Krav Maga is designed to provide the most effective response for an individual across the whole range of situations in which one’s safety is in danger. Consider that when someone attacks you and you are able to fight back, any action that you take can be said to have an ‘opportunity cost’, that is the cost of the action you didn’t take weighed up against the one you did. Given that when your life is in danger your aim is to survive it makes sense to ensure that your efforts in defending yourself are focused on inflicting as much damage on your attacker as possible so that they are neutralised and no longer a threat to you. As such krav maga encourages attacking the most vulnerable areas of the body. The groin strike for instance is a staple of many techniques as are eye gouges, kicks to the knees and all manner of strikes to the face targetting the nose, ears, temples and so on.

Krav maga teaches numerous blocks and ways of coping with all the kinds of physical attack one can encounter. However the system teaches that we should block and attack simultaneously if possible, and if that is not possible then to counter attack as soon as possible and then make our escape. Why is this the case? Well to put it bluntly unless you are Neo you can’t stand and block a continuous flurry of attacks without getting hurt. Many knife attacks in particular involve not one, but numerous attacks in quick succession. As such counter attacking represents your best bet of blocking the attackers thought processes and allowing you to escape or neutralise him.

In krav maga you are trained to deal with attacks using three simultaneous strategies if possible. The first would be the hand or foot defense, which would involve blocking or deflecting a strike or maybe plucking or otherwise breaking a choke or similar attack. The second is the body defense and this simply involves turning or moving your body to remove it from where the attacker is attacking to. So for instance against a straight punch to your head you move your head and upper body to the side. The third principle is ‘moving off the line of attack’ and simply involves moving round your opponent so that the line of attack, that is the direction in which he is or can attack you is no longer going through you. This is important for numerous reasons.

A typical fight in a movie often involves two people facing each other and essentially slugging it out as if they were characters in Street Fighter. Numerous blows are thrown, blocked, taken and so on until a victor emerges. Being attacked in real life is rarely this simple. Attacks are made without warning, from all different angles and by single or multiple opponents. As such it’s very important to be continually aware of your surroundings and to be able to recognise danger signs and react instinctively. Krav maga teaches situation awareness with various kinds of drill and training.

Wearing nothing but a mawashi (loincloth), two larger-than-life opponents face each other in a dohyo (wrestling ring) to push, wrestle or throw each other out of the ring. This is the basic definition of sumo wrestling but, like any other centuries old Japanese tradition, the “why” and the “how” is more important than the “what”.

Sumo has been performed the same way since the Edo Period (early 1600′s) and still retains the rituals and techniques developed in those early years. The rikishi (wrestlers) even wear their hair in a topknot – the hairstyle typical of samurai in the Edo period. the umpires and referee wear elaborate kimono-style garb that depicts their experience ranking. Before each bout, both wrestlers toss salt into the ring because the dohyo is a sacred place. After each day’s match, a lower ranked wrestler closes the event by performing the yumitori-shiki (bow dance).

Sumo wrestling bouts are fast – some lasting only a few seconds – and very intense, with a series of three “stare down” practice starts that the wrestlers use to intimidate their opponent. These trained athletes weigh in at 300-400 pounds, but follow a stringent regiment of training and nutrition that creates an athlete of great strength. Wrestlers grapple at each other with their bare hands and employ a range of moves that require precision, timing, and balance to succeed.

For centuries sumo wrestlers were exclusively of Japanese birth. In the last two decades, foreign wrestlers have begun to compete in greater numbers and have earned top rankings. Currently there are 60 non-Japanese professional sumo wrestlers out of a total of 700. China, Russia and several other Eastern European countries have made an impressive showing recently, but in the 1990′s two American wrestlers — Konishiki and Akebono (both from Hawaii)– were the first to reach the yokozuna rank.

The graceful martial art of Capoeira stands-out from those of other traditional combat arts in that it employs the use of percussive music and a capoeira match itself looks like a dance. Made famous in pop culture by the videogame character Eddy in Playstation’s Tekken and a 90s movie “Only The Strong”, there is some dispute to where it originated. Common belief is that it has its roots in Brazil in the 16th to 19th centuries during the slave trade. Africans brought over by Portuguese slave traders were said to have developed the musical, dance-like martial art as a way to disguise their practice sessions from slave masters.

The origins of the term “Capoeira” itself is unclear as there are many possible sources and several meanings. One is that it came from the word ‘capao’ or castrated rooster. A pair of capoeiristas engaged in sparring in a way resembles a cockfight. Another possible source of the term is derived from two words from the South American Tupi-Guarani language- kaa and puera which put together means ‘formerly a forest’ or a forest clearing. Such an area in the middle of a thick jungle would have been an ideal place for escaped slaves to hide from their oppressors. Whatever the true origin for the word, the martial art of Capoeira is widely accepted to be an Afro-Brazilian martial art developed by slaves under oppression from South American masters.

Capoeira moves include acrobatic moves, feints and groundwork which in a way resembles the urban art of breakdancing. The latter may in fact may have been an offshoot of Capoeira with its fluid gymnastics and reliance on percussive music. Body-throws, elbow, fist and strikes using one’s head are also used in Capoeira combat although to a relatively lesser degree than leg sweeps and kicks which make-up the majority of attacks. Reason for this may be because a slave’s hands are usually manacled and only the legs are free to move around.

There are two classifications for Capoeira- traditional and modern. The traditional and thus much older Capoeira Angola has generally sneakier moves with players maneuvering their bodies in a closer distance to each other and lower to the ground compared to the modern Capoeira Regional. Capoeira grandmaster Bimba developed Capoeira Regional to bring the art to its original fighting roots, employing faster and more athletic techniques. It’s also associated less with Brazil’s criminal elements.