My husband and I just returned from our first trip to Israel, a two-week epic adventure punctuated by celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary at the Wall on Shabbat.  I came away from the journey with a newfound sense of awareness, both spiritually as well as worldly.  Among the more memorable highlights??

1. Jet lag is no fun at all
2. Everything I learned about in Sunday School really exists
3. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are among the most incredible individuals anywhere

Our tour took us to the Golan Heights for a few hours, where several training groups were set up.  These brave young men and women, between the ages of 18 and 23 and all toting machine guns, were listening to and learning from their female drill instructors, also not much older than our younger daughter.  While this was initially somewhat daunting to witness, and to realize the ever-present need for military readiness in a country that has been plagued by combat since its very inception, I also was able to grasp how well-trained these individuals have to be, as a matter of pure survival.  I have since learned that the practice of Krav Maga is largely responsible for the uncanny abilities of these soldiers.

Krav Maga, translated from Hebrew as “contact-combat”, is a military self-defense system developed for the IDF and Israeli security forces such as Mossad. It combines techniques from boxing, wrestling, aikido, judo and karate along with realistic fight training. Currently Krav Maga is the preferred system of combat training employed by U.S. military and law enforcement personnel.

Like most forms of exercise, Krav Maga builds self-confidence and a sense of self-worth. According to Patrick Lockton, Director of KMI (Krav Maga Institute NYC), “The training changes people’s psychological patterns and opinions of themselves, others, and life in general…Strange things happen when you realize you are capable of a lot more than you thought.” 

Krav Maga’s fitness programs rely upon cardio classes, heavy bag work, and sports conditioning techniques in order to burn fat and tone muscle. Every class begins with a warm-up, followed by power drills, and exercises that combine cardio and strength training at intense intervals. If this sounds familiar to you, it is most likely because while the moves themselves may be unique and different, the premise of the session is quite similar to personal training approaches and group exercises classes found at gyms across the country.

If you are interested in increasing your stamina to warrior proportions, here are a few moves to try, many of which rely solely upon body weight.  Challenge yourself to learn a 1-arm burpee, a scorpion push-up, and side mountain-climbers. Once your confidence in executing these moves is sufficient, create a protocol where you see how many of each move you can perform in a 45-second time period. Follow this with a brief rest interval; then move on to 45 seconds of another exercise.

While military uses of Krav Maga training may be different from conventional workouts, we can still incorporate aspects of this unique and powerful training to amp up our exercise routines.  Our intent may not be to disarm, maim or kill an opponent; but the goal of increasing our awareness of surroundings, becoming strong and efficient, and cultivating self-esteem along the way certainly are enough to encourage any avid athlete to give Krav Maga a try!