One of the best textbooks on Krav Maga and Self Defense!
1. Purchase Process:
I purchased Mr Boaz Aviram's book on "Krav Maga - Use of the Human Body as a Weapon Philosophy and Application of Hand to Hand Fighting Training System" online via Amazon.com. I had read excerpts of the book from the pages displayed online, and subsequently ordered the book to be sent via the fastest express shipping. The book arrived promptly within the stated time period of a few days, and I immediately dove into it.
2. General Description of Book:
The book is quite thick with pages at A4 sized, and a total of 325 pages. It is packed with detailed analysis and explanations.
3. User Feedback:
Personally, I have been involved for over 30 years in the martial arts, such as in Wing Chun Kung Fu, Tai Chi, MMA, Hapkido etc. and of course Krav Maga, before I read this book, and the book quickly got me nodding in agreement with the key principles it was expounding with regards to self defense.
What I like about this book are detailed as per the following points.
3. Presentation
- It is a no frills presentation on the original Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) military Krav Maga system as explained in narrative and photo demonstrations by Mr Boaz Aviram. Boaz's prose and narrative is in a straight-forward manner, as if he was talking to you in the first person. The patient reader will be rewarded with gems of wisdom and insightful analysis.
4. In-depth Explanations
- The principles and techniques explained are well grounded and based on a sound understanding of how the human body moves, operate and function.
5. Author Credentials and Credibility
- As for author credentials and credibility, Boaz is recognised as the former chief Krav Maga instructor for the IDF Fighting Fitness Academy, third in line after Immi Sde Or (Immerich Lichtenfeld) and Eli Avikzar. Boaz is also recognised as a senior coach, Krav Maga Top Expert and consultant by various Israeli official authorities including the Wingate Institute and some KM associations such as the IKMA. Boaz himself does not belong to any Krav Maga association. Boaz himself is friendly, approachable and helpful for those who have contacted and communicated with him. (his website is kravmaganewyork.net)
- His experience is evident in his insights, as he explains clearly that the objectives of the original IDF military Krav Maga system is mainly focussed on intensively training soldiers in hand to hand combat, self defense and survival within a relatively short period of time (and not on long drawn out training for competitive sports fighting with rules as in other civilian martial arts). This leads on to his explaining the reasons behind the core principles of the system and the rationale behind why particular techniques are included or excluded in the KM system.
6. Interesting Points
- On a side note, Boaz mentions that that there is only one main official hand to hand combat system taught to the Israeli military forces (IDF) and that is Krav Maga, from its inception. Different units may get more or less training in KM according to their requirements.
7. Take aways from the book:
- As per Boaz's common sense guideline, if a technique is too fancy and complicated, it is unlikely to work in a real life self defense situation, and therefore does not fit into the KM framework of the system being simple, instinctive, direct, effective and efficient. Hence, most of the techniques in the book follow this principle, and are demonstrated and explained to fit this guideline.
- The scenarios and techniques in the book cover almost most of the common scenarios from unarmed combat to defense against weapons (e.g. edged weapons, blunt impact weapons, handguns, rifles etc), usage of improvised and common weapons (e.g. stick), surviving multiple attackers, surviving car jacking etc.
- One of the most valuable part is in Chapter 1 and 2 where Boaz analyses in detail the principles of self defense e.g. danger situation analysis, understanding of reaction time, use of pressure points etc. He states that that years of martial arts training may be wasted if it does not help one to survive a real life self defense situation for instance if the art or system does not teach or emphasise the correct core principles of self defense which must be mastered and made instinctive.
- Having trained in other martial arts (such as karate, judo and ju-jitsu etc) himself for years, Boaz also discusses about the issue of other martial arts in relation to self defense, mainly to warn that one may need to unlearn some impractical habits for self defense actions.
- At the very least, this book will equip the reader with a sound framework of common sense and reasonable guidelines to assess - whilst engaging in their own training and studies - what martial arts system, principles and techniques are practical, useful and likely to work in a real life scenario where self defense actions are required.
- As Boaz says, understanding the principles is the key to developing the right instincts and using and training the right techniques.
8. Differentiation of this book from other books on Krav Maga:
- The book thus distinguishes itself from other books on Krav Maga in distilling the essence of the official military Krav Maga system and explaining the principles of self defense and the rationale behind selected techniques clearly. For instance, there are some other books which are filled out with fitness drills and routines which are useful for overall physical fitness and attribute development and are written with those objectives in mind, but they are not so focussed on the core principles and purposes of KM. (Though to be fair, there are also other books which give a good thorough interpretation and treatment of KM in the market.)
9. Conclusion:
Based on the above points, this is why I would recommend this book as one of the best textbooks for Krav Maga and self defense.
