Marli releases her greatest hits
… and tries not to die in front of the children
by Marli Guzzetta + Independent Writer
After having four years that can be described diplomatically as my "tobacco and carbohydrate period," the last thing I wanted to hear on my way to my first Krav Maga class was that it would be conducted by someone known affectionately as "the dreaded Sarah."

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Independent Arts Editor Marli Guzzetta, background, mimics the impeccable form of instructor Sarah Masi.

Rob Benchley, the Independent photographer who was to document my moment of truth, mentioned this in the car on the way there.

But fear is a decent place to start with Krav Maga, seeing as it's acknowledged as the most effective self-defense system in the world - a system for turning one's fear into a relentless burst of violent energy.

The whole idea behind Krav: "If you try to hurt me, you make the biggest mistake you've ever made in your life," explained instructor Jamie Cook the day I stepped into the Krav Studio on a whim while waiting for FedEx to open. That was a few weeks ago, and watching him demonstrate a typical Krav technique - pounding his elbow repeatedly into the mat, where an attacker's head would be - titillated my inner Rocky.

However, it became clear to me when I stepped into the dreaded Sarah's Friday afternoon Krav class that my biggest adversary that day was going to be neither the mat nor the dreaded Sarah, but my own out-of-shape arse.

Everyone was entirely friendly and entirely welcoming before class began. Krav Maga owner and NPD Detective Steve Tornovish and his wife, Beth, greeted me as if I'd just come to a potluck at their house. "We've got teachers who come here. Moms, carpenters, cops. Great people," Steve Tornovish said. "You can get a good workout with Krav, and it boosts your confidence and self esteem, but it also gives you a sense of a great community."

As for the dreaded Sarah Masi, I trusted her immediately. She shook my hand firmly and spoke with a matter-of-fact (but not condescending) confidence. When class began, she lined us up to bow in, and we started with some elbow-tap sparring. No problem. We changed partners every few minutes, and I felt great.

It wasn't until Masi launched into a series of aerobic exercises - with nary a break in between - that I contemplated the possibility that one of my body's major systems might fail. I felt a little bit validated when I heard a veteran class-goer grumble during "Mountain Climbers" and "Burpies" (exercises that sound cuter than they actually feel). When we started running in circles around the room, my lungs began to feel volcanic. It was then that I noticed that the kids in Krav Maga's childcare room were watching us through a glass door. It would be entirely inappropriate, I thought as I ran in circles, to die in front of the children. So I kept on until the first glorious (albeit brief) water break, after which we partnered up and got focus mitts to practice our punching form. Few sounds in this world are as gratifying as the "pop" of one's fist making good, solid contact with a sparring mitt.

This, of course, morphed into another aerobic exercise - mountain climbers ending in a run across the room and then a series of punches - that left me with the pallor of a corpse, I noticed in the mirror. And yet - while my partner Meg and I were pulling each other's hair so the other could practice breaking the hold - I realized that I was having a really good time.

For the last lesson of the class, Masi produced a pile of rubber knives for us to use in knife attack deflection. The deflection positions were intuitive and effective. And also tough. "Deflecting a knife attack, you're going to get cut," Masi said. "The purpose is for you to save your vital organs and walk away alive, even if that means taking the blade to your hands or arms." Meg and I practiced coming at each other - the defender began with her eyes closed, while the attacker called out her name, leaving a few seconds for the defender to assess the angle of the attack and use the correct block.

Unlike classic martial arts, Krav Maga has a military style approach to defending against modern street weapons because it began as the official selfdefense system of the Israeli Defense Forces. Imi Lichtenfeld is the man who developed Krav Maga. Born in Israel in 1910 to a father who was a police officer, Lichtenfeld spent a good portion of his youth street fighting, only to hone his self-defense skills during World War II, when he also tutored soldiers in no-holds-barred, hand-to-hand combat. In 1948, the Israeli government asked Lichtenfeld to create a comprehensive self-defense program for its military. That was the official start of Krav Maga. For the next 20 years, Lichtenfeld streamlined Krav Maga while serving in combat in the Middle East and working with elite Israeli forces.

When Lichtenfeld retired in 1964, he focused on creating a Krav Maga teaching system and hiring a teaching staff for civilian men, women and children. The Israeli Ministry of Education accredited his handpicked instructors, and Krav Maga began spreading. In 1981, a New York philanthropist paid for 23 American martial artists to attend a Krav Maga training course overseas. They brought the system back to the States, where it flourished first in Jewish community centers, then in local police precincts and on military bases and, finally, in civilian neighborhoods. Now, Krav Maga is a global system that allows its students to train at any of its licensed facilities, worldwide.

Instructors aren't skittish about noting that Krav is not a traditional martial art. "We don't have tournaments, because there are no rules," Masi said. "So while you'll get in shape doing it, the focus isn't on the sport aspect, it's on the self-defense."

As a self-defense system, Krav can be learned quickly. Attending several Krav classes per week, a person can become proficient in his or her own selfdefense in a few months. This is not to say that someone can learn everything there is to learn about Krav in a few months, but that she will have the knowledge necessary to win over adversaries - including her own out-of-shape arse.

"The soreness goes away, and then you start looking at yourself in a different way," Tornovish said. "That's when you start realizing you can do things you didn't think you were capable of."

By the end of my first class, I had already done things I didn't think I was capable of doing - I

made it through without dying. And I loved it. I

For more information on Krava Maga on Nantucket, go to www.kravmaganantucket.com, or call 325-5587.