Punching, kicking, and moving in different combinations while not leaving yourself open to an opponent's attack should be a goal in your training. Such abilities are what competitive fighters train for, and it's what you should be practicing in your Krav Maga training. The key is to emphasize different aspects of your primary techniques in order to intelligently balance development of your skills.

For example, varying the speed at which you train improves different aspects of your overall performance. Slow work will build on your technique and balance, while powerful strokes to a heavy bag will build your strength and punching power. Concentrating on the speed of your recoil (an action which follows just about every striking technique) will aid you in building rapid combinations of fast strikes, which are covered in Chapter 18.

Professional or competitive fighters should be in a relatively high level of fitness at all times and will rarely have long offseasons as professional athletes such as base-ball or football players. Professional fighters build to a peak level over a six- to ten-week period that is reached only a few nights to a week prior to the actual fight.

It is quite common for a professional fighter to train in the gym for three to four hours at a time, two times a day, over several weeks. Of course, a proper diet and a steady sleeping cycle are essential elements in maintaining this intense pace of training for such an extended period of time. For more information on diet and nutrition, please refer to Chapter 3. Low blood sugar levels, electrolyte imbalances, or even the slightest infection of the body can spell disaster for a competitive fighter.

When an athlete is training for a fight, the most crucial piece of information that her trainer needs to know is how long the match is going to last — how many rounds total and the length of the rounds. A boxing match can be anywhere from three to ten rounds, ranging from two to three minutes each. But mixed martial arts (MMA) or no-holds-barred (NHB) matches are often two to five rounds with anywhere from five- to fifteen-minute rounds.

Whatever the length of the rounds, the possibility that the fighter will go the whole duration of the fight (which for MMA fighters can mean a total fight time of over an hour) needs to be accounted for in the training regime. In fact, it would be ideal if that time is slightly exceeded during training to ensure that the fighter can meet the highest potential for physical demands the fight could have.

This way the fighter learns how to pace herself. The fighter will build both the strength and endurance needed in order to effectively fight for as many rounds as is necessary. As any fighter or trainer will tell you, whenever you have a fight between two fighters who are nearly equal in skill level and experience, the the winner is often the fighter that trained harder. It all comes down to conditioning. On the street, where there are no rounds, conditioning may be the only advantage you have when facing a larger attacker.