Leave Training Tips Here

[Jeff Burger]

I run a small MA school in Boston. Kids learn Karate and grappling, adults classes are Muay Thai, Ju Jitsu and they can do Karate if they want.

There was a game one my old Ju Jitsu teachers used to have us play for warm up and footwork we called Ju Jitsu tag.
One person gets in the middle and 2 or more classmates try to touch them simultaneously.
This help you footwork and movement wise against multiple opponents.
As you get better we the opponents are allowed to strike, then add training knives, sticks...

To keep soft Ill often do it with the kids. They are allowed to hit me in any way and sometimes Ill give them soft weapons to use too.
Because they are kids I know I will stay soft with them, using timing, technique... and not force.
I dont use any strikes, just movement and soft blocks, with the kids who can fall well Ill do some easy throws.
Its fun for them and me and its a hell of a wind.


For warm ups I like to do jump rope, slow to fast squats and hindu push ups and crab crawls.

Jeff

[johnc6802]

About training in my personal experience there are two main forms:

1.- When you train with a group or a class and,

2.- When you train alone

In the first case I think you can do a general guide for the training session but free enough to change exercices, order and drills in order to keep the interest high enough. altough I prefer a general schedule for the class and move freely in the principles and dirlls... I'm talking how I do it in my training system, Wing Tchun, but I think it could be general too...

Of course you must adapt the training session to your system and goals, but I advocate not a fix pattern or schedule for classes, this is very boring...

When I train alone I concentrate more in technique, flow and movements, in order to perfect my technique... of course it's more difficult and I prefer to training with a partner... but this is my opinion... unfortunately I can't train in systema because my location but I can see the clips and train some movements and principles, and I'm doing so... !!!! but my idea is "you have to do a goal in order to do an action" and all my training sessions are built around this .... just my 0.5 cents,

[Marc Bresee]

"When I train alone I ...perfect my technique."
"you have to do a goal in order to do an action"

...this doesn't sound like systema, where there are no techniques, per se. It is based on feeling and natural movement (like chi sao (sp?) in a sense)around other people....it is very hard to train that alone, although you can practice moving gently amongs objects, weapons, the ground and walls...

Action is usually inspired in concert with what your counterpart is doing. Systema is not exactly goal oriented....quite the contrary. For example, if you attack with a goal in mind you will lack continuity since you will stop to see if it worked, or you may become confused if the situation changes midstream. This is why Systema is not technique based, since so many other things affect the course of action. It is best not to try to sort thru the catalog of technique in the mind . . .better for your body just to know by feeling.

Be careful not to be training in bad habits . . .or misunderstanding what you see on video. Don't stop, but do get some time with someone experienced in Systema for the real deal that can't be gleaned from tapes.

Best wishes with your training.

[Michael Yatsko]

Concerning the template given by Kwan Lee - I fully agree with it. 6 months ago I moved to Kiev, Ukraine from another city, and currently I am looking for the followers of Systema to join them. In the meantime I train solo, at home. My younger brother helps me a lot, though he is not a follower. He studies Karate. But I often ask him to help me when I need someone to attack me. Frankly speaking, my brother also trains at home at the same time I do, so we can help one another. My brother has a right to choose how to attack - whether to use a weapon or not, attack by hand or foot, to attack head or any other part of body - it helps to learn to respond to unexpected actions. And one more thing - all the weapons I use in my training, are REAL ONES . Only gun is ALWAYS disarmed (I mean has no bullets in it). In my practise I have encountered one thing - lots of well-trained people, who were trained with training knives, get overworried when they see a real knife in a real situation. So I decided to train with real weapons, being extra cautious, of course. So, that's how i train now. Hope it will help somebody. Excuse me please for possible mistakes (English is not my mothertongue )

[Demetry Furman]

This is something I sort of developed on my own while explaining to people how to take a punch to the body. With the ultimate goal being; to take a punch to any part of the body and to be able to breath in to the affected area to negate the effect of the punch.

Learning how to breath properly while being hit is the trick to dealing with being hit. A partner pushing a fist in to the stomach, to simulate a strike, while the student breathes out and pushes their stomach out to meet the punch is the first introduction all new students get to strikes. As the student progresses the pushes become punches eventually leading to full on strikes with any object either than a blade.

The problems arise when students tense up, mostly out of fear and preconceived notions, instead of breathing properly. I've come up with an exercise in order to teach those that have this fear of how to breath properly when being hit in the body.

Stand against a wall facing it, lean slightly forward so that your stomach is making contact. Very easily done for those who are gifted with a physique such as mine . Don't arch the back maintain form. Then exhale sharply and push yourself off the wall utilizing only your stomach. The expansion of the abdominal muscle is how you should be moved off the wall. That same expansion is what you want to feel when getting hit.

Next step, lie down on the floor on your stomach and bounce yourself of the ground utilizing the same abdominal muscles. Eventually you want to be able to bounce yourself of the ground regardless of the type of breathing your doing, including not breathing while the lungs are empty.

This exercise helped me developed the ability to take strikes to the body and taught me to focus my energy into one spot, on any part of my body.
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"Walk your path or be dragged." Carl Jung

[Adam Garrison]

Demetry,

Are there any instances that you can think of where you would NOT use focused "protective tension" to receive a strike?

Respectfully,

[Demetry Furman]

[Adam Garrison]

Ahhhhh!!!!

Alas, I have been Furtried!

[Andrew Walton]

I'm not sure if this really goes here or not... feel free to delete it if it doesnt.

One thing that has helped me in my training is understanding that sytema is a completely personal thing. For a while I struggled with thoughts of "I'll never be that good", or "I'll never reach the level that person's on". But that's not what it's about.

When it comes right down to it, you learn things at your own pace. how you "advance", how your body moves, how you breathe, how you relax... it all varies from person to person. I strongly believe that systema merely unlocks what your body already knows, it only sets free what is already inside you. That said, it's not a matter of "levels" or anything like that. It's about simply being you. Being okay with yourself, being okay with death... and with life. To me, systema isnt just about fighting- it's about coming closer to God, and truly understanding yourself- spiritually as well as physically.

I was going to say something more here, but it's quite late and I'm too tired to rmemeber what I was going to say.

I hope some of what I said made some sense.

edit: so I guess what I'm saying is to set your own goals. Find and test your personal limits, and then push through them. Don't get discouraged, and don't base your own progress off of others.
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"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11

[Grace Seybold]

Well said Andrew. I had the same problem when I first started - watching the other students for the first few months thinking "I'll never be able to do that!" Then I was listening to some people talking after class and someone, I can't recall who, made the comment that "Systema doesn't have any secrets - everything you need is right there in front of you." And for some reason that really stuck in my head. Everything is being offered, you just have to decide to do the work needed to pick it up. Remembering that helps me stay more focused on improving my own level rather than worrying about other people's.
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Everything is within walking distance if you've got the time.

[Vinnie Moscaritolo]

I'd like to continue this topic. I like. It seems that in the absence of any instructor around here (So Oregon) I will have to form a study group.

I am not new to martial arts, but in trying to wrap my head around Systema, I have had to dump the contents of my glass on the floor and start again. I have read much on these forums and various webpages, and watched a ton of DVDs. What I see so far, I like. (wish I had seen this 30 years ago)

Funny thing about training partners, I think I will assemble those who have no experience with any previous arts (maybe just street fighting). To often I am told that this looks like Akido or that looks like whatever.. I try and tell them that it doesnt look like anything other than a person moving their body.. anyhow thats not here not there.

As for how to start a class. For the most part I would like to start it off with the presented template of functional stretching and senstitivity work.

So I would like some detail on these. What stretching and sensitivity exercises?

[Sharon Friedman]

Hi to all and thank you for your writings. Please share your thoughts on this note.

Many times we have ideas on how to make something work and we follow through with the plan and end with nothing close to what we had in mind. It can be a good thing but consider when you learn to have the goal in mind all the time. For example if you want to stop a fist coming your way and your arm rises up, avoid getting too involved with the arm tension and keep moving and seeing what is inside and in front of you. When you are levered you tend to want to return to normal but instead feel where the tension is in yourself and than in others and from that the solution for that specific moment will present itself. For example struggling to get out of a hold in place of taking advantage of his immobile arms and hitting him and levering him at the same time without even using your arms by walking where the tension is absent.

Another way to look at this is in your personal practice. Many times you will be without a partner besides god and you might look at a piece of paper with many instructions on it for help. Keep the parameters to a minimal and give yourself freedom to let yourself truly come out.

My best example so far is to spread ten steps with fists over ten minutes. You are bound to learn something from that slow movement drill and something new every time since you are not burdened by working on everything at the same time.

Thanks, Sharon
Systema Israel.
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"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin
Systema Israel http://systemablog.blog.com

[Paolo Verrone]

Hello everybody.

This is my first post, after a year passed to read about everything you all have written in this priceless forum.
I've practiced T'ien Shu K. F. from '91 to '93 and have been always interested in MA, but I've met Systema for the first time 2 years ago, when, as a Russian language and literature student, I began a book/internet search for Russian Special Units employed during the Cold War. I am still amazed about its history and evolution, as well as its unique theory and practice, along with the philosophy side.
I humbly wish to write more about that, in the future.

Thank You all
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The best fight ever is that one you avoid....

[John DeArmond]

Hello everybody,

In order to find mobility in my shoulders I use a stick (about four feet long). I hold onto both ends of the stick and move it from in front of my body, over my head to behind my back. You can mix up how your hands hold the stick (Palms up, palm down, twisted wrists either direction, and mixing them so both hand are different). Any time you start to get stuck or feel locked up just breathe a little and work one or both shoulders around (like a wave).
Also you can work the stick around your body sideways by only using one of your hands to do the majority of the work. If you find this to easy you can always slowly bring your hands closer together for more of a challenge.

As always play with it and have some fun. If anyone has an exercise to find freedom in the hips, please share.
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They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~Benjamin Franklin