Preparing for the worst

In one of those odd little examples of coincidence (synchronicity?) both the Tempsford and Leicester groups have recently been exploring the area of pressure testing / psychological work. Also this week, a poster on one of the (few!) forums I regularly read posed the question "I am interested to hear how people approach preparing for real life conflict in terms of drills and scenarios whist maintaining a safe learning environment"

So it seemed an opportune time to clarify and explain some of the work we do in this area, especially as, in my experience, much of it seems to be unique to the System

First off, let us split our training into three areas

1. Physical - developing functional strength, flexibility / freedom of movement, good posture, sound bio-mechanics, functional fitness, health

2. Technical -  technique or principle based, developing skills of practical application, be it for general  work or more specific areas, academic study

3. Psyche - understanding the mental and biological processes that underpin our physical actions, understanding interactions with other people, including cultural and other aspects, how to monitor and regulate our responses to various stimuli

Of course there is over-lap in these areas, any division is inherently false and made only for convenience. Having said that it can be interesting to isolate one particular area of training, in much the same way that we  occasionally isolate a particular movement, or part of the body. This can be likened to strengthening the links of the chain, something I have written about previously

Every martial art / training method copes with the first two areas, indeed the sight of a person performing martial art movements (physical / technical) is the uppermost public perception of "martial arts". In combat sports the two are slightly more separated -vis the stereotypical training montage of bag work, running, pads, etc before the big fight. The third area is less clearly defined. There is certainly some overlap, as I mentioned, physical practice can sharpen mental focus, competing means you have to deal with pre-fight nerves and so on. Yet there seems to be little in the way of an in-depth approach to what, after all, is one of the most fundamental aspects of "self defence" - dealing with fear.

I would bet the the very first thing almost everyone does in their first Systema class is...breathe. I can't remember any Systema session where breathing wasn't mentioned at least once. If you think about it, we swim in air, yet most of the time that - and the fact that we breathe at all - is taken totally for granted. Already a fundamental aspect of our ability to operate is overlooked. There are numerous articles on Systema breathing, plus of course the excellent book and DVDs so I won't go any further into breathing here, suffice it to say that a decent understanding of breath work is the base for any further training.

The simple holding your breath exercise is also the first level of psychological work - I say simple not because it is easy, but because it is straightforward to practice and direct. You get cause, effect and result very quickly. Hold your breath for a minute or so and you soon discover your first "panic level". Until you experience it, you can't be aware of it. Once you are aware of it, you can do something about it. Incidentally, this exercise also illustrates the difference between knowledge and awareness. We all know the effect of holding the breath intellectually, but until you do it and actually have the experience, you don't have the awareness. This is a simple but profound truth that you should apply universally.

Breathwork becomes ingrained into the physical and technical aspects of training. After all, it is the same person doing them! By that I mean that whatever endeavour you are undertaking, be it high speed driving or painting a watercolour, you are the same person with the same psyche - in other words, you are the constant. It makes sense, then, to understand the constant, the one thing (maybe the only thing!) we have some measure of control over

So, already we are working on the psyche in our everyday practice and you can begin working directly on fear control with drills like those we show in the Fear Inoculation Training DVD



 Steve wrote in his blog recently about control and this is a good place to start. We feel comfortable when in control - so take the control away and already we have scope for testing the psyche. A quick and easy way to accomplish this is blindfold work. It doesn't have to be full-on sparring, just wear the blindfold and walk or run around the training room. Like the breath holding, it gives you direct access to the fear centre of the brain and forces you to deal with it.

A simple method when training in a group is to  lay down and have four people twist your arms and legs. This quickly teaches you to relax into the movements as attempting to fight them results only in more pain. Drills were we have no control also teach us something about acceptance. Not that we have to accept every bad thing that happens to us - but that we have to accept that it is happening. Denial is not an option, dealing with the here and now is!

Once you are experienced at this level you can begin to work at deeper levels of fear control. Once again these drills can take many forms, but often involve taking away a measure of control and/or putting the person into an unfamiliar situation. The key is introducing an element of real fear into the drill (whether the danger is real or imagined) but at the same time keeping things safe. It's very rare that I film such drills and you won't see them on our Youtube clips, this is for a few reasons -

Firstly as the drills become more involved, the work is very personal to the person concerned. It touches on fears and phobias and puts the person in a vulnerable state so to me it is  off-limits to the public eye

Secondly  such drills if not viewed in context can easily be misconstrued, misinterpreted or even misrepresented. Another aside - I heard recently of an instructor of another style who told a new student that  he watched what I presume was our class as we "ran around a field with sticks pretending to dig trenches".  The misrepresentation may be intentional or not, in either case it is interesting, let's hope it had the desired effect for him and he has a new student

Thirdly this type of work should only be carried out under supervision of suitably experienced people. We are putting people into a vulnerable position. Similar methods can be used to influence people in a very negative way and to exert forms of control over them - the absolute opposite of what we are looking to achieve in our work. So I wouldn't want anyone taking the outer form of a drill without understanding the underlying and often subtle aspects of it.

It is also important to stress this type of work is not about "toughing it out". Sure you need determination and fortitude but that aggressive type of macho external toughness is one of the things that needs to be cracked (Vladimir calls it "cracking the shell without damaging the egg inside"). External toughness is limited in scope and can be counter-productive a lot of the time. We are looking for something deeper and more practical.

It is interesting and rewarding to see how this training influences people and carries over to their daily life. Forget deadly hand-to-hand combat, with these methods we have had people overcome fear of flying, become much more assertive and confident in bullying situations at work, de-escalate situations that they previously would have flown headlong into and deal successfully both with a nasty situation and the aftermath. As I mentioned before it is you that is the constant in any situation, yet so much work in martial arts is about fitting you into a style or set of techniques with no thought as to how you operate under pressure. Endless repetition is not the answer, nor is mindless beasting. It is not uncommon to see people with years of training in stylised movement revert to scrappy boxing when under pressure. Why is that? Because they haven't addressed the underlying issue, in fact training can sometimes be used to cover it up and paper over the cracks.

Having undergone psychological training it is of course then important to feed it back in to your regular work. Drills can address any or all of the three areas of training. For example the humble press-up obviously falls into the category of physical work,  but hold the static press-up for five, six, seven, eight minutes and we are firmly into psychological territory too. This is then fed into the technique area by realising how the structure and movement of the arm in the press-up relates to striking work. Start exchanging heavy hits and we are once again into breathing and fear control. It's a simple process  when you look at it, but then the best things are. There is no confusing jargon, no terms to argue over or cultural niceties to consider - it's just fist meeting body and how you deal with it.

To take  the work further into preparation for nastiness it is easy to set up scenarios to play through.  I like to keep these simple as I feel anything too elaborate begins to become an acting class rather than self defence (though a measure of acting can be a useful skill!).  The method I use the most is task-based sparring drills. For example one person has 60 seconds to get from A to B, the other person has to stop him. Or one person is told to walk through a doorway where another person is primed to do something to him (which might range from asking the time to pulling a knife). Putting a time limit on these drills helps give a sense of urgency and stops the degenerating into "bouncy bouncy" territory

This work can be further heightened by moving it into different environments. One of the lads commented on Saturday that even training outside onto fairly level grass changed the quality of his movement. So we will work inside in large rooms, small rooms, around furniture, outside in the open, in and around cars, in undergrowth, in an urban setting and so on. Training is really only restricted by your imagination and any constraints of your environment (don't practice gun disarming in the park!). It's also important to say that these drills don't always have to be about punching each other - that really is only one small (but important!) part of self defence. Drills can be based around observation, awareness, escape and evasion (instead of running on a treadmill get out and run around town or through the woods) and may involve climbing, hiding, problem solving, communication or anything else that is a factor in real life situations.

I'm not surprised that people who only ever work in a highly structured, hierarchical, clean and matted  training room sometimes look at what we do and pronounce it "weird". But  weirdness is in the eye of the beholder - and when you think about how things are in real life and how they can be in the martial arts dojo you have to wonder what environment people are truly being prepared for.

2011 Summer Camp

Details have now been finalised for this year's Summer Camp

It runs from  the afternoon of Friday 3rd through to afternoon of Sunday 5th of June. The campsite is on private land and you will need to bring a tent / tarpaulin, sleeping bag, drinks and snacks. Of course clothing should be suitable for outdoor training

This camp will include a wide variety of activites such as Systema training, stealth work, facing your fears, fitness training, survival applications and much more

People often ask what sort of training they can expect on the camps so I thought I'd outline a few of the ideas behind these weekends

The main aim is to assist you in discovering aspects of yourself. This  is generally done by working  in different environments, conditions and situations.  A weekend camp gives us both time and scope to expand beyond normal class drills into more challenging and rewarding areas of training.

This may take the form of team-based problem solving, scenario work, learning and applying new skills and undergoing various forms of pressure testing. While the work can be physically demanding,  this is not a boot camp where we run you ragged for an hour or two for the sake of it. Rather the physical training integrates into the training drills, so we hope you can see a continuity that runs throughout the training

Neither is it a camp where you have an hour for breakfast, do two hours training, then have two hours for lunch. Aside from time set aside for the Saturday night BBQ (and sleeping!), you will be immersed in the training for the whole weekend. We believe this gives a much richer and deeper experience than practicing standard "martial arts"  whilst stood in a field

Nor is the camp about playing soldiers (though we do have the assistance of some members of HMF).  The skills taught have a wide application as well as giving you an opportunity to think outside the box.

Previous Systema experience is an advantage as many aspects of training (eg breath control, good movement, etc) are taken as read. However if you have similar experience from another discipline that would be fine. If you have never done any type of training previously, you would be advised to get in at least a couple of months good class work in before attending camp.

People often ask about fitness levels and how intense the training will be. The answer to both is that while limits are tested, no-one is taken beyond a point they cannot handle. Every part of the training is strictly voluntary and closely supervised to ensure safety.  Age of participants ranges from late teens to 50+ 

Another question is - what we will be doing?  The short answer  - Systema! Half of the fun is not knowing and learning to deal with whatever situations arise during the training. You will be told in advance of any neccesary equipment you will need, which brings me to:

The Ready Bag / Bug Out Bag

At some point during  this camp you will be asked to  to put together a Ready Bag. The concept behind these types of bag is that in the event of an emergency you have a  bag that  holds key equipment to your survival. 

The bag that you put together should not be too bulky or uncomfortable to carry and should weigh around 8 - 12 kg. Remember you may need to run with this bag or be asked to climb, crawl or possibly go through water.

When putting together your bag ensure you have items, which will help and assist you sustain the key elements of survival.

• Water
• Fire
• Food
• Shelter
• Clothing

Below is a list of key essentials that you will need in your bag, the rest of the space in the bag is yours to fill or not to fill. Use your own creativity and individualism to use the space wisely.

• Sleeping Bag
• Tarpaulin
• Knife
• 2 Litres of Water
• Fire Lighting Tools
• Food
• First Aid Pack
• Personal Medication
• Torch

I hope that gives you some ideas about our training camps. Of course if you have any questions feel free to get in touch In the meantime here is a clip from last year's camp - not a lot of the training makes it onto camera (it's dark and also not always easy to film!) but it gives you a taste of what to expect. You can book a place here

Above all the camp is about enjoying yourself, rising to a challenge, learning what it means to be a strong individual and also to be part of a team. We hope to see you there!

True Grit

Tenacity and willpower are important attributes to have in any dangerous or survival situation. Not the cartoon toughness of popular culture but something deeper and in many ways less obvious. In fact I've found that obvious signs of toughness are often a  form of armour and an indicator of insecurity. That comes in many forms  - there was a guy turned up at my house once in an expensive, shiny sports car who made a play of revving his engine while parking. My elderly, unassuming lady neighbour was heard to remark "there's someone who's insecure about his manhood"... but I digress!

We should think of toughness as the will to endure, the thing that motivates us to get the job done whatever the circumstances. This can be as mundane as finishing that decorating job despite all the distractions or surviving some major event despite injury and hardship.

So how do we develop these qualities in our Systema training? There are a few ideas in our latest class clip, posted below. Static exercises (ie holding push ups, squats and sit ups) are a very simple way of developing some determination. If alone, you can time yourself and increase the span, with a group there is the element of peer pressure or shared hardship to assist you. For solo training, running is a great way to push yourself alongside the regular exercises.

Another method is to add extra touches into regular exercises. Throw sets of press-ups into pad work for example, with no break.  Increase the speed of the exercise for a set period. In both cases people will have to dig a little deeper to complete the drill.

Taking strikes is a good way to develop some tenacity and also helps us get out of the comfort zone. Instead of starting a drill from a good position, take a couple of strikes and then start to work. There are numerous other handicaps you can incoporate, from blindfolds, to being locked or held, to  restricting movement and restricting breathing. All provide a nice little hump to get over on top of the usual demands of the drill.

With all of these methods it is important to differentiate between toughness and desensitising or over-stimulation.  There are methods of toughening limbs in some arts that carry a potential health risk, or which work by deadening the body. We train to make our bodies more alive, not to kill them.  There is also a toughness that comes with adrenalin. This can easily be stimulated in training with loud music, shouting and competition,  all of which may have a place, but can also have detrimental effects if not carefully monitored. They may also have a downside in that a person learns to function only when in an over-stimulated state, which leads to loss of motor control and negates clear thinking.

Negative effects are overcome by Systema breathing methods and adherence to the  basic tenets of good posture and understanding tension/relaxation. There is always a balance to maintain between non-challenging training and being the toughest guy in casualty. If you are experiencing regular injuries through training I suggest you review your methods -  I can speak from experience when I say that bad habits have a nasty habit of catching up with you!

This work is also wider in scope than our regular, physical training. Life throws all sorts of situations at you where it is easy to give up or give in to despair. Even with normal day-to-day living it is very easy to get stuck in a rut. I remember some years back a Karate school where part of the black belt test was to learn a new language and take up a new hobby, like a musical instrument or similar. I always though it was a nice idea, encouraging people to expand their horizons and move out of their comfort zone. There will always be that little voice saying "why are we doing this, we could be at home on the couch..." I still get it every time I go to an audition... but you learn to ignore it. It's the same voice that tells you "we've done enough press-ups now" or "ouch he hit us, let's just curl into a ball".  Maybe it's also the same voice that says it's ok to have another donut... I'm still working on that one...

True toughness also helps us to recognise and pinpoint our weakness and recognising when it is time to ask for help. We all need help at some time and the sad irony is that those who need it the most are often the most resistant to asking. It is not a sign of weakness to admit you can't cope alone, in fact it is a sign of strength - as much as admitting to being afraid is, but going ahead anyway. Too often in martial arts "toughness" is used to paper over the cracks of fear. This doesn't address the issue, just covers it up so you don't have to think about it. In some ways it's like putting more and more elastoplasts on a broken leg - you can't see the problem any more, but try and run and it soon shows itself.

Konstantin Komarov once explained how people in serious survival situations are usually ok as long as they keep moving. He cited examples of people who had stopped, given up, sat down and died when they were just hours away from rescue. We all hope it will never happen to us, but with the right type of training and a measure of true grit, if it does we will be prepared.

"It is in the midst of difficulties that man develops his intelligence because, in order to overcome them, he must observe, think and become clear-sighted. Nature has put difficulties here and there in life to develop her children's intelligence, but the children do not develop: they waste their time and energy crying, complaining, getting angry and upset, instead of trying to understand and look for solutions. Obviously when they are exhausted they calm down, but the difficulties are still there; their energies are gone but their problems remain. What a weird method!"

Class work Jan-Feb 2011

Health & Healing Workshop

Saturday 12th March 10am-2pm Tempsford Beds


Many people strive to be effective fighters but give no consideration to the most important aspect of training - personal health

Yet with a few exercises and a little thought it is easy to maintain good overall health. Instructor Robert Poyton shares 30 years of experience in martial arts to show you some of the most practical health methods he has learnt and used

They are easy to learn but highy effective and no previous experience is required. The methods include:

- breathing and posture
- energy work
- Five Element Qigong
- massage and acupressure
- psychological health and training
- cold water dousing (optional)

Bokking details here

I Don't Want to Grow Up

One of the benefits people have when training with me is not only hearing my wonderful jokes (did you know prawns never give anything to charity? Well basically, they are shellfish) but also having to endure occasional rants about some of the people and things I have to deal with (hey, training is supposed to be cathartic).

I was training with Chris (a fellow musician) the other day and was moaning about some of the musos I've had to deal with over the last year. Chris made a very astute point: "music is one of those industries where men don't have to grow up to do it". It's very true - as evidenced by the prima donna / adolescent /egotistical behaviour of even some very succesful musos, let alone us lot at the bottom of the pile. But Chris' comment got me thinking on a wider level and it is a point that can also be made about sports and the martial arts.

I think it's fair to say that the general structure of martial arts is prime ground for motivating and encouraging the adolescent mindset. I've already referenced this before in terms of marketing and over-competetiveness. . It's hard to think of a martial arts movie that doesn't have a revenge plot as it's central theme. It is also a strong factor in the cultural perception of traditional arts, where the young man finds the older, wiser father-figure/ guru to lead him on his journey

All well and good perhaps in the right circumstances, but older doesn't neccesarily mean wiser! The hierarchical structures in many arts can be both a trap for the unwary and a purpose-built control device for the egotistical. As corny as it was, the original Karate Kid (I've not seen the JC one yet!) illustrates this point perfectly - the wise teacher encourages his student in all aspects of life and to find his own path. The adolescent/ego-driven teacher demands blind obedience and destroys the health of his students. Hollywood film-fantasy of course, but with a touch of reality to it.

What do we mean by "grown up"? To me it's a person who can exercise a degree of control over their desires and emotions, has a certain amount of self-awareness and understands the consequences of actions. Or, to put it in shorthand, isn't an a-hole! Immature behaviour can be witnessed every Saturday night outside pubs, usually by young males trying to establish a place in the pecking order and all the other things associated with pack behaviour (ie the domain of the "middle brain" as opposed to the intellectual).

The same behaviour can be seen in less directly confrontational  fashion  in even the nicest social setting, where establishing status (measured by wealth, body-type, who you know, take your pick) is very important to some people. Or in martial arts by people who have a compulsion to put down what anyone else does, whose teachers are infallible super-men,  or who feel the need to bite the hand that has fed them

In self defence terms, we have to recognise behaviour and where it comes from, both in ourselves and others. This is a very important part of training - and how you train will impact directly both on how you are viewed by others and how you react under pressure. Never being tested, physically or emotionally in training is like being raised as a spoilt child - everything is laid on a plate for you. The real world is not so forgiving.  On the other hand constant agressive practice, with no balance, will usually lead to a constantly agressive person. In everyday life this is not a recipe for a good time - you will be in conflict with those all around you. To an adolescent mindset, particularly one raised on gangster-culture (old school or new), being a tough guy or top dog, this might seem like a good thing. At least in film, music and video games it comes across like that. The reality is the pain of broken relationships, probable run-ins with the law and a life spent looking over your shoulder.

So it does sadden me when we see gangster culture being portrayed as cool in the martial arts press, or guys posing with guns as though they are hardened-killers. You tend to find that people who have been through the mill of real life-and-death violence are very mature in their outlook, quiet and humble. They understand only too well the consequences of actions and the reality of strife.

We need to understand this in ourselves too (know yourself being the Systema motto). We all have our moments and tantrums, times when we need to take a breath, take stock of what is happening and adjust accordingly. That might be something not going right in training, so we bend the rules a little in order to "win". It might be in a domestic situation where, actually your partner could have a point about your behaviour. Or it could be a potentially dangerous situation where you have to make a decision about whether to go forward or back. In each case, being immature / adolescent won't be constructive

Men in our society are coddled more than ever before. We don't have to fight wars, we generally have comfortable jobs that don't involve long hours of hard labour, we have all kinds of gadgets and toys that mean we can extend our adolescence out for our whole lives (you can prise my Star Trek phaser from my dead, cold hand). There is even now a huge range of "product" to protect our delicate skin and condition our hair (don't get me started). But amongs all of that we have to take stock of some harsh realities at times and maintaining a "grown up" attitude in training can only help. I shall leave the last word to the marvellous Tom Waits

CLOSE QUARTER COMBAT Part 2

Preview clip of our latest release. This DVD shows how to work in the clinch, targetting muscle groups , how to work with pressure points and ideas for pressure testing. It also includes information on the decision making process during a confrontation and the use of breathing for fear control