Leeds Krav Maga Coach Mike Potter blogs about Strength training for Krav Maga.

In any Sport / Martial Art / Physical training, it is important to address all areas of Physical Fitness, as much as necessary, in order to improve performance as much as we can. Krav Maga is an absolutely brilliant tool to use for Fitness as the training itself necessitates that we must be fit in order to improve and to pass gradings.

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general.”

Mark Ripptoe

When working with Athletes (And I do count fellow “Kravists” as Athletes) we are focused on improving the Athletes Strength & Conditioning. Strength being our bodies ability to overcome resistance and Conditioning being the physical condition of our body and its general physical fitness and ability to perform. In all my time training and working with Krav I’ve noticed that Krav does conditioning excellently, and this is fine, having a fit, fast and capable body as well as learning the techniques will help improve your personal safety an immeasurable amount, however it is my belief that Krav Maga could benefit from pushing strength coaching and strength training to a higher degree.

Why is strength so important? In a fight between two equally skilled opponents, the stronger person will usually win. In my opinion there is not a single aspect of your fitness and physical wellbeing that cannot be improved by being stronger. Strength translates over well to all other areas of fitness, if your muscles can produce more force then every movement you perform becomes easier, not only this but being able to overcome large resistance (or if you prefer heavy weight) is of huge benefit to us in a combat or self-defence situation. Our training can only help us so much and we must remember that if you are attacked it is far more likely to be by someone larger than you, imagine being attacked by someone who is trying to throw you to the ground, I’m sure you can imagine how likely they are to succeed if you are capable of lifting twice your own bodyweight.

I’m hoping I’ve sold you on the benefits of being Strong in Krav Maga terms, but how do we go about doing it?

Well firstly, it’s worth noting that Krav Maga involves techniques and movements that cover the whole body, in various positions, so in order to maximise our strength and ability from all angles we need to make sure we are making all of our bodies major movement patterns stronger.

Photos courtesy of contender crossfit

In terms of major movement patterns, all able bodied people are capable of the following movements:

Squatting: A lower body exercise involving maximal knee bend and moderate to maximal hip bending
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Back Squats and Front Squats

Hip Hinge: A lower body exercise involving minimal knee bend and maximal hip bending
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Deadlifts and Stiff Leg Deadlifts

Horizontal Pressing: An upper body movement involving the arms extending and straightening our in front of the body
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Bench Press and Press Up variations

Vertical Pressing: An upper body movement involving the arms extending and straightening upwards above the head or downwards past the hips
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Overhead Press and Chest Dips

Horizontal Pulling: An upper body movement involving the arms flexing and drawing in towards the front of the body
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Bent over Rows and Inverted Rows

Vertical Pulling: An upper body movement involving the arms flexing from above the head and drawing the elbows downwards and behind the body
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Chin Ups/Pull Ups and Lat Pulldown Machine

Lunging: A single limb lower body exercise involving maximal knee bend and moderate to maximal hip bending
The best exercise(s) to work this pattern: Split Squat, Reverse Lunges and Step Ups

So we have our movements covered, and we know what exercises to do, but how do we go about strengthening them? Simple, we hold weights while we do these exercises. The best amount of weight to lift is a weight which you can lift 3 times but which causes failure somewhere between 5-7 repetitions resting 1-3 minutes between each set. We also need to make sure we are progressing on a regular basis. A good way to do this is to try and complete one more repetition than you did last time i.e.Week 1 Bench press 5 sets of 3 reps completed, Week 2 Bench press 3 sets of 4 reps and 2 sets of 3 reps completed. Once you are able to lift the weight for 5 sets of 6 reps, increase the weight and start again at the lower end of the 3-6 repetition range.

Our last concern to address is how often to train. We don’t want to work each movement pattern more than twice per week and we also want to ensure that we have 2-3 days rest and recovery from all exercise in order for your body to repair (your body doesn’t change while you are training, it changes in the days after while it is recovering). For that purpose I would recommend splitting our movements up into 2 different and balanced strength days and having at least 2 strength training days per week, depending on how many Krav Training sessions you are also having. Here are two models you may wish to consider:

Model 1 – 1 Krav session per week, 3 strength training sessions

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Strength Day 1 Krav Maga Rest / Cardio Strength Day 2 Rest Strength Day 1 Rest
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Strength Day 2 Krav Maga Rest / Cardio Strength Day 1 Rest Strength Day 2 Rest

Model 2 – 2 Krav sessions per week, 2 strength training sessions

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Strength Day 1 Krav Maga Rest / Cardio Strength Day 2 Krav Maga Rest Rest
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Strength Day 1 Krav Maga Rest / Cardio Strength Day 2 Krav Maga Rest Rest
As you can see, both of these models allow for sufficient rest whilst not allowing you to train vigorously for more than 2 days in a row. This will be crucial to our strength gains.

I hope I have outlined here for you not only the importance of being strong in Krav but also given you a rough structure on how to do it in order to get the most from you body and your training in relation to Krav, if so, get out there and do it! Become a stronger fitter Krav-ist and see if it doesn’t benefit your next grading!

About the Author: Mike Potter is the Graduate Krav Maga Instructor teaching at Leeds Krav Maga. Mike is accredited by British Krav Maga and a senior Fitness Instructor/Personal trainer.