Speed is the ability to perform a movement within a short period of time. Most sports have some sort of speed component. The team or individual who is the fastest is usually the one who scores more points/goals/ runs. Speed is important in Krav Maga for a few reasons. First, in order to defend yourself from an attacker you have to make your defense in a very short period of time. The slower you are at defending yourself, the more time your attacker has to attack and control you. As soon as the attacker sees that you are planning on making a defense, he can prepare, and then it may end up being a fight that is decided by which of you is the stronger rather than quicker. More often than not, the fighter who is the stronger will win.

The thing that makes Krav Maga self-defense so effective is that you, the practitioner, are trained to not only defend against and respond to a strong attacker with speed, but not to stop responding until the situation has been neutralized or you are able to get away from it safely. Not only is it important to defend with speed, but you also want to counterattack with speed as well. The faster you can send punches and knees, the harder it will be for your opponent to see them coming.

The same holds true for the martial arts that have been adapted into sports. When MMA fighters are sparring, a punch that is telegraphed or thrown too slowly is easy to see coming and will be easy to defend against. The same is true for kicks and knees, so it's important to train the muscles in your upper and lower body to move the necessary limbs in a short period of time.

It is possible to increase your speed by working on your punches and kicks while focusing on making them faster. What you must realize is that when there is an increase in speed there can be a loss of force behind your attacks, which can translate into a lack of power. If you are concentrating purely on increasing your speed, this may not be such a problem. If you want to increase your striking power, however, which should be a goal in your Krav Maga training, compromising the force of your attacks for the sake of increasing your speed may not be the best of ideas. A lack of power behind your strikes will result in your inflicting less damage to someone who may be trying to hurt you.

You can take just about any skill and work on making it faster. If you want to make your left-right punch combinations faster, you should work on that combination while focusing on speed and technique. You can increase the number of punches you throw in rapid succession in order to challenge yourself, repeating six alternating straight punches and doing so over and over with the intention of making them as fast as possible without neglecting proper technique!

You may notice that your legs or feet are not moving as fast as you'd like them to. You can work on developing speed in your lower body by performing the drills listed above for agility, or by employing the exercises that are listed in the next section.

Exercise for Speed

High Knees Drill

This purpose behind High Knees is to get your legs moving faster. This exercise is done as though you are running, except there should be little to no forward travel or momentum. While running in place, focus on picking your knee up as fast as you can while remaining light on your feet. If you are heavy on your feet, it will usually cause your movements to be slow and your attacks to be telegraphed. Do not forget to keep your arms moving as well. A rapid arm swing can cause your legs to react faster. Draw your navel in by keeping your abs tight and tipping your torso forward just slightly. This exercise should be done for time not repetitions. Performing this exercise for anywhere from ten to thirty seconds is sufficient enough for results. It will increase your heart rate significantly, so this can also be done as an interval.