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Hey all,
I’m a pretty avid weightlifter (4 days a week when I’m a good boy). Can Krav Maga and weight training coexist without one of them suffering? I’ll be moving to LA in February and have always wanted to learn Krav Maga but have never been living in a city that has a center.
Short answer yes. Long answer: it depends. Mostly on why you want to take Krav and why you want to lift weights. If you’re lifting to help support Krav Maga, then a more functional lifting approach would be beneficial. Using compound movements, exercises that increase your power and flexibility in addition to strength and endurance. You will also find that traditional weightlifting \”routines\” are not conducive to the rapidly shifting domains of fighting and self defense. Thus, varying the exercise prescription, additing aerobic components is closer to the Krav Maga domain. Crossfit.com is a good place to look for ideas. If you’re lifting for size, you might find Krav Maga workouts might actually make it a little difficult to gain size.
I do mostly ‘compound’ movements and no isolation exercises. I lift primarily to gain strength…size is a secondary or even tertiary concern.
I do ‘push’ and ‘pull’ days using compout exercises – pull-ups, benches, squats, rows, and shrugs, mostly. No isolation exercises for biceps or triceps.
both in our LA and sherman oaks centers, we have Kettle bell classes (fitness class). this is a great alternative to weight training. I use to lift weights almost everday but now i skip on the days that i have the fitness class.
Lifting is an excellent complement to Krav as it is for any activity. I’ve been trying a bit of CrossFit lately and that is tough stuff.
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\”I do mostly ‘compound’ movements and no isolation exercises. I lift primarily to gain strength…size is a secondary or even tertiary concern.\”I lift for strength also, twice a week. I do leg presses (can’t do squats, bad knees), flat bench presses, deadlifts, and standing military presses. I also do front lat pulldowns and use the ab machine as assist exercises for the deadlift. I do cardio three times a week as an assist exercise to Krav. 😆
There are often plenty of push-ups and other workout exercises in KM class, so if it’s your \”chest rest day\” you may want to take it easy on those, as to not interfere with your own workout. Other than that, being strong can only be beneficial for self-defense, so I think it would work well with KM.
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Giantkiller😆
Seperating cardio is a great idea! Training for a fight by running every other day makes perfect sense if you plan on running away from your opponent and know you will be getting a ten minute headstart.The exercises mentioned are a good start, but segregating cardio and weight training is problematic in a world that doesn’t make that distinction. Segmenting your training in this way leads to segmented capacity.
Weight Training
For functional weight training about 3 times a week, I use a 40-lb. bag of cement (12 functional exercises, 12 reps, no rest) after my calisthenics. I also alternate weekly between barbells, dumbells, and resistance machines (my Bowflex at home). No matter which I use, I only do the functional exercises.
bags are great! shifting center of gravity, difficult to grab. I think that’s the closest to a live opponent without actually lifting a person. I think on Ross Enamait’s site I saw a recipe for making one that’s easy to adjust. Basically you use heavy duty small plastic bags inside a lawn bag, inside a larger duffel bag. That way you can add or subtract the weight for your purposes.
You can also grab one of the large bags at the NTC and lift and pull and push it, then punch and kick, then grab it and move it some more. Gets tiring quickly.
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GiantkillerBought me a couple of sandbags today at the surplus store for $2.10 in order to contain the 40-lb. bag of cement I bought at home depot 3 weeks ago. That way if the original bag busts, those 2 sandbags got it covered. I’ll put both of them on the cement tomorrow before doing my \”Eight to Hate\” grappler calisthenics and then ending with the 40-lb. cementbag workout.
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