Krav Maga Origins

The name in Hebrew means "hand-to-hand combat". Krav meaning "battle" and Maga meaning "contact" or "touch".

Krav Maga is arguably the most effective hand to hand combat system in existence today. The system as it stands today is in use by special forces, close protection units and the private sector all around the world.

The Krav Maga system was initially developed by Imi Lichtenfeld in the late 1940's and was taught to what would become the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers, and aggression. Krav Maga has since been refined for both civilian and military applications.

Krav Maga is used by the IDF Special Forces units and several closely related variations have been developed and adopted by law enforcement and intelligence organizations, Mossad, Shin Bet, FBI, SWAT units of the NYPD and United States special operations forces. Krav Maga is currently being taught as a primary hand-to-hand combat technique among Police Departments in the United States.

Golani Krav Maga

When you do research about Krav Maga, you'll soon realise that senior instructors around the world are mostly non-Israeli's with sport martial arts backgrounds that have been to Israel to attend instructor courses for a couple of weeks at most. The bulk of world wide instructors are thus people that have done instructor courses with these senior instructors.

Immediately it becomes obvious that there is a great deal of knowledge dilution. Even worse is that these senior instructors have, over the years, modified Krav Maga with their sport martial arts influences.

Krav Maga taught at Golani (previously known as KALAH) has been forged by real world conflict and years and years of training in the Israeli Special Forces by founder Idan Abolnik.

We pride ourselves in the fact that we are yet to find Krav Maga that compares to that of Golani. We welcome you to see it for yourself by attending a demonstration. Demonstration dates are listed on our website, just visit the Golani Schedule page.

Krav Maga at Golani covers any type of attack and violent situation. We welcome students that ask us: "but what if this happpens?". The fact is that anything is possible, and being able to provide a solution to any situation (within the boundaries of realism) is essential. Some of the topics covered in our training:

• Hand-to-hand situations: defences against strikes, kicks, grabs, holds, chokes etc.
• Ground fighting: including ground situation with all weapons mentioned.
• Defences against handguns from any conceivable situation.
• Defences against rifles from any conceivable situation.
• Defences against knives: stabs, slashes, holds etc.
• Defences against any type of long (swing) weapon: sticks, bats, bottles, swords etc.

One of the most advantageous points about Krav Maga training at Golani, is that because it is founded in a combat background, we're also able to teach a student all the other tactical skills that might be required in real life. These skills are taught in our Combat Shooting and Civilian Tactical courses. Civilian Tactical is presented as a weekly class just like Krav Maga, to make it accessible to everyone.

We invite any person interested in protecting themselves and their families to attend a free, no obligation demonstration at one of our training facilities.
Just visit the Golani Schedule page to see when the next demonstration will take place at a facility near you.

NOTE: Attending a demonstration is now compulsary before starting Krav Maga training with Golani.

Krav Maga Classes

We structure our classes to support your development of Krav Maga. Therefore students have to take at least one class per week. For Krav Maga to be effective in real life, this is a bare minimum interval of training, doing less hampers progress and becomes ineffective.

Classes are structured in group classes mostly, but we offer private classes as well. Private classes can be taken for more focussed attention. Group lessons however, develops your Krav Maga skills with different types of people which is helpful since everyone differs in strength, height, levels of aggression etc.

We've also recently introduced an additional open class per week, giving students access to 2 classes per week. Open classes are different in that it's more about revision and refinement of you skills.
NOTE: open classes are currently only available at our main studio in Pretoria.

Some information about Krav Maga classes at Golani:

• Classes are at least one hour in duration, but can ocasionally be slightly longer
• Covering the foundation skills of Golani Krav Maga should take approximately 1 year, but we recommend ongoing training, as once you stop training, your skills retention will deteriorate with time.
• We offer free voluntary revision workshops (+- 4 hours) every few weeks, where students have the chance to revise skills already learnt

Our beliefs are that you have to train as close to reality as possible. This requires a strong mentality (which we develop in time) which is necessary to face real life situations. Training is also quite physical, an aspect also conquered over time. We encourage students to ask questions, which we can then answer with a practical solution.

Voluntary revision workshops are presented free of charge every few weeks.

Class Schedule

Anti-Hijacking

It's no secret that in South Africa, hijacking syndicates run rampant which leads to countless deaths. This highlights a key difference between South Africa and first world countries: criminals don't only steal, they also kill.

The government and the police's solutions are not always effective in South Africa, as they are more applicable to first world countries. Simply doing what your attacker says and handing over your posessions, WILL NOT guarantee your safety in South Africa.

We feel that when placed in such a situation, with the neccessary skills, one could respond and defuse such situations.

We have special anti-hijacking workshops where we teach and address as many situations as possible.

We also teach some basic body language skills, which could enable you to spot a hijacker even before something happens.

Anti-hijacking workshops can be attended in colaboration with your regular Krav Maga training.

Anti-Rape

In South Africa, rape is quite simply a major epidemic. We feel rape is almost as serious as murder and is a brutal and horrific crime.

Every woman should be able to defend herself against such an attack. Our anti-rape workshops aren't based on "poke-the-eyes" type of defences, as these will never or rarely work in real life.

These workshops are very emotionally challenging, which is necessary to prepare a woman for real life situations.

We aim to empower women not only through the physical skills learnt, but also the emotional coping mechanisms developed through our training.

Anti-rape workshops should be attended in collaboration with your regular Krav Maga training when possible. Remember, you will always be on your feet before you're on the ground where rape occurs; therefore arming you with the neccessary skills is not just about what to do once on the floor, but to also teach you what to do to prevent being there in the first place.

If you're not an existing student, an anti-rape workshop is a great introduction to Golani Krav Maga. You'll learn skills (physical and mental) that you can already use should you ever need them. These are life skills that every woman should equip herself with!

Law Enforcement

We have civilain Krav Maga and also Krav Maga techniques specific to law enforcement. We can design a Krav Maga program around any units' needs.

Generally, law enforcement hand-to-hand combat training is very ineffective. Training is mostly done in comfortable situations, with protection, non-realistic aggresion and sport martial arts techniques. This leads to the inability to respond to situations in real life.

In our modern age, law enforcement also relies too heavily on technology, and not on the development of practical knowledge and skills, which is a significant problem. At the end of the day, everything is still in the hands of a human being and not a technological tool.

Because our Krav Maga is still rooted in a military special forces and law enforcement background, it is simply the best system for use in law enforcement and military environments.

Please contact us for a consultation to identify your unit's special needs to work out a custom Krav Maga program.

Training Videos

Here are some Krav Maga training videos. These are for reference only, not for self teaching! There is much more to it then what you see in these videos, so it should be seen as such.

NOTE: We'll be updating these older videos soon.

	Golani Krav Maga
	This is a short showreel we put together demonstrating some of the Krav Maga skills learnt at Golani Israeli Security Specialists.

	Golani Krav Maga Simulations (Italy)
	This video shows some Krav Maga training and simulation training in Italy. It mostly takes part in everyday locations, and not in a studio.

	Various Defences
	Training scenarios in Italy. Student is confronted by many different situations.

	Anti-Hijacking
	Training scenarios in Italy. Student is using techniques learnt in a simulated hi-jacking.

	Arresting Scenario
	Training scenarios in Italy. A simulation where a perceived criminal is apprehended in a sting type operation.

The link below will display an overview of the Pretoria class schedule. The calendar below gives a complete schedule of classes.

Pretoria Class Schedule