear the airway etc. The martial art of Krav Maga is about what you will do when attacked rather than what you might want to do. You may think/believe that a better response would be to attack the assailant’s groin and/or eyes etc., however, this isn’t something that you will instinctively or naturally do i.e., with a real-life strangulation you will be trying to claw away the arm from your throat so that you are able to breathe. This is the position your hands will be in before you even consciously process what type of threat/attack you are dealing with. Krav Maga recognizes this, and starts its defense/escape from this position, working with your natural instincts. There may be many seemingly “clever” things that other martial arts can show and demonstrate against such an attack but if they are not working with the body’s natural reaction(s) and need to be trained, in order to overcome any natural response, it is very unlikely that they will be effective if/when you are caught by surprise.

There is probably no other martial art that has been tested in the modern world to the extent of Krav Maga. The system has been around – in its current form – since the mid-1960’s (it is the evolution of the KAPAP program originally taught within the IDF) and has been taught to hundreds of thousands of army recruits who had to work and operate in one of the most violent and dangerous environments. Krav Maga has been battle-tested to a degree that no other system of hand-to-hand combat has been and been proved time and again to be effective against both unarmed and armed assaults, involving both single and multiple attackers. When you take the time and effort to learn how to defend yourself you want to be certain that the techniques and solutions you are learning have been put to the test and found to be effective.

Our classes in Woburn are taught by Gershon Ben Keren a 5th Degree Black Belt in Krav Maga who has been training in Krav Maga since 1993 (and other martial arts since 1980). He has written three books on the system, and in 2010 was inducted into the Museum of Israeli Martial Arts. If you want to see why Krav Maga is deemed so effective, you can watch a few short movie clips detailing some of the ideas and concepts behind the system by clicking here. If you are eighteen and over and are thinking about joining our adult program you can sign up for one of our beginner classes by clicking here, and if you have a child or teen under the age of 18, you can learn more about our Kids and Teens martial arts program by clicking here.