Skyhorse Krav Maga: Use Your Body as a Weapon

Having owned both this book and the previous self published version of the book "Krav Maga - Use of the Human Body as a Weapon Philosophy and Application of Hand to Hand Fighting Training System" by Boaz Aviram, I have to say that this is like an encyclopedia of original Krav Maga knowledge. I own several books and DVD sets on Krav Maga including David Kahn's "Krav Maga", Immi Lichtenfeld's original book on Krav Maga "Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault", the Ultimate Krav Maga series of DVD's, and the full DVD set by Eyal Yanilov and Darren Levine done in the 90's amongst others, but this book is my favourite. It contains so much more than just a how-to of techniques. Various sections include an overview of the history of fighting in general, the primary principles of Krav Maga (reaction time, sequential execution of techniques and situational awareness), all the pressure points, the effect on the body if these pressure points are attacked and the likelihood of reaching each pressure point during a violent confrontation, all the various techniques of the IDF Krav Maga syllabus starting with the most efficient attacks first before learning the most efficient defences, defences against punches, kicks, ground attacks, knife, guns, multiple attackers, personal insights from Master Sergeant Aviram on Krav Maga, the differences between Pure Krav Maga and the civilian syllabus and how it's taught, anecdotes about Imi (Sde-Or) Lichtenfeld and Eli Avikzar, the differences between techniques that are useable and which are learnt for training purposes only, and much more.There are a few differences between this version of the book and the original publication such as this version having been professionally proof-read, so the language makes more sense to the english reader (the original was a bit harder to understand due to english not being Mr. Aviram's first language), the layout is better as techniques don't start on the right hand page (which is why there is a difference in the page count between both versions), the pictures are bigger and in colour and the paper used is of a better quality. However everything that made the first book brilliant is retained. The fact that it concentrates on every single technique being the most efficient technique is where it excels. Compare the defence against a pistol to the head from the front to the one taught in the civilian systems and you'll see this one is much more efficient.If you only buy one book on Krav Maga, make it this one. Hopefully I can buy the Pure Krav Maga DVD set at some point so I can get the full benefit of using the DVD set in conjunction with this book as I believe that was the original intention, however the book stands alone on it's own merit.

The only book you need on Krav Maga is now better than before, the descriptions are clear and the pictures are well done. Mr Aviram has outdone himself in producing this publication. This book is suitable for beginners and advanced self defence practitioners and has information that everyone can use regardless of their skill level. The principals are taught in easy to understand sections and described in great detail. At this price Mr Aviram is giving the years of knowledge he has away at a bargain price. If you are interested in Krav Maga, don't miss this opportunity to get a book written by an actual IDF Krav Maga instructor.

Very interesting first few chapters comparing Krav Maga to other martial arts/fighting systems and I like the way it is organised.The only reason why the book didn't get 5 stars is that some photos are really dark which really let it down as it really is a great text.

Book as expected

Wenn man sich mit Krav Maga auseinandersetzt wird man schnell auf den Namen Boaz Aviram stoßen - schlichtweg weil dieser Mann die Kunst oder noch besser die Wissenschaft Krav Maga wesentlich geprägt und verbreitet hat.Wenn Aviram nun ein Buch zum Thema Krav Maga vorlegt kann man sicher sein: dieser Autor weiß, wovon er spricht, und wie das hier rezensierte KRAV MAGA - USE YOUR BODY AS A WEAPON eindrucksvoll belegt hat er auch keine Probleme, dies ausführlich zu artikulieren.Ich muss sagen, dass wir das vorliegende Buch sehr gut gefallen hat. Ohne jeglichen Mystizismus und Geheimniskrämerei erläutert der Autor umfangreich die Grundprinzipien des Krav Maga, um darauf aufbauend die Techniken und die wichtigsten Szenarien zu schildern. Bei all dem ist das vorliegende Buch erfreulich umfangreich und ausführlich. Das Aviram dabei natürlich sehr (!) von Krav Maga im Verhältnis zu anderen Selbstverteidigungsmethoden überzeugt ist versteht sich wohl von selbst.Die zahlreichen Farbfotos sind instruktiv, etwas schade finde ich allenfalls das Layout: unnötigerweise werde nämlich viele Techniken in Bilderserien dargestellt, die sich über einen Seitenumbruch erstrecken. Hierdurch entstehen mitunter etwas unklare Situationen und ein nicht immer optimaler Eindruck von der Struktur der Präsentation.Von diesem sekundären Kritikpunkt abgesehen ist das vorliegende Buch allerdings uneingeschränkt zu empfehlen... es gehört zu den umfangreichsten und instruktivsten Werken zum Thema Krav Maga auf dem gegenwärtigen Markt.Von mir gibt es wegen des etwas suboptimalen Layout knappe, aber verdiente 5 Sterne.