The Krav Maga symbol consists of the Hebrew letters K and M surrounded by an open circle because the system is open to improvement by adding techniques, exercises, and training methods. 

Krav Maga is not a traditional martial art. It was developed in an environment where the Israeli military could not devote many hours to hand to hand combat training. Therefore, the Krav Maga system was created to bring students to a high level of skill in a relatively short period of time. There are no forms (katas) or rules or set combinations as reactions to attacks. Instead, Krav Maga training focuses on teaching simple self-defense techniques which are specifically catered to reality based attack situations. Many techniques originated in Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing and wrestling, with other techniques call from Ju-Jitsu and Karate. 

The art of Krav Maga is much more of a survival system dealing with personal safety issues. It is considered to be a modern, highly refined, street fighting system, designed to be used against armed and unarmed attackers. Krav Maga addresses a wide variety of aggressive acts which include punches, kicks, chokes, bearhugs, headlocks, grabs, as well as defenses against multiple attackers and assailants armed with a firearm, edged weapon, or blunt object.