There will not be a Krav Maga class on Saturday, 10/30.
Archives for October 2010
Life Tips from Bas Rutten
Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution
An absolutely integral part of fitness is diet. We get questions from students about nutrition, and since Krav Maga is a “Self-Defense, Fighting, and Fitness” system, I suppose it’s appropriate to address here. Know, however, that if it were up to me I’d add nutrition to politics and religion as topics to avoid discussing at parties!
Let me begin with disclaimers. Krav Maga Worldwide does not endorse a particular diet or nutrition plan, and—as with most every post—I am offering this solely as my own opinion. Next, though I think doctors and nutritionists who push the USDA Recommended Daily Intake and most pharmaceuticals are completely out to lunch [pun mostly intended], I am neither an MD nor an RD. What follows are my own opinions based on what I’ve learned and experimented with. Finally, even though I’m one of the Paleo Solution podcast’s six listeners (you’ll have to tune in to get the inside joke), I have been offered no incentive to write this.
I came to learn of the Paleo lifestyle about 18 months ago and have been very happy with the changes it has made in my overall health. If you want to improve how you “look, feel, and perform”, I can recommend no better way of doing so. Outside of Professor Loren Cordain, perhaps the world’s leading expert on Paleolithic diets, the two people at the forefront of bringing this lifestyle to the masses are Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf. Mark’s excellent book The Primal Blueprint was released last year. Robb has now codified what he has taught to clients, seminar attendees, and podcast listeners into a new book, The Paleo Solution – The Original Human Diet.
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Columbus Day 10.11.10 – NO CLASSES
The Importance of Explosiveness
We aim to be explosive in all of our movements, and there’s something about choke and grab defenses that lend them particularly well to demonstrating this. Since we’re in the choke and grab defense section of the Level 1 rotation, I will focus on those techniques. Know, however, that what follows can also be applied more generally.
It might be a forgone conclusion that bigger-stronger-faster is better, but there are some very legitimate reasons for why we should be explosive:
- “Techniques must be accessible to the average person, not just athletes.” — principle of Krav Maga
A choke is a show of power, a strength-based attack used by someone who is (or at least believes him- or herself to be) bigger and stronger than you. Thus, trying to pry some brute’s paws from around your larynx while your brain is rapidly losing oxygen is not an effective defense. Alternatively, our defense against a choke is predicated on turning our natural reaction to being grabbed around the neck into an explosive pluck at the immediate threat of the attack—the attacker’s thumbs. Among other reasons (including those below), this pluck must be explosive so that more force can be generated by a smaller person.
Let’s use some simple math to prove this. Force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration. So as not to get too geeked out, let’s disregard units of measure and just deal with hypothetical natural numbers.
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