Firstly, before anyone gets too upset at the title, I do use “stress testing” (though I think the term may be somewhat misleading as the only “stress” part is really in threat recognition and decision making) as a training tool, in some of my classes. For those new to and/or unfamiliar with Krav Maga, basic stress testing involves members of a group, in quick succession applying a threat or attack to one member e.g., a person may have to deal with a gun threat, and as soon as they’ve dealt with that another member of the group applies a strangulation, as soon as they’ve escaped from that, someone else puts them in a guillotine hold etc. This goes on for a set amount of time, and then another member of the group gets their turn at being the target. It’s a method of training that develops some aspects of fighting, but it doesn’t develop all, and it’s in this regard that it’s often built up to have a “mythical” status within certain sectors of Krav Maga i.e., all you need to do to develop and test your fighting ability is to regularly engage in stress testing. It is sometimes useful to look at what skills a particular type of training, doesn’t develop, in order to find the “gaps” that need to be filled if we are going to develop into effective fighters who can successfully defend ourselves in a real-life confrontation. In this article I want to examine some of these, not as a criticism of stress testing but to recognize that, like all methods of training, including sparring and rolling, it has limitations; I would also suggest that if sparring and/or rolling are the only way you train you will not be fully prepared for dealing with real-life violence.

                One thing that stress testing isn’t particularly well designed for is developing the ability to transition between phases in a fight, something that MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) training is very good at e.g., in a stress test after you have escaped from a strangulation, you are confronted with a different attack/threat; the strangulation and the “strangle” have been dealt with etc. As stated being able to quickly identify and respond to a “new” threat/danger is an important skill to develop, and this is where stress testing has its value BUT if you don’t train how to deal with the same attacker when it’s necessary to transition between different phases of a fight then you may find yourself lacking when your escape isn’t successful, or as you’re escaping your assailant changes the attack, and/or after you’ve escaped they continue attacking etc. Fights, are generally not “one and done” events, they usually have multiple phases, with attackers responding to the things that you do, and often these “transitions” between phases aren’t clean e.g., when an attacker changes an attack, in response to your escape from a rear-strangle to a side-headlock, you’re not in one and then suddenly in another, there’s a transition that has to get you there, and it provides opportunities, however how to exploit these aren’t often emphasized and trained. A good Judoka or BJJ practitioner knows how to work and operate, in the scramble, when things aren’t one thing or another and are grey and fuzzy, rather than distinct and black or white e.g., it’s either a rear-strangle or a side-headlock etc. Stress testing is there to train distinct techniques. However, in real-life confrontations there is usually more time spent in transitions as one party tries to do one thing and the other tries to stop them etc. Some training time needs to be devoted to developing and testing the skills that are necessary to be successful in surviving and exploiting this “mess”.

                Stress testing also doesn’t really train offensive transitioning i.e., the ability to move from striking to grappling, to ground etc., and back out from ground to standing, to grappling, to striking etc. Whilst I may prefer for a number of reasons not to have to go to the ground, there may be times when I’m forced to and have no choice. When this happens, I want to go to the ground on my own terms not the other person’s. This means I have to have the skills to offensively transition through the phase from standing to ground so that I am in the dominant position and can dictate the way that the fight will go. If I lack these skills then I am relying on luck and my assailant’s lack of ability to make this happen.