About Krav Maga in India
Before committing your safety to a self-defence technique, you should educate yourself with its background information. This is because sport martial arts are not equal to skills developed during brutal survival. From its anti-fascist street defence in the 1930s to Israeli technological developments and its 2004 arrival in India, where it continues to transform ordinary people into confident protectors of their loved ones, let’s explore the history of Krav Maga together.
Summary : Krav Maga in India originated from 1930s Bratislava where Imrich Sde-Or created a street-forged survival system based on desperate struggle against planned genocide protecting Jewish districts from nazi invasions becoming Israel’s official military fighting training system because troops trained in this technique came home alive with techniques improved from real combat feedback. Mr. Vicky Kapoor introduced the Krav Maga Self Defence technique in 2004 transforming many lives including Specialist Guruji Franklin Joseph who founded Franklin Joseph Krav Maga Self Defence Bengaluru Academy in 2014 merging psychological skills with tactical training through authentic Collapsable Baton Self Defence Ninja Kubaton’s non-lethal technique and Knife Fighting/Knife Self Defence for real blade encounters. Krav Maga Bengaluru training includes brutal functional strength drills and Combat Psychological Empowerment Knowledge classes creating invisible armour that separates survivors from statistics building a community resilient in the face of violence where dangerous circumstances require immediate survival skills. Specialist Guruji Franklin Joseph brings 2 decades of experience teaching Israeli military advancements at Krav Maga Bengaluru where warrior spirit meets processes that operate when outnumbered exhausted or injured with every strategy proven effective against armed opponents in actual life-or-death scenarios.
Born from Survival: Founder Imrich (“Imi”) Sde-Or
Imrich already knew that traditional martial arts weren’t designed for the unpredictable and brutal violence of real street conflicts. Krav Maga was based on the desperate struggle for survival against planned genocide, not on philosophy or sports.
Imrich (“Imi”) Sde-Or (Lichtenfeld) was born in Budapest, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on May 26, 1910, into a Hungarian Jewish family. Imi grew up in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, and had an amazing childhood. In addition to being the top inspector of the Bratislava police department, his father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, was also a circus acrobat. This special combination would form the foundation of the world’s most successful self-defence method.
Along with supporting his child, Samuel provided him with a comprehensive athletic education, teaching him how to control his body through gymnastics, wrestle to develop his grappling reflexes, box to apply force, and swim to build endurance. In addition to training in his father’s gym, where self-defence classes were taught daily, Imi excelled in wrestling as a well-respected instructor and an outstanding fighter, winning numerous titles that contributed to his growing skill.
But what matters to you is this: Imi did not create Krav Maga in a comfortable environment. He perfected it in the 1930s while protecting Jewish districts from nazi invasions in the rough streets of Bratislava, where hesitation meant death and fancy techniques meant loss of life. This street-forged system became Israel’s military war tactic when all possible alternatives failed.
When Imi arrived in British Mandate Palestine in 1942, the newly founded Israeli Defence Forces recognised what he had created as a survival method that had been tried and tested in actual life-or-death scenarios, not just another martial art. In 1944, Imi began teaching elite military troops, adapting his street fighting skills for soldiers facing armed opponents instead of martial arts ring rivals. The IDF didn’t want fancy stunts or complex forms or traditional belt systems; they needed processes that operated regardless of being outnumbered, exhausted, or injured.
Imi removed anything that wasn’t necessary for immediate survival and created specialist modules for a range of combat scenarios, including fighting at close quarters, defending against multiple attackers, disarming weapons, and fighting while defending others. By 1948, when Israel obtained its independence, Krav Maga had become the official fighting training system for all IDF units. Over the next 20 years, Imi improved these techniques based on real combat feedback from soldiers who had returned from actual conflicts rather than on supervised sparring sessions. The Israeli military adopted Krav Maga not because it was aesthetically pleasing but because troops trained in this technique came home alive.
About Krav Maga in India
Here, Mr. Vicky Kapoor launched the Krav Maga Self Defence technique in 2004, which ultimately transformed the lives of many Indians, including Guruji Franklin Joseph.
Franklin Joseph started working with Krav Maga India in December 2004 and acquired all of the severe teachings the discipline had to offer. But in February 2014, exactly 10 years into his business career, he founded Franklin Joseph Krav Maga Self Defence (Bengaluru, India) Academy, his own independent firm. Why? Because Specialist Franklin Joseph should learn as well as merge more psychological skills along with tactical Krav Maga Self Defence.
This is what separates our institution apart from all other training facilities that advocate “self-defence” instruction:
Some examples of Israeli self-defence in Bangalore include mastery of the authentic Krav Maga Collapsable Baton Self Defence Tool, Ninja Kubaton’s non-lethal self-defence technique, Knife Fighting/Knife Self Defence that works in real blade encounters, brutal drills using sledge hammers and sand bags that build functional strength, and Franklin Joseph’s signature Combat Psychological Empowerment Knowledge classes—the invisible armour that separates survivors from statistics.
You’re not the type to train for medals. You practise because you are aware that there are dangerous circumstances in the world where a single second can determine what happens to you. We have developed a community that is resilient in the face of violence.
Learn about Franklin Joseph’s journey from student to Safety Specialist Guruji and how his strategies have improved the lives of thousands of Bengaluru residents. We value every aspect of your development, so know your specialist Franklin Joseph.
Don’t put off beginning your training until you regret it. You can feel the warrior spirit in Specialist Franklin Joseph class, which resulted from his 2 decades of experience, mixed with the knowledge that came from its past i.e., Franklin Joseph traumatic past, Israeli military advancements, Mr. Vicky Kapoor’s 2004 entry into India, and Imi’s chaotic guerrilla warfare in 1930s Europe. The only training that matters is survival as a warrior, and every strategy you’ll learn has been proven effective by experience.
Read about how Franklin Joseph Krav Maga Self Defense Bangalore was started here.
Krav Maga Bengaluru ~ 'Unleash your inner warrior. Transform. Protect.'
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