Tactical Training Day

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 bodyguarding drills, diversionary tactics, weapons defence, striking, close quarter combat inside vehicles & Russian Systema

Danny Lines - Self Defence Federation Examiner & Celebrity BodyGuard teaching Bodyguarding 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

Taking a Hit

I was listening to the Jeremy Vine show today (Friday  24th Feb) on Radio 2 and the discussion was about what to do in a bar room brawl. There was a "self defence expert" in the studio and in response to his advice  Jeremy Vine  said something along the lines of "it's all very well but no-one ever trains to take a hit. And when you get hit the shock of it freezes you up". The reply of the "expert" was that training to take hits is dangerous - because one hit can kill you, so if you train to take hits you will let people hit you in a fight and one hit could kill you.

Now reading between the lines - and I may be being unfair here as I don't know the guy personally - what I took from that was  "no we don't have people getting hit in class because they don't like it" and/or  "we don't have a mechanism in place for training either impact management or fear control". Because these are the two major things you get from taking hits in training - when carried out properly. I felt obliged (Outraged of Bedford) to e-mail in a response, which Jeremy read out (fame at last!) along the lines of "in our training we place emphasis on learning to take hits because in the chaotic situation of a bar room brawl, you are likely to get hit. If you have never experienced this before you might freeze. If you experience this under the right conditions you will learn how to cope with the impact and shock of taking a hit".

Seeing people take hits is very common in Systema - there are a lot of Youtube clips of Mikhail, Vladimir and other instructor hitting people, with a range of effects and for a range of reasons. The purpose of this work is not always obvious so here are a few of my own thoughts on different types of taking hit training and the reasons for doing it

Iron Shirt

No, I've not gone all domestic, Iron Shirt (or Golden Bell) is a term used in Chinese martial arts to denote external or internal conditioning of the body to withstand strikes. The particular method I went through prior to Systema training involved progressive levels of limb knocking, striking the body and limbs with bamboo rods, complex qigong methods, the use of herbal linaments and other types of "toughening". It was effective to a point - in demos I used to have wood broken over my arms and legs (cost a fortune at B&Q), audience members punch me in the stomach and so on. My colleague Dave Nicholson was particularly good at this, he's not a big lad but I've seen him take hits from boxers twice his size with no effect.

This type of work has developed into a mainstay of martial art demonstrations - I'm sure you've seen Shaolin monks having iron bars broken over their heads and similar. How much of this is down to "internal power" and how much to body mechanics and showmanship is open to debate.

Tough Guys

 Shaolin monks aren't the only ones breaking things. There have been numerous circus performers, strongmen, wrestlers, boxers or just out and out tough guys who have demonstrated similar skills - Houdini is probably the most famous example. Their methods included muscle control, conditioning, showmanship or just being able to deal with pain.

Why Learn to Take Strikes?
To me the question is more "why would you not?". If we narrow our outlook to just purely fighting - can you name one boxer, MMA champion or bare-knuckle fighter who has never been hit in their career? Even one? And these are guys who are fighting in a controlled environment (albeit a tough one) against one other person. Take that out to a tear up, ruck, bar fight - and what do you think the chances are of never being hit? Virtually non-existent I'd say. So it seems eminently sensible fight preparation to learn how to deal with a punch.

The question then is how to go about this - methods can range from crude to the refined. Whichever method you choose needs to fulfill three criteria:

1. it should not cause long term physical or psychological damage
2. it should be practical
3. it should be properly structured and progressive

 Point one is the first major problem. Taking hits is often associated with being tough, macho grimaces, braced posture. Systema confounds and confuses by encouraging people to relax. Through understanding the fear process, through understanding selective tension, through understanding the power of breathing, we take hits with none of the the associated "toughness". This method teaches the body to deal with stress rather than just getting used to it and ignoring the pain. Pain is there for a reason - you can de-sensitize parts of the body with stick, bottles and iron bars, but is that a healthy thing to do? Same goes for the mind, people can put themselves into trance-states and put skewers through their skin, but is this a good thing?

Learning to absorb impact means lessening damage, not ignoring it. The associated understanding that comes from dealing with fear and impact has, in my experience, a much more beneficial effect on a person than shutting themselves off from the experience and retreating to a mental fortress.
The second point relates to the first, in that to brace yourself or "prepare your energy" to take a strike takes time. If you need a special posture or the correct conditions for your method to work it is of limited practical use. Systema work is initially in a set, steady position, but as it progress it crosses over into regular training - so you learn to cope with hits on the move and from all angles.

Point three is important. There is a fine line between getting someone to confront their fears and reinforcing them. Sometimes being pushed into the deep end a bit can be beneficial, other times a steadier approach is called for - that is for the instructor to determine according to the experience of the people involved. Having said that, because the Systema method relies largely on simple breathing and a bit of movement, it only takes a couple of minutes to teach the basic outline of the practice. There is no need for prolonged meditation practices or complicated,  expensive routines - it is actually very simple (but not neccesarily easy!)

Training to get Hit?
I sometimes see comments on forums along the lines of "I'd rather spend my time training not to get hit". Or the view that if you learn to take hits you will let anyone hit you in a fight. This ignores the fact that good Systema training is balanced out. I wouldn't expect someone to practice only taking hits for a year anymore than I would expect them to do only slow press ups for a year. It's common sense that all these things are part of a whole and all drills and exercises should be integrated. The aim is not to just get good at just taking hits anymore than it is to get good at just doing press ups or being about to roll beautifully. So good movement and avoidance skills are still a major part of the fight training, but if and when you do take a hit you will have a good method of limiting its effect.

Other Benefits

 Taking strikes is just one aspect of impact control - we also learn how to deal with the impact of falling, being thrown, being hit with sticks, hitting a wall and virtually anything else you can think of. Of course there will come a point where only so much impact can be dealt with. However I find that this type of work brings a very real sense of what you can cope with, so no-one goes out thinking they are super-tough or invincible. And of course the better people can cope with impact the more intense the work can be, with less fear of damage or injury.

Aside from damage limitation the biggest effect of this method is the ability to cope with fear. Not to ignore it, but not to be controlled by it - the mind allows the body the freedom to do what it needs to do rather than over-riding it with a "freeze" response. That is something that applies to any situation you might be in, from physical violence to dealing with phobias or nerves.

From a health point of view, striking work ties in closely with Systema massage and manipulation therapy. An experienced teacher can pin-point areas of psycho-physical tension and work on them directly and effectively. This work can unlock areas of emotional tension in a very short space of time. It isn't work that comes over well on Youtube and is perhaps best experienced for yourself, but ironically hitting a person the right why can have dramatic positive effects!
This is where the Systema method rubs up against "conventional" training. To progress you have to "open up" and accept the experience, not hide behind physical / emotional armour. It is not always a pleasant experience, to feel so open and vulnerable, yet the benefits far outweigh any investment we have in our self-image.

Teachers
When you see a martial arts clip of someone being hit, the exercise is often purely for the benefit of the "hitter". I cringe at clips where the teacher hits a student then smirks as they crumple in agony to the floor, left to their own devices. This is purely a one-way arrangement. I feel that as much as possible training should be two-way, especially when a student is placed in a vulnerable position so you can demonstrate your "liver exploding palm".  Maybe some teachers may be concerned that if they teach students how to take strikes then their hits won't work anymore and they will lose face.

Conversely I saw a thread a while back where a guy argued that if he could ever hit a teacher, then he couldn't learn from that guy. I suspect this has more to do with some Yoda fantasy than anything else. Of course this view can be bolstered in an environment where freeplay with the teacher is severely restricted or missing altogether. But is this healthy for all concerned? I don't think so. Personally I've been hit, kicked and "stabbed" much more when teaching than outside the class - and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have students with whom I now  struggle to make an impact on when hitting - which means not only that I have to up my game but also that the training is working!

Conclusion
I hope this goes some way to explaining those odd Youtube clips and also that training to take hits isn't the same as training to be hit. If your training doesn't include any type of impact-management I'd urge you to adopt some. Keep it practical, keep it healthy, take it steady and I'm sure you will get nothing but benefits from it. Now if someone could just teach me how to cope with the impact of filling my van with petrol.......

New Mindset DVD

All the technical skill in the world is of no use without the correct mindset. One aspect of Systema training is the use of "survival" mindset - letting the body do what it needs to do in order to survive the situation. This mindset is beyond fear-based agression or pretending to be a predatory animal and taps into the body's primordial response to danger

This DVD shows some basic and practical methods to help you experience survival mindset and also shows how to incorporate it into your strikes, kicks and takedowns

The aim of any real encounter is to finish it as quickly and as safely as possible. Survival mindest, along with the approriate physical skills is the most efficient and healthy way to achieve this result.

We recommend a working knowledge of basic Systema breathing work before attempitng these drills

Now available at special pre-order price. DVD will be shipping early February

Close Range Workshop

Booking details

How to Create Drills

I spoke about the subject of drills in an earlier post. I've also noticed (perhaps it's a New Year thing?) a lot of posts in forums recently about people's favourite drills. So I thought it might be interesting to look at some principles and guidelines for creating your own drills - after all one of the cornerstones of Systema is creativity and adaptability in training. 

As discussed in the previous article drills are useful to a point, once they become too comfortable they need to be modified in some way, in order to ensure we don't just get good at doing the drill. But how to adapt them? I go into this subject in more details in Systema Basics Vol 12, but there are some simple principles to bear in mind. As Systema is largely principle-based it makes sense that the approach to constructing drills should also be principle based too.

MODIFICATIONS

If you want to to modify an existing drill you need look no further than the four pillars - breathing, tension / relaxation, movement, posture. To keep things simple let's take an extremely basic drill

DRILL - partner A moves towards partner B, partner B moves out of the way

That's about as basic as it gets - so let's modify things

Breathing - have one or both partner's work with holding breath; have one or both partners inhale while still then exhale on movement ; add in square breathing

Tension / Relaxation - have one or both partners work from extreme relaxation (fall on floor at the approach) to extreme tension (lock the whole body up) and all shades in-between;  have one or both partners work selective tension - eg just tense the arms or the legs

 Movement - run the drill at different speeds, very slow to as fast as possible

Posture - one or both partners work at three levels - standing, squatting, on the floor

Already, with just the Systema basics, we have a number of variations. Now let's look at more modifiers

Numbers - increase the number of walkers or avoiders

Inhibitors - blindfold, hands-in-pockets, stick down trouser leg

Task - partner B has to add in a take-down while avoiding

Situation - work in a restricted space, around furniture, in a crowd

Time - add in time limits

These are just a few examples, I'm sure you can think of more. I think you can see there are already a large number of variations possible on a very basic drill. You can now apply this principle to any drill or even many of the exercises.

That takes care of existing drills, how do we come up with new ideas? The first thing to consider  is the purpose of the drill. This may be very specific - (eg I want people to explore the amount of rotation in their right shoulder) to something more general  (eg I want people to get warmed up and out of breath)

Quite often there will be more than one benefit from doing the drill - sometimes it may be something you hadn't even thought of!

Once you have the purpose of the drill look at the factors that will shape it.

Effective - is the drill effective in delivering the result?

Practical - is it practical to run the drill in your training environment; do you have the neccesary space, conditions, equipment, knowledge? Do you have sufficient people to run the drill?

Safety - what are the risks of injury and how can they be minimised whilst keeping the drill realistic?

Understandable - how easy is it for students to understand the purpose and boundaries of the drill? While it is good for students to discover some things for yourself it is also good that they at least some notion of why they are doing a particular drill. The only exception may be those drills that have a surprise element....

Adaptability - can the drill be tweaked as it goes along 

Two way learning - is the drill beneficial for everyone involved, not just "attacker vs defender"

Progression  - can the drill be expanded upon

Challenge - what is the level of challenge for students involved? Too much can be as bad as not enough. Can pressure be increased / decreased as necessary during the drill?

Supervision - will you be able to adequately supervise the drill, watch for people going outside of the boundaries, tweak on the fly, or stop it immediately if needed

CREATE

So - let's invent a drill! 

Purpose - to increase students awareness of how knives are carried / hidden

Basic structure -  group of 12 students. Three are carrying a hidden knife, nine are spotters. The students move normally around the training area, each has to spot / guess who is carrying a knife

Modifications - speed of movement;  amount of space;  low light levels; inhibitors - spotter is hampered by a partner holding arm / distracting (partner also needs to be protected);  increase / decrease the number of knives available

Progression - knife holders draw knife and make a single attack at random which must be avoided or checked

Progression   - as above but continuous attack from knife holder until subdued or target stabbed three or four times

Progression - as above but the spotters can work as a team when a knife come out to subdue the attacker

Hopefully this will serve as an example of how you can create a drill or easily modify existing ones. Freedom from a set syllabus gives you freedom to explore tangents and end up at places you might never have thought of. This approach encourages you to be creative and adaptable in your thinking - with the caveat that things must remain practical and realistic. That doesn't mean every drill has to involve a pseudo life-and-death struggle full of drama and tension, but that each drill must effectively deliver results beyond itself.  We all have favourite drills, but don't hang on to them  like a comfort blanket. Remember they are not the goal of the training, just something to use on the way to wherever you are going.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you are all having a happy holiday time and enjoying the festivities! It's been a quiet Christmas here, apart from playing a few gigs - including one in a barn (not a nice  barn conversion, a barn! First time I've played with my coat on!)

2011 has been a good year for training - I was just looking at some of the group photos and clips from this time last year and it's pleasing to see all the same old faces are still around - plus a few new ones too!  This is where depth in training comes from - regular graft with a group of good people. From a teaching point of view it is much more satisfying and challenging. It can be quite easy to teach purely out of seminars.  It can be the case that people who go to seminars are looking for a couple of new tricks, or to collect a new form / kata, or to be entertained by some war stories, or maybe to have a point of view reinforced rather than challenged

Of course this isn't always the case, it's good where you can work with people who train in specific skills, such as the lads at Danny's workshop earlier this year




The real meat of training is in the regular work though, where you have the time and luxury to not only cover lots of different subjects, but also to go in depth and really work on the core essentials of body mechanics, breathing, psychology and so on.

The beauty of Systema is that we do both simultaneously. Whatever work you are doing, be it hard sparring, learning to read people and their intentions, practicing some ground work, or whatever, you are always working on the core principle - yourself

This is where some training methods fall down, in my view, it's about fitting you into a style-box. In a world that is box-shaped that may make sense. If doing something purely for the pleasure of it, that may make sense. But if we are talking about truly exploring our potential and opening up new ideas, new concepts and growth then training should only be restricted by safety concerns and practicalities.

Another danger in training is that people over-specialize. They get good at something and that becomes the sole focus of training. Anything that goes on in class becomes skewed around the teachers pet subject / skill - so now we have a box within a box! You have to take care as an instructor that you don't just teach people what you enjoy, you have to show them what you don't enjoy too!

There is another aspect of modern martial arts  - the internet expert. It's telling though how often there is a considerable gap between a person's words and their video footage. I say video footage too because, also very often, you never get to meet these people. So I think one resolution for the New Year is to spend less time on people I will never meet or get to experience their fantastic knowledge and more on people who actually train. I think it's a good sign that the main Systema forums are fairly quiet compared to some. While it's good to share knowledge, and the internet can be a great tool for that,  I think most of us prefer to do it in person in training rather than  in extensive and often non-productive forum ramblings, arguments and counter-arguments. The music forums have their own ups and downs but for the most part if you come in with a strong point of view you better have a clip of yourself playing well! No-one cares who your music teacher was, if you can describe in minute detail the workings of piano, how the way everyone else lifts a finger to play a note is wrong, or whether or not you would win  X-Factor.

 So for 2012?  Both Vladimir and Martin are in the UK next year, that's two great opportunities for anyone to experience Systema at its best.  As far as regular training goes - more of the same, but different! We will be getting into some psychological testing work (the Leicester crew are finalising some challenging cold water training) . Hopefully we will get another Summer Camp organised this year. Plus we will be continuing all the regular training, covering whatever we can and bringing in outside knowledge for things we can't. Once again if anyone has any specifics they would like covered, in regular class or in workshops, just let me know.

Thanks again to everyone who has made training so enjoyable and challenging this year. The message for 2012? Ignore the false fear, live your life, stay safe, stay healthy and above all stay true to yourself

Happy New Year!

God bless

Rob

Systema Basics DVD Set Review

Josh Nixon of the CSPS (Combative Self-Protection System) has kindly reviewed the Systema Basics set at his website. You can read the review here 

Thanks Josh! 

And just a reminder - our Christmas offers will be running for a few more days only!