Word: maga
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What we have here is Krav Maga (pronounced krahv ma-gah), the brutally efficient self-defense system created by the Israeli Defense Forces and currently infiltrating America's fitness industry. Even as crime drops in most big cities, Krav Maga (Hebrew for "contact combat") is quickly gaining ground in urban gyms...
Used to be, if you were interested in becoming your own bodyguard, judo or karate was the way to go. But these days trendy, street-wary Angelenos jockey for mat space at Levine's Krav Maga National Training Center in West L.A. Krav Maga classes are also offered in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia, but Levine's center is the most comprehensive teaching facility in the country, drawing not just students, corporate types and the Hollywood crowd but also soldiers and cops. (Charlie Sheen's bodyguards are said to be versed in the ways of Krav...
...holds and bear hugs, wrestle away weapons, fight on the ground and fend off multiple attackers. Anything goes, including groin kicks, elbow jabs, head butts, hair pulling, biting and eye gouging. "There are no rules," explains Levine, an L.A. County prosecutor and the highest-ranking American instructor in Krav Maga. "If it's illegal in boxing, we're doing...
Levine, a onetime martial-arts student, imported Krav Maga to the West Coast in 1981, following a stint in Israel, where he learned from grand master Imi Lichtenfeld, the late creator of Krav Maga. Back home, Levine began teaching the system to a handful of Los Angeles students while he attended law school. When he opened his training center last year, he had an instant hit on his hands. Membership has shot past 1,000, and another branch is planned...
...came out, it's safe to say you "read it here first." And (making the same assumption) you might remember that the word of the week this week is "zine," which is a contraction of "fanzine," which was coined sometime in the 70s from "fan" plus "magazine"; the missing "maga" (yes, I'm making this up) stands for "mega," since fanzines are by definition produced not by megacorporations intent on market shares, but by individuals (or small groups of people) who basically want to tell you what they like and dislike, and why. There are probably several thousand such publications...