Best cardio exercise for Krav

[philly63]

Hello all,
new member here with a question.Ive been taking Krav for a little over a year and i’m getting ready for my upcoming orange belt test.I’ve been running 7-12 mile obstacle course races for the last 6 years or so and thought i was prepared for the yellow belt test,cardio wise any way.Boy was I wrong!It kicked my ass,almost to the point that i was ready to quit,but my fellow students pushed me through.This time i’ve been doing interval running to prepare(sprint 45 seconds,jog 2 minutes,repeat for 3 miles),hoping i’ll be better prepared for the orange.Just wondering what works for you guys.Thanks in advance

[wiccaman]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of more knowledgeable people than me along in a minute to give very good advice.

I however subscribe to the view that the best exercise for fighters is fighting.

We of course do some cardio work in exercise form. I’m one of those people though who finds exercise abhorrent unless it is ancillary to something I enjoy in its own right.

We find the best way of beasting is just to keep people under pressure and make them force themselves past what they thought was unendurable.

So for example, last class we just got one or two people to lie face down on the floor with someone sat on top of them. Another dozen people crowded round them. All the the ‘victim’ then had to do was to get up and get out of the door.

Nice and simple and a useful practical demonstration of what it might be like in a real scenario.

We did this non stop for 90 minutes. Even when you weren’t the victim you were one of the attackers trying to stop the person getting up or getting to the door.

If people flagged the rest of the class were allowed to keep hitting/kicking them until they did make it out of the door; no quitting allowed (you wouldn’t be able to call ‘time out’ in real life). If any of the attackers skived then they had just volunteered to do two rounds as victim again.

People were pretty exhausted afterwards so that’s probably good for cardio.

[tacticaltimmy]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

Physical ability is paramount to fighting, but so is mindset. If you’re attempting to use physical training as a way to compensate for mental weakness, you’re training the wrong thing.

[wiccaman]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote TacticalTimmy:

Physical ability is paramount to fighting, but so is mindset. If you’re attempting to use physical training as a way to compensate for mental weakness, you’re training the wrong thing.

That’s what we always emphasise. Our beastings aren’t just torture for the sake of it. It’s so people realise that, unless they physically pass out, there’s always more in the tank.

There’s always a temptation to keep something in reserve. We insist that everyone treats every stress drill as if it’s the last thing they’ll ever have to do. Just concentrate on that moment.

There’s no point thinking about what might be coming next, because in real life, if you don’t give your all, there may be no more ‘next’; ever.

[philly63]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

All good points,i agree mindset is far more important than phiysical condition,we have some more advanced students that probably coundn’t run a 5 k but could kick most people’s ass in 5 seconds.But given the choice i want to be as fit as possible to gain every advantage.

[magpie]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

For what it’s worth, I’ve been jumping rope, doing interval running on the treadmill, and some tabata exercises (thanks, PinkGloves!)

I agree that mindset is paramount, and I esp. agree with TacTim’s post, but I figured some extra conditioning couldn’t hurt.

[tzrider]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote Philly63:

This time i’ve been doing interval running to prepare(sprint 45 seconds,jog 2 minutes,repeat for 3 miles),hoping i’ll be better prepared for the orange.Just wondering what works for you guys.

Varying the pace in your running will probably be more helpful than your previous approach was, but I don’t think it’s the whole remedy. Wiccaman said the best conditioning for fighting is fighting. There is a lot of truth in that, but I think there are underlying reasons that you can focus on to make faster progress.

People get gassed when their output exceeds their aerobic capacity. We often get fixated on trying to improve aerobic capacity, but forget the other side of the equation: Limiting the demand for output. Two of the bigger issues a lot of people face are:

1. Being too tense while fighting
2. Forgetting to breathe

Being too tense consumes energy that you would have a better use for. It slows your movement and increases demand on your aerobic capacity. Drills that allow you to desensitize yourself to the things that make you tense will help with the tension.

Forgetting to breathe sounds so obvious, but it happens to a LOT of people. One place where I still struggle with this is when throwing combinations. I still have to remind myself to keep ventilating. When I don’t, I go anaerobic pretty fast and I’m in good shape.

[bigtrees]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

I’m preparing for the orange belt test too and aside from running, weight training and multiple classes, the main thing I’m focusing on are the things from the first test and classes that were the hardest to do for long periods of time. Jumping lunges and jumping squats are the first things that come to mind here.

Also there are a few orange belt tests posted on the web – when I get a bit closer to the test I’m going to incorporate the hardest things from these tests into my daily routine. My plan is to be able to handle whatever they throw at me due to having done it a hundred times before.

From what I could tell in the first test, the hardest stuff comes first and since the test is only three hours long, the really tough stuff can only be a maximum of about 30 minutes or there wouldn’t be enough time left to test the krav techniques. So if I can handle 30 minutes of the most brutal exercises then the rest of the test should be no harder than three normal classes back-to-back.

[magpie]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote tzrider:

=Forgetting to breathe sounds so obvious, but it happens to a LOT of people.

Myself included. Lately I’ve been trying to remind myself to breathe while sparring or drilling.

[tzrider]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote Magpie:

Myself included. Lately I’ve been trying to remind myself to breathe while sparring or drilling.

Lately, our class has been doing some fight training exercises to desensitize ourselves to the idea of getting hit. We begin by allowing a partner to throw soft punches to the face and just experience getting “hit.” It’s never hard enough to hurt and we try to keep our eyes open through the drill. Flinching and closing eyes are signs that it’s too much too soon. I do find that it’s helped make me more relaxed during sparring.

The other thing I’ve focused on at home is running through the Bas combinations and others while specifically focusing on breathing.

Today I tested for brown belt and the test went smoothly. I wasn’t nearly as gassed after sparring and enjoyed it much more than I have in previous tests.

Conditioning matters, but I think learning to relax and training oneself to keep breathing matter at least as much.

[cjs-dad]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote tzrider:

Today I tested for brown belt and the test went smoothly. I wasn’t nearly as gassed after sparring and enjoyed it much more than I have in previous tests.

:beer: Awesome!

[shemesh]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

I find that participating in intense seminars and/or training camps a few times a year really help as far as endurance goes and learning that there is always just a bit more you can give, pushing limits, etc. Also, if you have a test coming up, paying attention to nutrition and sleep can help too.

[seraphs-coal]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

The negative for using running as training for Krav is that you are not picking up enough muscle groups. I would suggest hard sessions on a Rowing Machine and as many laps as you can do in the pool.

[glennmarsh]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

According to me running is the best ever cardio exercise. And run until you are physically unable to run and then to walk it off and then repeat this cycle for an hour its build muscle and lose weight as well,.

[glennmarsh]

Re: Best cardio exercise for Krav

quote GlennMarsh:

According to me running is the best ever cardio exercise. And run until you are physically unable to run and then to walk it off and then repeat this cycle for an hour its build muscle and lose weight as well,.

What you thinks?

[Author]

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