Hi guys. Please read through thoroughly before commenting.
INTRO
I have been reading lot of the forums about mixed martial arts, paying particular interest to systema. There seems to be a lot of hate coming across when comparing martial arts. There is one particular person who has such an attitude and is aggressive in debating. Lets try to get along okay?
Systema doesn’t seem to be very popular and I would like to clear some things up.
Firstly, the system follows a very different approach to popular martial arts around the world and challenges their linear thought patterns.
If you are into big kicks, boxer stances, animal forms and savage fist fights then obviously you are no going to like systema or rather understand it. It has a different application and attitude altogether. It is not a sport and cannot be monitored for points. It is a self defense system than says-you attack me and I will disarm you, dismantle you and lock you on the ground until being dealt with further. It has no forms or katas which some might find frustrating. It is a system that teaches us to fight the way we walk, sit, work and behave normally without the put on of hard and soft forms. We train the way we fight and the way we normally move. A lot of martial arts appear different in training and in form than actual real life application. By maintaining natural movements we are in fact creating consistency in everything we do. Some martial arts try and instill and drill you for hours to perform repetitive movements until they are instinctive.
Systema is used for self defense for military combat personal and civilian self-defense. Practically used for hostage situations, rescue missions, close quarter combat, disarming and just basically surviving almost any circumstance when conditions are bad.
Its philosophy is about calmness, restoration, religion and Russia’s cultural history. It is a way of life the Russians created to instill peace and order.
THE CORE
In terms of it’s fighting approach, systema uses a completely diff approach to fighting:
a. It is non-aggressive and maintains calmness and fearlessness. When your body is relaxed you can function better. You panic less which enables you to think clearer.
b. Your first line of defense is to move away from strikes using the wonderful art of deflection and simply stepping. No blocks are used because it doesn’t allow motion to flow and inflicts wounds on yourself.
c. You have the ability to deflect and roll off strikes to the body as a second line of defense. If you dont believe me then watch TIME WARP on discovery channel which shows you in super slow motion the energy displacement of a punch to the stomach as the skin and fat ripples out. It is amazing and it exists.
Systema teaches the body to react through neuromuscular memory. If you are getting stabbed in the back then your body will automatically twist and shape around the blade to minimize the wound. The same with punches and kicks.
When we train, we close our eyes to train our body’s reaction to threats.
d. As a last resort, you can absorb and displace energy when being hit or thrown around. Ever wondered why drunk people survive car crashes better than others? It is because they are relaxed and flimsy enough to absorb impact better. If your opponent is bigger than you and delivers a heavy blow when you are tensed up, you are going to get hurt badly. Training sometimes includes things like being thrown across the room or against a wall to train neuromuscular memory and body timing to roll out the impact. What martial art teaches that?
I have personally seen senior students being hit hard with sticks and being punched full on in their stomachs at all angles and still remain standing’ with a little discomfort’. It is all done by breathing techniques and allowing your stomach and body to relax and absorb the strike like a balloon. That is why I mentioned fear loss being important in the beginning as it is extremely difficult to “let go” while someone is going to hit you. I have never seen an art that teaches that, The rest reckon if you tense your stomach you will be fine. The heavy weight world boxer at a stage punched a systems corporal at a seminar full on and broke his hand. You cant break a water balloon very easily.
e. Your arm’s and leg’s weight is heavy enough to deliver a brutal blow when relaxed. It also allows more follow through. You waste a lot of energy by using too many muscles that hold your strikes back. You can hit multiple people with one strike. Your body is like a wave, creating movement from your feet right through your legs and out the hips and into the arms. Boxers might no like this!
f. Attacking and defending punches and kicks are used simultaneously into one. An arm or leg can be used. One can punch and deflect at the same time in multiple movements. Difficult to explain.
f. There are no preset stances. When time is of the essence and space is limited then the “crouching tiger” is not really going to work. By standing, sitting or lying as you normally would, it allows you the freedom to anywise your body in relation to the attacker’s, be in a comfortable position and doesn’t alert the enemy that you have something sneaky up your sleeve waiting for them. Who ever says that landing on the floor means you have lost the battle, is simple unrealistic. No matter how great you are, if you get taken down, then build a bridge and get over it. You can fight just as well, even better from there. Most fights en up in hugging matches so grappling is very important and systema teaches one to manipulate joints , etc.
g. No set moves and has no “martial arty” style. Reason being is that it teaches you how to react to an attack quickly instead of remembering one of hundreds of applications that have to be drilled into ones head and cannot be remembered because of adrenalin and panic. Systema teaches the student to cut to the chase with no frills added.
Do what is logical, using your and your opponents body-mechanics to dismantle him. Simple. But is it? I think this is where the arguments come in and is probably the no.1 reason why people are generally afraid of this non-technique, because it leaves them with nothing, no bread and butter stance, kick, punch, block, punch routine. Systema uses common logic, no high end round house kicks and aggressive kick boxing techniques.
The body works one way, no matter what fighting style you do. If your style utilizes body mechanics efficiently and effectively without wasting time on unnecessary flamboyant stuff then you are on the right track. When it comes down to it, a fight between two martial artists ends up as a hugging match or cat and mouse game. It never looks as good as it does in the movies. It is actually really messy. Thats why I laugh when I think back to my Shaolin Kung fu training and its style. When it came to a competition, you had guys with boxing gloves on and it looked like any ordinary school fight. Shocking.
h. Weapons, weather it be a gun, military spade (shovel to the americans), whip, staff or garden fork, systema treats then all the same. We train in a big circle learning the hard way to dodge flying whips and staffs.
i. We use great rolling techniques to get out of hand locks and grappling locks. A systema student can jump out a plane at a low level and roll on the ground with a weapon in his hand and have no injured shoulders unlike our “tiger roll”. We do the human roll. Once again, It’s all about impact management.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion I have briefly explained the system and hope it clears some images in your mind.
I get angry when some people denounce systema as bullshit on this forum. Systema is not a sport, nor is it in my opinion a style of any sort. It simply uses body mechanics to defend and dismantle opponents form when being attacked. If you like aggressive sports or want something a bit more showy then so be it, but dont slate this system. It had a specific objective. I mean what martial art offers such unique training. Do you think a kick boxer, or other eastern martial artist is going to know how to handle multiple attacks with guns involved or is trained to cope in hostile situations under compromising conditions or have battlefield experience. No. This is the real thing. This and sambo is used by special ops to defend a country, not to represent or maintain a reputation of a martial arts school.
If this is the feeling then you clearly haven’t trained at one of the schools long enough to see its potential. It goes so deep. My instructor can’t explain to visitors what Systema is exactly, because they have to experience it for them-selves. It took me about a month to understand the principals and realise that I had to get rid of my bad habits I picked up at Shaolin Kung-Fu.
You may look at the videos and think wow,boring,crap or ask what exactly is that technique. The simple truth is that if you are into sporty martial arts, you are not going to or will battle in grasping the concept of this art. Yes, it looks easy but it is difficult and takes many months and years to really get good.
You are training yourself how to react by using your body and mind’s intelligence through observing, reacting and applying body-mechanics. Whilst alot of martial arts except Aikido ‘I think’ condition your body for blows, systema cleverly uses deflection and the body’s wave motion to bring the opponent down. What are you going to do when you are 60 years old and have to fend off an intruder. Your physical is gone mate, all you have left is intelligence and the knowledge to defend yourself by utilizing body-mechanics . You are not training to just kick, mindlessly punch and take down. It is very easy to learn that. You are learning to use your body as a reactive super weapon.
If you think it is silly and you want to fight. By all means, challenge a spetznas soldier or systema instructor at a seminar and you will find yourself on you butt, with an aching sore body. It is mind blowing training and is so versatile to use.
Thank you.
Best Regards
