Principle 3 – “Lay down as much continuous firepower in the shortest possible time i.e. “assault” the attacker. Don’t allow gaps/spaces between your strikes and attacks as this gives the opportunity for your attacker...”

Sparring is something that two people do as a pair together; a fight is something that two people do to each other and an assault is something that one person does to another. Sparring as invaluable a training aid as it is, is a poor reflection and replication of an actual street fight. In a sparring match both individuals get the opportunity to both attack and defend as well as counter and evade etc. This teaches and allows the practice of valuable fighting skills but doesn’t resemble a street fight or any other example of real life violence. Reality will see one person assault another with no intention of giving them an opportunity to demonstrate what they can do. This normally involves an aggressor launching a committed strike, probably combined with a push to cause maximum surprise etc, and then following it up with a barrage of other strikes in a continuous fashion.

This is why Krav Maga teaches pre-emptive action and failing this, making sure that attacks follow defense in the shortest possible time-frame. Some organizations will talk about simultaneous defense and attack - I think what is actually meant by this often misleads and/or the instructor doesn’t understand the concept fully and ends up teaching/practicing strikes which don’t fully engage the hips and shoulders; this is why I talk about attack following defense as quickly as is possible to deliver powerful, effective and meaningful strikes. Not letting an assailant get into a rhythm is essential if you are to have any chance of replying with your own assault. Your defense and attack, should be aimed at disrupting your assailant, which is why it is preferable to strike soft and vulnerable targets – which we talked about in the previous two posts.

Krav Maga teaches the idea of “Retzef/Retzev” – Retzef/Retzev, means “continuous” in Hebrew – which involves laying down your strikes and kicks, one after the other with no breaks, almost as if each attack you make is made with the frequency of bullets from an automatic weapon. Striking this way, means you must understand the way that the turn of your hips in your strikes, sets up the next strike etc. It should also influence the rhythm of your attacks i.e. there should be little space between them. Whilst striking in a metronomic fashion will allow each individual strike to be thrown with full power it will also means that gaps appear in your striking. If you can strike using half and quarter beats, throwing second strikes before recoiling the first etc, you will be able to get past a person’s flinch/startle reflex and overwhelm them with your assault.

Your attacks have to get past a person’s flinch reflex, or their natural reactions may impede your assault. Just as with we use the flinch reflex as the starting point for the 360 block, so untrained people will flinch and raise their hands to guard their head and face when attacked. Using a combination of high and low attacks can allow you to get the hands lowered and raised automatically. By throwing leg and groin kicks you will cause a person to drop their hands – even trained people who know that they should block leg kicks with their legs will often drop their hands in sparring situations when attacked low – which can set up your head shots. Closing the distance will allow you to get into a position where you can throw “fast hands”. Open palm strikes, as opposed to fists, can be used to obscure a person’s vision and create a mask behind which you can throw other strikes in a non-metronomic rhythm.

Closing distance and denying time and space are tactics the untrained fighter does automatically and they are good principles for us to follow – especially if we apply “scientific” ideas to them. Preventing and limiting your assailant’s attacking opportunities, means you can concentrate on attack not defense and no fight ever goes in the favor of the person who adopts the defensive mindset and attitude.