Krav maga is an Israeli fighting style adopted by their military that is based on our most primitive and natural instincts. The Hebrew word ‘krav’ means to struggle was first used in the Old Testament when Isaac wrestled with Gabriel, the angel of death. Although many Krav Maga building block techniques have existed for thousands of years, the self defence system was developed, modernised, and fine-tuned during World War II and Israel’s War of Independence by Emerich “Imi” Lichtenfeld.
In 1935 Imi visited Palestine with a team of Jewish wrestlers to compete in the Jewish Maccabi sports convention. Unfortunately, Imi fractured a rib during a training accident and could not compete. This injury led to Imi’s fundamental training principle – don’t get hurt! Imi quickly concluded that only real necessity justifies a, ‘win at all costs, approach. These two tenets eventually fused to create Imi’s krav maga training approach.
Imi returned to Czechoslovakia to face increasing anti-Semitic violence. As Nazi hatred infected Slovakia, Jewish people were increasingly victims of near-constant violence. To protect the Jewish community from marauding fascists and anti-Semites, Imi organised a group of young Jews to protect his community. On the streets, Imi quickly learned the vital differences between sports martial arts competitions and street fighting. While serving on the front lines to protect his community, Imi began to combine natural movements and reactions with immediate and decisive counterattacks.
Truekrav is an independent self defence school, that provides true combat training. Members receive physical and psychological coaching to support the gym’s primary objective: training you to survive a violent attack by a criminal or terrorist. The gym is situated at 47 De Villiers St, Zonnebloem, Cape Town.
Truekrav equips members to deal with violent hand to hand situations, knife stabs and slashes, being held at knifepoint or gunpoint, handgun disarms, rifle disarms and disarming of an attacker who uses a baton, bat, stick, club, screwdriver, bottle etc. Truekrav also covers rape defence, hijacking, home invasion scenarios, as well as kidnapping and hostage situations.
The gym also offers combat shooting (tactical training), where members are taught how to use a firearm effectively under pressure. Truekrav is constantly practising, troubleshooting, learning, improving and refining, and this is a process that runs throughout the gym from the members to the coaching staff.
Membership at Truekrav is based on a selection process. This selection is not based on fitness levels, skill levels, popularity, race, ideology or social status. The selection is solely based on the ability of the individual to adapt to the gym’s training philosophy. The first step is to book and attend a free trial session. You can book your free trial here.
Once you’ve completed your trial and made it to the next step you can select your membership package. Here are the available packages:
- The Unlimited Membership (R950 per month): access to all 11 sessions per week.
- Once Per Week (R75o): access to one session per week of your choosing.
- Private Membership (R450): 1-hour one-on-one session with a Truekrav instructor.
- Private Group Membership: R250 per person (2 people) and R200 per person (3 people).
- Online Membership: the online membership is course-specific. Check out all the different online courses on offer here.
You can contact Truekrav via email or cellphone:
- 0833041981
- [email protected]
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Picture: @truekrav_official / Instagram