WHAT IS FIRST 2 FIGHT RETZEV COMBATIVES?

Most self-defense programs teach you to wait. Wait for the attack. Wait for the threat to materialize. Wait for permission to respond.

First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives does not wait.

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Retzev is the Hebrew word for continuous motion — the principle at the heart of Israeli Krav Maga that describes a relentless, forward-pressure offensive response that does not pause, does not hesitate, and does not stop until the threat is neutralized. It is the combat philosophy of a nation that has fought for its survival every decade of its existence, distilled into a fighting system designed for one purpose: to make ordinary people extraordinarily difficult to kill.

 

First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives is the complete self-defense curriculum at Cali Combat Systems — and it is not a Krav Maga program with a different name. It is a full-spectrum combatives system that integrates Israeli Krav Maga as its philosophical and tactical backbone with the proven offensive tools of Jeet Kune Do, the weapons intelligence of Filipino Kali, the grappling and control of Integrated Ground Fighting Systems, the stand-up brutality of Panantukan, and the reality-tested frameworks of Rapid Assault Tactics, Street Safe, and the Guro Burton Richardson Street Series into a unified, pressure-tested, immediately applicable combat education.

 

This is not defensive arts. This is offensive combatives. The goal is not to survive an attack. The goal is to be the first one to act, the last one standing, and the most dangerous person in the room before anyone else realizes the fight has started.

This is First 2 Fight.

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THE RETZEV PRINCIPLE: WHY OFFENSE IS THE FOUNDATION

Every legitimate combat system in the world acknowledges the same truth: in a real violent confrontation, the person who acts first — decisively, with committed aggression and a clear plan — wins the majority of the time. Waiting to be hit is not a strategy. It is a decision to absorb damage before responding.

Retzev addresses this directly. The word means unceasing motion — a continuous flow of offensive techniques that does not allow the opponent a moment to reset, recover, or counterattack. Once engaged, the Retzev combative does not stop: punches flow into elbows flow into knees flow into takedowns flow into submissions or termination. No pause. No reset. No hesitation.

This principle runs through every system integrated into the F2F Retzev curriculum:

In Krav Maga, simultaneous defense and offense is the foundational principle — you do not block and then counter. You block as you counter, and the counter leads immediately into forward pressure.

In Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee's concept of interception — hitting the opponent as they commit to attack, before they can complete it — is the highest expression of Retzev in the striking arts.

In Kali / Panantukan, the defang-the-snake principle — destroying the opponent's offensive capability rather than defending against it — is Retzev applied to weapons fighting.

In Rapid Assault Tactics, Sifu Paul Vunak's three-phase formula — Entry, Forward Pressure, Termination — is Retzev codified into a teachable system.

They are all describing the same thing: be the first to act, be the most committed, and do not stop until the threat is gone. First 2 Fight.

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THE SYSTEMS:

WHAT F2F RETZEV INTEGRATES

ISRAELI KRAV MAGA — THE FOUNDATION

Krav Maga — "Contact Combat" in Hebrew — was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld in pre-state Israel in the 1930s and 1940s, refined through his experience training the Haganah (the Jewish defense force that preceded the IDF), and codified as the official hand-to-hand combat system of the Israel Defense Forces after the state's founding in 1948. It has since been adopted by the FBI, CIA, DEA, US military special operations units, and police departments worldwide.

The core principles of Krav Maga that define the F2F Retzev system:

Simultaneous Defense and Offense. Never block and then counter — block as you counter, and the counter leads immediately into the next attack. Every defensive movement creates an offensive opening. There is no defense without offense.

Target the Most Vulnerable. Eyes, Throat, Groin, Shin. The targets that size and strength cannot protect. The targets that end the fight regardless of the opponent's training or physical advantages. Krav Maga is specifically designed for the person who will not be the largest or strongest person in a violent encounter.

Aggression and Forward Pressure. The Retzev principle: continuous offensive motion that does not allow the opponent to reset, recover, or mount a counter-offense. The goal is not to trade technique with the opponent. The goal is to overwhelm them before they can organize a defense.

Simple, Natural Body Mechanics. Krav Maga is built on movements the human body already knows — the natural extension of the fist, the knee rising in defense, the palm driving forward. Technique under stress reverts to what is most instinctive. Krav Maga works with that instinct rather than overwriting it with complex motor patterns that fail under adrenaline.

Reality-Based Scenarios. Every drill, every technique, every progression in Krav Maga is designed for real-world scenarios: multiple opponents, weapons, confined spaces, the psychological state of genuine fear, and the physical reality of an opponent who is not going to cooperate with your defensive plan.

Pre-emptive striking — the legal, tactical, and martial case for striking first when a threat is clearly imminent rather than waiting for the first blow to land.

Weapon neutralization — HAGANAH's systematic approach to removing weapons from the equation: disarms, redirection, weapon retention from the offensive side.

Team tactics and security applications — HAGANAH's military origins show most clearly in its coverage of protective detail applications, building clearing principles, and the use of Krav Maga principles in professional security contexts.

The F2F Retzev Krav Maga curriculum at CCS covers:

Level 1 — Foundations: Natural fighting stance and movement, the Krav Maga on-guard position, basic strikes (straight punch, palm strike, hammer fist, eye jab, throat strike), basic kicks (front kick, groin kick, round kick, side kick), basic defenses against straight punches, haymakers, pushes, and grabs, choke defenses (front, rear, one hand, two hands, against wall), headlock defenses (standing, ground), bear hug defenses (over and under arms, from front and rear), wrist grabs and releases, basic ground survival.

Level 2 — Intermediate: 360-degree defenses against all attack angles, knife threat defenses (blade to throat, to gut, to back), gun threat defenses (close range, from behind, to the head), choke and hold combinations, the Krav Maga clinch and knee strike entries, takedown defenses, and the full Retzev combination system.

Level 3 — Advanced: Multiple opponent tactics, armed multiple attacker scenarios, long gun (rifle, shotgun) defenses, knife attack defenses (not just threats — against committed, slashing attacks), ground fighting with weapons in play, and the specialized tubular environment curriculum from Master Alain Cohen: defense against attacks in trains, buses, aircraft, hallways, and hostage scenarios.

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JEET KUNE DO INTEGRATION — THE INTERCEPTING FIST MEETS RETZEV

The integration of JKD into F2F Retzev is not a philosophical overlay. It is a tactical upgrade.

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Bruce Lee's principle of interception — the Stop Hit, the interception of the opponent's attack at its initiation before it can complete — is Retzev expressed as a striking principle. Where Krav Maga's simultaneous defense and offense operates at the moment of attack, JKD's interception operates before the attack fully develops: you read the pre-attack cue, you intercept the commitment, and you arrive before the opponent's weapon does.

 

The JKD tools most integrated into F2F Retzev:

The Eye Jab and Finger Jab — Bruce Lee's signature long-range entry tool. Disrupts vision, forces flinch response, creates the opening for the entry. The fastest strike in the JKD toolbox, and the one that creates the most reliable physiological response regardless of the opponent's size or training.

The Low Kick and Stop Kick — attacking the lead leg as the opponent commits to step or strike, disrupting the base before the attack can develop. The JKD low line kick is Retzev applied to the lower body: it arrives first, it disrupts structure, and it creates the entry for the follow-up.

The Straight Blast — Wing Chun's chain punch evolved through JKD. Once the entry is made, the Straight Blast drives forward relentlessly — the JKD expression of Krav Maga's forward pressure principle. It is the mechanism that makes Retzev physical rather than philosophical.

The Five Ways of Attack — the JKD strategic framework that informs every offensive decision in F2F Retzev: Single Direct Attack, Attack By Drawing, Progressive Indirect Attack, Hand Immobilization Attack, Attack By Combination. Where Krav Maga provides the principles and the aggression, JKD provides the strategic framework for how the offense is built.

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KALI INTEGRATION — WEAPONS INTELLIGENCE MEETS COMBATIVES

The Kali integration in F2F Retzev addresses the dimension that most self-defense curricula underestimate: the weapons reality of violent confrontations.

Most violent crimes involve weapons. Most self-defense training does not. F2F Retzev corrects this imbalance by treating every encounter as a potential weapons encounter from the first moment — building the spatial awareness, the defanging instinct, and the weapons-present fighting posture that Kali develops, and integrating it with the aggression and forward pressure of Retzev.

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The specific Kali contributions to F2F Retzev:

Defanging the Snake — the Kali principle of attacking the weapon hand before dealing with the body, applied to every range and every threat type in the F2F curriculum. In Krav Maga terms: destroy the delivery mechanism before the payload arrives.

Environmental Weapons Awareness — the Kali practitioner's constant training with improvised weapons translates directly to the F2F awareness of the environment as a weapon. The pen on the table. The keys in the hand. The belt. The book. The chair. These are not backup options. They are primary tools in the F2F combatant's assessment of every environment they enter.

Angles of Attack and Defense — the Kali twelve-angle system trained in the F2F curriculum as a threat recognition framework: the ability to read an incoming attack by its angle of delivery and respond with the appropriate defang, deflection, or interception before it lands.

Knife Defense for the Street — integrated from the Guro Burton Richardson curriculum and the Kali-Silat Motion program, this is not choreographed knife defense. It is committed attack defense against slash, stab, and combination knife attacks that trains realistic responses to the most common edged weapon assault patterns.

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RAPID ASSAULT TACTICS — THE PAIN-PRESSURE-TERMINATE FORMULA

The complete RAT curriculum — Entry, Forward Pressure, Termination — is integrated into F2F Retzev as the operational formula that turns Retzev's principle of continuous motion into a teachable three-phase combat plan:

Entry — simultaneous attack on the opponent's primary weapons (eyes, throat) while closing distance explosively. The Krav Maga simultaneous defense-and-offense is the entry mechanism. The JKD eye jab is the entry tool.

Forward Pressure — the Straight Blast, driving the opponent backward, destroying their base and their ability to generate power, maintaining the initiative until termination is possible.

Termination — head butts, knees, elbows on three levels, and KinaMutai (biting, eye attacks, pressure points) — the tools that end the threat decisively when forward pressure has created the opportunity.

The Street Safe Program's eight simple tools — the compressed, civilian-accessible version of the RAT formula — provide the fastest path to functional combatives capability for students who do not have the time or inclination to progress through the full Phase Method curriculum.

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PANANTUKAN, FILIPINO DIRTY BOXING — THE OFFENSIVE ENGINE

Guro Daniel Sullivan's Panantukan is the striking system that makes F2F Retzev relentless. Where Krav Maga provides the entry and the principle, and RAT provides the forward pressure formula, Panantukan provides the offensive arsenal for the middle game: the tools that continue the damage after the entry and before the termination.

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Panantukan in the F2F context:

Bicep and Forearm Destructions — attacking the opponent's attacking limb as it commits. In Krav Maga terms, this is simultaneous defense and offense applied to the limb itself: the incoming punch is not blocked, it is destroyed. The arm that cannot generate power cannot complete the attack.

Elbow Strikes on Three Levels — the most catastrophic close-range striking tool in the human body, deployed high (temple, jaw), medium (ribs, solar plexus), and low (knee, groin). Panantukan's systematic elbow deployment is Retzev made physical: the elbows do not stop moving.

Head Butts, Shoulder Checks, and Eye Rakes — the tools that Panantukan inherited from its knife-fighting origins and that Krav Maga recognizes as primary weapons in the close-range game.

The Combination Flow — Panantukan's training methodology of continuous combinations — not stopping between techniques, not resetting, not pausing — is the physical embodiment of Retzev. It conditions the body and mind to maintain offensive output without interruption.

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FOR THE STREET SERIES INFLUENCES

The complete Street Series from Guro Burton Richardson operates as the reality-testing layer of the entire F2F Retzev curriculum:

MMA for the Street — what changes when there is no referee, no weight class, no rules, and the floor is concrete. The BJJ positions that become dangerous when the opponent has a weapon or a friend. The striking combinations that work when you cannot assume a single opponent. The wrestling principles that need modification when going to the ground is the worst outcome.

BJJ for the Street — ground survival and submission with weapons awareness. The guard recovery that gets you standing when the ground is dangerous. The KinaMutai integration that makes the bottom position survivable. The weapons grappling scenarios that sport BJJ never trains.

Silat for the Street — Maphilindo Silat's off-balancing and sweeping applied to street scenarios: the entry that collapses the opponent's base, the sweep that takes them down before they can mount a committed attack, the Kuncian lock that controls without excessive force.

Knife Defense for the Street — committed slash and stab defense against realistic knife attacks. Not static threats. Moving, committed, fast attacks that do not announce themselves. The framework for surviving what actually happens when an edged weapon is drawn in anger.

Gun Defense for the Street — close-range firearm threat response. The principles of line of fire, frame control, weapon retention from the defensive side, and the disarm entry that works against a loaded weapon at realistic distances.

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THE THREE LAWS SAFE PROGRAM — LAW ENFORCEMENT DEFENSIVE TACTICS

The Three Laws Safe program at CCS is the law enforcement application of the F2F Retzev curriculum — built on the Force Continuum framework that governs police use of force and scaled to meet the specific legal, tactical, and operational requirements of law enforcement, security, and military personnel.

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The Three Laws Safe curriculum is organized around three levels of force response:

Level I — Law Enforcement Control Tactics (LECT): When the subject is non-cooperative but not yet physically threatening — resisting escort, resisting handcuffing, refusing to comply without actively fighting. Control without damage. The curriculum covers verbal de-escalation and command presence, joint locks from Small Circle JuJitsu, Aikido, and BJJ, come-along techniques from Filipino Dumog (using the body's natural choke points), pressure point control tactics (maximum control with minimum force), tactical handcuffing, escort and transport techniques, and the distinction between compliance and resistance in subject management.

Level II — Law Enforcement Defensive Tactics (LEDT): When the subject has initiated physical force that does not yet represent a lethal threat. Blocks, strikes, and kicks calibrated to stop the assault without excessive force. Clinch entries and standing control positions. Takedowns and ground control. The Vascular Neck Restraint system — the only medically researched and approved neck restraint methodology in use — and its application from standing and ground positions. Straight baton combatives using nerve motor point targeting to minimize connective tissue damage and legal liability.

Level III — Law Enforcement Combatives / Termination Tactics (LEC/LETT): When the subject represents a genuine lethal threat. The full F2F Retzev offensive toolkit applied within the law enforcement use-of-force context: the RAT entry, forward pressure, and termination formula; KinaMutai grappling for ground survival; weapon retention and disarm; firearms as a cold and hot defensive tool; long gun threats including rifle and shotgun; and the exigent circumstances techniques that apply when an officer's life is at genuine risk.

Verbal De-escalation — The Foundation of All Three Levels
Before any physical response, the Three Laws Safe program teaches presence, posture, and voice control as the primary tools of law enforcement confrontation management — the ability to project authority, de-escalate tension, and resolve situations without physical force when possible. Because the best fight is the one that never happens.

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ACTIVE SHOOTER RESPONSE TRAINING

The most important and most underserved dimension of civilian self-defense in the modern world.

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The statistics are unambiguous. Emergency responders cannot prevent mass fatalities — they can only minimize them after the fact. In 21% of active shooter incidents, unarmed citizens successfully restrained the shooter before law enforcement arrived. Victims resolved two and a half times more incidents than police. Victim-resolved incidents resulted in nearly three times fewer fatalities than shooter-resolved incidents.

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The implication is clear: citizen preparedness saves lives. And the First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives Active Shooter Response Training program is built on that premise.

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The ASRT curriculum at CCS is grounded in certifications from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS-EMI), FEMA, FBI, OSHA, CERT Academy 39 (SDFD), and Israeli Krav Maga experts — combined with specialized training under Pete Hardy, Rick Smith, and Shawn Thornton in Active Shooter and Long Gun Defense with Tactical Combat Medicine, under Sifu Don MacGuire in Active Shooter Defense, and under Master Alain Cohen in the IDF's approach to anti-terrorism and active shooter scenarios.

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The ASRT program follows the E-PAD Protocol: Escape, Prevent Access, Defend.

Escape — the first and best option when it is available. Route planning, crowd movement, extraction techniques for individuals and families, the difference between cover and concealment, and the decision-making framework for when escape is possible versus when it is not.

Prevent Access — barricade, room-hardening, and facility-denial techniques. How to turn a room into a defensible position. How to use furniture, doors, and physical space to maximize the time and effort required for a shooter to reach you.

Defend — when escape and barricade are not options. The unarmed engagement with an active shooter — the combatives principles that apply when the alternative is death. The Krav Maga and RAT principles of explosive entry, simultaneous defense and offense, and forward pressure applied to the most extreme scenario a civilian will ever face.

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The nine ASRT core modules cover:

1. Module 1: ASE Facts and Statistics — understanding the threat, the history, and the statistical reality of active shooter events.

2. Module 2: Introduction to Active Shooter Response — the frameworks, the terminology, and the basic decision tree.

3. Module 3: Facility Hardening — the Multi-Tiered Action Plan for schools, businesses, and houses of worship.

4. Module 4: Escape, Barricade, Defend — the E-PAD protocol in full.

5. Module 5: Public Places Security — campus, schools, theaters, and houses of worship. The specific vulnerabilities and hardening strategies for each environment.

6. Module 6: Stop the Dying — Active Shooter Combatives and Control Tactics — unarmed and improvised weapon engagement with the active shooter. The same JKD, Krav Maga, Kali, and RAT principles that form the F2F Retzev core curriculum, applied to this specific scenario.

7. Module 7: Stop the Bleeding / Start the Breathing — tactical wound management and civilian emergency medical response. A large portion of shooting victims who reach a Level 1 Trauma Center survive. The minutes between the shooting and the paramedics are where citizen response saves lives.

8. Module 8: Hostage Survival and Anti-Terrorism — the specific scenarios and decision frameworks for hostage situations, suicide bomber encounters, and domestic terrorism events.

9. Module 9: LEO Active Shooter Response — for law enforcement and security personnel: the Driving Force Concept, team formations, room clearing, Israeli shooting tactics, and integrated control tactics.\

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The specialized Tubular Environment Defense curriculum — developed through training with Master Alain Cohen — addresses the specific scenarios that most ASRT programs ignore: defense against attacks in trains, buses, aircraft, narrow hallways, and confined spaces where the conventional run-hide-fight framework simply does not apply because running and hiding are not options.

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ETGS — ESCAPE TO GAIN SAFETY

Women's and Children's Self-Defense Program

The Escape to Gain Safety program applies the F2F Retzev principles to the specific vulnerabilities and attack patterns that women and children face. This is not a watered-down version of the combatives curriculum — it is the same aggression-first, offense-oriented approach calibrated to the most common scenarios of predatory violence against women and children: the grab, the hold, the escort, the isolation attempt, and the pre-attack behavioral indicators that precede them.

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The ETGS curriculum covers:

Awareness and Pre-Attack Recognition — the behavioral indicators of predatory intent, the environmental factors that increase risk, and the situational awareness habits that reduce vulnerability before physical contact is made.

The Grab Defenses — wrist grabs, arm grabs, clothing grabs, hair grabs. The Krav Maga releases that work with natural body mechanics rather than requiring technical precision under stress.

Choke and Hold Defenses — front choke, rear choke, bear hug (over and under arms), headlock. The explosive, aggressive defense-and-counter that ends the hold and creates the opening for escape or continued offense.

Ground Survival — what to do when taken to the ground: the guard recovery, the hip escape, the stand-up, and the strikes available from the bottom position that create space.

The Psychology of Resistance — the most important element of any women's self-defense curriculum: overcoming the social conditioning that creates hesitation in the face of violence, and replacing it with the trained permission to respond with full aggression when safety is at genuine risk.

Child Safety and Anti-Predator Principles — age-appropriate self-defense education covering stranger awareness, boundary assertion, the specific grab and hold scenarios that target children, and the simple, explosive responses that do not require size or strength.

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THE F2F RETZEV TRAINING PROGRAMS

Group Classes — Ongoing Curriculum

F2F Retzev Combatives is integrated throughout the CCS Phase Method curriculum — building from the Street Safe foundations in Phase 1 through the full Krav Maga, Kali, JKD, and grappling integration of Phases 2 through 4.

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Street Safe Seminars — Standalone Workshops

Compressed, high-intensity, immediately applicable self-defense training for students who do not have the time or inclination to commit to the full Phase Method. The eight tools of RAT, the Retzev combination formula, and the most critical Krav Maga defenses delivered in a single workshop format.

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ETGS Women's and Children's Self-Defense Workshops

Community-based women's and children's self-defense programs available for community organizations, schools, houses of worship, corporate environments, and private groups.

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Active Shooter Response Training

Half-day, full-day, and two-day ASRT programs available for organizations, schools, houses of worship, corporate environments, and law enforcement agencies. Customized to organizational budget and scheduling requirements.

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Three Laws Safe — Law Enforcement and Security Training

Force continuum training for law enforcement officers, security professionals, military personnel, and protective detail operators. Available in seminar format or ongoing private/small group training.

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IPTP — Intensive Personal Training Program

The two-day, ten-hour intensive that delivers the full F2F Retzev combatives core — RAT, Krav Maga, Kali integration, and KinaMutai — in a dedicated personal training format. See the Fight Rhythm JKD page for full IPTP details.

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WHO THIS PROGRAM IS FOR

The Civilian who wants real self-defense capability — not sport martial arts, not fitness Krav Maga, not techniques that work in class against cooperative partners but fail in parking lots against committed attackers.

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The Woman or Parent who wants themselves and their children equipped with the awareness, the tools, and the trained aggression to respond to predatory violence without hesitation.

 

The Security Professional who needs force continuum tools that work under stress, scale to the threat level, and hold up to legal scrutiny — and who needs to know the difference between Level I control and Level III combatives.

 

The Law Enforcement Officer who wants combatives training built specifically for the use-of-force framework they operate under — not sport martial arts adapted after the fact.

 

The Prepared Citizen who takes their personal and community safety seriously — who wants Active Shooter Response training that goes beyond awareness videos and actually prepares them to act.

 

The Martial Artist who wants to stress-test their existing skills against a reality-based, offense-first curriculum that pulls no punches about what works and what does not.

 

The Person Who Has Never Trained who wants a system built for them — simple, natural, immediately effective, requiring no prior training and no particular physical gifts.

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READY TO FIGHT FIRST?

Violence does not announce itself. It does not give you time to remember your techniques, assume a stance, or decide how you feel about using force. It arrives fast, without warning, and the outcome is decided in the first seconds.

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First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives is built on one principle: be ready before it arrives. Know the signs. Have the tools. Have the plan. And when the moment comes — act first, act fully, and do not stop until you are safe.

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Sifu Jeramiah Giehl began training Krav Maga in 2002. He has trained under four distinct Israeli combat lineages, received specialized instruction from Darren Levine himself, and holds instructor certifications in the Krav Maga Federation, ATA/TAC Krav Maga, and Warrior Krav Maga. He has spent eight years applying these principles as a professional security officer and bouncer. He has survived real violence — multiple opponents, bare-knuckle, no rules — and he teaches from that experience.

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The intro class is $15. Your safety is worth more than that.

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Book your intro class today. The threat is not waiting. Neither should you.

 

"Krav Maga is not a sport. It is a survival system." — Imi Lichtenfeld, Founder of Krav Maga

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"Don't be a victim — be a survivor." — Darren Levine

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Cali Combat Systems teaches First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives under instructor certifications from the Krav Maga Federation of America (Level 1 Civilian Instructor and Law Enforcement Control Tactics under Master Alain Cohen, 5th Dan, Wingate Institute), ATA/TAC Krav Maga (Level 1 Instructor under Grand Master Daniel Longoria), and Warrior Krav Maga (Certified Instructor under Master Anthony Landgren), with specialized training under Darren Levine (Krav Maga Worldwide / Imi Lichtenfeld lineage). Active Shooter Response Training is delivered under certifications from FEMA, DHS-EMI, and CERT Academy 39 (San Diego Fire Department).