Russian Martial Art - An Ancient System Revived

Emigrating from Tver (a city close to Moscow) some five years ago, he met his wife Valerie in Toronto, Canada, where they live and run the only Russian Martial Art school in North America. His better half, Valerie, helps Vladimir with his writings by translating them into English, as well as by assisting in the myriad of other tasks that come with running a world-class martial arts studio full time, publishing training manuals, and producing professional-quality training videos. Valerie moved to Toronto some 16 years ago from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and she has honed her English-speaking skills to assist in communicating the Russian Martial Art system more completely.

Vladimir sent me his first tape, Russian Martial Art Knife Defense, and I was fascinated by the rare archival footage of Spetsnaz training. With enchanting Russian music and singing in the background, the announcer states: "The rare documentary footage that you are seeing in this film, was classified for many decades. And now, for the first time, you can get an idea of how unique the training and the skills have been for the Special Groups in Spetsnaz". The video shows various shots of troops in action; rolling on the ground, climbing over obstacles, and in hand-to-hand, hand-to-knife, and hand-to-rifle combat training using Russian Martial Art skills.

Before going into the video in more detail, we need to set the stage by delving into the art itself - where did it come from, how old is it, and how superior is it to Sambo, the more commonly known Russian system of personal combat? To do so, I will draw extensively from interviews and on written information provided by Vladimir. But first let's look at Vladimir's qualifications:

• Studied at the Moscow Military Institute
• Ten years of training with the Russian special forces (Spetsnaz)
• Expert in Russian system of combat and all levels of close protection disciplines
• Real and extensive recent military experience
• A former trainer of the elite Russian special forces and selected units of bodyguards and law enforcement officers.

So we see that the man has extensive, high-level training, and is eminently qualified to teach Russian Martial Art. The art itself has "no stances, no kata (forms), no uniforms, no formalities, rituals or belts. The training consists of the real thing. Any student right away begins to learn how to defend against a knife stab to his stomach, or a punch to his head, or a painful choke. The techniques are simple and deadly, practical and effective, based on a few unique and powerful principles."

Vladimir goes on to explain in more detail: "This is known as The System - a Russian Martial Art that goes back over a thousand years, but has been kept under wraps throughout the communist era and taught only to some units of the special forces. So how did this style originate? Every nation from the five continents has its own martial traditions. They were formed for centuries under the influence of many factors: geographic location and climates, religion, culture and customs, the people's mentality and physical body structure, and historic events.

"As for Russia, a tremendous variety of geographic and climatic conditions exist throughout this huge country. The religion and culture have been remarkably rich and diverse. The people have always been strong physically and brave, seeking freedom rather than definite structure. Historically, a rare year would pass by with the Russians not involved in battles. The invaders came from the north, south, east, and west. They attacked with their distinct styles of combat, unique weaponry, and different mentality. The battles happened on different terrains, during freezing winters and sweltering summers alike, with the Russians often greatly outnumbered by their enemies."

As a result of this, the Russians, ever an intelligent and creative people, developed a style that combined the strong Russian spirit with creative and versatile tactics into a synergistic combat system. This system was both practical and deadly, designed to work against any type of enemy under any circumstances. It did all this while remaining natural and free in style - a pretty tall order and very intriguing overall concept.

Interestingly, like the Swiss, the Russian people chose not to support professional warriors full time, so the people themselves trained regularly, then returned to their shops and fields when the battles were over. Citizen-soldiers, just like the system adopted by our Founding Fathers. (Contrary to the liars in the socialist media, and the lies that Bill Clinton pathologically repeats, the Second Amendment is not now nor has it ever been about duck hunting. It's about honest government, upholding the rule or law, and preparing to defend home and country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our Founders explicitly and specifically endorsed and promoted the concept of citizen soldiers, and wanted every American to be trained in the various arts of war, to include forms of personal combat training such as found in Vladimir's courses.)

To stay in a state of combat readiness, the Russians prepared their warriors through martial games, sparring matches, and other types of confrontations, which were held on a regular basis during holidays and fairs. Stick fights, knife fights, fist fights, and wrestling matches were held between individuals and groups with up to 10,000 participants in St. Petersburg, in one example that Vladimir cites. What a street fight!

"Boys often started their training at the age of 2. First, using toy weapons and by the age of 4, learning to ride a horse. At 10, a boy was expected to master the main tactics of using wooden weapons and at 12, to master unarmed techniques. At 18, the young men were strictly tested for all those skills as well as swimming and breathing under water through a hollow cane. They had to know about ambushes, and pass a survival test - when left alone far from any shelter, with no food or weapons."

As a result of this start-at-early-childhood, life-long training, "the Russian fighters were very highly rated throughout history. Many rulers of the world such as the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Avars tried to employ them. The Russians were known to be courageous, devoted and very well-prepared physically."

As aggressive as this training is from childhood on up, Vladimir does not believe in nor promote aggressive behavior:

"What is aggression? From the point of view of psychotherapy, it is a stable neurosis - a persistent need to put down or hurt somebody. Underlying this need, there is a fear of the aggressor's humiliation. The Russian system tries to free the student of fear of becoming a victim and protects from the even greater terror of becoming an aggressor."

In other words, it is the fear of humiliation that turns one into a psychotic bully. And the cure for that is a positive, self-assured, faith-based mentality, rather than a fear-based, harshly brash approach.

The system that Vladimir teaches is actually a rebirth of great martial skills and traditions, as they were almost lost under the communist regime following the Revolution of 1917. Everything traditionally Russian was discouraged by the authorities, and those promoting the old culture could be severely punished. The authentic fighting style was reserved for the elite units of the special forces, and the common masses were given a substitute to distract them, a martial art form based on Oriental styles - we know it as Sambo. The old Russian system continued to live in the secret academies and among certain people who quietly maintained their training and passed it on through familial generations.

Finally, the Russian system does not teach fixed stances and threatening poses, as it is believed that these tend to work counter to the principle of instant readiness for a fight and disrupt the continuity of movement.

Vladimir: "The techniques are based on the natural movements of a person, his reactions to unpredictable circumstances. Most of these reactions come from the inborn defensive instincts. In a street fight no two situations are ever the same, thus it is impossible to prepare you and memorize all variations of techniques. This way, it is a lot more practical and effective to become consciously aware of your natural moves. To understand them, and use them as a basis for further work and to 'teach your body to think.' The students do not prearrange how they will strike and do not repeat the same attacks and soon it becomes unimportant for them what kind of attack to defend from."

PROFICIENCY
So how long does it take to become proficient in this style? Vladimir says in just 3-4 months of training, the diligent student becomes ready for self-defense. But the training goes beyond the physical work alone: psychological preparation, knowledge of nature, and animal-attack defense, bodyguarding tactics and body language, perception of psychic attacks, and working with bioenergy, as well as obtaining new philosophical views and using the Russian system of health and rejuvenation. It is an all-encompassing view and expression of life.

The Knife Defense video is technically excellent. The pictures are sharp and clear, and Vladimir is careful to explain each nuance of movement in defending against a knife attack. In the sequence on "Overhead Strikes" for example, a burly attacker is shown coming at Vladimir with his knife coming down from above his head in an "ice pick" stabbing motion. Vladimir deftly grasps the striking hand and with an intriguing twist removes the knife, while at the same time putting his attacker off balance and into a takedown. He then places the knife in his own right hand, and "stabs" the still-falling opponent in the throat. When he is on the ground, Vladimir "finishes him off" with another thrust. It is all one smooth movement, shown at full speed, then broken down step-by-step, revealing all details. Vladimir is a competent and very thorough instructor. The style uses a lot of twisting and leveraging maneuvers, and the strikes use fingers, wrists, elbows, feet and knees as well as thrusting, pushing, swinging and whipping techniques. It is utterly fascinating to watch in action.

The video also contains rare footage showing incredible work by the best masters of Russian Combat in the world. There is one sequence in which two men dressed in business suits throw off multiple attackers without physically touching them. Vladimir says they are using psychic energy - it has to be seen to be believed!

This video features more than 40 tactics, all fully explained, and was ranked by the European Knife Fighting Association as the Best Film Of The Year. If you master the system, it is designed to make you rough-and-tough-and-hard-to-bluff, and make you semper paratus, ready for anything, when attacked by a knife or military shovel-wielding opponent. The Russian Spetsnaz has a fearsome reputation and this video shows why.