While at the Krav Maga Worldwide National Training Center for Expert Series I, I picked up from licensing instructor Matt Romond a helpful way to visualize the kinetic chain of defensive and offensive Krav Maga techniques. Matt presented us with a simple mnemonic, but I’ll do my best to complicate it as a math analogy with ancillary nerdery…
With Krav Maga techniques, like solving a polynomial expression, the order in which the parts are assembled will have an effect on the result. The terms of our equation are BODY, HANDS, and FEET. The order of those three components will depend on the technique, but we can generalize into two categories: Offense (strikes) and Defense (self-defense techniques).
Offense: Feet→Body→Hands
Example: Straight Punch from a fighting stance.
Feet: All combatives must come from a strong connection to the ground. A good straight punch begins with a drive of the rear foot into the ground, and that drive continues through the entirety of the punch until it begins its recoil.
Body: The drive that begins in the rear foot travels up the legs, and the hip and shoulder on the same side of the punching hand rotate forward.
Hands: The rotation of the torso fires the hand. The shoulder and elbow extend, and the fist is clenched and rotated as it approaches the target.
Defense: Hands→Body→Feet
Example: 360° Defense vs. a big, sloppy punch. As distance and/or preparedness increase, the bigger the motion of the defense can be.
Hands: If the attacker is very close to you or you are caught very unaware, you may only have time to make a hand/arm defense (90° bend at the elbow, fingers extended, blade of the forearm out), and the punch will be blocked very close to its target (i.e. your face). This action is more of a flinch than a proper defense.
Body: If the attacker is a little further away or the punch is more telegraphed, you may have time to make the hand defense, extend and lock out your shoulder, and lean into the defense to get your weight behind it.
Feet: If the attacker must cover distance to punch you or the punch is very telegraphed, you may have time to form the hand defense, extend and lock out the shoulder, and then burst forward to close the distance and “attack the attack” (block the punch) at the earliest possible point in its trajectory.
See also: “Krav Maga: Techniques vs. Concepts”
Hey Patrick, sorry I didn’t make it to class this week but life got in the way (im moving to brookline and had to rent out my place). Anyway, I appreciate the article and the math analogy but I was wondering if you could post Matt’s simple mnemonic as math is not my strong suit.
Thanks,
Brett
The unadorned version:
Offense: Feet – Body – Hands
Defense: Hands – Body – Feet
Maybe you could try these to remember:
Oh, Funny, Brett. Ha!
Doubtful Hyperbole: Brookline Far.
A kenpo perspective: never waste a move. Say a particular self-defense technique calls for you to take a step back when attacked. Analyze why, and what advantage it might give you. If you step back with your right foot, for example, you’re in your fighting stance. Let nature take its course. Maybe you can combine the step back with a rotation of your torso, giving your counter-punch extra power; or maybe you step back to take the weight off your front foot for a quick groin kick. At the very least, the step back can prepare a burst forward, fists a-blazing. We learn techniques at different levels of proficiency. There’s the ideal way, straight out of the manual. Then there’s the what-if way; your attacker doesn’t react exactly as you’ve prepared, and you have to draw on your training to deal with the unexpected. That’s where kenpo and Krav meet: using your combatives (fists, elbows, knees, kicks, etc.) on available targets while maintaining control over your opponent. They get there by different routes (I like the view from kenpo), but they arrive at pretty much the same place.
Thanks for the perspective, Josh! Good stuff!