Don’t forget this Sunday - 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 body guarding drills, diversionary tactics, weapons defence, striking, close quarter combat inside vehicles & Russian Systema
Danny Lines - Self Defence Federation Examiner & Celebrity Bodyguard teaching Body guarding 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

What ever you want to call it…

It’s funny how different systems incorporate symbols to reinforce the methodology of what they’re trying to get across in their teachings. A few I have come across like most of you I guess are the Wedge, Fence, Roof, Swan neck, I’m sure the list is endless, many more out there if you looked hard enough. In my view It all boils down to the same thing, a way of putting your own stamp on something, but to be honest the more I travel on life's path the more you realise that there isn’t much left in the fighting world that hasn't already been thought of and probably many generations ago, its just that perhaps someone has introduced it to a brand new audience who are more or less a blank canvas or not very well travelled in the Martial Arts community and think that it’s a completely new innovation because it has a fancy label. I’m a firm believer that if given enough time many of these concepts will come to you anyway, you just have to be patient. I’ve been around long enough now to see reoccurring themes, not unlike in the fashion world, the same old style repeated in every generation. I can remember my mother saying as I was growing up “ oh we used to wear that in the 50’s” and I can remember making similar comments to my wife when looking at the kids fashion today.. its only new if you haven't seen it before, the people who study fashion for a living know the long history of things and at some point think it right to reproduce an earlier idea, perhaps with a slightly different spin, but essentially its the same animal.. The only thing I can say about the symbols used to create the illusion of new ideas, is that it keeps the momentum of the Martial Arts study moving forward, not to let it remain static for the next generation coming along, so they also can identify with something “New” and I’m sure these future generations will also put their own spin on the Symbolism of todays Martial Arts Systems and call it their own too… 

Steve

Escape and Control..

Thursday Class – Ground work escapes

This weeks Thursday class spent more time looking at work on the ground and one area was exploring chokes and escapes from them. I think I’m finally dealing with certain fears in my training one of which is letting someone do press ups on my legs especially on the pressure points of the inner thigh, the other one is dealing with chokes, both are similar fears as you have to relax enough to deal with both, but the chokes have been more difficult than most, the build up of tension as you try to figure out an escape, the dwindling air supply as well as the restriction of the blood supply to the brain, the fears associated with both are always present in working on the ground, as your partner’s aim often is to choke you out. We started off by experiencing chokes of various types to see how it felt and then looked at ways to escape by using movement. The more you do of things that are unpleasant the more accustomed to them you become and are able to relax enough to realise that by moving body parts that aren't held creates openings. The choke is no exception here, I have learnt that escapes are possible by creating space through small movements away from the choke itself, creating space to move and conquering my fears in the process.

Saturday Class – Entering Drills

It’s funny how things resurface from the past.. this time it was Irimi drills from Yuishinkai Karate Jutsu. For some reason the work we were doing with Rob today was an ideal time to revisit drills from the past. I was working with young Nick Padgett again and we were looking at controlling work and short multiple strikes from a parrying lead arm, as well as guiding an attackers lead arm onto your other hand, to either lead him off or break something, and it was during this work that the Irimi start to come out. Irimi means to enter and in this case from the initial attack made by Nick my partner, I tended to take it head on, from stationary position, move forward and pivoting at a precise moment to go past his attack, ending up facing him 90 degrees from my original position, close enough to continue to work at his structure or short multiple strikes. In Yuishin Kai Karate we had a set of eight drills (Irimi hachi ho) that covered different types of entering and from different angles, while learning them they felt very fluid not unlike the way we move in Systema, so I guess that's why it popped out in my work yesterday because my body must have felt it was a learned set of movement that was appropriate for this particular work...

Steve

Training Kit…

One of the things I like about Systema is that it doesn’t cost a fortune to participate, in fact you can get away with just brining your body to class and nothing else. But over time you will find that you’ll build up a selection of kit that allows you to participate better within the drills. With the majority of guys now carrying similar equipment, we’re always prepared for most things in class and if someone’s short of something there's always enough kit to go around. The picture to the left is a sample of the kit I always carry in my training bag, I also have a extra pads and spare knives too, but if I was limited to carrying just a few items these would be on my short list; head guard protection (for occasional use), short or long stick, live blade and training knife, training hand gun, focus pads, blindfold and for those nicks and cuts a simple first aid kit. For a few quid you will have enough equipment to last you for a good few years training..

Stick and Pad Drill
In this Saturdays class we were going to use long stick and pads, great kit in their own right, but in one particular drill they were brought together to what later turned out to be the class favourite of the day. Again not an over complicated drill, but had elements of other drills within it. A group drill involving three guys, one was pad man the other stick man, the third was the one active in the drill; the pad man moved around the active man presenting the pads in different ways, while the stick man poked and prodded the stick over the active mans body, as well as placing the stick in between the active man and the pads, making striking cleanly as awkward as possible. The object was simple enough, strike the pads while evading the stick, how you chose to approach this was down to you. Each person had his own method and each group were working together differently, so you could see the scope for this particular drill was extensive. My own take on it was that I needed to remain soft and work around the stick and then strike the pads when it felt right to do so, not punching out wildly tiring my self out ignoring the stick all together, this wasn’t the drill. I also wanted to see if I could punch from a variety of angles around the moving stick, but my priority was to micro manage the stick as it was being pressed into my body, isolating the pressure to that part of the body and work on ways to remove the stick away, leaving my hands free to work on the pads. When the stick was blocking my way to the pads I tried to alter my structure slightly to enable the difficult shots through to the pads, but not enough to compromise my balance, if the strike wasn't there I'd move on to another position that worked. I found this drill very adaptable for working at all levels, standing, kneeling or sitting, as well as prone on the floor. While on the floor it was a perfect drill to lead into fighting on the ground, as apposed to ground work… Working around the pokes, prods and traps of the stick while on the ground then positioning to strike the pads, was very similar to working around a partner and striking at him; this was good preparation for the next set of drills that were just that, working against your partner who was trying to restrain you on the floor; by using mobile evasion and short striking showed me that working in this way was surprisingly affective… It’s clear that mixing together your “training kit” enables you to add so much more to existing tried and tested Systema drills; working in this way makes each drill just a little bit more challenging and a lot more enjoyable too…

Steve

Preparation time…

Thursday Session..

I think we all forget sometimes that good preparation for a particular way of training is just as important as the training itself. last nights session was all about this..

The Thursday class for the last few weeks have been focusing on various aspects of ground work, and for this weeks session Gareth decided to join in the class and hand over the reins to John Hunter, who in my opinion is a very knowledgeable Systema guy, and has an excellent teaching method. John explained that over the next two hours we were going to be looking at preparatory drills designed to prepare our bodies for further ground work to come over the next few weeks. The session comprised mostly of familiarisation with the floor and helping us to become comfortable with being in an uncomfortable position, so drills covering breath restriction, movement restriction with a partner/partners were to follow. Even though the drills we were going to look at were relatively simple, they were still quite challenging..
I suppose the Systema approach to most things is to work from the most disadvantage position possible and if you cope well from that point anything else will always seem a lot easier to deal with. So the drills that John showed where designed to restrict you one way or another; this is where relaxation and correct breathing was going to be important, to avoid getting yourself all fearful and tense. These were not fighting drills but drills that placed you in a disadvantage position while on the floor and the object was to observe their affects upon us. One drill in particular showed this.. While laid out on the floor your partner had to position you in such away that it was very uncomfortable, but at the same time your breathing had to also be compromised in some way, whether it was by the position itself, or the partners body weight, or by the hands over the nose or mouth, or as in my case I was left with only one nostril free for breathing, with the rest of my body compressed and contorted.. It’s funny how you can adjust to your situation and survive with what you’re given, even with only one nostril to breath with it was sufficient, as long as I kept calm and relaxed.. I have actually been in similar positions during free play ground work, where my breath was almost removed and often the panic sets in.. had I spent more time with this pre-drill training I think my fear levels and abilities to cope under stress would have been a lot better..

Saturday session

This Saturdays session like so many these days just flew by, I guess it’s because the work we are doing is so varied and interesting. Rob set us up with some cardio drills and some fundamentals, as a review for the regulars and as an introduction to striking for the two new guys that started this week. The session was pitched just right to keep everyone busy, which isn’t the easiest of things to do from a teaching perspective.The work rate was quite high during the pad work section, I had a good partner in Nick Padgett who helped me to keep things moving at decent pace, and even at a high work rate we were still able to experiment with the pads getting the most out of a great bit of simple kit.. Using two focus pads we were able to look at our form and the fluidity of our striking, to maximise our efficiency.. it’s so easy to get fixated with the pads and just belt them in single strikes with a uniformed timing, instead of breaking it up with multi-strikes with different tempos, always looking at placing many strikes in the least amount of time... Using variations of the figure of eight pattern, we we able to look at delivering same hand multi-strikes, as well as combinations of both hands, more than just the hook, jab and cross. We looked at footwork and body positioning from standing all the way down to the floor. What is interesting though, is how adaptable the hand is to striking, it doesn’t matter how the body is positioned and what direction the strike meets the target, the hand seems to form itself into the correct shaped tool, whether open hand, back of hand, hammer fist (top / bottom) traditional fist, it doesn’t matter, it will form itself into what's required of it.
I do like working with the pads and wish we could do more with them, as it does enable you to be more explosive with your work, which isn’t always an option with your training partner for obvious reasons.

Steve

Piece by Piece…

After a weeks lay off from training due to a winter cold, it was nice to have two great sessions back to back. Thursdays session involved dealing with kicks while on the ground and todays session spent the full two hours on knife work, which a fair proportion was also spent dealing with knife attacks whilst on the ground, the two classes I thought linked together quite well.
2012 has been a pretty good one so far, in terms of understanding my training, what I’m doing and what I’m doing it for. I feel the learning curve is on the rise again and starting to feel really good about my training perhaps for the first time since starting out in Systema. I seem to be able to visualise training drills in a new way which seem to make me feel better about what I’m doing. I think I’m finally starting to grasp the concept of fighting from any position and through the levels; from standing to the floor and from the floor to standing. In the past Rob has gotten us doing pad drills one of which involved striking the pads while standing, through squatting, to sitting and then laying out on the floor, without stopping, continuous striking then back up to your feet again. In my mind I think I really must have been carrying out the drill for drilling sake, and did not think how this would apply outside of the pad drill, but in the last two classes it has suddenly dawned on me that I should be and can work against someone as I have done on many occasions while on the pads.
In Thursdays session one drill involved starting from laying on the floor and receiving kicks from your partner, dealing with the kick, continue to strike at your partner as you rise up off the floor to a point where you regain control, and then turn the tables by taking your partner to the floor. The same work applied today, instead of kicks it was stabs from a knife, but the same process applied, dealing with the knife, working against the person while rising up off the floor, back into the dominant position.. both drills were very useful in understanding this point.
Both lessons for me where very similar but quite different in their content, but did reinforce the point that Systema is fundamentally the same whether standing or down on the floor, and yes I know I’ve been told this many times, but  I can tell the puzzle is finally coming together; the drills really are applicable to wherever you find yourself, and I think at last I’m starting to grasp this, perhaps the last plateau is finally behind me and can now concentrate on bringing my Systema together  “Piece by Piece”….

Steve

Levels of play…

I’m not sure about you, but I sometimes find it difficult to maintain the concept of soft play in training, the likelihood is at some point I will feel the need to ramp the pressure up... Rob pointed out quite rightly in last Saturday’s class, that its not always a good thing to remain in the “killer” mind-set of hard and fast for extended periods, as it could turn out to be counter productive, in that you don't give yourself the time you need to learn. I suppose keeping yourself in a high state of ferociousness does seem a bit OTT and I doubt that you could really maintain it for very long anyhow, and even if you could you would probably fry your brain at some point as well... So there must be times in your training where it’s appropriate to slow things down and “flowmosh” for want of a better word… that said I still think its still all too easy to fall into that trap where you view slow drilling as a reflection of real fighting, and expect that everything will always flow nicely and never badly.
Gareth for one has taught me that slow play is a great way to understand movement and feel your way around your training partner, some comparing it to child like play.. and I’m all for that, but I feel that the concept of play can still be play even when its ramped up to a higher more intense level. To me play is only a separated from real fighting when there is an intention to do harm to another person. When you watch two top Judo players totally going for it, this still seems like a form of play to me, albeit a very rough and tumble form of play, but yes still play in my view, but labelled as a competitive sport instead. A true sportsman always has a real respect for his opponent and wouldn't dream of doing the other serious harm or injury, even though the work rate is in overdrive. Even boxers who admittedly are trying to knock each others blocks off are still far from the mind set of ”kill” and as with the Judoka, kill is the last thing in the world that they would want.. I think its all about the intensity of the situation for these guys, as of course the desire to win..

I do think without contrast in your training you cant possibly appreciate things like pressure, fear and loss of control. There are of course other considerations to take into account before increasing the pressure, whether you want to help your partner or not, if you do, you also have to bare in mind their skill level before you start to ramp things up... I remember in Jodo it was always pointed out to me that there was always teaching side between partners in training, no matter what your skill level, there was always someone better than you who naturally became the teaching side, as was there always someone less skilled than you, so you then became the teaching side; the person with the more experience worked to the level of the less experienced, but it was also their job to help raise their partners game, pressuring them to a point where they would find it always challenging, and not leaving the bar at a low “soft play” level for too long, always trying to instil in the trainee what they were actually trying to accomplish, to learn to fight and with some degree of skill, but also showed them that through the training process they where able to change their perspective towards fighting, train to a level where you didn’t feel you had to, but would do if necessary. I think this was true of most Japanese arts that I looked at, slow and deliberate to start, then at some point you had to cross over to the next level, but common to all was the “review”, which meant taking it back to basics and use slow play to recap, to reinforce the skill set.
Working with Mark at the weekend was as usual a good balance and demonstrated to me that this idea of play at different levels is possible… when we work together it’s quite often with varying intensities, the slow and tactile, through to medium digs, onto fast and heavy strikes, but all the while just play, without any form of malice, just a clear and focused mind with an appreciation of fun during our training time together.

Steve

NEW SYSTEMA CONCEPTS DVD! - MINDSET

Shows simple, practical methods to access survival mind-set and how to bring that mind-set into your work
Shipping next week, available at pre-order price here

To the last breath…

One of my greatest fears is having my breath taken away, suffocation or perhaps drowning. The thought of dying in this way is a pretty big fear of mine and facing up to it and working though it is a big challenge; to be able to fight to survive knowing that you have to find a way out, to get that breath that your body craves, coping with panic and other emotions, to keep a clear head under this sort of pressure is really worth visiting, as Rob said taking your self somewhere like this highlights how much of a survival instinct you have, strong enough to keep going? or will you lay down and die? Interesting thought isn't it.

This week we continued the breath work theme, but first a knife work warm up which lasted for about fifteen minutes or so, which was a decent amount of time to have a play, and enough time to learn more about movement, passing the knife back and forth between you and your partner, stripping the knife and other disarms… a great start, I think its very important to have access to this free time experimentation, these extended periods give you the right sort of practice time you need.

Recapping on last weeks breath work was a good way to get us in the right mind set for work to come later in the session. Running and holding breath drills and using exercise to normalise your breathing was first, followed by more pair work, using sit ups, press ups, leg raises and squats as a means to challenge ourselves; standing, sitting or laying side by side, no quantity of sets or reps given, both partners set off in the exercise together, one holds their breath while the other breathes normally, when the breath holder can't hold his breath any longer he starts burst breathing until normalised, all the while continuing with the exercise, at this point of burst breathing his partner then takes over the breath holding until he can't hold any longer, then burst breathes, repeating for a few changes then change exercise.

Rob stressed that at any point during any of the breath holding drills you could stop if you felt that your blood pressure was up too much, as safety for everyone was priority. The next drill was similar to the floor breath holding drills, but this time standing, with a partner again, both hold their breaths at the same time and stand without doing anything, the first one to suck in air and start to burst breathe was the signal for his partner to start striking him as a penalty, using the strikes to help normalised his own breathing... One thing that was observed during this drill was the introduction of unwanted tension through incorrect breathing, especially when holding the breath, too much tension held by tensing upper chest and shoulders, instead of breathing in and out lower down in the abdomen and lower chest. The tension I was holding by breathing this way was a problem, as it affected the duration I was able to hold my breath.. it was very poor indeed.. Andy my partner pointed this out, which later prompted the question to Rob. Seeing Andy last longer for this drill and issue me the punches time after time, was an indicator of how I was doing…there was something clearly wrong here… Once Rob explained the breathing with out tension, it was a lot clearer.

The next section of the lesson was all about not being able to have the choice of when you were able to breathe and for how long.. Rob used Mark and myself to demonstrate this. I had no idea what was going to happen.. I knelt on the floor as instructed, as did Mark.. he knelt by my side, Rob said when I was ready to take an in breath Mark was going to then place his hand over my nose and mouth; when I could hold no longer I was to tap Marks arm and he would let me take a breath... This time I wanted to take on-board the tension thing from the previous drill, so as Mark applied his hand after my in breath, I went into a sort of meditative state trying to be totally relaxed with eyes closed... This time I was able to hold my breath for at least double if not three times as long before I tapped Marks arm, but you guessed it, Rob Must have given Mark the nod to keep his hand there taking me beyond that point where I wanted to give up… realising what was up I continued, forcing a deeper relaxation if that makes sense, as the gag reflex to breathe had to be suppressed.. I had a few more seconds to continue before tapping again, but Mark still held his hand in place, a few more seconds passed before I physically moved Marks hand from my face so I could take that breath, even though I did this I still think I had a bit more in me to continue, it must have been the bodies automatic response to survive making me yank Marks hand away.. once again interesting work, proving even I can push myself further when the easy option is removed, decision made for me to carry on...

 

The next progression was to work in pairs and then onto threes and fours.. first in pairs, partner one standing the other behind him, again hand over nose and mouth, eyes open, but this time when you felt the need to breathe this was your queue to work against the man behind you, doing what ever you needed to do to escape and then finish.... 
From here I was working in a group of four with Mark, John and Gareth, a similar drill, one standing being held from behind having their breath taken away, eyes open, the other two stood in front, as soon as the person holding his breath need to breathe, the gripping hand was removed and this was the queue for the two men in front to attack the man who was trying to recover his breath, he had to then either escape or work against the two attackers.. it was surprising how effective you could be even though you where still in recovery mode... From here the next drill was pretty much the same, but while you where being held and holding your breath from behind, one guy in front with focus mitts, he was digging jabs into the breath holders body at the same time.. when the breath holder needed to breathe again, the arm was removed, he then had to move forward and attack the focus mitts at full tilt, driving the pad holder back...

If given enough time to prepare, it would seem that you can cope with breath deprivation for extended periods, but if other factors are introduced it becomes much harder, even something as simple as laughter can change things.. my breath was being held and someone then cracked a funny, this caused me to hold back a laugh, but in doing so I lost more breath in the process. Distractions, pressure, and fear, certainly don't help you in drills like these, over coming all mental and physical obstacles is a tough ask, but necessary when placed in a difficult situation where you have to survive.

In the circle at the end of the lesson, it was clear that everyone had taken something from the various drills, I'm not sure if my own fears have been totally put to bed, but certainly realised my own short comings with breath control and know if left up to me I might give up too easily, but when forced to survive I like everyone else in the group operate differently, and the willingness to endure more and more through the bodies desire to live and breathe is visible; this sense of survival seems to be an ingrained automatic response for most people, its as though you don't have a choice in the matter the body decides for you... It will fight “to the last breath”.

Steve

S-t-r-e-t-c-h your

One of the more significant changes in how I use breath work in my training was the idea of stretching your breath. I think I’ve only just started to appreciate how useful this way of breathing really is.. its probably only since the summer of last year that I started to really put it into practice. I particularly like it because its a very easy way of allowing you to make simple exercises like press up’s, sit up’s and squats more challenging. Its funny that as a result of this type of breath work I'm much more aware of holding my breath when I concentrate on every day tasks, when very focused on doing something perhaps a little bit precise, I suddenly realise I’m holding my breath, which then forces me to breathe again… 

Part 1/ Yesterday Rob showed a few new drills that sort of related to this idea of stretching your breath, by using extended breath holding. As a part of  our warm up the class started to jog run around the training hall, starting off with some square breathing, timing the breath to strides, in for 4 hold for 2 out for 4 hold for 2 etc.. from there we continued to jog run with normal breathing around the hall, then Rob said on the command, breathe in and hold your breath as long as you can while continuing to run.. when you can’t hold your breath any longer drop to the floor an recover with breathing, then straight up again into running and breath holding. Next drill same again, but instead breathing all the way out then hold for as long as you can, when you need to breath hit the floor to recover and up again running as soon as you can.. Continuing again with this drill but using press ups to recover, breathing in on the down press and out on the up press until recovered or breathing vice versa, then up and running once more and repeat. Next from a static press up, hold your breath as long as possible, when you need to breathe again start doing press ups with breathing to recover, which did somehow speed up recovery... then reverse this do press ups while holding your breath, then hold a static press up at the top end and burst breathe to recover. The next simple drill was working with a partner, both striking at each others body, not too deep, heavy enough to work the body, both holding their breaths while doing this.. the first one that needed to recover stood still hands by their sides, his partner could then recover as well, but he continued to strike at his partner as he breathed, but turning up the volume a bit as Rob put it... This was a great way to get us all warmed up for what was to come in the next section of the class..

Part 2/ The big pause…. This was something I mentioned in a post last week.. I think this phenomenon  its more common than we think.. We all like to think we have good flow, but the reality is there’s a point for most of us where we stop working against our partner, either as a micro pause, or perhaps longer, or even stopping altogether. Rob was trying to encourage us to think about this and keep us moving during our work against our partners, as what you practise in training is probably how it will go for real... I for one am guilty of this, as I tend to think of my flow as a count, maybe influenced from the old days where it would be 1/ jab, 2/hook or cross, 3/upper cut 4/upper cut, then break away… an old habit I need to move away from. I noticed this in one of my partners yesterday, Mark is one of the strongest fighters I know and have no doubt in his abilities, but even so he too had this pausing.. he seemed to time the duration of his breath to his work, a flurry of punches or strikes and the breath stopped so did his work, all but briefly but still there, he takes the next inhale and gets himself moving again.. I think most of us have a variation of this sort of thing, which makes us less fluid and we continue to fight against the idea of flow motion.. a definite stumbling block to our advancement and understanding of this goal… So how do we figure out how to move beyond the pause, well Rob was saying perhaps try not to think how good or bad things might be going for you at that moment, don’t admire your successes or wallow in failures especially in mid-flow, just keep working until you don't have to.. This is a difficult mind set to get yourself into, to not think of success or failure but to just to do.. and keep doing what you’re doing… I sometimes wonder if we tie our timing of our work to our breathing too much, perhaps there’s a way of breathing that I don't know about yet that enables you to breathe continuously and allows continuous motion to take place, letting us continue regardless… Rob said we are going to spend a bit of time on breath work over the next few weeks.. it will be interesting to see how we all develop and whether the pause button isn't used as much, but the play button is…  :) 

Steve