Learned a lot in my second Krav Maga class about defense. Elbow work and 360 degree blocks were the focus of Thursday’s lesson. In addition to hitting the instructor in the face numerous times–punching a guy head on is pretty tough the first time, even when he orders you to do so–I began grasping a very important concept about Krav Maga, which has to do with its design.

A lot of maneuvers are compound and blitzkrieg style. In other words, in one scenario: nail the chin from below with the elbow, bring it back down on top of the chin, slice the right cheek with the elbow, back again, and this time taking the left side, and finally slam the throat. Note that a single attack consisted of five separate strikes.

The sheer fury of moves like this begs the question: how many strikes are sufficient in the real world? And there are two answers, one which really matters, and another which does not.

Because it’s variable, the literal answer about what constitutes sufficient counterforce does not really matter. Depending the opponent, their conditioning level, intent and skill, all five strikes might be necessary to topple them. Or maybe they have a glass jaw and crumple instantly. But the problem is, because the tolerance level is so variable, there’s no way to predict someone’s breaking point in advance. Which makes grasping for an exact answer not a very good move at all when in the midst of flying fists.

So the practical answer–the one that counts–is once you are in a fight, be ready for anything. Do what it takes to get the attacker on the ground and get the fuck away from them.

Quickly.