Krav Maga is a martial arts discipline that was developed in Israel. It means "close combat" and is meant for use in military combat situations where it is assumed that "no quarter" will be given. This form of martial arts is NOT a sport. In it's purest form, it is considered nothing but a potentially, completely lethal, no holds barred form of hand to hand combat. Of coarse restraint can be exercised if the situation requires it. "No quarter" means that it is assumed that the enemy will be showing no mercy, and is in it to kill you.



By this line of thinking, Krav Maga starts out in a defensive posture. It is considered that in this form of hand to hand combat, the best defense is a quick-as-possible switch to the offense. Because no quarter is assumed, this defense turned offense uses everything at it's disposal -from groin kicks, to sticks and stones that may be within reach. Training hinges on all possible real life situations. The attacker may be armed, the defender may be outnumbered. This form of unarmed -at the onset, combat deals with these situations.

What is so appealing about this form of fighting is that it relies on raw power. Brute strength, coupled with the kind of endurance that is required to master the "retzef". Retzef is defined simply as as "continuous combat motion". The training for this type of fighting is different than other fighting styles because it includes both aerobic and anaerobic workouts with a greater emphasis on anaerobic training.

The difference between the two and how they apply to Krav Maga will be discussed next.

Aerobic exercise concentrates on developing the body to use large amounts of oxygen to produce energy over long periods of muscle exertion. Examples would be swimming, bicycling, or long distance running. From a fighting standpoint, consider boxing. Many, many punches are thrown. This energy is produced in a smaller muscle group, and requires similar endurance to pedaling a bike long distance. Even though there are rests between rounds, there is still a long duration exertion of muscle power.

Anaerobic exercise, if it is done with the correct intensity should trigger anaerobic metabolism. This is where glucose and other sugars are converted to cell energy. This leaves a waste product called fermental acid. Everyone who has done a form of anaerobic exercise is familiar with the side effects of this waste product otherwise known as lactic acid. It is what causes that bruise like pain and discomfort in the muscle that tells you your doing something right. Unlike other forms of pain that tell you something is going wrong in your body.

For Krav Maga, strength training is essential, and anaerobic exercise is used by the type of athlete that needs short bursts of great amounts of energy. This energy comes from the larger muscle groups as opposed to boxing. In this style of fighting you want to "go the distance" - in two to three minutes. To understand anaerobic exercise, let's consider a two to three minute period that will trigger this metabolic response.

In the first 30 seconds of heavy exercise, the body is depending on creatine phospate as it's main source of energy. As the activity exceeds this short duration of time, glycosis begins. Because glycosis is not considerd the mast efficient form of muscle energy, it can only be held up for a couple minutes. The idea of anaerobic training is to build up more power for that short duration, and also to extend that period of time by essential but few minutes.