Hello

[Niko]

Hi To all my martial arts brothers and sisters.
Im a Systema Instructor.
I have been trained by Vladimir Vasiliev.
Vladimir was part of a Special Operations Unit in Spetsnaz.
Former trainer for the Russian Paratroopers, Swat teams and Elite bodyguards.
Just so people know this art is not Sambo like, Sambo was the art taught to everyone else but only a few Special Operations Units were allowed to practice this art.
Most russians till this day have no clue what Systema is.
The reason I fell in love with Systema was because it kicked the blank out of me.
Vladimir took my boxing, grappling, kicking and everything else I attacked him with and he made me feel like an inexperienced child trying to figh a grown man.
He beat me silly with a smile on his face and even broke out laughing.
I can go on forever especially about our System but I wont take up all the space.
If anyone has any questions about Systema please feel free to contact me.
For now I have to learn how to use this forum properly.

[krys]

Hello Niko,

My training partner abroad (other Arnis instructor) just started learning systema and he showed me some very interesting training methods.
One point is that in Systema the techniques are done very slowly, was this art influenced by Tai Chi?
There are also many slaps, and he spoke of a principle called shokwave making use of relaxation....
If there was a school in my place I would learn it, now at the moment I can only train in it one week a month abroad....

thanks,
Christian.

[Niko]

Slow

Hello Christian
Thanks for posting to me.
Your question about wether it was influenced by tai chi is a good one.Its hard to say because history goes so far back and Im sure there are many things that influence a country through time including asian arts for example are being influenced by boxing or ju jitsu.
When we train in slow motion its in order to create body memory we do not think about anything we just react.
If I were to show you knife work I would start very slowly and guess what, alot of people that come to the club have no Idea how to defend against slow attacks never mind full speed.
So whats the use of going so fast against my knife work if you cant even do It properly at slow speed you will not be able at fast speed.
Once we go through a million knife techniques what starts happening is your body starts to have its own memory and after you get the movements you can fly at super sonic speed.
We have had a Phillipino knife fighter freak out at what Vlad did to him.
I see you have taken some exotic martial arts what is Philippino
Judo or Muslim escrima like.
Take care Christian.
Hes even on video saying it.
This is the only place that has actually made me so natural at defending against a knife.
We do knife work every single day and guess what we aint going slow anymore.
Slaps is another aspect that suprised the heck out of me they are whip like hits with open hands causing very much pain even brain damage if done correctly.
Who is your teacher in Sysytema.

[Tom Yum]

I am a fan of the former Soviet block athletic training methods. If I'm not mistaken, plyometrics were introduced to Europe and the US by the former Soviet Block in the 60s or 70s?

I've read alot about Russian sports training methods, but most materials that I've read cover general sports like wrestling, swimming and gymnastics. Do you utilize "games" during your rest day like other Russian athletes?

Thanks

[Niko]

games

Hi Tom
Yes we very much do play games.
3 Guys attack you with knifes and you have to defend.

Half the class lies down all over floor and the others sparr trying to avoid stepping on people.

Getting into a pushup position and then trying to knock partner off his balance.

Standing against the wall while someone throws tennis balls at you just like the Jackie Chan movies, but in our case we draw our guns the second we move from being hit.

Mass attack everyone for himself this one is a complete riot.
Sitting on the ground with legs straight infront of you while someone lies on your legs and then defending against 2 people trying to kick you.

Fighting each other with only one arm/leg etc.

These are just a few games we play but as you can see there is a combat theme behind it all.

Thanks

[Tom Yum]

Alot of those drills are practiced in other styles as well, especially the multiple attacker drills, one arm/one leg and the ground kicking drill.

The knock over push up excercise and having the class on the floor while sparring is interesting though. Can you share some more of those kinds of drills?

[Niko]

games

Hi Tom
Other games we play are.
Lying on your back pretending your hands and feet are tied and trying to crawl very fast to another part of the gym using only your shoulders.
we do 3 or 4 guys on one and the object of the game is to use the closest guy to you as a shield as well as a weapon, example.
I grab guy so his back is against my chest then I grab his arm and start hitting people with his arms or I can push his head into someone elses or I can simply drop him in front of attacker running towards me.
We try to spar in the most ackward positions like fighting when your in a duck walk position (knees bent your ass almost touching the floor but still on your feet.
You will have the class in major pain as well as major laughter, its very funny to see people try.

[krys]

Hello Niko.

Actually you made very good points.... yes what is the use of going fast if one cannot even defend himself against slow attacks.

I see you have taken some exotic martial arts what is Philippino
Judo or Muslim escrima like.

Actually filipino Judo Combat is a martial art practiced in the southern Philippines.
It based on catching-locking-breaking but uses many strikes...It is a kind of local ju-jitsu without japanese influence... when you lock-grab you try to strike at the same time whenever you can in order to confuse your opponent and make the locks easier... on the ground it looks like brazilian ju-jitsu but with many strikes and bites-pinches, in the motion of taking your opponent down you will hit him....


Muslim escrima is a martial art practiced by muslim filipinos...
It is mostly based on blades (knive and machette), and we train with half cutting weapons (machettes already used on coconuts). The footwork is very different from all the other martial arts I have seen before... we do less drilling than in the usuall escrima but more footwork....
We also start in slow motion, but after a while it gets very fast... Given that there are real blades your footwork has to be really good....
There are also some psychological aspects like what you call psychic energy...

To make things more funny we put coconut oil on our arms when we train knive -machette desarmings...
Training is always on an individual basis with the master as there are risks of injury.

These two arts are kept familly secrets and can only be practiced after having learned filipino silat or filipino kuntao.... I was lucky.

The Grandmaster who teaches them to me
has also an army background, he was a commander of the filipino muslim rebellion and the bodygard of it's leader, taught jungle warfare and empty hands-armed combat.

We do knife work every single day and guess what we aint going slow anymore.

I am very curious, how does systema knive work look like?

Slaps is another aspect that suprised the heck out of me they are whip like hits with open hands causing very much pain even brain damage if done correctly.

I agree with you, there is another filipino martial art that uses slaps it is called petiki tirsia kali, they are also very famous for their slapping techniques.

Who is your teacher in Sysytema.

Actually I have a training partner in France, I teach him silat and he teaches me another system of escrima. He met a group of guys training in Systema, and he showed me what he learned. As I go to France once a month for a week i plan to train with them too.


By the way I heard relaxation techniques are also important in systema, are there some I could easily learn?
Could you recomend me some tapes-books?

Thanks,
Christian.

[Niko]

KRYS

I got to tell you both those arts sound amazing.
That judo combat style sounds very interesting.
I like the concept of hits to distract while joint locking at the same time.
If there is any way I could see this in action on film it would be great.
If you want to see Systema Knife work there is a video called knife Defense it is excellent, its one of his best videos, alot of techniques and you get to see how smooth Vlad moves against a slashing attacker.

What do you think of Wing chun.

go to web store and you can order any video on the site.

https://www.russianmartialart.com

[krys]

Hello Niko,

I have doubt there is a tape on muslim "Judo Combat", but some christian filipino escrimadors practice an art called "Combat Judo", these two arts may be related but I am not sure of it.
There are tapes on this last art, I think Balintawak and San Miguel escrimadors practice the christian version....

Actually apart from me another filipino was able to get instruction in muslim escrima from my Grandmaster, it is possible he learned "Judo Combat" also.
He lives in Canada now, I will ask his coordinates when I'll return to the Philippines this August, maybe you will be able to get in touch.


Wing Chun is nice, although it has some limitations, ie no ground fighting, no changes of level.... Actually it has some very strong points that are it teaches you how to react under very heavy pressure (most important), how to fight while being relaxed, and developps sensitivity.... some of their strikes are also very interesting because they are unorthodox and don't use strength...

I actually started it to improve sensitivity that is needed in filipino Silat, besides martial arts gyms are not very good in my place, and this is the only association I found which is serious and were there is serious fighting.

Is there also sensitivity training in systema?
I will definitely have a look on your knive fighting.

Thanks,
Christian.

[BB Wolf]

Systema sound like something I'd enjoy (I tend to be partial to the straighforward modern combative systems these days ). Any books or videos out on the subject?