Retzev (Continuous Combat Motion [All Belts])

Retzev (Continuous Combat Motion [All Belts])

Forming the backbone of the Israeli fighting system, retzev is a seamless, decisive, and overwhelming counterattack. In short, you will launch an untamed response, using optimized strikes, takedowns, throws, joint locks, chokes, or other offensive actions, combined with evasive action. Israeli krav maga taught by Grandmaster Haim Gidon uses retzev (“continuous combat motion”) to overpower an assailant and complete the defense. In his last years Imi spoke of the retzev concept. Haim understood and implemented it. The top Gidon Krav Maga students are known for their ability to execute retzev.

An analogy might be a well-placed bullet from a semi-automatic weapon followed by that weapon’s then going fully automatic to finish the threat. Key retzev principles are:

• There are no pre-conceived routines or sets of combatives;
• Retzev teaches the defender to move instinctively in combat motion without thinking about the next logical move;
• Retzev, armed or unarmed, is quick and decisive movement merging all aspects of one’s krav maga training;
• Defensive movements transition automatically and seamlessly into offensive movements to neutralize the attack, leaving an adversary little or no time to react;
• If attacked, the kravist must—within the boundaries of the law—become the most viscerally violent person present, capable of defeating any threat;

Retzev may be compared to a professional law enforcement or military assault. Professional military and law enforcement personnel use overwhelming violence of action and a preponderance of firepower; criminals try to do the same.

In the following examples of partial retzev, you will see simulations of this untamed, targeted, continuous counter-violence. You will likely note that the defender preempts the opponent’s aggressive movement or immediately takes the fight to the opponent, when the opponent displays a fighting stance.