As I limped into the office fresh from a Krav Maga beating, a coworker asked me exactly what the hell it is. After trying to explain this obscure form of martial arts, I turned to the Internets for more background.
Wikipedia offers this explanation:

“Krav Maga is an eclectic self-defense and military hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel, which assumes no quarter, and emphasizes maximum threat neutralization in a “real life” context. It came to prominence following its adoption by various Israeli Security Forces.”

Another way to think about it:

“The pages other martial arts school tear out of their rulebook because they consider them illegal are standard operating procedure in Krav.” – Commando Krav Maga instructor

So, the first rule of Krav Maga is that the rules defy convention. By keeping the protocol so flexible, Krav Maga provides the training a person needs to survive a street fight, home invasion, or random beating. Unlike the controlled setting of a classroom or tournament, in the real world, the odds may be stacked overwhelmingly against a target. Punches, kicks and chokes are likely wild and poorly formed. Anything can happen. Anything does happen.

Also different from most other disciplines, a threat is a threat, no matter the source or gender. Therefore women and men train side by side and are treated identically by fellow students and instructors. Very equalizing.

The Western belt factory system that turned me away from martial arts in the first place works differently in Krav. Skirting the history of belts in the West for reasons of brevity, critics have long argued that belts earned in many US schools may not correlate to real world proficiency. In competition, after a good hit, the referee intervenes and the opponents separate. In life, the punches keep on coming. Now while there are belts or badges in Krav, they are completely optional. I’ll be opting out.

If you are studying Krav Maga, you will make contact and get hit. Everywhere. Night one, I was choked, hit in the biceps, chest, stomach, groin, ankle, foot, inner and outer thigh, shoulder and wrist. I tasted the mat several times. This morning I have bruises on my thighs and biceps, and tell-tale finger marks around my throat.

But I learned 8 different moves for clearing a choke hold.

And I can’t wait to go back Thursday.