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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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I am too old. I am a woman. I have an injury. Good Reasons for Training Systema.

A few days ago, after class, a man who was watching the training session (around 35 years old), came to me and told me he had always been interested in martial arts and that Russian Systema was very appealing, BUT (yes, there’s always a “but”) he had a back injury and couldn’t train.This is very common. Many people tell me they would like to train self-defense, but they are too old… but they are a woman… but the knee hurts… but they are out of shape… but… but… but… They always have a ‘but’ to justify why they don’t train, instead of having that ‘but’ as a reason for training.

They have a very wrong idea about what self-defense is. They think that to train self-defense, one has to be young and athletic, that one has to be in perfect physical condition, but that’s a mistake. The question is, why do they have such a wrong idea? Simply put, they base their idea on combat sports.

They see that combat sports are dominated by young athletes in their best physical condition, and they come to the (wrong) conclusion that these are indispensable qualifications for fighting. While being a professional fighter is not the same as training for self-defense.

Being a professional athlete requires many hours of training, a lot of money and dedication. Basically, one must devote their life to the sport. But not all of us have the time, money or the interest in becoming a professional athlete.

Yes, to be a professional fighter one must be in the best physical state, but for a regular person, who wants to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones, that’s not necessary.

The first thing to understand is that self-defense is not a right exclusive for young and strong people; it’s everyone’s right. No matter your age, gender or physical condition, you have the right to defend yourself. Yet having that right doesn’t necessarily mean that you know how to do it.

Secondly, even professional athletes are not always in their best shape. They get older, get injured, retired. There will always be someone younger and stronger. That´s just life.

Thirdly, who, do you think, has more chances of being attacked? A big, young, strong, fighter-looking guy or a thin, nerdy-looking teen… or a paunchy fiftyish man… or a woman? Most likely, the attacker will avoid the young, fighter-looking guy and choose weaker-looking victim.

Being an older person, being a woman, being skinny or having an injury are no reasons to not defend yourself, very much on the contrary, those are the reasons to learn to defend yourself in a more efficient way. Remember, you are an “easier” victim for an attacker.

In Russian Systema you will train self-defense. You will learn that you age, gender or injuries are not limitations; they are just conditions with which you must learn to live, and that your body has a huge potential to defend itself, in spite of these qualities.

Systema training goal is to develop each person’s natural abilities, make them recognize their strengths and understand their weaknesses. A good Systema instructor helps the students develop, in a natural and spontaneous way, the movements that best adjust to their physical characteristics, their mental state, and psyche… to know themselves.

I’m too old, I’m a woman, I only have one arm…, these are not reasons to not learning self-defense. Better ask yourself, in my condition, how can I use my body to defend myself in the most efficient way possible? Russian Systema will help you find the answer.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/russian-martial-art-systema-by-vladimir-vasiliev-3/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Should I Defend Myself if Attacked with a Weapon?

Bratzo Barrena, Instructor Systema Ruso Combate Funcional – Peru systemarusocf.wix.com/peruThis is a question I´m asked frequently. It’s a controversial subject, with many points of view, each with their own arguments and logic.

There’s no simple answer. There are an infinite amount of variables to take into consideration (type of weapon, motive, type of attack, surroundings, etc.) impossible to mention all in this article, but I’ll try to give a clear and realistic answer.

It’s necessary to analyze the views usually given. The immediate answer most people give is “If attacked with a weapon, do not defend yourself, give them what they want”. Those who advise NOT TO DEFEND YOURSELF, assume that the attacker only wants to rob you, they want something material: your wallet, your cell phone, your car. If that is the situation, if you are COMPLETELY SURE that by handing over whatever they are asking for, your life is saved, DO IT!… But are you completely sure that if you give them what they want, they won’t hurt you? The truth is that unfortunately, there are also many cases in which this doesn’t happen. Handing over what they want DOES NOT ALWAYS GUARANTEE THEY WON’T HURT YOU. Maybe the assailant got angry because you didn’t have enough money, maybe he didn’t want to leave witnesses, or maybe he just wanted to see blood. Whatever the reason, there are many incidents where people handed over what they were asked for, without offering any resistance, and they were hurt or killed anyway.

This reminds me the unfortunate case of a couple of grandparents with their granddaughter (about one or two years old) were driving on a main city street. They were on their way home after withdrawing cash from the bank. A band of thieves followed them and stopped the car in plain daylight and before many witnesses to steal their money. But even though the grandfather handed over all the money, thinking they would be safe, one of the assailants shot the baby girl. The wound left her paraplegic and a few years later she died… There was no reason to shoot. The grandparents didn’t offer any resistance and they didn’t present any danger to the assailants; but they shot anyway… Unfortunately, handing over what you are asked for NOT ALWAYS GUARANTEES you won’t be hurt. Now, why only assume that weapons are only used to rob? We must accept that weapons are not only used to steal things, there are situations in which the attacker wants to hurt you, kidnap your child, rape you, or kill you. If you are in one of this situations, the advise “do not defend yourself, give them what they want”, may not be the best one.

In these cases, what is recommended first is to TALK to the attacker and try to make him come to senses, not in an arrogant or menacing way; do not irritate him and DO NOT DEFY HIM.

Keep calm and NEVER present yourself as a threat. Say whatever is necessary to avoid being hurt, but let’s be realistic, trying to make him come to senses doesn’t always work… And if you’re not able to persuade him not to hurt you, would you let him rape you or kill you without even trying to fight back?

One student told me that in a conference she attended, a specialist in women’s abuse recommended that in case of rape, the best thing to do is relax and not offer any resistance. The specialist’s argument was that what motivates a rapist is subduing a woman, and if she didn’t resist, if she didn’t fight back, the attacker wouldn’t feel any satisfaction and he most likely wouldn’t rape her… I think this is a very dangerous generalization. Yes, in some instances this may happen, for sure there would be many other cases where if you don’t resist, he will rape you anyway… But let’s assume you are a woman and decide not to offer any resistance, you give up to being raped to avoid suffering a worst outcome. You must consider that rape does not only produce physical abuse and psychological and emotional trauma. Rape could have as a consequence an unwanted pregnancy or the transmission of a disease like HIV. Would you be willing to take all those risks without offering any resistance?

Another common answer is “If you are attacked with a weapon, RUN.” This is a simplistic answer that doesn’t consider many variables. If you are completely sure that you are going to run faster than the attacker or that he won’t run after you, yes, sure, run… but, are you sure you are going to run faster? Maybe the attacker is younger or in better physical shape than you. What would happen if he runs after you and catches up with you? (you would even be tired). What would you do if you couldn’t run because you had an injury? It’s important to consider that many times you are not by yourself when an armed attack happens, you may be with a family member or another loved person and you may be responsible for defending them. If you are with a child or an elderly person, would you run and leave them to their fate? Could you run if the attacker is holding you? Of course not, first you would need to release yourself. If you are attacked with a gun, would you run faster than the bullet? I’m sure you won’t. Or maybe you are in a closed environment and you can’t run away. Possibilities are limitless… It’s necessary to understand that RUNNING IS A VALID OPTION, BUT IT’S NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE.

Another advice is “SCREAM”, attract attention, if there are witnesses, the attacker will surely run away before hurting you. This happens sometimes, but it’s also possible that he will hurt you because you started screaming and attracting attention. Or maybe you are in a place where help won’t get on time. How many people are hurt or killed in their own houses? Neighbors may even listen the screams, but they decide not to intervene or they just don’t make it on time. And calling the police… they cannot always arrive on time (unfortunately, police cannot be everywhere in every moment). Are you going to let your survival depend on others or would you try to defend yourself?

Those who advise NOT TO DEFEND YOURSELF base their logic in the idea that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to survive an armed attack…, which is not true. There are many cases of people who do survive. Yes, it’s A VERY LOW PROBABILITY to survive an armed attack, but it’s not IMPOSSIBLE. And most people who have survived armed attacks have no self-defense training, they just defended themselves the best they could… Surviving does not only depend on your ability, the attacker’s ability must also be taken into consideration and, of course, the LUCK factor plays an important role. There are people who die from one stabbing and others survive after ten… Sometimes one stab produces a lethal wound; other times, ten stabs don’t compromise vital organs… it’s a matter of luck.

Up to this moment, it seems like the answer is “If attacked with a weapon, DEFEND YOURSELF”…; but, in fact, this is not the best advice either. Defending yourself also involves risks. Those who recommend DEFENDING YOURSELF as the only answer, usually are people with some type training in disarming weapons and they think that by mastering these or those techniques, one is ready to defeat any armed attack… They are completely wrong. Yes, training defense against weapons is useful, but it DOES NOT GUARANTEE your survival.

It’s very important to understand that an armed attacker (being with a hammer, a knife, a gun, etc.) ALWAYS HAS THE ADVANTAGE and MOST PROBABLY you will end up badly hurt or even dead. It doesn’t matter how strong, fast or agile you may be; it doesn’t matter what martial arts you train nor how many techniques in defense against weapons you master, THE ARMED ATTACKER ALWAYS HAS THE MOST CHANCES OF WINNING.

If you defend yourself against a weapon and survive, you will MOST LIKELY end up wounded… and, probably, very badly. It’s almost impossible surviving an armed attack completely unharmed. It’s necessary to understand that defense against weapons should not become a duel, to see “who wins”. If the other person has a weapon and you don’t, and you fight him as if you were in a sports fight or a duel, most likely you’re going to “lose”… and in this case, what you could lose is your life. Never FIGHT an armed attacker, DEFEND yourself from him… Fighting someone is very different from defending from someone. Self-defense dynamics are very different from sports or dueling dynamics (this topic is developed in further detail in the article: SELF-DEFENSE DYNAMICS: Click here).

Many times, I’m asked how to defend from a stealth attack, from someone who attacks by surprise… It seems as if they ask this question expecting some special or magical technique as an answer; but the truth is you cannot defend from an attack you don’t see coming. For example, if someone approaches you from the back without you noticing, and stabs you 1, 2 or 5 times, you will know that you are being attacked when you feel the knife inside your body, and depending on how serious those initial wounds are (if you are incapacitated or if they are only minor wounds), it will be possible or not for you to defend yourself to avoid further damage. The only way to defend from an stealth attack is not allowing it to happen, this means, you must always be aware of your surroundings, especially in places and situations that represent a higher risk. If you are ever attacked with a weapon and decide to defend yourself, you must do it in the best way possible, and knowing that it’s VERY LOW PROBABILITY that you survive…, BUT IT’S POSSIBLE. And the best way to IMPROVE YOUR PROBABILITIES of survival is by appropriate training.

Russian Systema is a martial art of self-defense that helps you develop the physical, mental, and emotional abilities needed to defend yourself in the most efficient way. Through the understanding of the basic concepts and principles, the knowledge of the human anatomy, biomechanics, the interaction of forces and movement, Systema will allow you to develop, naturally and spontaneously, the techniques that best adapt to your physical characteristics, your metal state, and your psyche. Systema will help you keep the emotional calmness and mental clarity necessary to assess any situation and give the most appropriate response, immediately and spontaneously.

Training in Systema will help you increase your chances of survival.

And to finally answer the initial question, Should I defend myself if attacked with a weapon?

The answer is: You must decide… Nobody can advise you to defend yourself, neither can they advise you not to defend yourself. It’s a very personal decision that must be taken in the moment, considering the danger you confront in a specific situation. You must take into consideration the number of attackers, type of weapon, motive, surroundings, you defensive abilities, the risk you face if you don’t defend yourself, the risk you face if you do defend yourself, the possibility of getting help, etc… There are many factors to consider and they can only be assess by being in the situation.

If you decide not to defend yourself, it’s the right answer. If you decide to defend yourself, it’s also the right answer. But whichever decision you take, you must understand that NOT DEFENDING YOURSELF as well as DEFENDING YOURSELF represent a risk… and an opportunity. I hope to elaborate deeper on this subject in future articles. This important topic is covered in great detail in Vladimir Vasiliev’s soon to be released new book EDGE: SECRETS OF THE RUSSIAN BLADE MASTERS.

You can watch a video on this topic: Here

You can read all my articles: Here

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/russian-martial-art-systema-by-vladimir-vasiliev-2/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Russian Martial Art. Systema by Vladimir Vasiliev

Most people who attend their first Russian Systema class, come with preconceived ideas about what they will get from training. Often people have the wrong idea, as a result from their experience in other martial arts or combat sports (as practitioners or spectators); some come with distorted or even unrealistic ideas, probably taken from Hollywood movies.

In general, we can divide these people in two groups:

Those who expect to find techniques that are devastating, savage, and aggressive, techniques that brutalize the opponent and that allow them to easily defeat any adversary. They want to be invincible!

Those who expect to find in Systema a martial art that develops their inner energy, chi or ki, with techniques that transcend the physical realm and that, with no effort nor pain, allow them to easily defeat any adversary. They also want to be invincible!

Unfortunately, both approaches are utterly wrong. Some people from the first group get disappointed because they don’t find the physical and emotional aggressiveness, competitiveness and savagery they consider a martial art must have. Some people from the second group get disappointed because they realize that Systema requires lots of effort, proper biomechanics, physical pain, and emotional challenge.

Understanding Systema requires an expansion of your mentality. What you should expect from Systema is this:

– Systema is self-defense, it is not sport and not fighting. Simply put, combat sports and fights are ‘duels’, it means, two people want to hurt each other. Self-defense, on the other hand, implies one person who wants to hurt someone, and another person who doesn’t want to get hurt. This subtle difference completely changes the dynamics of a confrontation.

– Systema is integral, it is not specialized. Martial arts specializing in one aspect of combat were not created for self-defense, they are sports, and yes, they are dangerous and effective in their specialty. And of course, the abilities they develop can be very useful in a self-defense situation (just like a ballet dancer can easily kick you in the face for self-defense, but ballet wasn´t created for self-defense). A self-defense situation requires having developed abilities suitable for any possible situation: standing, on the ground, several attackers, weapons, confined spaces, defending another person and many more scenarios. Self-defense is not specialized, that’s why Systema offers an integral approach to it.

– Systema won´t teach you a syllabus of techniques. Having a repertoire of techniques that you must learn and repeat until “perfection” only limits your infinite possibilities of movements to those that your syllabus allows.

What Systema aims for is an integral development of your abilities, it does not aim for perfection, it aims for freedom; it does not aim for muscle memory, it aims for muscle intelligence; it does not aim for learning, it aims for understanding. It does not aim for limiting your abilities, it aims for expanding them.

– Systema is not apparent. Physical and emotional aggressiveness and violence are expressions of fear, they alert the aggressor and prepare him to confront you. Being emotionally altered diminishes your capacity for judging the situation, which leads you to the wrong decisions. Systema is not apparent. It’s goal is facing a situation in a relaxed and efficient way, without presenting yourself as a danger, or a threat. Do what you have to do, without extra gesticulations, without showing off, in a subtle way.

– Systema hurts. Even though one has to keep a relaxed body and psyche, punches, kicks, levers, locks, etc. one must be efficient; the body cannot be tense or rigid, it must be relaxed, smooth, heavy and painful. Pain and physical effort are fundamental in Systema, because they allow you to train your body and psyche to understand the real physical dimension of pain (and fatigue), eliminating the emotional burden that intensifies it. It helps you know your real limits. But, this must be done progressively, avoiding injuries that harm the body and alter the psyche. Pain teaches, injuries destroy.

– Systema does not require years of training. As any human activity, Systema requires serious and constant training to develop your abilities to an appropriate level, but it does not require years for those abilities to be useful in a self-defense situation. It´s a progressive development, but does not take years.

– Systema must be practiced for a lifetime. If Systema doesn’t require years of training, why it must be practiced for a lifetime? Unlike other martial arts, one should not train Systema all their life to achieve “technical perfection”, repeating the same movements again and again. Very much on the contrary, your Systema must change as you get older, the reason is very simple: if your body and psyche change as years pass, it´s logical that your Systema must change too. What you were able to do at 20, your body won’t be able to do at 40 or 60. The only way in which your Systema can adapt to the abilities according to your age, is by constant training, all your life. You change, your Systema changes with you.

– Systema does not make you invincible. Systema allows you to develop abilities to defend in an effective and efficient way, but it does not make you invincible. This is why you must take into consideration that a confrontation is the last option. Fighting isn’t good or bad, it isn’t necessary or unnecessary, but it is always dangerous.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/russian-martial-art-systema-by-vladimir-vasiliev/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Boxing, Sambo and Mud Fighting . . . – USAdojo.com

This incident took place when I was 14 years of age.

I grew up in Tver, a fairly tough industrial city, 2 hours North of Moscow. I lived at home only on weekends, as for all 5 weekdays, I had to stay at a boarding school full of orphans and very rough kids from seriously troubled families. Naturally, martial arts were among our key interests. Out of 13 boys in my class, 12 trained in Boxing and one did Sambo Wrestling. Of course, I was quite skeptical about that one boy and had a much higher opinion of Boxing. Using fists seemed more decisive and to the point – just 2 or 3 good punches and either you are a winner or you can bravely run away (easily because you were up on your feet anyway).

Our Boxing instructor, a certified Candidate-Master, came right to the boarding school to teach us and talked a lot about “the importance of real life experience”, so we tried to apply our fists to work whenever and wherever possible. His method of teaching was based on his size and mass – about 6’4″ and 230 pounds. To us, the excited youth, he seemed to be a giant capable of knocking out a horse. We tried to copy his manner of fighting of a European heavy-weight – slow, collected and very powerful punches. The only problem was that we all skinny and agile trying to fight as if we were big and massive. It must have been very funny to watch. I realized that later, when I entered my first competition and saw other boxers, I was amazed that there were so many other ways of fighting.

Street fights were a very common occurrence; they were quick, often bloody and involving many participants. I have never seen pure locks and chokes applied on the ground. All grappling techniques were mixed with kicking and punching, use of numerous weapons, including rocks, sticks, and chains. As we were all teens, fights would only last less than a minute until the first shout: “Police!” Then it was time to run as quickly as possible. The ones who were caught on the fight scene were indiscriminately blamed and ended up in detention. Moreover, walking off a grappling scene with ripped clothing, dirt and blood all over – would also mean getting arrested. Thus, boxing tactics were much preferred, especially a strong powerful punch that settled the argument – that was our goal and the ultimate masterpiece.

There was a joke around. One guy asked a boxer how was his match. The boxer replied: “If only they did not turn off the lights in the gym – I would totally destroy my opponent…”

To me it showed how magnificent a punch should be – that the person would get so wiped out that he would not even realize that he was knocked out.

Having said all that, I’d like to share with you an experience that is memorable for the total mix of martial arts, nasty weather, age and size discrepancy and emotional drama. One day when I was home on a weekend, I saw that a good friend from my apartment building had a lot of bruises on him. When I asked him why, reluctantly he said that his drunken step-father had beaten up his mom, my friend tried to protect her and the step-father had beaten him up as well. That made me very angry and I went ahead to set things right with his step-father right there and then.

I must tell you that at that age, I was a very skinny entity, weighing about 100 pounds, while the step-father was around 40 years old and a huge man of over 200 pounds. The action took place at the side of our building by a fence. It was autumn, late evening, almost dark outside, with light rain turning into endless drizzle. A square yard area was being prepared for a skating ring and for now, fully covered with extreme dirt and mud.

The step-father, big, brutal and drunk, like an angry monster, was walking through the mud and I determinedly emerged right in front of him…

Full of indignation, I moved towards him shouting why he had done such a horrible thing and demanding for him to never do it again. He stared back at me with disbelief. His rage was building up as he began to raise his hands to either push me away or hit me. My one year of boxing practice didn’t go in vain, the words of my Boxing teacher popped up in my mind: “with your weight and speed – hit first” and I landed a mighty hook into his jaw… He fell onto his knees and I was truly amazed and pleased with my power. A moment later, I realized that the true reason he fell was that he was drunk and slipped in the mud. He wasn’t the only one falling; I was quickly slipping and falling myself right next to him. He got to his knees and tried to hold me down. That’s when I started to regret my skepticism about wrestling and my total absence of ground fighting knowledge. Unbelievably, I found some “hollow areas” where his pressure was less crushing and slid through those areas making my way through the mud underneath. While he was on his hands and knees, I kicked him. He grabbed my leg and easily pulled me sliding down into the mud. Fear of death and desire to live played a big part in the speed with which I was jumping up to my feet. I stood up and hit him once more. He fell. Again it was not because of the particular power of my strikes but because he was drunk and the ground was incredibly slippery.

I was then able to kick him as hard as I could. (Now I know that emotional kicking is very unwise in a fight, you have to calculate your force based on the situation.) I didn’t know it then and my fervent kick made me slide and fall flat on my back. It was a kick in the ribs, presumably a painful one, because now his intention to kill me escalated into total growling rage. As I attempted to get up, he grabbed the top part of my sweater like a mad animal. I could tell by his face that he was about to finish me off right now and that made me do something out of the ordinary…

His grip was so powerful, his face was so furious and I was so desperate that I slid out of my sweater like a snake leaving its skin behind. I slipped out without even feeling his hands on me. And then I was saved…

We both heard the familiar shouting: “Call the police!!!” The man’s wife was apparently there. Obviously, when police would arrive she would testify totally against me. So as he stopped for a moment, I ran like never before, concluding this fight on the usual note. I had no shirt underneath that sweater and was drenched in dirt from top to bottom, so I had to avoid all well-lit areas on the run home.

All this time, I was wondering why my friend, who stood near by wasn’t helping my fight. Later I realized that the whole battle only took less than 30 seconds. Another thing that upset me was the loss of my sweater. I had so few in my possession that loosing any one was a significant adversity.

For weeks and months afterwards, this man kept trying to shoot me with his hunting rifle, but that’s another story.

It really was a memorable fight for me. Having been pretty successful in street fights up to that point, it made me look at life more seriously. I faced something new – a man much older than me, he was a different entity of movements and force, psychology and completeness. It gave me plenty of questions to analyze later. None of the other combat arts that I encountered in the years to come gave me satisfactory answers. Only when I have practiced Systema for a while, I understood the keys to success: staying calm, recognizing how every single situation gives different options to act, continuous movement, moving the body without the use of arms and legs, and futility of trying to overpower an opponent who is bigger, heavier and more experienced. I also saw a common mistake in many fights – people “getting stuck on clothing” – when the opponent grabs their clothing they put all the efforts into trying to rip it out of his hand.

What’s more, numerous times I observed how a stance and preparation for a strike makes you visible, tangible and thus vulnerable. I noticed that in confrontations if you take upon an obligation to help a friend he may not necessarily feel committed to helping you, so it is good to have friends on both sides. And finally, while the core to survival is not to succumb to fear, I found that there is a type of ‘brave emotional’ fear that makes us swiftly move and thus survive, but still does not provide us with full control that we get from Systema training. Enjoy yourself!

This article was published on July 04, 2007.

�� from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/boxing-sambo-and-mud-fighting-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Training for Effective Defense in Confined Space – USAdojo.com

Effective Defense in Confined Space comes from two essential abilities:

– the skill of working (defending yourself) in one spot (for example, behind a desk in a small office, or on a mine field where one step away from your spot could be the last step you ever make!)

– the skill of working without the full use of your body movements (it can range from a mild restriction, if you can’t let go of something you’re carrying, to being able to move only your fingers, if you are restrained or squeezed in a crowd.

Based on this definition, here is a set of training drills, it is one of the exercise sequences I use in class to prepare my students for real situations.

Drill #1: FALLING IN ONE SPOT Practice going down with rotation like a coiling rope. This allows you to stay in the same spot while the rotation lets you evade punches and kicks.

Note that in reality, this requires a high level of professionalism psychologically. Instead of instinctively jumping away from a threat, it is not easy to remain in one spot, twist and go down.

Drill #2: ROLLS Start with doing full rolls in an open area. Progress to rolling beside a chair or a table. Roll forward towards a wall & backward towards a wall. Progress by starting your roll closer and closer toward the wall.

This teaches you to adjust and change the direction of the roll in front of an obstacle. For example, in a real setting you may have to roll towards a glass window or a piece of furniture and don’t want to bang your legs into it, or have to avoid hitting a person you are with as you?re rolling.

Drill #3: PUSHED AGAINST THE WALL Start half a step away from the wall with your back to it. Your partner pushes you into the wall. Try to control the impact by rolling the wall contact from one shoulder blade to the other.

Next, stand half a step away and face the wall. Your partner pushes you into the wall and you control the impact. Start by using your hands to catch yourself. Progress to keeping your hands down and using your chest for contacting the wall only. This exercise develops your ribcage mobility. If you are held by the arms or tied up, you will need the skill of moving your face away from injury.

Drill #4: KICKS AND PUNCHES AGAINST THE WALL Stand with your back right against the wall. Your partner kicks and you move away, maintaining full contact with the wall.

To progress, have your partner move closer and deliver punches. Avoid his punches without breaking contact with the wall.

Progress to avoiding kicks and punches while half-sitting, then to fully sitting, then to the most limiting position – laying down with your side against the wall. It can happen that you’ve been taken down or fell into the wall and the attacker is trying to kick you, you will need the skill to survive.

Drill #5: SENSITIVITY TO MOVING SUPPORT Stay back-to-back with your partner (if you’ve never worked in this position, you may like to move around and get used to it first). Avoid kicks from another opponent without breaking the back-to-back contact with your partner.

Again, progress to a closer distance of confrontation, while the opponent throws punches at you.

This drill develops your sensitivity to the movements of another person or object and teaches you not to rely on any point of support. Practical in a setting such as you hiding behind a car, leaning on it, and the car starting to move.

Drill #6: RELEASES FROM HOLDS Stay with your back against the wall. Your partner holds onto your wrists. Free yourself from your partner’s holds without breaking contact with the wall. Continue releasing yourself from holds onto elbows, then onto shoulders, then pressed completely against the wall.

This skill is very useful because attackers often try to hold the victim against the wall or against the floor or against the furniture to limit his actions.

Drill #7: EVASIONS & TAKEDOWNS With your back against the wall, avoid kicks, punches and holds from your partner. Now, however, you should escape and also put your partner down, again never breaking contact with the wall.

Progress to the same drill while back-to-back with your partner, then progress to having two attackers kicking and punching at your pair.

Then proceed to staying side-by-side with your partner. Avoid kicks, punches, and holds coming from both sides. Put both attackers down without breaking shoulder and arm contact with your partner. This provides you with the very useful skill of working with one side of the body only. For example, if you have a child by your side. Normally you might step to that side, away from the threat, but now you can’t.

Drill #8: IN A CROWD Work in a crowd in pairs. Start with each pair being two steps away from any other pairs. Practice kicks-and-takedowns, strikes-and-takedowns, and holds/releases-and-takedowns with your partner, all while avoiding contact with the other pairs in the gym.

Progress to the same setting, but now just one step away from other pairs. Continue at closer and closer distances until you have a tight crowd.

This provides you with further advancing the skill of dealing with moving supports, since the positions and actions in a crowd are constantly changing, unpredictable and accelerated.

TWO IMPORTANT POINTS 1. For effective Defense in Confined Space, it is imperative that you ASSESS THE SITUATION – see both its positive and negative sides. All the objects around you can be obstacles and hindrances if you hit yourself against them, but they can also be very positive and serve you as a cover or be used as weapons.

For example, it is good to use a wall to protect your back, but make sure you don’t hit your head against it.

A nice SPACE AWARENESS DRILL is to look around you and quickly memorize your surroundings, then close your eyes and walk around at various speeds without bumping into any objects.

2. Remember that distances are very short when working in Confined Spaces, so all the movements will happen quickly. Therefore, BE ESPECIALLY AWARE OF KNIFE THREATS. It is very important to hold your body relaxed and free – being able to move every body part independently of the whole. The training tips on Knife Disarming will follow in future articles.

I sincerely hope that you find these drills and ideas useful. Please let me know what other topics interest you. I wish you all the best in your training!

Respectfully, Vladimir Vasiliev

This article was first published on December 05, 2004.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-training-for-effective-defense-in-confined-space-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Drill To Overcome Fear of Contact – USAdojo.com

In the new SYSTEMA HAND to HAND film, there is a drill where the two opponents are approaching each other and evading contact. It is a very useful exercise to learn free and smooth movements and to identify the moment when you feel discomfort or fear.

To expand on this practice, here is another good drill from Vladimir’s class. It will help you to further overcome your own psychological obstacles, your pride and your fear.

Starting Position:

Stand facing your partner, about 5 meters (15 feet) apart.

Drill:

1. Your partner takes one step towards you, with any strike (arm or leg) directed right at you. You make a step forward and at the same time move away from the line of his strike.

2. Your partner steps forward again with a completely different strike. You again move away from the line of the strike with another step forward.

3. Your partner steps forward again with another type of strike. You make the last step forward, evading the strike, and take your partner down.

There should be no pre-arranging of strikes or takedowns. Be ready for any movement of the arm or leg and make sure that you both move forward towards each other every step.

You can progress this drill by gradually increasing the size of your steps, the speed of your movements, by shortening the starting distance and taking down your partner on the second step, and then on the first step.

Benefits:

This simple and fun drill helps you feel comfortable while closing distance. It expands your zone of comfort. Because you gradually progress from the “safe” to the “dangerous” zone, from the easy to the difficult position, you can gradually overcome your fear of contact.

As we grow up, we have less and less physical interactions and physical contacts. We develop a fear of contact. The body becomes tense in anticipation of contact – even with people we know.

In this drill, we are overcoming this fear by deliberately stepping forward towards a potential threat. In a common sparring position within striking distance, both partners are usually afraid – one to miss a strike, and one to hit his partner. Whereas, in this drill, you start at a further distance (15 feet apart) and there is no stress or fear of contact because you know you have time to react. You are giving your psyche a chance to adapt and gradually training it to be more stable.

You are learning to move your feet continuously and not freeze. You are combining footwork with bodywork in a real, dynamic situation. You will notice that if you freeze or hesitate, you will not get away from Strike 2.

**Combine this drill with those in SYSTEMA HAND to HAND (DVD or video), and learn to stay three steps ahead of your fear.

SYSTEMA HAND to HAND is the most important film of Vladimir Vasiliev’s entire film collection! Read more about it at: http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=64

You will discover the lost secrets of SYSTEMA – and learn every fundamental principle and dozens of supporting drills to gain total control of any empty hand attack. You’ll get 2 and a half hours of great explanations with non-stop action…

But that’s not all you get! This NEW production also includes a BONUS segment on DEFENSE FROM CHAIN.

This article was published on April 02, 2005.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-drill-to-overcome-fear-of-contact-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Fist Walking Drills Help Improve Striking

Many factors prevent you from delivering strong and precise strikes. One of the main factors is the fear of hurting yourself, it maybe an unconscious fear until you become or are made aware of it. Most individuals are afraid of hurting their own hand upon striking (this explains why in many contact sports, such as boxing, people wear gloves or wrap-up their hands before fighting).

This fear of hurting your hand leads to excessive clenching of the fist, the muscles of the forearm become tense and the strength is dispersed, thus the strike is no longer as powerful. It is important that your fist becomes heavy but not tense while the rest of the body remains in a relaxed state.

If your forearm muscles are tense, the strike delivery distance noticeably changes – the distance becomes shorter. You will have to reach to compensate and attain your target, therefore losing strike impact power.

In many contact sports we see the techniques of putting the weight of the whole body into the strike, placing the feet in a specific way and leaning the body into the strike. These techniques increase the general body tension, and as we know, body tension limits your mobility and makes you telegraph your intentions. Moreover, a lot of pressure is applied to such weaker areas as wrist and fingers and that may easily lead to injuries. You can see how with these common techniques, there would be no precision. How precisely can you hit with a sledge hammer? Or imagine that you take a pencil and try to make a drawing using the movements of your whole body, the same idea is applied to striking, fine muscles have to do fine work.

In Systema, we only tense up the needed muscles.

Another common mistake of delivering strikes is losing the form of the hand by breaking the straight line between the elbow joint and the knuckles. There should be absolutely no angle at the wrist joint, the angle would make you lose strength.

The following drills from the Summit of Masters are recommended for all martial art practitioners, for improvement of both physical skill and health.

NOTE:

Any exercise that does not include a health benefit will actually destroy in the long run. It may not be apparent immediately, but with repeated practice will become visible with age.

Drill 1 – Fist Walking – Partner on the Floor

Partner on the floor lying on his back, his hands along the sides. You are in a pushup position, on your fists, legs wide apart, start from above his ankles and walk your way up his body all the way up to his shoulders, and then down his arms. Place your fists in the areas that provide you with good contact area. As much as possible make the surface area of contact as big and even as you can (so that your whole fist is in contact with your partner’s body). Pick the most comfortable spots for you to stay balanced and for your partner not to get hurt.

If you are comfortable you will not be fearful of hurting your partner, you will relax your shoulders, stay sensitive and will not damage your partner. In Systema, relaxed shoulders are a high priority because they greatly increase the sensitivity of the arms and hands.

As you are walking up on your fists, the surface area where you have to balance yourself is so small, preventing you from tensing your arms and body. If you tense up, you will slip off your partner.

Fist walking also teaches you to chose the proper distance and adjust your position in a dynamic way – an ideal preparation for proper striking. You will also be forced to pick just the right spots on your partner’s body and these will be the spots for most effective strikes. You will learn to develop precision of hand placement and depth of impact.

Your partner also greatly benefits from this drill by getting a pressure massage and learning where tension exists in his body. Instinctively you will place your fists on the areas of his greatest tension.

Remember to continuously breathe throughout this whole drill.

You should try this drill at least twice with your partner lying down on his back. The third time, have your partner lay on his stomach and repeat fist walking up his back starting with the feet.

Drill 2 – Fist Walking – Partner against the Wall

Your partner is standing comfortably with his back against the wall and arms along the sides. You squat in front of him with your feet wide apart, start from above his ankles and walk up his legs and front of the body to the shoulders, while straightening your legs and adjusting your stance as needed with each step of your hands. Finish by walking down his arms.

You should try this drill at least twice with your partner’s back against the wall. The third time, have your partner stand facing the wall and repeat the drill up his back starting with the feet.

You will see how in the standing position, the muscle tension of your partner will be different. He will respond to your pressure in a different way and he will not be as stable. This presents a great opportunity for you to learn the different placement angles and the amount of pressure.

Remember to continuously breathe throughout this whole drill.

Drill 3 – Wall Fist Walking

This drill you do by yourself. You squat facing the wall, and walk up with your fists from the ground all the way up.

You should try this drill at least twice.

Remember to continuously breathe throughout this whole drill.

In this scenario, you learn contact with hard surface. Your whole body has to adjust to minimize discomfort. The more tension there is, the more pain you will experience. It will force you to relax your shoulders and later when you deliver strikes, there will be no rebound effect of the strike back into your body.

Happy Fist Walking…

This article was first published on September 19, 2006.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-fist-walking-drills-help-improve-striking/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Training Considerations – USAdojo.com

A human being is a complete system and for this reason we have to make our training a complete and whole system as well (thus, the Russian word for our training approach is Systema).

Many sports and martial arts assume and presuppose that the person entering the training is healthy. In fact, this is almost never the case. The physiological parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, lung capacity, posture, mobility and strength of the joints and muscles, condition of the nervous system are rarely ideal. And even less likely is one to have stable and balanced psyche, free of fear and unnecessary emotions.

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Having said that, we set out goals:

make training a gradual process of restoring the health that we have lost up to this point

build the skills properly enhanced and supported by our own physical and psychological reserves

help your partner advance his health and his skills as much as your own and you will progress tremendously

Hence, your System training considerations are:

1. Use Breathing as the foundation for everything you do. In class, make sure that both yours and your partner’s breathing continue no matter what. Your will then be able to relax, restore your health and psychological balance (read how and why in “Let Every Breath…”: http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=88 )

For common examples of breath interruption, imagine a runner that holds his breath on the very last stretch before the finish line or a weight lifter holding his breath on the last repetition. These athletes may achieve the result, but they do real damage to the heart, as the heart has to endure a big strain without the oxygen supply.

All Systema practitioners with at least some experience know that the best way to maintain smooth and continuous movement is by way of breathing. Holding your breath makes you interrupt the movement. If you were forced to stop moving then continuous breathing will lead you into movement again.

2. Maintain the Natural Body Position throughout all movements. Straight back and good posture keep you relaxed and balanced psychologically, help your heart, lungs and nervous system to work effectively. Smooth, calm and natural movements happen when the body is aligned properly. Alertness, attention, sensitivity, reaction time, the entire action potential is maximized and the chances of injuries are reduced. A popular example is the walk of a lion – smooth and mobile on the outside, with power, concentration, and readiness to act instantly in any direction on the inside.

Moreover, any deviation from the natural and straight body position makes it very hard for you to take strikes. And what’s also important, your opponent will instinctively feel that the point of deviation is your vulnerable spot and will inevitably hit you there.

3. Flexibility physically and psychologically will be discussed in future articles.

4. Practice Striking in proper training progression (start with placing of the hands, then progress to pushes, combine all contact with breathing, etc. as we discussed in previous Newsletters). This way you avoid the common fear of hurting your own hand during punches and avoid tensing of your body. Because of this training progression you will see where to strike – where the areas of tension or restriction are on your partner. You will enable him see these areas too, you will help him heal old injuries, get rid of restrictions and fears trapped in his body by way of breathing and movement.

One goal of striking is to break the shell. It has to be done carefully, as when you are cracking an egg, you want to make enough impact to crack, but not to shatter and destroy the contents inside. Such a situation would be extremely difficult to repair. It may seem to you that some people are able to withstand punches of high intensity, but that “endurance” is built by layers of fear that thicken the shell growing towards the inside – taking away from the live and mobile space inside – the result is more injuries and loss of health.

You will soon see some incredible examples of healing, enlightening and altering strikes by the legendary Mikhail Ryabko on the new DVDs titled SUMMIT OF MASTERS.

http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=100

So let’s try to have a wholesome approach and a finished cycle of training – from your arrival to class, build a foundation, take up activities in the proper progression, restore and support as you are advancing to the next level.

This article was published on October 31, 2006.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-training-considerations-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Breathing Application – USAdojo.com

How to breathe to prepare yourself for a fight using Systema breathing application? When an untrained person perceives danger, his heart rate and blood pressure go up, while the breathing gets disrupted – he usually holds his breath for a short time. As a result of stress, there is tension and restriction of movement so full breathing becomes impossible. Thus, the heart is working harder, the blood flows to the muscles, while there is not enough oxygen supply.

In Systema, breath preparation is fairly simple – at the first sign of stress – begin to breathe and accelerate your breathing in accordance with your heart rate. Breathe in though the nose and out though the mouth. Taking air in though the nose is very important. We can easily see how a full inhale though the nose is a sign of relaxation, while inhaling through the mouth tenses up the upper breathing muscles. Proper breathing helps to maintain the body in the straight and balanced position; it provides stability and allows one to strike with just enough power, this way, you are not hitting emotionally or out of fear. Moreover, it promotes conscious and calm condition psychologically. Proper breathing precedes the stress reaction and prevents it from developing. Since this type of breathing is conscious, it prevails over the unwanted unconscious reactions.

As you accelerate your breathing, you gain muscle tone and readiness to move without the stress. It allows you to reach the state of readiness to fight comparable to your attacker very quickly in a controlled way, to catch up instantly to his level of readiness but without any of damaging side effects to your health.

The surge of adrenalin under stress may enable you to react quickly, even without the breathing, but there is a big difference. You would be prone to injury and strain to all your body systems, and you will never gain true power and control. Proper breathing begins to control your fear and then removes it all together. The end result of this practice is your body’s readiness to move effectively without straining and injuries, and clear understanding of the situation.

Why is it important to avoid ‘extra movements’? Regardless of the experience level, many of the Systema practitioners do the so-called ‘extra movements’ in anticipation of contact. While preparing to receive contact from the partner, we try to relax our body and do visible wave-like movements through the arms shoulders and chest loosening up the body. These preliminary movements are extra – not needed. In fact, they lead to loss of precision and limit the ability to react, because once you initiate this wave of movement you will have to carry it through fully and that will interfere with your freedom of movement, accuracy and power.

So what can we do to avoid this? It is fairly simple. At the initial stage of training, at the sight of threat – inhale. This will stabilize your body and your psychological state. Then as contact is being made – react on your exhale. Once you master that and your training progresses, you become calmer – then it will not matter to you if contact happens on your inhale or exhale. You will react efficiently to your partner regardless of what stage of the breathing cycle you happen to be at. To control your extra movements, you may also get visual feedback by watching yourself in the mirror or recording yourself on tape. A good teacher observing you may also be helpful. I also highly recommend watching Mikhail Ryabko and noticing his calmness and seeming lack of movements yet at the same time, his immense power and control.

You can find Systema Breathing Application and other related instructional material at the Systema Store.

This article was published on July 17, 2007.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-breathing-application-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Control Tension with Systema Conditioning – USAdojo.com

In Systema conditioning, we try to create all the exercises so that they lead us directly into the highest levels of fighting skill. Training drills are not distinct from the martial art but rather form the intensive energetic foundation for all defensive and offensive movements.

One of the variables that interferes with our effective movements in any fight is tension. I’d like to present you with some useful physical drills that help you control your tension, while you are strengthening your body and developing your breathing at the same time.

This progression can be performed as a stand-alone, independent training sequence at any time. However, it does expand on the Principles described in our training manual “LET EVERY BREATH… Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters” and the accompanying DVD “SYSTEMA BREATHING”. The key movements needed for the Tension Control sequence are described below. But if you are a beginner in Systema, please refer to the book and DVD listed above for a deeper tutorial on all aspects of Systema Breath Training: http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=88

Now, let’s get to this enhanced training of:

TENSION CONTROL – Upper Body

This work is another extension of ‘Relaxation and Tension Methods’ described fully in Chapter 8 of ‘LET EVERY BREATH’. We will add a new dimension, the Tension Control and perform real work (in this case, Pushups).

As many of you have read in our book, we concentrate on the 3 major muscle groups – pushups for the upper body muscles, sit-ups or leg raises for the mid section, and squats for the leg muscles. In this presentation, the Tension Control will be based on the pushup drills. We will present some new drills pertaining to the sit-ups/leg raises and squats in the Newsletters to follow.

For more detail on the posture requirements for Systema pushups, please refer to Chapter 5 of “LET EVERY BREATH” or view the “SYSTEMA BREATHING” DVD.

1. GENERAL PREPARATION – Begin in any comfortable position lying down or sitting and exhale all residual air – Breathe in slowly, and as you do that gradually tense up the whole body – Stay fully inhaled just enough time to make sure every part of your body gets completely tensed up – Breathe out slowly, and as you do that relax your whole body – Stay fully exhaled just enough time to make sure every part of your body is completely relaxed – Repeat this minimum 6 times or more if you like. You will see that by the 6th time your breathing will slow down and the rise and fall of tension will be more controlled

2. SPECIFIC PREPARATION – Breathe in and gradually tense up only the muscles you will be using during pushups – your arm muscles, keep the rest of the body including your shoulders relaxed – Breathe out and gradually relax your arms completely – Follow the same pattern as in step 1 above and repeat at least 6 times

3. IN POSITION – While maintaining normal steady breathing, assume the pushup position – Inhale and tense up the entire body and arms – Exhale and relax the entire body and arms – Repeat only 2 or 3 times, just enough to feel your body as one united piece

This is very useful, because as soon as we anticipate an effort – unwanted tension builds up in the areas we expect to use and in the areas of our weakness. Due to these few breaths in the pushup position, our unconscious tension turns into controlled tension. At that point, we immediately become aware of our entire body and the blood flow is distributed more evenly. The key point is that you do not overwork any one part more than necessary. This protects your weaker areas, prevents injuries and results in the almost unbelievable power gain that you may have felt (and wondered about) at Systema seminars and classes.

4. LOCALIZE THE TENSION – Inhale fairly quickly and tense up your body only, leaving the arms relaxed – While keeping the body tense and arms relaxed, do 7 full pushups with Burst Breathing. (Most of you know what Burst Breathing is. Just in case you do not – it is short and sharp inhales through the nose and short and sharp exhales through the mouth, with the exhaled air pushing your lips to open. You can see it clearly on “SYSTEMA BREATHING” DVD and read about it in “LET EVERY BREATH…” page 69.) This type of breathing allows you to pull pain and fatigue out of the muscles and minimizes the strain to your heart, because the oxygen supply is uninterrupted no matter how big of an effort you are exerting.

– Now, inhale again and tense up your arms only, while the rest of the body is relaxed and do 7 full pushups with Burst Breathing – Next, tense up everything, the body and arms and do 7 pushups with Burst Breathing – Finally, relax everything, the entire body and arms and do 7 pushups You will be amazed at how easy it will be. People in class often say it feels as if they are flying, because now they have gained control over their tension.

5. VARIATIONS TO ENHANCE CONTROL Instead of step 4 above try this: – Inhale gradually and begin to tense up only the body as you lower into the pushup. The inhale-tension and the movement are to progress at the same time. Spread the inhale and build up the body tension over the full range of lowering, while the arms stay relaxed. – Exhale slowly and rise gradually while relaxing the body, so that by the time you are all the way up you have exhaled fully, and also relaxed your body completely – Repeat 10 times – Inhale gradually and begin to tense up only the arms as you are going down doing a pushup. Spread the inhale evenly with the build up of tension over the full range of lowering, keeping the arms tensed and the body relaxed – Exhale and rise, releasing the tension from the arms the same way – Repeat the same pattern with tensing the body and arms gradually, with breathing, on the way down and up – Repeat each of the 3 variations 10 times – In conclusion, do as many pushups as you like in any way you feel comfortable without any specific pattern. Watch the results…

Of course, do not forget: When you are through with this pushup-based Tension Control sequence, to balance your body with the other two core exercises – sit-ups/leg raises and squats. This will even out your blood flow, normalize your blood pressure and balance you psychologically.

When you have completed the Tension Control sequence for the Upper Body that we have we discussed in the previous Newsletter, you may proceed to the Mid-Section. The core exercises for the Mid-Section are Sit-Ups and Leg Raises. For the details on important posture requirements for these drills, please refer to Chapter 6 of “LET EVERY BREATH” or view the “SYSTEMA BREATHING” DVD.

1. GENERAL PREPARATION – Assume a comfortable position lying down on your back and exhale all residual air – As you have just finished working on your Upper Body, there may be some tension in the muscles involved in the pushups, so take about 6 slow deep breaths (as usual – in through the nose and out through the mouth) and check for these areas as well as for any other areas in your body that may be tense. Becoming aware of your tense/problem areas is something that should be done before any exercise, this allows you to identify, localize and later work with them. – Breathe in, and as you do that steadily tense up the whole body – Stay fully inhaled just enough time to make sure every part of your body gets completely tensed up – Breathe out, and as you do that relax your whole body – Stay fully exhaled just enough time to make sure every part of your body is completely relaxed – Repeat 2 or 3 times or more if you like. Your goal here is to cover up or dilute the small areas of tension with the big general increase of the muscle tone, to reduce the areas of discomfort and to energize the whole body.

2. SPECIFIC PREPARATION – Breathe in and gradually tense up only the upper body, everything from the waist up, keep your lower body relaxed – Breathe out and at the same time relax everything from the waist up completely – Repeat 2 or 3 times – Breathe in and gradually tense up only the lower body, everything from the waist down, keep your upper body relaxed – Breathe out and at the same time relax everything from the waist down completely – Repeat 2 or 3 times

For this and most other drills, we need to make our breathing independent of the muscle work, so try to alternate the breathing-tension interaction. For example, next time you practice this part of the sequence – tense up the upper body while you are exhaling and then relax on the inhale, and then repeat the same ‘reverse pattern’ with the lower body. Refer to ‘The Principle of Breath Independence’ on page 48 of “LET EVERY BREATH”.

3. GRADUAL BUILD UP – While maintaining the same position, keep the legs straight, begin to inhale gradually while you are tensing up the legs and lift the legs all the way up; if you can reach the floor behind your head The real challenge of this drill is to spread out the inhale and build up of tension though the entire range of the leg raise, so that the peak muscle tension happens at the point of maximum inhale. – Exhale fully and relax the legs at the same time as the legs come back, and touch the ground at the starting point – Repeat 7 times or more, up to 10 – Now, inhale fully and as you begin to exhale the air do the same full leg raise with gradual build up of tension – As you inhale gradually relax the legs and return them to the original position – Repeat 7 times or more, up to 10

– This is an extremely practical drill, it gives you an ideal way to gain control over your movements, breathing and tension. It builds endurance of your muscles and tendons as well as strengthens you psychologically, because it teaches you patience, concentration and calmness. It prevents injuries and develops sensitivity to movement and to changes within your body. Once mastered, this skill will carry over into your martial arts training and into every activity of your life.

4. LOCALIZE THE TENSION ON LEG RAISE – Stay in the same position, inhale and tense up your body from the waist up only, while the rest of the body is relaxed and do 7 full leg raises with Burst Breathing; maintain the tension of the upper body and lift up the relaxed legs, use burst breathing to keep the movement smooth and full – Repeat about 7 times – Now inhale and tense up the legs only, while everything from the waist up is relaxed. Begin burst breathing, keep the legs tense and go through the full leg raise – Repeat about 7 times

5. LOCALIZE THE TENSION ON SIT-UP – Inhale and tense up the upper body only, while the legs are relaxed, begin burst breathing and sit-up smoothly keeping your back straight – Repeat about 7 times – Inhale and tense up the legs only, while the upper body is relaxed, begin burst breathing and sit-up – Repeat about 7 times

6. WORKING THOUGH COMPLETE TENSION – Next, tense up everything, the body and legs and do 5 leg lifts with Burst Breathing and then 5 sit-ups with burst breathing

7. WORKING THOUGH COMPLETE RELAXATION – Finally, relax everything, the entire body and legs, breathe in a normal calm and relaxed way and do 5 leg lifts and 5 sit-ups

Enjoy the results…

As many of the Systema practitioners have noticed, Steps 4, 5 and 6 of Intensifying and Localizing Tension are even more difficult to do properly than the Gradual Build Up of Tension. There are great benefits to mastering that. It develops total multitasking such as the ability to do soft and precise work with one part of your body while simultaneously executing heavy work with another part of your body. For example, gently holding a child by the hand while carrying a heavy load in the other hand – without straining yourself at all. You will also notice the ability to psychologically maintain different levels of concentration and emotional requirements at the same time.

In addition to that, please note the great benefits of Burst Breathing. We constantly get tense in our everyday life, and usually are not even aware of that, however, there is one sure sign of such tension – interrupted breathing. While you are practicing these challenging drills, you force yourself to breathe through Burst Breathing, so your breathing is never interrupted and it prevents any extra tension from accumulating. So instead of over tension you gain functional muscle tension, just enough of it to carry through your task. You become a healthy person, efficient in everything you do.

You can find related instructional material at the Systema Store

This article was published on July 31, 2007.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/control-tension-with-systema-conditioning-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Pushups – USAdojo.com

A few years ago, when I was visiting Mikhail Ryabko in Moscow, he demonstrated a slow fist Systema pushup against the wall. I still clearly remember how standing next to him, it felt like a huge beast filled the room, the wall was droning and buzzing under his fists.

Systema pushups are not just exercises for shoulders and chest, they are a comprehensive method to prepare for fighting and strikes. The way Mikhail did it, he had full sensitivity of the surface his fists were on, and he was not just moving his body up and down, he used the points of weight bearing to work through his entire body. The pushing off force moved though the arms down to the feet and back up, smooth, strong and solid.

Fist pushups are great training for punches. When done correctly, they help us learn how to strike without tension in the body. When we learn to do pushups while keeping the body relaxed, using only the muscles we need then we will be able to do the same during strikes that is to keep the body tension-free while delivering a punch. Control of our muscle tension gives us power and precision, it allows us to choose the distance correctly, there is no longer a need to reach, punches become short, strong and accurate. Tension-free punches produce no side effects of straining and fatigue, the recovery time from training and fighting becomes minimal.

When I practiced karate many years ago, before my Systema experience, I noticed a definite vulnerability there. At the point of completing a strike, the body was fixed, in a rigid structure, not moving and tense. I found that this often created a very fragile structure for real confrontations. If the striker was hit right at that moment he was easily injured. A tense body lacks sensitivity and agility, it cannot react, escape and counterattack quickly and smoothly.

So here is how you can practice Systema pushups.

Stand on the fists in the pushup position. Place as much of your fist surface as comfortable in contact with the floor. Execute the pushup and continue to feel the ground with the same fist area as you started with throughout the entire range of movement.

In the meantime, watch for any tension in the body. As soon as you feel that part of your fist surface no longer has full sensitivity of the floor you know that tension has set in. In that case, continue the pushups and try to relax through breathing and movement. Repeat as much as you feel is necessary.

Also, as Mikhail explains, such pushups with tension control have a tremendous health benefit. They ensure that excessive pressure does not go up to the head but instead gets evenly distributed through the body. We know how damaging the excessive pressure to the head can be during striking. Once mastered in pushups, the pressure control will also be occurring while delivering a punch.

I hope to cover this topic in more detail at the upcoming seminars and camps.

This article was published on January 18, 2012.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-pushups-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Working Against Multiple Opponents in Martial Arts – USAdojo.com

Working against multiple opponents in martial arts is challenging both psychologically and physically.

In Systema, there are a number of simple things to understand and practice to help you gain control over your external and internal opponents (i.e. your attackers and your own emotions).

The first skill to acquire is moving away from the line of attack. It is important to learn not to freeze when a threat comes at you.

If you are not very experienced in working against two or more opponents, your tendency will be to keep them in your field of vision all the time. You will find that fear and tension will not allow you to turn your back to the attackers.

At this initial stage of training, get your partners to walk at you and just move away from them without making any contact. Keep up with continuous breathing and movement.

As you get more comfortable, you can turn your back to them as well.

The more you train in Systema the more you will be able to control any situation, regardless of the number of opponents, positions, types of attacks or weapons.

There is also further development to this drill.

You begin with your partners walking at you at normal speed, then they accelerate, and finally they begin to run at you.

This progression of speed will allow you to see that as the speed increases, your degree of fear and movement restriction increases too. Your goal is to realize that.

Note your restrictions while the opponents are only approaching you, not even striking and you are not striking back, which would challenge your reaction and coordination even more…

Redirecting

When the opponents come at you and try to strike or kick as well, one of the effective strategies is to redirect the attacks in such a way that the opponents always end up hitting each other. Imagine if you were to get hit by your friend each time you are supposed to work together. Psychologically, it is unexpected and quite frustrating. As a result, a conflict develops between the two friends/co-attackers and they start to watch each other more since they have a common “enemy” so to speak. This allows you to dissipate the confrontation.

Redirecting takes less physical effort than delivering strikes. Therefore, it is good to use that if you are tired, injured or wounded.

If you move unexpectedly for the attacker, your moves will work well.

All the movements should be smooth and continuous, steadily flowing from one partner to the next.

It is very important in training to proceed gradually to higher speeds and with calmness and control.

A word of caution here. When the work is quick, the danger for the attackers to get hit by the “friendly fire” is increased. During fast redirecting, fellow attackers can easily receive unexpected and unintended strikes from each other. This could lead to injuries, so be very careful when you practice redirecting.

Fundamental to Systema, is being in a normal and natural position without any stances and without fear or tension. If you are able to maintain that, your opponents will not be afraid of you and they will come up closer. They will be less prepared for your unexpected actions. Therefore, you have much more control over them.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/working-against-multiple-opponents-in-martial-arts-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Systema Combative Body Massage – USAdojo.com

Any good massage is beneficial. The Systema combative body massage that we do in classes has its own unique and practical value. Done in a training session, it becomes an important part of overall development of the spirit and body.

The Systema combative body massage practices usually include:

Tissue Impact

Bodyweight Massage

Percussive Massage

Joint Tapping

Visceral Pressures

Compared to passively receiving treatment from a masseuse, the combative body techniques are done within the spirit of action, training and fighting arts. While you exchange tapping, pushing, stepping on each other, controlling breath intensity, pain, balance, tension, and relaxation, you don’t ‘skip a beat’.

The warrior’s mind set is never lost. All of these practices are done with constructive energy and awareness, equally helpful to both the giver and the recipient.

Ideally, the combative body practices are done in the beginning and at the end of a class. If the training session is longer, they can be done in between training topics as well.

With the use of these tools, you become a better fighter. One that is more relaxed, more aware of your own and your partner’s physical parameters. Be sure to incorporate this in your training!

For demonstrations and explanations of these practices, watch The Combative Body, Part 1: Tissue Impact.

Discover the direct connection between bodywork and preparation for combat.

Available in DVD and downloadable formats.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/systema-combative-body-massage-usadojo-com/

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marylandsystema2 · 3 years ago

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Working Against Multiple Opponents in Martial Arts – USAdojo.com

Working against multiple opponents in martial arts is challenging both psychologically and physically.

In Systema, there are a number of simple things to understand and practice to help you gain control over your external and internal opponents (i.e. your attackers and your own emotions).

The first skill to acquire is moving away from the line of attack. It is important to learn not to freeze when a threat comes at you.

At this initial stage of training, get your partners to walk at you and just move away from them without making any contact. Keep up with continuous breathing and movement.

As you get more comfortable, you can turn your back to them as well.

The more you train in Systema the more you will be able to control any situation, regardless of the number of opponents, positions, types of attacks or weapons.

There is also further development to this drill.

You begin with your partners walking at you at normal speed, then they accelerate, and finally they begin to run at you.

This progression of speed will allow you to see that as the speed increases, your degree of fear and movement restriction increases too. Your goal is to realize that.

Note your restrictions while the opponents are only approaching you, not even striking and you are not striking back, which would challenge your reaction and coordination even more…

Redirecting

Redirecting takes less physical effort than delivering strikes. Therefore, it is good to use that if you are tired, injured or wounded.

If you move unexpectedly for the attacker, your moves will work well.

All the movements should be smooth and continuous, steadily flowing from one partner to the next.

It is very important in training to proceed gradually to higher speeds and with calmness and control.

from Maryland Systema https://marylandsystema.com/mastering-systema-striking-spirituality-usadojo-com/

0 notes