stevewildash.com - Systema Training Blog

Review.. Review.. Review..

2012-06-02T16:58:00.000+01:00

Its one thing being shown something, but another to practice it.. and that's what Rob had in mind for this mornings session, going over material from the control and restraint workshop of last week and from his recent trip to Germany training with Vladimir Vasiliev.

After a some breathing exercises, Rob took us through some of the work Danny Lines showed us in last weeks seminar and then incorporated these ideas into our Systema work, looking at passing our opponent from hand to hand, using this passing method to create ideas for controlling, leading and moving your opponent, giving you opportunities to then work against them. As Danny said last week, this hand to hand passing is used as a tool to develop an understanding of manipulating your partner / opponent and helps you to flow from one restraining technique to another.

We then moved on to some ideas picked up from Rob’s visit to Germany with Vladimir. First we looked at the press up and how we should be able to keep the shoulders and back muscles relaxed throughout the movement, localising the tension within the fists only. Rob asked us to make a press up and just drop to the floor relaxed and do this a few times, from the bottom position we had to rise up using the fists only, keeping everything else relaxed. This was quite difficult for me and my training partner Mark could see this, so he offered to feel my shoulders for excess tension during the press up. As I pressed up from the floor and yes there was some tension there, but when I did the same to Mark he was almost tension free, so I need to work a lot on this.. the object was to press through the fists to raise your body up; this work would become clearer later in the class when striking each other. We then went onto sit up’s, leg raises and squats, looking to complete the exercise in the most relaxed way possible, using muscles sparingly, just enough to complete the movement, more difficult than you would think.

The next section looked at take downs.. we started by using a bear hug type grip as a method of taking our partner down to the ground, not unlike techniques you might see used in some wrestling styles, but instead of a throw it was to be used as a structure breaking tool. As our partners took hold of us using both arms as a grab, we linked our own arms around their waist and using a sort of zig zag motion with a bit of spiral, take them down to the floor. This was an interesting idea, as I hadn't really done much of this sort of take down before, it was quite a quick way of getting your partner to the ground when no other structure breaking options were available, perhaps your arms were covered by theirs for example. To start we made the oscillation quite large to get the feel of it, then shortened it to a sharp movement dropping the man in a second. We then added this idea into general structure breaking, working from any position and from any grab, working this type of wave into our take downs.

Pauses in our takedown work was highlighted.. it was easy to see the gaps appear when the work wasn't clean and flowing non-stop; using too much strength was also easy to spot and feel. We continued this takedown work from strikes targeted to the face; it was important to move speedily away from the initial strike and move into very close proximity at this point, the feeling of blending was also important. Rob said after this initial safety move you could choose to slow things down or continue at speed, it was entirely dependent on what you were up against.. In my opinion speed is important initially, but makes sense to slow things down, change the pace of your work so as to have more control over your opponent; this way your thought process is calmer and your work is cleaner. I also thought about this during last Thursday’s session on knife work with Gareth, my preference was to deal with the difficult knife threat quickly, especially when the knife was placed on the body, then chose to slow things down to finish the restraint or disarm.. Rob confirmed my thoughts on this by his explanation today.

The next section was on strikes and how to develop penetrating power using the earlier concept of the press up drill, holding the strength in the fist only and having a relaxed body and shoulders during the strike. It was for me to figure out how to translate the press up into a standing position strike. To start with we first stood in front of our partner with a bent arm and a formed fist, we then pushed this fist into his abdomen, each time increasing the depth of push, each time making sure the elbow didn't pull back before pushing, just push from where it was positioned… we then watched to feel and see the effects it produced. What was visually obvious was that after each push your partner moved a little further backwards, while you were able to maintain a relaxed body. From here we changed to punches, would we be able to gain the same effects….? each of us took five strikes in total each time, the first was almost surface and quite light, ending with the last, which was fast and hard with maximum penetration, five punches increasing in power and penetration one after the other.. Unfortunately for me I'm nursing damaged ribs and this sort of drill when not 100% fit plays allsorts of tricks with your mind, how am I going to deal with this?? when I’m fully fit I can take a decent strike, but today I definitely felt the old feelings of fear creeping back in, especially after watching Rob demonstrate this idea on Mark, it made me think about how best to protect myself and how was I was going to deal with this, after all Mark is no wimp and Rob had him driving backwards alright. You guessed it Mark was first to strike at me after the demo and in the first round I only managed to take three of Marks strikes, as the third strike was so penetrating it took my breath away.. it was one of the first hits I’ve taken in a long time that when it hits home correctly, you feel the after affects working its way around inside you; Mark is a phenomenal striker and would put down most guys I reckon, I don’t know what he has for breakfast these days, but whatever it is I want some, as his striking is as good as it gets. I took a few more goes and could see the potential of this way of striking.. the idea of this concealed striking was carried over from last weeks seminar, where striking below the radar was the objective, for example when working in a crowd and you needed to work discretely without drawing attention to yourself, this method of striking has to be felt to be believed…

Steve

Control and Restraint Workshop…

2012-05-26T18:57:00.001+01:00

You kind of get a good feeling about training, when two groups come together and work on a subject that is relevant to everyone. Rob Poyton and Danny Lines hosted yesterdays workshop on Control and Restraint, two different approaches that complimented each other. This was an excellent first workshop, which I feel more are certainly possible, working in a similar vain. Danny presented a wide rang of drills and demonstrated a clear progression between locks and restraints and how it was possible to to move from one to another easily, relaxation was a common theme between both Systems. Rob showed drills that included structure breaking, take downs and striking, all could be integrated quite easily with Danny’s pressure point work, all adding to the take down work Rob demonstrated. The workshop was well attended and kept flowing at a nice pace, alternating between both instructors. The group was made up of guys from all sorts of professions, abilities and skill levels, but the work was maintained at a level that everyone was included and could keep together. The obvious progression from this workshop would be close protection drills, car work, weapons, the list goes on. I for one enjoyed the day and I'm sure the rest of the group did to and look forward to the next get together and hope it will be a regular event to add to our Martial Arts calendar.

Cheers to Rob and Danny for putting together the days training and thanks to all the guys who attended.

Steve

Don’t forget this Saturday…

2012-05-23T19:09:00.001+01:00

Holding the Fort…

2012-05-20T11:41:00.001+01:00

While Rob and Nick were away in Germany, a seminar with Vladimir Vasiliev, a few of the guys including myself decided to meet up over the old Viking battle field.. There were six of us in total and turned out to be a great session. No real format in mind, Gareth suggested we all contribute to the session feeding off the previous drill; this is a great way to include everyone in the class and gets input that has a positive effect on the training. First, as an observation, it’s clear to me that Rob has instilled in all of us a real maturity to conduct ourselves responsibly and continue the standard of class work in his absence, all of us have the wherewithal to think for ourselves; everyone working together to produce quality work. Throughout the session there was plenty of discussion and thought provoking comments from all the guys, that’s what I like about the group, there isn't an ego in sight and everyone has something interesting to say…

There were a few interesting points raised during the course of the lesson, one of which confirmed by my own experience. Gareth was talking about how in our work it was important to think of your own work as one complete continuous thing and not dis-jointed i.e block counter pause, continue with further techniques, then pause again, as other martial arts might interpret attack and defence training.. I explained that in my experience the block and counter might be simultaneous. but yes the pauses were evident and that counters were more likely at these flat spots; Gareth said these pauses were points where your opponent could reverse things and work against you, the idea was to eliminate the pauses or gaps and keep your work continuous. I thought about this and kind of related it to the way we tie our breath to the duration of an exercise, breathe in for the complete duration of one press up and then breathe out for the duration of one press up, stretching the breath, everything is continuous from start to finish, the breath and the movement. To help with this, Gareth suggested slowing your work with your partner right down to a point where you are able to attain continuous work, no pauses when linking punches, kicks, strikes and take downs together. Once this is working for you, then its possible to speed up, the work should then be the same, only quicker, hopefully even during pressure testing.

As I said earlier we were all asked to think of a drill, I for one now feel more confident and comfortable with this, as previously I might of hesitated to contribute, even though experienced in taking classes and even seminars, being at home with what you know is apart of being confident, I think I’ve reached a stage where I can now say I know stuff and the way I seem to be thinking is now is more in tune to the Systema approach and I hoped that my contribution to the class yesterday was valid.

The lesson consisted of pair work, three’s and group work, the group work was especially interesting, looking at passing punches around, someone initiating the first strike, once received by the next person the chain reaction started, letting you pass on the strike, punch or kick around the circle and in any direction. It was important to let the received strike initiate your own strike, the direction your body was shown chose the direction of your next strike.. We changed the dynamics of this by having someone in the middle of the circle, but continued in passing the movement in the same way.. we then added to this by using arms to parry the strikes and then passing the movement on, or feeding right back and so on.. building as we went, this is the beauty of Systema, you can build the drill on the fly without too much thought, a simple modification changes the drill into something new keeping everything fresh.

The final thoughts of the morning were in the class circle at the end of the session, where we talked about how everything went, commenting on certain drills and also prompted the likes of Andy and Gareth to talk frankly about how they felt about their own Systema; Gareth, Mark and Mir were discussing the similarities between Systema and some Chinese MA and the concept of using the art as a tool to cleanse the body of tensions and baggage of everyday life, which I found very interesting, confirming that there are obvious parallels between most Systems of fighting / living. Gareth was talking about how if you can get the right balance in your life, using the principles of Breathing, movement, structure and the right quantities of tension and relaxation, everything will flow from that, not only in classwork but in everyday life.

Look forward to hearing about Rob and Nick’s experience's in Germany when we next see them again in class next week.

Steve

Onwards and Upwards…

2012-05-14T16:26:00.001+01:00

Well who would have believed it a land mark year, the big 5 0 and all celebrations have been and gone…. its just over a week now and I think I’m slowly getting used to the idea of being of senior age, for want of a better description. I can’t say it was easy to come to terms with, but hey ho, this is where I am now and after all said and done I feel in ok shape for my 50 years on this planet and I’m sure it could be a lot worse.. all my bits an bobs seem to be functioning, for which I’m very grateful. I eagerly await the flood of junk mail through the front door that will advise me about reduced rate holidays, insurance and mobility aids that someone my age just couldn’t possibly do without.., but hold on a minute I still only feel 21, well alright maybe 31, I mean, I feel as though there is no change, especially in my attitude towards life and especially towards my Martial Arts training.
Like a lot of the guys who are still training that started back in the 70’s, each of us have seen quite a few changes in the Martial Arts and seen the various fads come and go, but on the whole I think most would still agree there is still something about training in fighting skills that holds a fascination, no matter how old you are or feel… I still feel the same buzz today when I leave to train, as I did when I put on my first Judo Gi way back at the ripe old age of 12/13, I don’t know exactly why this is, but it just is..
On a personal level I feel the most content that I have ever felt in training and with life in general, I don’t know if that is an age thing, but the urges to constantly prove what I’m doing is worthwhile or compete with others is all but a memory, I think Systema has certainly had a calming influence over most things that I do and I do try to take each day and training session in my stride, feeling that its time to enjoy the sharing of everything and not to be closed minded, you know keeping those precious techniques to yourself, that you hope will give you the edge over someone else one day.. now it’s about what I have you can have and together by sharing our stuff we’ll get stronger for it.
The one thing I have noticed more recently that I initially thought was absent from Systema, ego, but unfortunately it has started to appear, as it has done with all other Martial Arts over the years.., for some, the pull to develop their own methods is too great and feel it necessary to break away to further develop their own brand and fulfil their own destiny, this is what drives them. In some ways I can see that this move could drive along their own advancement in certain areas, but also hoping to convince others along the way that their new modified version is way better, but I feel it’s at a price, I feel the Systema world as a whole is a lesser place for their absence and the strength that everyone together provides is somehow diluted; everyone wants to be leader and noticed, but that’s just human nature, I too have been down that road, but you come to realise that everyone is so much better together than being out on your own, a boss of your own, yes, but leader of few.
The blog posts I write seem to becoming less frequent now and wonder how much more I can write about my experiences as a novice RMA practitioner.., I don’t feel the need to write so much lately, as I initially did, the intention of the blog was to show myself the differences between the old and the new, a means to help me understand this new path I’ve chosen and complete the transition between one system and another. I originally said to myself that I would give it a year in order to at least understand the principles of this new discovery.. that was back in early 2007 and to my constant amazement I still find myself enthused by the constant challenges Systema provides... Hopefully new and interesting sessions provided by Rob, Gareth, Sam and others will keep me writing, as I do enjoy spreading the word of my own experiences, hopefully in an honest way with no b/s and help others to decide that it might suit them too, Systema has a wealth of information waiting for you, no matter who’s version of the RMA you choose…

Old Boy Steve…. :)

News…

2012-05-11T16:04:00.001+01:00

CONTROL & RESTRAINT WORKSHOP
26th MAY 2012
Stuart Memorial Hall Tempsford, Beds
Danny Lines - K9 Britannia Security
Rob Poyton - Cutting Edge Systema
A great opportunity to learn professional C&R work, short
range strikes, takedowns, transport, pressure work and more!
Full details here

NEW SYSTEMA TEE SHIRTS
Now availabe here!
Order direct from our partners at Dizzyjam

LATEST BLOG POST
INTEGRATION

TORONTO SUMMER CAMP
Systema at Full Range 2012

VLADIMIR UK VISIT
20th - 21st of October 2012
For details contact RMA GB

Rob Poyton’s Vlog No 1

2012-04-27T18:31:00.001+01:00

Some thoughts from class on taking strikes

From school yard to training hard…

2012-04-27T10:42:00.001+01:00

Not sure about your school days, but mine are memories of lunch time games of football, cricket, listening to music and the usual rough and tumble; as well as the non traditional games of knuckles, nipples, mercy, dead Legs, dead arms, chinese burns and slapsy’s… All of which seemed good fun at the time, but often ended in some painful bruises by the time the home time bell rang. I look back at these pretty spiteful games, that were largely played by the boys of the school, I can’t really recall girls getting involved, although I did whiteness a few girl fights of pulling hair while rolling around on the floor, sometimes exposing more than we’d bargained for, but for a spotty, snotty youth that was just fine...

I think the favoured sneak attack for most hard nuts and bullies of that time was the “Dead Leg” an extremely efficient way of taking you down in order to give you a pasting, a common practice throughout the school, a hit and run strike that worked every time. It’s funny how school kids work out where to hit, so it hurts to the maximum and how best to deliver pain to their fellow class mates for the greatest effect… I often wonder how they learnt this stuff, was it passed down from year to year, each new set of new school recruits initiated in the dark arts of the school play ground, to then pass on to the next and then the next generation.. and on it goes.

Last night brought back memories of the “Dead Leg” while sparing with Mark he caught me with the perfect knee strike, finding dead centre, the point on the side of the thigh with extreme accuracy, all apart of his fluid work.. even today the muscle is reminding me of last night’s training, a small circle of pain that dully fades in and out. As a stopper it works really well, it stopped all my work in its tracks and could feel the strike right through to the bone... to come back from a shot like this takes some doing, the natural recovery time takes a few minutes, but the opening had been created for Mark to continue if he wanted to, but on this occasion he felt sorry for an ol bloke and stopped to give me a chance and get myself together… Wimp I here you cry... well it did bloody hurt.
What never seems to surprise me with Systema is the way the same knee that carried out the “Dead Leg” could also be used as a healing tool... Just last weekend Martin Wheeler was over visiting the UK and some of the lads, including Mark went along and as a part of the course some massage techniques where shown, including massage with the knees; so Gareth thought it would be a good idea to finish off the session with some knee massage.

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a good massage like anyone especially after a Systema session and I would say someone walking on your back can be an experience worth waiting for, but I have issues with someone walking on my calf muscles.. recently though I’ve been able to deal with this, but the knee massage took the pain threshold to another level. Gareth briefly demonstrated the knee walk over Nick’s back and thought that looks ok, but then he started working into Nick’s arms and legs and the increase in Nicks breathing was quite apparent.. So in for a penny in for a pound said to Mark have a go and this was too be discomfort in the extreme... Gareth said to me afterwards that it was a matter of giving into it and letting the tension go.. I kind of knew what he meant, as the pain to my calf’s and upper thighs was literally taking my breath away and I got to a point where I really did want to surrender, but there was just that last bit of tension I held on to and just wouldn’t let go of it.. Gareth also said that Martin had said that our tension is built up over a long period of time, so to be able to release it will take time as well… I think so too...

So to summarise.. the body is a wonderful multi-function tool, it has the ability to destroy and to help heal.. the work of last nights session showed more clearly the connection between them.

Steve

Pressure Testing

2012-04-22T16:33:00.000+01:00

Sometimes a change of plan helps to change the course of the lesson. There was going to be a wedding reception held in the main hall today, so the class was held in the smaller hall at Tempsford, which was ok, as there was only about ten of us. I'm not sure what Rob had originally planned, but as usual the flexibility that Systema offers enabled an off the cuff session that turned out to be a good one and covered quite a bit in the two hour session, push work, knife, heavy strikes as well as gloved up sparring.

Pressure testing take various forms, Physical and Psychological. Testing our endurance in physical strength, as well mental toughness is something most of us have doubts as to our abilities and continually strive to push ourselves further to overcome our fears of the unknown; one of the best simple tests of this is the twenty count press up, or the static press up held for as long as possible.. but one other test that makes you dig a bit deeper is milling, basically going toe to toe and slugging it out. Taking a good shot can be difficult to overcome, especially when blindsided, being able to recover and still protect yourself takes a lot of special stuff and to expose yourself to this is a necessary experience in my view. Too many martial artist live in a fantasy world where they think years of very little or no contact is somehow going to prepare them for the real world. Getting hit is sometimes very unpleasant and I’m the first to admit its not my first choice when training, but to not go there is a big mistake… exposure to digs and knocks on a regular basis doesn't make you immune, but at least you’re familiar with the feeling and know what the experience feels like and is a realistic indicator of how you are more than likely going to react in a real situation. As Rob has said on many occasions “training is just training and it isn't possible to recreate a real situation, so we have to do the best we can”, but Systema, I feel its the closest I’ve come to what I’ve actually experienced so far in real life, in fact I would say its a lot harder going than the fracas I’ve been involved with..

Partnering Mark is always tough and as a training partner you couldn't wish for more, probably one of the best I’ve trained with over the years, a guy who gives as good as he gets, probably the hardest puncher I’ve ever experienced, anyhow, the section of the class was going to test me quite a bit. Working with Mark we started to work strikes to the body which were un-gloved, did this for a while, then gloved up with light gloves for some sparring, and I have to say the pressure was definitely on and tested my movement greatly.. when you’re under pressure its easy to dig in and take a shot or too, but when they’re hitting like a sledge hammers you suddenly realise static trading isn't a good place to be and you realise that half decent movement needs to kick in, otherwise as I found out the day after, a bruised and battered body results. Taking reasonable head and body shots does work against your psychological toughness, facing up to an opponent is a decision you have to make in a few seconds.. you may experience indecision, but if its a case of doing nothing or something, I think you’re more than likely to protect yourself if you’ve any sense.. Drilling in this way left me with a heightened sense of being alive afterwards, but my psychological toughness was slightly dented, not sure why, perhaps it was the heaviness of the strikes, but as Gareth said afterwards Mark is a hard hitter and try not to let it affect you too much, try not to hold onto any negative feelings about the outcome, which in the end was a slightly damaged rib, nose and eye socket, a few knocks which lasted a few days to recover from, but this actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as during the following couple of lessons I had to let go of tension that I thought was protecting my side injury, but all it did was cause more problems, in order to work I had to relax around the injury not tense to protect it, this made my work cleaner on the ground and felt good for it and soon forgot about any pain.. funny how things work out.

In summery taking a few knocks is worth it in order to cope with discomfort and fear.. of course its not possible to train like this all the time as I don’t think that will do anyone any favors, but certainly every now and again pressure testing is a must for all of us.

Steve

Milling in the Military

CLASS TRAINING SPRING 2012

2012-04-16T20:34:00.001+01:00

Greyed out…

2012-04-11T10:20:00.001+01:00

I can remember my early days in Iaido, the instructor saying “you need to feel as though you are skimming across the floor’s surface, make no sound, feel as though the distance between your feet and the floor is no greater than the thickness of a cigarette paper”. Indeed when skimming across the dojo floor releasing the Iaito from my waste, tying breath, movement and the crisp cut, the whoosh of the blade, it was an incredible feeling, the Zanshin moment after the cut was made, the Noto, returning the blade back to the Saya, this was the ultimate feeling of self awareness, so aware of your own heart beat, the sweat running down your back, the control of your breath, control of each and every body part, your performance was in silence but with a deadly purpose... That Zanshin feeling I carried forward into all of my other Martial Arts training and even into my Systema today. Awareness at this level is observation at its deepest, picking up the smallest details about a situation or person, reading body language to give you the edge can make all the difference, from being in the thick of it, to subtly skirting around it. In some ways I think this Zanshin state of mind can certainly help during combat, but equally as well when the need is to be inconspicuous to others; aware of your surroundings and others who pose a potential threat should help to make you less obvious in the crowd, as you’ve seen them and the situation long before any problem surfaces, letting you blend into the background, ideal for an assortment of covert trades I would guess….

Blending in with your surroundings is a skill not many are able to master, as most people want to be noticed, the beautiful people with made up faces, fashionable clothing and hair styles, all designed to attract, wanting to be observed in all their glory, but for some, the unattractive, unfashionable, blend into the background with ease, seen and then forgotten, moving around society without a trace. If this could be learnt it would be a very useful way to move around un-noticed, blending into your surroundings at will.
Gareth and Rob often remind us to be quiet when working, to be light of foot when running and with a silent body when crawling or rolling, drills to make you think about being un-noticed, stealth. When moving in general or with a partner practicing drills or when sparing, I often think about that thickness of the cigarette paper under my feet explained all those years ago and am sure it does make a difference, not to be heavy footed, not to have clumsy movement around my partner, trying to be smooth, balanced and quiet, not over thinking it just feeling the flow motion.

Rob a few weeks back was explaining a drill and while doing so recounted an experience of quiet work, it roughly went like this, Rob said he was waiting for Vald to arrive at the airport and was busy looking around for him as his flight had just arrived; unseen Vlad suddenly appeared to Rob’s surprise, but right next to him … Rob later asked him how he had done this and Vlad explained that people have blind spots in their vision and it’s a matter of recognising this.

Working in a variety of of surroundings can help you to understand blending in and how animals and birds do this as apart of their everyday life, using their natural camouflage to stay safe. You get a sense of this when we train outside at the old Viking battle ground close to the Tempsford training Hall, some of us wear camouflage clothing which helps to feel a part of the outdoors, the peaceful environment definitely has an effect on you.

There are various drills that help to make you less obvious, one covered recently was when the whole class moved around the training hall, mingling and moving about each other, picking someone at random from the group and seeing how silently you could move towards them without them noticing, using others in the group as cover, as well as not looking directly at them using peripheral vision and indirect movement, not giving yourself away while closing in on them. I think the last time we did this drill we concealed a knife and then drew it as we made close contact, the other guy without a knife being tracked had to be aware of who might be tracking them by also being aware, so it was a useful drill for everyone.

Keeping it grey may not suit everyone, but it certainly has its advantages, to be able to be unseen and quietly be unobserved, just doing your thing is nice sometimes, especially if you occasionally want the anonymous quiet life like me…

Steve

The Pendulum Effect…

2012-03-30T10:31:00.001+01:00

Pendulum - A body suspended from a fixed support so that it swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity..

The more I do of this Systema stuff the more I wish I had started at a lot younger age, but hey ho this is where I am now, so wont dwell on it, just think about the many discoveries still to come.. One such discovery for me made in the last few months was the Pendulum motion. I had never really paid much attention to this idea, although it had been talked about on occasion during classwork. Recently I had been considering its value and decided to implement it into my movement and I think it has had some positive results, especially within my overall attitude towards movement in general. The idea that you could feel as though some of your movement derives from an area around the solar plexus and that the body should feel as though suspended from this point which will allow for freer movement…. was for me not clicking into place. Having spent sometime though developing my own understanding of this concept and actually feeling the movement generated from this point, is a small revelation. I do indeed feel able to move somewhat better and combined with better relaxation, feel a lot better with my overall progress recently. Its funny this weekend Rob was teaching us how to generate better hip movement, which I found also complemented the pendulum movement, and when combined the whole body feels as though it should be able to work around any obstacle. The hip rotations and side to side motion almost feels like an inverted pendulum (or the Elvis hips), the feet becoming semi fixed and the hips the moving weight, just in the same way as the fixed point at the chest can let the rest of the body move as though suspended, enabling movement in any direction…. I now think of my body as a multi flexible tool, it can take the line of its optimal form, or at will alter its shape only to return to its correct form. The movement of the chest and hips seem to be an important option, as knife thrusts and punches to the upper body and kicks to the lower body will demonstrate. To be able to take certain parts of the body off line to avoid a frontal attack, only to re-align itself to deliver a counter strike, feels like a really natural way to get out of the way and counter, almost like a controlled flinch, taking your vulnerables away from a knife point or well placed groin kick. I think immobile hips are the cause of most of our stress over poor mobility, as are our feet, if the feet, hips and upper body are working well together, everything else must work better, giving more controlled coordinated work.. tie this in with your breathing and relaxation, anything is possible :)

Steve

Taking your eye off the ball..

2012-03-28T08:55:00.001+01:00

From my earliest days teaching Martial Arts it was clear that the most dangerous thing you were ever likely to come up against in class was the complete novice, and all these years later although not teaching anymore, always feel the same trepidation when training with the uninitiated. We all spend years training in what ever system and along the way you hear people say, “well the system we train in assumes the opponent knows nothing for it to work”.. this was the explanation given when two like students basically cancelled each other out in their training or things didn’t work out too well.. Well its all fine thinking like this, but as I say the times I’ve been at my most uncertain was against a novice or someone from a different style, who did things unpredictably or in a slightly different way than you were expecting. When training with someone new or someone who you are unfamiliar with, it’s so easy to be complacent and drop your guard basking in your own experience, thinking that will be enough to carry you through, but generally this is where you come a cropper, unintentionally dropping your guard because the man in front of you seems as though has less experience in what you do, but how do you know this?. In some ways you should really encourage training with allsorts, as this is like a low level pressure test of your chosen art, someone catching you off guard when they themselves weren’t aware that they were doing anything and neither were you, then suddenly you realise that you’ve been caught out and desperately need to recover. Facing something that doesn't necessarily fit in with what you expect highlights your weaknesses and teaches you not to be complacent and not to switch off. I can remember when practicing Kobujutsu weapons drills years ago now, but can remember that with a practiced partner the drills flowed and everything was pretty safe, even at fast speed, because you both knew what you were doing and knew what was expected of you, but with the novice, the prospect of receiving a knock here and a poke there was quite high. Although this was frustrating, the fact you weren’t able to function as well as you’d like, made you just a bit more observant and cautious. The same can be said with Systema to an extent, when with the experienced the flow-motion feels really good, but with someone who may have just popped in for a random session, or someone who is really keen to learn and gets over excited, suddenly shows up your own work by their unpredictability and you have to work more cleanly and be on your toes so to speak, not to get drawn into their excitement, fast uncontrolled movement and excess tension. So my lesson for today dear reader is never “take your eye off the ball” otherwise it will be your own bloody fault if you get a slap :)

Steve

Tactical Training Day...

2012-03-19T16:25:00.001Z

It was an early start for a Sunday morning; up at seven to meet Nick by the A1 at 08:15 and from there head towards Romford, which is located in the County of Essex just to the east of London. It was about an hour’s drive to the Pro-k9 venue and arrived in good time, just ahead of the rest of the Systema contingent, Rory and Rob P.
The event was organised by Danny Lines and Sujay Bhola of Britannia Security Services with guest instructor Rob Poyton of Cutting Edge Systema. Danny’s and Sujay’s groups are specialists in K9, and Security Protection; the course held last year showed how expertly they handle their dogs and how professional their outfit is and it was to be demonstrated once again during this years Tactical Training seminar . The training was scheduled to run from 10:00 to 15:00 and split into two sections; the K9 area where handlers were being coached in techniques geared towards operational dogs, looking at reality scenarios, the other area was covering basic body guarding drills, diversionary tactics, weapons defence, striking and close quarter combat inside vehicles. This area is where Rob, Rory, Nick and myself where to be based for most of the day. There were a few familiar faces from last summer’s seminar and I for one was keen to get things underway.

To start with Rob took the first section and looked at some simple body guarding drills working in different sized groups, pairs, three’s and four’s, different scenarios designed to protect, remove and disable. I always find this type of work very interesting and was impressed by the attitude of the other guys and their interest in what was being shown, all working very well together and picked things up very quickly, asking questions all the while. From the outset it was clear that we had a great bunch of guys here who weren't afraid to get stuck in and enjoy the day. The next section was taken by Danny, he showed a variety of locks and escapes, which included a few I hadn’t seen before; the quick pace took us through a fair selection of drills that kept every one interested and working hard. We then looked at disarms, this was quite a large section of the workshop and looked at the quick disarming of knives and hand guns, as well as some rifle disarms too. Rob got us looking at different ranges and ideas that included distraction using timing and how the gun / knife was held and the best way to work that into the disarm / restraint. Rob also used pair work and multiples in a similar way to the earlier work in the body guarding section, both over lapped quite nicely. Danny showed some variations in gun and knife, as we were now split into two working groups, which would later come back together for the working in and around a vehicle. We broke for about forty five minutes, lunch was a bar-b-q provided by the Pro-K9 team. Lunch out of the way it was straight into the vehicle work... but first Pro-K9 gave everyone a short demo using their own training vehicle, the demonstration showed how the dog handlers train their dogs to extract undesirables from cars and showed how the dogs can operate on their own, climbing up and over obstacles to get to their target.. once again this showed me how well these guys work with their dogs and how special the team work is between them, well impressed.. The training vehicle was going to be perfect for the drills Rob was about to show next. Having done other car work with Rob, I knew he was only going to be able to show the guys a few basic ideas, as you could spend many hours on this subject as we have done back at the Tempsford HQ. This section was quite entertaining in parts and once again the whole group got stuck in, even though it got a bit rough in the car at times, it was all done in good spirits with plenty of laughter as well, which showed there were no egos on show during the whole days training. I think it soon became apparent how difficult this work can be, especially extracting people from a car and how team work was essential.. but as a taster of how you can incorporate a vehicle into your training, was I think a worthwhile exercise for all the guys who hadn’t done any of this type of thing before, and a bit of an eye opener when disarming in vehicles too. I enjoyed this section, as figuring out how to get a gun or knife off of someone in such a confined space takes all of the lateral thinking you can muster, and must work equally as well when approached through the vehicles window, you have to learn how to work spontaneously, and the only way to do this is through relaxation and knowing exactly what needs to be done...

To Finishing off the day we worked on more close quarter knife drills in pairs, this was quite a free section where discussion between partners about options as well as exchanging ideas.. all in all a good days training and looking forward to the next Tactical Training day some day soon.

Steve

Some Video clips taken by Rob of the day..

Don’t forget this Sunday - Tactical Training Day...

2012-03-16T11:37:00.001Z

Sunday 18th March 2012
Hosted by
Danny Lines, Rob Poyton & Sujay Bhola
09:30am Registration, Start Training 10:00
Lunch at 12:00, Finish at 15:00
£30 Per Person
474 Rush Green Road, Romford, Essex, RM7 0LU
This Event will consist of:-
Urban Area
Rob Poyton - Head of Systema UK teaching basic body guarding drills, diversionary tactics, weapons defence, striking, close quarter combat inside vehicles & Russian Systema
Danny Lines - Self Defence Federation Examiner & Celebrity Bodyguard teaching Body guarding footwork drills & formations, locks, holds, striking, pressure points, disarming tactics, close quarter handgun techniques & modern street combat.
Security K9 Area
Sujay Bhola – A Grade Helper, South of England training helper, K9 Protection specialist
K9 workshop for Security Protection – reality based training, switching on and off civil for high aggression visual deterrent, muzzle work and bite suit, this workshop will be geared for operational dogs and based alongside reality scenarios. Dogs with correct foundation will benefit here but dogs with incorrect foundational training will show cracks under this type of training – here we can help by developmental work.
With Assistance from John Monaghan – B Grade helper
Please note: NO Banned breeds, no dogs with questionable temperaments (assessments available) strong and safe leads and collars mandatory – will be available to buy on the day. We recommend your dogs are used to walking in muzzles prior to this event and if so please bring muzzles with you.
http://www.pro-k9.co.uk/
For full details contact Danny danny@pro-k9.co.uk

What ever you want to call it…

2012-03-15T15:28:00.001Z

It’s funny how different systems incorporate symbols to reinforce the methodology of what they’re trying to get across in their teachings. A few I have come across like most of you I guess are the Wedge, Fence, Roof, Swan neck, I’m sure the list is endless, many more out there if you looked hard enough. In my view It all boils down to the same thing, a way of putting your own stamp on something, but to be honest the more I travel on life's path the more you realise that there isn’t much left in the fighting world that hasn't already been thought of and probably many generations ago, its just that perhaps someone has introduced it to a brand new audience who are more or less a blank canvas or not very well travelled in the Martial Arts community and think that it’s a completely new innovation because it has a fancy label. I’m a firm believer that if given enough time many of these concepts will come to you anyway, you just have to be patient. I’ve been around long enough now to see reoccurring themes, not unlike in the fashion world, the same old style repeated in every generation. I can remember my mother saying as I was growing up “ oh we used to wear that in the 50’s” and I can remember making similar comments to my wife when looking at the kids fashion today.. its only new if you haven't seen it before, the people who study fashion for a living know the long history of things and at some point think it right to reproduce an earlier idea, perhaps with a slightly different spin, but essentially its the same animal.. The only thing I can say about the symbols used to create the illusion of new ideas, is that it keeps the momentum of the Martial Arts study moving forward, not to let it remain static for the next generation coming along, so they also can identify with something “New” and I’m sure these future generations will also put their own spin on the Symbolism of todays Martial Arts Systems and call it their own too…

Steve

Escape and Control..

2012-03-04T10:05:00.001Z

Thursday Class – Ground work escapes

This weeks Thursday class spent more time looking at work on the ground and one area was exploring chokes and escapes from them. I think I’m finally dealing with certain fears in my training one of which is letting someone do press ups on my legs especially on the pressure points of the inner thigh, the other one is dealing with chokes, both are similar fears as you have to relax enough to deal with both, but the chokes have been more difficult than most, the build up of tension as you try to figure out an escape, the dwindling air supply as well as the restriction of the blood supply to the brain, the fears associated with both are always present in working on the ground, as your partner’s aim often is to choke you out. We started off by experiencing chokes of various types to see how it felt and then looked at ways to escape by using movement. The more you do of things that are unpleasant the more accustomed to them you become and are able to relax enough to realise that by moving body parts that aren't held creates openings. The choke is no exception here, I have learnt that escapes are possible by creating space through small movements away from the choke itself, creating space to move and conquering my fears in the process.

Saturday Class – Entering Drills

It’s funny how things resurface from the past.. this time it was Irimi drills from Yuishinkai Karate Jutsu. For some reason the work we were doing with Rob today was an ideal time to revisit drills from the past. I was working with young Nick Padgett again and we were looking at controlling work and short multiple strikes from a parrying lead arm, as well as guiding an attackers lead arm onto your other hand, to either lead him off or break something, and it was during this work that the Irimi start to come out. Irimi means to enter and in this case from the initial attack made by Nick my partner, I tended to take it head on, from stationary position, move forward and pivoting at a precise moment to go past his attack, ending up facing him 90 degrees from my original position, close enough to continue to work at his structure or short multiple strikes. In Yuishin Kai Karate we had a set of eight drills (Irimi hachi ho) that covered different types of entering and from different angles, while learning them they felt very fluid not unlike the way we move in Systema, so I guess that's why it popped out in my work yesterday because my body must have felt it was a learned set of movement that was appropriate for this particular work...

Steve

Training Kit…

2012-02-26T10:21:00.001Z

One of the things I like about Systema is that it doesn’t cost a fortune to participate, in fact you can get away with just brining your body to class and nothing else. But over time you will find that you’ll build up a selection of kit that allows you to participate better within the drills. With the majority of guys now carrying similar equipment, we’re always prepared for most things in class and if someone’s short of something there's always enough kit to go around. The picture to the left is a sample of the kit I always carry in my training bag, I also have a extra pads and spare knives too, but if I was limited to carrying just a few items these would be on my short list; head guard protection (for occasional use), short or long stick, live blade and training knife, training hand gun, focus pads, blindfold and for those nicks and cuts a simple first aid kit. For a few quid you will have enough equipment to last you for a good few years training..

Stick and Pad Drill
In this Saturdays class we were going to use long stick and pads, great kit in their own right, but in one particular drill they were brought together to what later turned out to be the class favourite of the day. Again not an over complicated drill, but had elements of other drills within it. A group drill involving three guys, one was pad man the other stick man, the third was the one active in the drill; the pad man moved around the active man presenting the pads in different ways, while the stick man poked and prodded the stick over the active mans body, as well as placing the stick in between the active man and the pads, making striking cleanly as awkward as possible. The object was simple enough, strike the pads while evading the stick, how you chose to approach this was down to you. Each person had his own method and each group were working together differently, so you could see the scope for this particular drill was extensive. My own take on it was that I needed to remain soft and work around the stick and then strike the pads when it felt right to do so, not punching out wildly tiring my self out ignoring the stick all together, this wasn’t the drill. I also wanted to see if I could punch from a variety of angles around the moving stick, but my priority was to micro manage the stick as it was being pressed into my body, isolating the pressure to that part of the body and work on ways to remove the stick away, leaving my hands free to work on the pads. When the stick was blocking my way to the pads I tried to alter my structure slightly to enable the difficult shots through to the pads, but not enough to compromise my balance, if the strike wasn't there I'd move on to another position that worked. I found this drill very adaptable for working at all levels, standing, kneeling or sitting, as well as prone on the floor. While on the floor it was a perfect drill to lead into fighting on the ground, as apposed to ground work… Working around the pokes, prods and traps of the stick while on the ground then positioning to strike the pads, was very similar to working around a partner and striking at him; this was good preparation for the next set of drills that were just that, working against your partner who was trying to restrain you on the floor; by using mobile evasion and short striking showed me that working in this way was surprisingly affective… It’s clear that mixing together your “training kit” enables you to add so much more to existing tried and tested Systema drills; working in this way makes each drill just a little bit more challenging and a lot more enjoyable too…

Steve

Preparation time…

2012-02-17T13:35:00.001Z

Thursday Session..

I think we all forget sometimes that good preparation for a particular way of training is just as important as the training itself. last nights session was all about this..

The Thursday class for the last few weeks have been focusing on various aspects of ground work, and for this weeks session Gareth decided to join in the class and hand over the reins to John Hunter, who in my opinion is a very knowledgeable Systema guy, and has an excellent teaching method. John explained that over the next two hours we were going to be looking at preparatory drills designed to prepare our bodies for further ground work to come over the next few weeks. The session comprised mostly of familiarisation with the floor and helping us to become comfortable with being in an uncomfortable position, so drills covering breath restriction, movement restriction with a partner/partners were to follow. Even though the drills we were going to look at were relatively simple, they were still quite challenging..
I suppose the Systema approach to most things is to work from the most disadvantage position possible and if you cope well from that point anything else will always seem a lot easier to deal with. So the drills that John showed where designed to restrict you one way or another; this is where relaxation and correct breathing was going to be important, to avoid getting yourself all fearful and tense. These were not fighting drills but drills that placed you in a disadvantage position while on the floor and the object was to observe their affects upon us. One drill in particular showed this.. While laid out on the floor your partner had to position you in such away that it was very uncomfortable, but at the same time your breathing had to also be compromised in some way, whether it was by the position itself, or the partners body weight, or by the hands over the nose or mouth, or as in my case I was left with only one nostril free for breathing, with the rest of my body compressed and contorted.. It’s funny how you can adjust to your situation and survive with what you’re given, even with only one nostril to breath with it was sufficient, as long as I kept calm and relaxed.. I have actually been in similar positions during free play ground work, where my breath was almost removed and often the panic sets in.. had I spent more time with this pre-drill training I think my fear levels and abilities to cope under stress would have been a lot better..

Saturday session

This Saturdays session like so many these days just flew by, I guess it’s because the work we are doing is so varied and interesting. Rob set us up with some cardio drills and some fundamentals, as a review for the regulars and as an introduction to striking for the two new guys that started this week. The session was pitched just right to keep everyone busy, which isn’t the easiest of things to do from a teaching perspective.The work rate was quite high during the pad work section, I had a good partner in Nick Padgett who helped me to keep things moving at decent pace, and even at a high work rate we were still able to experiment with the pads getting the most out of a great bit of simple kit.. Using two focus pads we were able to look at our form and the fluidity of our striking, to maximise our efficiency.. it’s so easy to get fixated with the pads and just belt them in single strikes with a uniformed timing, instead of breaking it up with multi-strikes with different tempos, always looking at placing many strikes in the least amount of time... Using variations of the figure of eight pattern, we we able to look at delivering same hand multi-strikes, as well as combinations of both hands, more than just the hook, jab and cross. We looked at footwork and body positioning from standing all the way down to the floor. What is interesting though, is how adaptable the hand is to striking, it doesn’t matter how the body is positioned and what direction the strike meets the target, the hand seems to form itself into the correct shaped tool, whether open hand, back of hand, hammer fist (top / bottom) traditional fist, it doesn’t matter, it will form itself into what's required of it.
I do like working with the pads and wish we could do more with them, as it does enable you to be more explosive with your work, which isn’t always an option with your training partner for obvious reasons.

Steve

Piece by Piece…

2012-02-10T14:46:00.001Z

After a weeks lay off from training due to a winter cold, it was nice to have two great sessions back to back. Thursdays session involved dealing with kicks while on the ground and todays session spent the full two hours on knife work, which a fair proportion was also spent dealing with knife attacks whilst on the ground, the two classes I thought linked together quite well.
2012 has been a pretty good one so far, in terms of understanding my training, what I’m doing and what I’m doing it for. I feel the learning curve is on the rise again and starting to feel really good about my training perhaps for the first time since starting out in Systema. I seem to be able to visualise training drills in a new way which seem to make me feel better about what I’m doing. I think I’m finally starting to grasp the concept of fighting from any position and through the levels; from standing to the floor and from the floor to standing. In the past Rob has gotten us doing pad drills one of which involved striking the pads while standing, through squatting, to sitting and then laying out on the floor, without stopping, continuous striking then back up to your feet again. In my mind I think I really must have been carrying out the drill for drilling sake, and did not think how this would apply outside of the pad drill, but in the last two classes it has suddenly dawned on me that I should be and can work against someone as I have done on many occasions while on the pads.
In Thursdays session one drill involved starting from laying on the floor and receiving kicks from your partner, dealing with the kick, continue to strike at your partner as you rise up off the floor to a point where you regain control, and then turn the tables by taking your partner to the floor. The same work applied today, instead of kicks it was stabs from a knife, but the same process applied, dealing with the knife, working against the person while rising up off the floor, back into the dominant position.. both drills were very useful in understanding this point.
Both lessons for me where very similar but quite different in their content, but did reinforce the point that Systema is fundamentally the same whether standing or down on the floor, and yes I know I’ve been told this many times, but I can tell the puzzle is finally coming together; the drills really are applicable to wherever you find yourself, and I think at last I’m starting to grasp this, perhaps the last plateau is finally behind me and can now concentrate on bringing my Systema together “Piece by Piece”….

Steve

Levels of play…

2012-02-01T09:21:00.001Z

I’m not sure about you, but I sometimes find it difficult to maintain the concept of soft play in training, the likelihood is at some point I will feel the need to ramp the pressure up... Rob pointed out quite rightly in last Saturday’s class, that its not always a good thing to remain in the “killer” mind-set of hard and fast for extended periods, as it could turn out to be counter productive, in that you don't give yourself the time you need to learn. I suppose keeping yourself in a high state of ferociousness does seem a bit OTT and I doubt that you could really maintain it for very long anyhow, and even if you could you would probably fry your brain at some point as well... So there must be times in your training where it’s appropriate to slow things down and “flowmosh” for want of a better word… that said I still think its still all too easy to fall into that trap where you view slow drilling as a reflection of real fighting, and expect that everything will always flow nicely and never badly.
Gareth for one has taught me that slow play is a great way to understand movement and feel your way around your training partner, some comparing it to child like play.. and I’m all for that, but I feel that the concept of play can still be play even when its ramped up to a higher more intense level. To me play is only a separated from real fighting when there is an intention to do harm to another person. When you watch two top Judo players totally going for it, this still seems like a form of play to me, albeit a very rough and tumble form of play, but yes still play in my view, but labelled as a competitive sport instead. A true sportsman always has a real respect for his opponent and wouldn't dream of doing the other serious harm or injury, even though the work rate is in overdrive. Even boxers who admittedly are trying to knock each others blocks off are still far from the mind set of ”kill” and as with the Judoka, kill is the last thing in the world that they would want.. I think its all about the intensity of the situation for these guys, as of course the desire to win..

I do think without contrast in your training you cant possibly appreciate things like pressure, fear and loss of control. There are of course other considerations to take into account before increasing the pressure, whether you want to help your partner or not, if you do, you also have to bare in mind their skill level before you start to ramp things up... I remember in Jodo it was always pointed out to me that there was always teaching side between partners in training, no matter what your skill level, there was always someone better than you who naturally became the teaching side, as was there always someone less skilled than you, so you then became the teaching side; the person with the more experience worked to the level of the less experienced, but it was also their job to help raise their partners game, pressuring them to a point where they would find it always challenging, and not leaving the bar at a low “soft play” level for too long, always trying to instil in the trainee what they were actually trying to accomplish, to learn to fight and with some degree of skill, but also showed them that through the training process they where able to change their perspective towards fighting, train to a level where you didn’t feel you had to, but would do if necessary. I think this was true of most Japanese arts that I looked at, slow and deliberate to start, then at some point you had to cross over to the next level, but common to all was the “review”, which meant taking it back to basics and use slow play to recap, to reinforce the skill set.
Working with Mark at the weekend was as usual a good balance and demonstrated to me that this idea of play at different levels is possible… when we work together it’s quite often with varying intensities, the slow and tactile, through to medium digs, onto fast and heavy strikes, but all the while just play, without any form of malice, just a clear and focused mind with an appreciation of fun during our training time together.

Steve

NEW SYSTEMA CONCEPTS DVD! - MINDSET

2012-01-26T13:56:00.001Z

Shows simple, practical methods to access survival mind-set and how to bring that mind-set into your work
Shipping next week, available at pre-order price here

To the last breath…

2012-01-22T12:16:00.001Z

One of my greatest fears is having my breath taken away, suffocation or perhaps drowning. The thought of dying in this way is a pretty big fear of mine and facing up to it and working though it is a big challenge; to be able to fight to survive knowing that you have to find a way out, to get that breath that your body craves, coping with panic and other emotions, to keep a clear head under this sort of pressure is really worth visiting, as Rob said taking your self somewhere like this highlights how much of a survival instinct you have, strong enough to keep going? or will you lay down and die? Interesting thought isn't it.

This week we continued the breath work theme, but first a knife work warm up which lasted for about fifteen minutes or so, which was a decent amount of time to have a play, and enough time to learn more about movement, passing the knife back and forth between you and your partner, stripping the knife and other disarms… a great start, I think its very important to have access to this free time experimentation, these extended periods give you the right sort of practice time you need.

Recapping on last weeks breath work was a good way to get us in the right mind set for work to come later in the session. Running and holding breath drills and using exercise to normalise your breathing was first, followed by more pair work, using sit ups, press ups, leg raises and squats as a means to challenge ourselves; standing, sitting or laying side by side, no quantity of sets or reps given, both partners set off in the exercise together, one holds their breath while the other breathes normally, when the breath holder can't hold his breath any longer he starts burst breathing until normalised, all the while continuing with the exercise, at this point of burst breathing his partner then takes over the breath holding until he can't hold any longer, then burst breathes, repeating for a few changes then change exercise.

Rob stressed that at any point during any of the breath holding drills you could stop if you felt that your blood pressure was up too much, as safety for everyone was priority. The next drill was similar to the floor breath holding drills, but this time standing, with a partner again, both hold their breaths at the same time and stand without doing anything, the first one to suck in air and start to burst breathe was the signal for his partner to start striking him as a penalty, using the strikes to help normalised his own breathing... One thing that was observed during this drill was the introduction of unwanted tension through incorrect breathing, especially when holding the breath, too much tension held by tensing upper chest and shoulders, instead of breathing in and out lower down in the abdomen and lower chest. The tension I was holding by breathing this way was a problem, as it affected the duration I was able to hold my breath.. it was very poor indeed.. Andy my partner pointed this out, which later prompted the question to Rob. Seeing Andy last longer for this drill and issue me the punches time after time, was an indicator of how I was doing…there was something clearly wrong here… Once Rob explained the breathing with out tension, it was a lot clearer.

The next section of the lesson was all about not being able to have the choice of when you were able to breathe and for how long.. Rob used Mark and myself to demonstrate this. I had no idea what was going to happen.. I knelt on the floor as instructed, as did Mark.. he knelt by my side, Rob said when I was ready to take an in breath Mark was going to then place his hand over my nose and mouth; when I could hold no longer I was to tap Marks arm and he would let me take a breath... This time I wanted to take on-board the tension thing from the previous drill, so as Mark applied his hand after my in breath, I went into a sort of meditative state trying to be totally relaxed with eyes closed... This time I was able to hold my breath for at least double if not three times as long before I tapped Marks arm, but you guessed it, Rob Must have given Mark the nod to keep his hand there taking me beyond that point where I wanted to give up… realising what was up I continued, forcing a deeper relaxation if that makes sense, as the gag reflex to breathe had to be suppressed.. I had a few more seconds to continue before tapping again, but Mark still held his hand in place, a few more seconds passed before I physically moved Marks hand from my face so I could take that breath, even though I did this I still think I had a bit more in me to continue, it must have been the bodies automatic response to survive making me yank Marks hand away.. once again interesting work, proving even I can push myself further when the easy option is removed, decision made for me to carry on...

The next progression was to work in pairs and then onto threes and fours.. first in pairs, partner one standing the other behind him, again hand over nose and mouth, eyes open, but this time when you felt the need to breathe this was your queue to work against the man behind you, doing what ever you needed to do to escape and then finish....
From here I was working in a group of four with Mark, John and Gareth, a similar drill, one standing being held from behind having their breath taken away, eyes open, the other two stood in front, as soon as the person holding his breath need to breathe, the gripping hand was removed and this was the queue for the two men in front to attack the man who was trying to recover his breath, he had to then either escape or work against the two attackers.. it was surprising how effective you could be even though you where still in recovery mode... From here the next drill was pretty much the same, but while you where being held and holding your breath from behind, one guy in front with focus mitts, he was digging jabs into the breath holders body at the same time.. when the breath holder needed to breathe again, the arm was removed, he then had to move forward and attack the focus mitts at full tilt, driving the pad holder back...

If given enough time to prepare, it would seem that you can cope with breath deprivation for extended periods, but if other factors are introduced it becomes much harder, even something as simple as laughter can change things.. my breath was being held and someone then cracked a funny, this caused me to hold back a laugh, but in doing so I lost more breath in the process. Distractions, pressure, and fear, certainly don't help you in drills like these, over coming all mental and physical obstacles is a tough ask, but necessary when placed in a difficult situation where you have to survive.

In the circle at the end of the lesson, it was clear that everyone had taken something from the various drills, I'm not sure if my own fears have been totally put to bed, but certainly realised my own short comings with breath control and know if left up to me I might give up too easily, but when forced to survive I like everyone else in the group operate differently, and the willingness to endure more and more through the bodies desire to live and breathe is visible; this sense of survival seems to be an ingrained automatic response for most people, its as though you don't have a choice in the matter the body decides for you... It will fight “to the last breath”.

Steve

S-t-r-e-t-c-h your

2012-01-15T17:01:00.000Z

One of the more significant changes in how I use breath work in my training was the idea of stretching your breath. I think I’ve only just started to appreciate how useful this way of breathing really is.. its probably only since the summer of last year that I started to really put it into practice. I particularly like it because its a very easy way of allowing you to make simple exercises like press up’s, sit up’s and squats more challenging. Its funny that as a result of this type of breath work I'm much more aware of holding my breath when I concentrate on every day tasks, when very focused on doing something perhaps a little bit precise, I suddenly realise I’m holding my breath, which then forces me to breathe again…

Part 1/ Yesterday Rob showed a few new drills that sort of related to this idea of stretching your breath, by using extended breath holding. As a part of our warm up the class started to jog run around the training hall, starting off with some square breathing, timing the breath to strides, in for 4 hold for 2 out for 4 hold for 2 etc.. from there we continued to jog run with normal breathing around the hall, then Rob said on the command, breathe in and hold your breath as long as you can while continuing to run.. when you can’t hold your breath any longer drop to the floor an recover with breathing, then straight up again into running and breath holding. Next drill same again, but instead breathing all the way out then hold for as long as you can, when you need to breath hit the floor to recover and up again running as soon as you can.. Continuing again with this drill but using press ups to recover, breathing in on the down press and out on the up press until recovered or breathing vice versa, then up and running once more and repeat. Next from a static press up, hold your breath as long as possible, when you need to breathe again start doing press ups with breathing to recover, which did somehow speed up recovery... then reverse this do press ups while holding your breath, then hold a static press up at the top end and burst breathe to recover. The next simple drill was working with a partner, both striking at each others body, not too deep, heavy enough to work the body, both holding their breaths while doing this.. the first one that needed to recover stood still hands by their sides, his partner could then recover as well, but he continued to strike at his partner as he breathed, but turning up the volume a bit as Rob put it... This was a great way to get us all warmed up for what was to come in the next section of the class..

Part 2/ The big pause…. This was something I mentioned in a post last week.. I think this phenomenon its more common than we think.. We all like to think we have good flow, but the reality is there’s a point for most of us where we stop working against our partner, either as a micro pause, or perhaps longer, or even stopping altogether. Rob was trying to encourage us to think about this and keep us moving during our work against our partners, as what you practise in training is probably how it will go for real... I for one am guilty of this, as I tend to think of my flow as a count, maybe influenced from the old days where it would be 1/ jab, 2/hook or cross, 3/upper cut 4/upper cut, then break away… an old habit I need to move away from. I noticed this in one of my partners yesterday, Mark is one of the strongest fighters I know and have no doubt in his abilities, but even so he too had this pausing.. he seemed to time the duration of his breath to his work, a flurry of punches or strikes and the breath stopped so did his work, all but briefly but still there, he takes the next inhale and gets himself moving again.. I think most of us have a variation of this sort of thing, which makes us less fluid and we continue to fight against the idea of flow motion.. a definite stumbling block to our advancement and understanding of this goal… So how do we figure out how to move beyond the pause, well Rob was saying perhaps try not to think how good or bad things might be going for you at that moment, don’t admire your successes or wallow in failures especially in mid-flow, just keep working until you don't have to.. This is a difficult mind set to get yourself into, to not think of success or failure but to just to do.. and keep doing what you’re doing… I sometimes wonder if we tie our timing of our work to our breathing too much, perhaps there’s a way of breathing that I don't know about yet that enables you to breathe continuously and allows continuous motion to take place, letting us continue regardless… Rob said we are going to spend a bit of time on breath work over the next few weeks.. it will be interesting to see how we all develop and whether the pause button isn't used as much, but the play button is… :)

Steve

The Road Ahead…

2012-01-08T13:35:00.000Z

Frustration, inadequacy, confusion, were a few of the emotions I felt throughout yesterdays session, the first Saturday of the new year… These emotions were highlighted during a section of the class where I was paired up with Rob P working on a specific close work drill, the idea in its self was quite simple, move away from the punch and continue to work against your partner, pretty easy you would think, but caused me one or two problems... I was having real trouble with my flow motion, a subject the class covered in some depth towards the latter half of last year. Feelings of awkwardness and a complete lack of flow were frustratingly obvious to me, but then grateful to Rob for confirming what I could already feel... Rob said it looked as though I was comfortable at one range, but as soon as the range closed to a range I should in fact feel more comfortable with, seemed very stop starty ( if that's a real phrase) I should in fact feel safer and more comfortable and able to cope better when in this close quarter range, but he said I should first try to slow things down and get the control and flow back first of all, as better flow was what I was looking for.. working a bit slower should actually start to make thinks a bit easier for me... The fact is, lots of years working at a fighting range where you felt you were just outside of trouble, somewhere where you can nip in and out to deliver shots with relative easy and still feel in control, safe and secure.. but this is all well and good, but enter into the uncomfort zone and my fundamental Systema basics seemed to escape me. On reflection it appears that I struggle soon after I’ve placed a couple of well aimed shots and there it is… a slight pause before I can continue, almost as though I need to evaluate damage done before I can progress any further.. this can be a real problem, as I found out when slow sparring with Rob, I would move, take a couple of shots only to leave space for Rob to move back into, stuff I’ve spoken about in previous blog posts.. I explained to Rob that as soon as I see the shot I take it, which he said was fine, but you must continue on.. perhaps my pre-emptive strikes seemed a little rushed, creating this pause because the flow had indeed stuck, not able to recognise or feel the next strike in the flow sequence.. Rob explained and demonstrated that once in and moving I should just keep moving, that way the flow motion doesn't get stuck and yes I felt the pressure from Rob when he was in the flow, which was difficult to deal with and overwhelming at times; as my movement tended to get stuck I was unable to free myself from the flurry of his striking I just couldn't react well at all.
I explained to Rob that unless I'm put under a fair bit of pressure my work against someone seems to be less effective, so I asked Rob to make it more pressured... Not sure whether my work was actually any better really, but the feeling that you get when you are actually up against a real threat one that can do damage to you is somewhat different, certainly drives you on and focuses your mind to think about mobility etc.. of course this may well be the totally wrong approach; I have been told so many times that thinking too much about any given situation will be problematic for me.. speaking to Matt after the session I said I thought that we had similar issues with over thinking things, even though there are a few years difference in training between us.. I said to him do you think we have problems like this because we are both from an engineering background? we tend to problem solve in a 2 + 2 = 4 type of way and if 5 is the result we will continue to analyse and pour over it for the solution, we expect that if we are presented with A and do B, C must be the outcome, and then and only then we can progress, but if D is the result we struggle to make sense of it and progress in our eyes is very slow, and considering that our willingness to learn is so great, find this slow progress unreasonable.. I think he knew what I was getting at and may possibly have something to do with how we approach things, but of course on the other hand it may well be total bollocks, it’s more than likely that we are just slow to grasp simple things :)

Gareth made an interesting point as we discussed further, as I understand it he tends to have no preconceived expectations of the lesson or how he’s feeling at the time will effect his training, he just takes it as it comes and if things don't work out too well it doesn't particularly matter, he also said that Chris W once spoke about how he felt prior to a class, he said he thought he might have a rusty lesson that day and that’s exactly what happened.. this does seems a reasonable way to look at things, I should really adopt his open attitude, but like most people who are still fairly new to Systema, think that everything looks pretty easy and that you should be competent in no time, but the reality is yes it does take hard work and effort, but still you really must not beat yourself up if things do go a little tits up from time to time, almost let the time you spend training wash over you and eventually stuff will stick and you will eventually get it… proving your expertise in something just isn't the ultimate goal here, its something less obvious, perhaps not unlike the harmony found in Aikido, not that I know much about that either, but you can see the connection somehow..

To be honest I felt that I've taken a little backwards step so far this year, I know its still early days, but do see that there are still a number of problems to resolve and know that I’ll still be analysing what I should be doing for a while yet, instead of going with the flow, what I need to do is slow things down and worry less.. My new years resolution is going to be encouraging close proximity, and try to free my mind and body of the comfort zone, the place I know where I can be most effective, instead I should be constantly challenging the uncomfort zone, working to be comfortable at varying ranges including the floor... I can see exactly what needs to be done, its just finding the way through to where i want to be.. perhaps this is the goal for this years training, to free myself of the notions of where I think I work best and explore the options of where I don't particularly do very well, areas where I still carry an element of fear, putting aside the desires to be something and somewhere where I’m clearly some way off from, the understanding of true flow motion is still somewhere down “the road ahead”….

Steve