Odin's Hall - the Official VTS Blog

02/07/2011 – Ambush Training #1; Arm’s Length and Beyond – Distance Attacks

2011-07-08T17:05:00.000+08:00

The theme for last saturday's training was preparation for engagement at combat speed, or as near it as we could feasibly go. Slow work is all very well - it refines motor patterns, deprogrammes fear-reactivity and encourages creativity - but remember always SAID - Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Train for a situation in a certain way and you will always respond to that situation in certain way. The effects of physical training on muscle fibres are specific, among other things, to the velocity at which they are trained, and the same goes for nervous system, both central and peripheral. Once a foundation is laid, it must be optimised for the conditions under which it is expected to perform.

Tennis ball catch drills were incorporated today as a way of building the hand-eye coordination necessary for the central nervous system to orient on a fast-moving target at a moment's notice and guide the hand to it in an accurate and controlled fashion - basically, to build target acquisition and tracking software (visual reflexes) and calibrate the hardware (motor nervous system) to mesh performance with it. These reflexes were then further weaponised with pad drills.

A note on pad drills - some purists of the Russian methodology are not fond of pads and believe solely in training strikes by doing pushups and hitting bodies. While both are beneficial drills, I find this methodology limited for the simple reason of safety - you cannot safely practice accurate head strikes and you are forced to limit your maximum speed and power for the same reason. Pads and the like are excellent for pushing the limits of the nervous system for both speed and precision, and ultimately, it is the nervous system that makes the fighter, or indeed any athlete.

Objectives

- Preparation for receiving, defusing and countering/initiating sudden attacks

- Training to rapidly orient on randomly-moving, transient targets with only visual and auditory cues

- Training to absorb and deliver strikes with unusually loaded structure at unexpected times and angles

Warmup

IntuFlow joint mobility routine

Preparatory Drills

- Strike absorption – stationary for first minute; second minute on - L-step moving absorption drill: tori randomly moves about the floor using L-step footwork (no two steps in the same direction), uke chases with strikes, tori must absorb strikes without changing intended trajectory

- Tennis ball drills – basic catch: catcher stands facing thrower, who throws balls to be caught by the hand verbally designated by the thrower; basic wall bounce catch: catcher stands facing away from the thrower towards a wall, off which thrower bounces the balls

Reaction Drills

- L-step placement drill – same as L-step absorption, but upon trainer-given signal, uke and tori immediately freeze and tori must reach out to place a hand on uke’s body from whatever position he is in – 1st min; for 2nd minute, this becomes a push from whatever structure tori was in at the instant of the signal

- Padwork – 1st 3 minutes warmup with basic single strikes and combinations on pads; escalate to stationary reaction drills – padman starts with pads down and intermittently presents targets in random positions for striker to strike; next escalation is same drill with footwork – padman roves about randomly and striker must chase and be in position to strike when targets are called; final escalation is with multiple padmen – 2 or more – roving around striker and presenting targets in set order and random position upon signal

- L-step absorption & counterstrike drill – same as before, but upon signal, tori and uke freeze and tori delivers one or two strikes to uke’s pads

18/06/2011: Asymmetrical Engagement – Striking vs Grappling Revisited

2011-07-08T16:54:00.000+08:00

I have been very remiss in posting log updates over the past few weeks and I do apologise - things have been very busy. Over the past three weeks, we have been working on increasing the number of combat multipliers or outliers we inject into our training drills - basically, introducing escalating amounts of chaos in small, controlled doses. As Murphy's Laws of warfare say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, so it is our goal for the season to build a living, self-evolving plan that will survive not only first, but all the way to last contact.

Training on this day involved liberal amounts of dirty boxing with a very Systema twist - strike absorption! As everyone learned today, absorption is one thing when you are standing free and able to articulate every joint in your body unimpeded to dissipate impact, and quite another thing entirely when someone is cranking your spine into a pretzel and throwing nasty stinging strikes into your sensitive and tense parts. This works both ways - when you are working to manipulate someone's structure, expect to lose the luxury of complete and unimpeded fluidity across your entire body as both your systems of forces merge into one and you share in a portion of your opponent's tension.

Learning to breathe through unavoidable impact while maintaining purposeful movement towards a clear goal (breaking and controlling an opponent's structure) and using structural manipulations of an opponent to degrade the power of his strikes all featured prominently today.

Objectives

- Learning the importance of controlling consent to engage in symmetrical struggle (ie. the same ‘type’ of fighting) with opponent; learning to give and remove consent

- Blunting grappling attacks with striking and defensive grappling

- Smothering and defeating strikers with offensive grappling

Warmup

Intuflow Beginner/Intermediate routine

Prep Drills

- Neck and body pummelling

- Strike absorption – free-standing reciprocal and restricted motion (use a wall or other obstruction if third parties are insufficient); absorption via movement/structure/breathing – experiment with integration and isolation of each of the triad (ball/wave/airbag)

- Marionette/Sweater-snag drill

- Hair-brush defence

Weaponised Drills

- Slipping punches to clinch – tori aims to slip past uke’s punches to secure a head clinch; drill begins at half speed and creeps up in speed according to comfort; uke may aim to actively fend off clinch attempts from time to time.

- strike absorption from clinch – tori aims to maintain clinch on uke while absorbing strikes from uke; drill begins with simple absorption and may creep up to uke attempting to break or seize control of the clinch and tori aiming to manhandle or takedown uke in the clinch to diffuse the strikes.

Symmetrical Sparring

Partners begin the fight in head-and-elbow tie. Both partners will attempt to take each other down by any means necessary, up to and including the use of strikes to achieve dominance in the clinch.

11/06/2011 – Fundamentals of Standup Grappling Revisited

2011-06-11T18:24:00.000+08:00

A very focused and compact session today, focusing on two very important concepts - the triangle point and controlling force vectors in order to disrupt equilibrium. As regular readers may have noticed by now, we revisit old lessons a fair bit because you can never get enough of the fundamentals, and I am all about training rock-solid fundamentals. As Daniel, one of my students, pointed out today, although in theory we 'know' this stuff, revisiting it time and time ago results in new lessons being learned all the time as practice deepens. Good job to all today.

The homework assignment remains the same with regard to conditioning work. As far as skills go, revise the solo biomechanical drills today - the butterfly hands and hip figure-8 drill, and the box step triangle point drill.

Train hard and see you all next Saturday.

Objectives

- Attacking and defending the triangle point

- Dominating the clinch – neck clinch and bodylock

- Hyperfunction versus dysfunction – facilitating versus forcing takedowns

Warmup

Intuflow beginner routine

Activity-specific Preparatory exercises

- Freestyle ground engagement on hard ground

- Butterfly hands mobility drill

- Grapevine saunter/box step triangle point drill

- Floating hip figure-8 mobility drill

Partner Drills

- Neck and body mixed pummelling

- Triangle point attack drill

- Lecture and demonstration: hyperfunction versus dysfunction; quantum gripping – parallel and concurrent forces

- Practice: renovated hip throw

Sparring

Neck and body pummelling to neck clinch control or bodylock-and-lift; modified round-robin format.

Circle

My Training Log Update - Days #42-45

2011-06-09T18:23:00.000+08:00

Here's my next training log update. Last week was a bit of a lost week dedicated solely to active recovery with joint mobility due to a messed sleep and recovery schedule, due in part to the WKC coaching cert over the weekend before last. Climbed back on the bandwagon today and changed my kettlebell routine to reflect advice given by Coach Catherine Imes during the cert. So far, I've been practicing mostly the long-cycle clean & jerk, but I've decided to switch over to the biathlon - double-bell jerk and single-bell snatch - to perfect my kettlebell handling. Better technique leads to both greater accessible performance thresholds and training longevity. Who wouldn't want that?

Day #42 (06/06/2011) – Push Day

Warmup

Joint mobility – IntuFlow + pushing-specific joint movements

Rings Work

1.) Inverted L-handstand pushups with foot compression against wall, hips @ 90 deg

Reps: 5
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s sets; Set #1 - KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 12 reps; Set #2 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/9 reps; Set #3 Jerk @ 2x16kg, 12 reps

2.) L-Sit Dip Hold

Reps: 3 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s sets; Set #1 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/11 reps; Set #2 – KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg; Set #3 KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/11 reps

3.) Tuck/Extended Legs Horizontal Bent-Arm Planche Hold

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each, graduating to 3 holds extended legs, 5s each from set 2 onwards
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s sets; Set #1 - KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 12 reps; Set #2 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/9 reps; Set #3 Jerk @ 2x16kg, 12 reps

4.) Ring Dips

Reps: 6
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s sets; Set #1 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/11 reps; Set #2 – KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 9 reps; Set #3 KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/11 reps

5.) Ring Presses

Reps: 8
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s

Cooldown

Standing back bend, shoulder hyperflexed tricep/lat stretch, laced-fingers pec-and-bicep stretch with forward bend, horizontal steeple in low squat, modified seal pose, table pose, seated pec-and-bicep stretch, downwards dog, upwards dog, plough, gunslinger shoulder bridge, figure-4 twist, seated twist, pigeon pose – all poses held for 20 seconds

Day #43 (07/06/2011) – Active Recovery

Warmup

IntuFlow master routine

Chen Taijiquan

2 forms in mirror-image format

Prasara Yoga

Tumbleweed x 3

Diving Dolphin x 3

Day #44 (08/06/2011) – Pull Day

Warmup

Joint mobility – IntuFlow + pulling-specific joint movements

Rings Work

1.) L-Sit Pullup Hold (hold at ½ pullup)

Reps: 3 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s; Set #1 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/9 reps; Set #2 – KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 10 reps; Set #3 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 12/11 reps

2.) Tuck Supine Row Hold (bent arm hold)

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s sets; Set #1 - KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 10 reps; Set #2 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 11/10 reps; Set #3 Jerk @ 2x16kg, 10 reps

3.) Wide (elbow-to-elbow width) True-grip Ring Pullups

Reps: 7
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s; Set #1 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 11/9 reps; Set #2 – KB 2-bell Jerk @ 2x16kg, 9 reps; Set #3 – KB Snatch @ 16kg, 11/8 reps

4.) Straight-leg Ring rows from floor

Reps: 10
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s

Standing back bend, shoulder hyperflexed tricep/lat stretch, laced-fingers pec-and-bicep stretch with forward bend, horizontal steeple in low squat, modified seal pose, table pose, seated pec-and-bicep stretch, downwards dog, upwards dog, plough, gunslinger shoulder bridge, rabbit pose, seated twist, pigeon pose – all poses held for 20 seconds

Day #45 (09/06/2011) – Active Recovery

Warmup

IntuFlow master routine

Chen Taijiquan

2 forms in mirror-image format

Iron Palm

Tongbei arm-swinging – side-to-side swings, 2 mins

Bag-striking – 50 reps in 1 set, both hands, 6 forms per hand

Prasara Yoga

Spider Monkey x 3

05/06/2011 – Bladework: Defence, Disarm and Counter at Speed, Part 2

2011-06-09T18:15:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday's was a very focused session, with an introduction to live blades that suddenly put everything in perspective. Fancy flowing knife disarms suddenly don't seem so easy when adding a sharp, live blade into the mix. Couple that with a non-compliant partner and you begin to get a rough idea of how difficult it will be do doing it for real on the street to someone who means to kill you with a live blade. Contrariwise, while this builds the necessary caution and respect for live steel, it also deconditions unnecessary fear responses, which are the true killers versus blades. In the Russian methodology, the blade is a tool of psychophysical conditioning as well as a weapon.

For today's work, we used small blades - roughly 3.5in/8.9cm blades with handles only slightly longer.

The reason for this is twofold - firstly, as a form of handicap training, since larger blades are easier to disarm. You can see them coming from further away, judge their effective range better, they may* be slower and, when actually applying force to them, their length works against the wielder when using them as levers in disarms. If you can disarm a non-compliant assailant with a small blade, a large blade should be that much easier to work against.

Secondly, small blades are far easier to conceal and therefore much more likely to be employed in ambush scenarios, which makes training with and against small blades much more specific to the self-defence needs of most people. Choppers, machetes and the like are far less easy to conceal. Out in our neck of the woods, the most likely way for your average civilian to encounter these weapons wielded against oneself is when a heated argument spirals out of control and the other party marches away to their vehicle to fetch a weapon, while our hero remains standing his ground out of anger and desperate fear of a loss of 'face'. Better to lose 'face' than to lose your face, so to speak (likewise sundry other bodyparts). In any case, my rule of thumb stands - if you are confident of intercepting and disarming a barely visible small blade wielded at speed, a chunky larger blade should be no problem.

Ground engagement has improved a lot, and I am pleased at the progress that has been made so far. The main issue now is conditioning, and I want everyone to keep up with that part of the syllabus on your own time, now that everyone is familiar with my conditioning methods - that means joint mobility, strength/conditioning work, de-tension/decompression, all together. Miss out one and you detract from the effectiveness of the whole. We will revisit it from time to time during class, but class time is better spent doing partner work.

*: This is conditional, of course - it depends on the weight and balance of the blade in question, but definitely, a tiny 3.5in blade will be a lot harder to catch than a hefty chopper or a cheap parang with a badly designed handle.

Objectives

- Introduction to live blade work

- Blade ambush training

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

- Freeform ground engagement – hard ground

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Leverage disarm drill

- Body figure-8 to stab

- Biker flip grip change

- Figure-8 draw cut

- Rolling snap cut

- Finger-flip

Preparatory Partner Drills

- Partner push drill with live blade

- 1 and 2-step slow evasion and disarm versus live blade

Primary Skill Drills

- Warmup to standup grappling – mixed neck and body pummelling

- Submission grappling – takedown and submission beginning from neck and elbow tie

- Submission grappling – takedown and submission from neck and elbow tie with knife draw upon hand-clap signal

Objective-based Sparring

Freeform submission grappling with concealed training knives. Partners grapple as per normal until hand-clap signal to draw is given. If asymmetry of force (ie. someone achieves a successful draw well ahead of the other partner) is achieved, drill continues with unarmed partner attempting to defend against and disarm knife-wielding partner.

Tension Release and Joint Decompression Cooldown

- Sleeping Child pose

- Downwards Cat pose

- Downwards Dog pose

- Upwards Dog pose

- Plough pose

- Table pose

- Seated Twist pose

- Shinbox Switch (5x each side)

All static poses held for 20s each

Circle

My Training Log

2011-05-25T17:39:00.000+08:00

I've decided to post the logs for my own training here so everyone can get a snapshot of my training life. I'm currently in the middle of a cycle focusing on gymnastics-inspired work on the rings, as well as some remedial exercise for poise deficits spotted during my training trip to the US. My right knee is experiencing some issues and I'm awaiting a trip to my specialist to schedule more treatment, so this routine is rather light on lower-body work, but I have discovered light to moderate Girevoy Sport work with the kettlebell is tolerable and have introduced that between sets on the rings as active recovery. Here are the objectives in point form and a few days from the current 100-day cycle.

April-July Training Blueprint

Objectives

1. Gymnastic ring skills and upper-body and core strength
2. Internal martial arts power
3. Structural development and impact delivery for upper-body striking
4. Shoring up poise and movement deficiencies as indicated by movement screening and overall coaching feedback

Core Methodologies

1. Gym ring training
2. Taijiquan – forms and zhuanggong practice
3. Prasara yoga with fist stands; Iron Palm training – arm-swinging and bag-striking
4. GS kettlebell work
5. Specific corrective exercise interventions as indicated by movement screening and prior coaching

Days #27-28 (21-22/05/2011) – Active Recovery

IntuFlow Master routine x 1

Day #29 (23/05/2011) – Push Day

Warmup

Joint mobility – IntuFlow + pushing-specific joint movements

Rings Work

1.) Inverted L-handstand pushups with foot compression against wall, hips @ 90 deg

Reps: 5
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, (5/3, 5/4, 5/5) over 90s

2.) Tuck-Sit Dip Hold

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, (5/4, 5/3, 5/5) over 90s

3.) Tuck Horizontal Bent-Arm Shoulder Stand Hold

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, (5/5, 5/3, 5/4) over 90s

4.) Ring Dips

Reps: 5
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 16kg, (5/3, 5/5, 5/4) over 90s

5.) Ring Presses

Reps: 7
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s

Cooldown

Standing back bend, shoulder hyperflexed tricep/lat stretch, laced-fingers pec-and-bicep stretch with forward bend, horizontal steeple in low squat, modified seal pose, table pose, seated pec-and-bicep stretch, downwards dog, upwards dog, plough, gunslinger shoulder bridge, rabbit pose, figure-4 twist, seated twist, pigeon pose – all poses held for 20 seconds

Day #30 (24/05/2011) – Active Recovery

Warmup

IntuFlow master routine

Chen Taijiquan

2 forms in mirror-image format

Iron Palm

Tongbei arm-swinging – side-to-side swings, 2 mins

Bag-striking – 50 reps in sets of 35 and 15, both hands, 6 forms per hand

Prasara Yoga

Spider Monkey x 3

Day #31 (25/05/2011) – Pull Day

Warmup

Joint mobility – IntuFlow + pulling-specific joint movements

Rings Work

1.) Tuck-Sit Pullup Hold (hold at ½ pullup)

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, 3/3 over 90s

2.) Tuck Row Hold (bent arm hold)

Reps: 5 holds, 5s each
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, 4/4 over 90s

3.) Wide (elbow-to-elbow width) True-grip Ring Pullups

Reps: 6
Sets: 3
Rest: Long-cycle KB C&J @ 24kg, 4/4 over 90s

4.) Straight-leg Ring rows from floor

Reps: 10
Sets: 3
Rest: 90s

Standing back bend, shoulder hyperflexed tricep/lat stretch, laced-fingers pec-and-bicep stretch with forward bend, horizontal steeple in low squat, modified seal pose, table pose, seated pec-and-bicep stretch, downwards dog, upwards dog, plough, gunslinger shoulder bridge, figure-4 twist, seated twist, pigeon pose – all poses held for 20 seconds

21/05/2011 – Bladework: Defence, Disarm and Counter at Speed, Part 1

2011-05-25T17:32:00.000+08:00

Last saturday's work was a continuation of the previous week's work. Today was the day for demonstrating how all the exogenous flow-based work people seem to expect breaks down in no time at all against a non-compliant opponent with lethal intent. On top of that, we aimed to build the ability cycle quickly from one combative option to another during blade combat, whether empty hand versus blade or blade-on-blade, so as to improve our access to endogenous flow.

Homework assignment remains the same as last week, with added emphasis on rolling and falling. Some of you are still falling in very dangerous, uncontrolled ways and this is unacceptable as you endanger not only yourselves but your partners also. From now on, I mandate a minimum of 15 minutes of rolling and falling a day, whether all at once or summated together. Please do this so I don't have to make you make up for it in class.

Train hard and I'll see you next week as I will be attending a certification event this weekend.

Objectives

- Revision of bladework basics

- Inoculation to blade combat at near-full speed

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Leverage disarm drill

- Body figure-8 to stab

- Biker flip grip change

- Figure-8 draw cut

- Rolling snap cut

- Finger-flip

Preparatory Partner Drills

- Partner push drill with blade

- Sweater-snag drill with blade

- Partner zombie walk drill with blade – to evasion, gait-shadow and soft takedown

Primary Skill Drills

- Empty hand versus blade – attacks at combat speed; evasion, counter and takedown

- Blade versus blade – combat speed; counterslashes, control to takedown or finisher

Objective-based Sparring

Uke attacks tori with blade. Tori, working from empty hands, attempts to disarm uke and either effect a position of control, apply a finisher having gained weapon possession, or both. Drill continues until tori achieves victory objectives. Round-robin format.

Circle

14/05/2011 – Fundamentals of Bladework Revisited

2011-05-18T17:58:00.000+08:00

At long last, I return. I apologise for the dearth of posts in recent weeks as my training trip to the US saw me come down with a virulent and persistent strain of pharyngitis that progressed to pneumonia. Other things in my life have also conspired to keep me from chronicling training as frequently as I should have. I promise I will post much more frequently from now one. Stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, I bring you last Saturday's training in this post.

This week, we came back to the bladework series. With new people in the class, there is a lot to revise and rediscover. My old bladework fundamentals series is still a good base to build off from, but there is so, so much more to do.

Homework assignments were discussed in class, but I will reiterate them here. For those old-timers who have not kept up with their conditioning - GET BACK ON THE WAGON. You all know what to do by now, so hunker down and do it. Getting a heart attack during round-robin sparring because you're seriously out of shape will not fly from now on.

For the newbies, for now, keep working on your rolling and falling. As you have already noticed, you will fall down a lot during class and if you cannot do so safely, you will curtail a lot of your development. I deliberately do not spend a lot of time touching on this during class time so as to leave you with more time for the partner drills. Also, work on the joint mobility drills we cover in class. These will build the limberness you need to move efficiently, with a minimum of wasted movement.

Specific to today's class, get a blunt steel blade (like a butter knife) and work on the solo knife drills we touched on.

Train hard, and see you all this coming Saturday.

Objectives

- Execution of and defence against sudden attacks with a concealed blade

- Retaining a blade in the face of disarm attempts

- Fighting for possession of a loose blade

Warmup

-Basic rolling and falling; progression for advanced students - targeted rolling to scoop up a loose knife en passant

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Leverage disarm drill

- Body figure-8 to stab

- Biker flip grip change

- Figure-8 draw cut

- Rolling snap cut

- Retrieving loose blade from forward roll – solo, competitive with partner

Preparatory Partner Drills

- Partner push drill with knife – progress from one-step push to multiple continuous pushes

- Slow standup sparring to reciprocal disarm - progress from one-step to free flow according to comfort

- Plank position possession drill – slow sparring over loose knife

Primary Skill Drills

- Concealed quickdraw ambush – paired partners; uke aims to draw concealed blade and cut/stab tori at will, tori aims to evade attack and disarm uke

- Concealed quickdraw ambush – circle, round-robin

Circle

05/03/2011: Fundamentals of Standup Grappling Revisited

2011-03-07T23:05:00.000+08:00

Revisited one of my older lessons on Saturday, with significant revamps and expansions on the theory lecture and demonstration. Much improvement shown by all, especially Wen Hsin and Daniel, and quite a few curveballs thrown my way too (Sudhir, I'm looking at you - no more flying clotheslines during training). Good to see that everyone is grasping the essence of attaining controls and takedowns in the chaos of a free fight.

Homework assignment is as follows:

Physical conditioning - joint mobility (daily) and TFC syllabus (2-3 times weekly, or following the 4x7 intensity wave - check with Wen Hsin and Sylvia for sample 4x7 protocols). Newbies focus on Mission 1, veterans can pick whichever one they want to focus on. Get Daniel's audio timer for 20/10 protocols, or else download the free Gymboss app for smartphones.

Fundamental skills - ground engagement (rolls and other methods of going to the ground), breathing (see my blog article on basic breathing skills; please note also that burst breathing is not hyperventilation - passive inhalation, active exhalation), structural drills (plank/pushup, squat and other callisthenics); spend 10-15 minutes per training session on these and you should be fine, or you can devote an entire training session solely to these.

Objectives

- Developing fundamental motor patterns for clinch fighting and executing takedowns

- Attacking and defending stance integrity, loading structure to disrupt equilibrium, joint hyperfunction (spine, shoulders, hips)

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic/intermediate routine

Solo Prep Drills

- Ground engagement – rolls, falls

- arm screw (shoulder figure-8), hip-and-leg figure-8

- Shinbox switch – seated, spinal rock, end-elevation, through flatfoot squat with hand assist

- hanging scorpion

Basic Skills for Standup Grappling

- Establishing the clinch – neck plumb, bodylock

- Pummelling – neck, body

- wrist tug drill – partners take turns practicing explosive wrist tugs on each other; drill sophisticates naturally to counter via grip release to counter-grip-and-tug

Biomechanics of Standup Grappling

- Stance integrity – spotting the triangle point

- Grips for takedowns – locking arm, driving arm

- Joint Centre-of-Mass (COM)

- Hyperfunction vs Dysfunction – facilitating natural movement to fool opponent into following along into takedown versus attempting to force takedown via threat of pain and injury

- Spine – S-shaped movement pattern at neck; facilitated extension/flexion at lumbar spine via force couple applied at chest and lower back (for extension)/ head or shoulder and hip (for flexion)

- Shoulder – sagittal plane circle, oblique transverse shoulder-spinal circle (fulcrum BETWEEN points of contact – usually wrist and neck)

- Hip – figure-8 movement pattern (demonstrate via single-leg, double-leg, reaping takedowns)

Sample Techniques – partners take turns drilling these techniques, moving from static to fluid as comfort allows; fluid drills to be characterised by uke using the biomechanical principles to defend the throws; examples to be shown of how to enter into these throws and variations thereof from a mixed-fight perspective.

- Renovated large outside reap (O-sotogari)

- Renovated hip toss (harai-goshi/koshi-guruma/o-goshi)

- Renovated single-leg takedown

Symmetrical Sparring

Standup symmetrical sparring from clinch to takedown. Mutual permission to engage and grapple must exist for techniques to be successfully executed.

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge/Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee/Ball of Foot – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee/Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Pushup Knee/Ball of Foot/Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Basic/Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Basic/Twist – 20/10 x 8

Circle

On Flow

2011-03-02T00:30:00.002+08:00

Flow - the new buzzword in martial arts and fitness alike. "Find your flow," "flow with your attacker." All very profound and New Age-y.

But what does it actually mean? And how can you use it to benefit you in your endeavours? Is it even beneficial?

To quote from Csíkszentmihályi, flow is "the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity." [1]

This state is characterised by some ten factors, not all of which have to be present for flow to be experienced [2, 3]:

Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it)
Absorption into the activity, narrowing of the focus of awareness down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

So, there we go. According to the father of modern flow research, flow is a psychological state. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with this:

Or this:

...both of which illustrate the physical state of movement that most people seem to think must necessarily accompany flow. Note that I'm not ripping on any of the performers in either video in any way - I am simply drawing attention to common preconceived notions regarding flow.

For the sake of clarity, I will refer to Csikzentmihaily's definition of flow as endogenous flow, that is, flow that occurs purely as an internal event, completely independant of interaction with others and any specific movement pattern. Flow as the graceful biomechanical dance demonstrated above, which is what most people casually familiar with the term seem to expect, I will refer to as exogenous flow, flow which is dependant on interaction with an external system of forces to take place and define its movement patterns.

For the record, I will state that a prolonged state of exogenous flow will never take place in any arena of combat with hostile intent and absolutely no cooperation between parties. Ever. Those of you inclined to disagree need only watch this video and then have a good, long think about how you yourself would fare under these circumstances:

The whole point of flow training for combat application is ultimately psychological - to enable the trainee to bypass the adrenaline dump of the fight-or-flight response and fully access their skills and cycle situational observation and analysis uncluttered by the signal noise of chemically triggered primal instincts. Exactly what shape those skills take is irrelevant, so long as they are the best possible response to the situation at hand.

Good examples of flow applied in unrestricted combat:

Note the common thread in each of the successful performances - in spite of the chaos of the situation, each of the performers had more or less full access to their skills and observational/analytical abilities and applied them in the manner most appropriate to controlling the situation with a view to ending it as swiftly and cleanly as possible. Note especially the swift and incredibly precise placement of fight-ending shots by the turkish and russian boxers, and the very effective applications of multi-level combat and well-oiled teamwork of the russian mall guards. These individuals, whether or not they knew it, had entered endogenous flow and, at transient key moments throughout each combat, applied instantaneous and transient exogenous flow where appropriate.

More than half the time, this came down to punching someone in the jaw just as they were moving closer - a simple but incredibly effective way of blending two biomechanical systems in order to maximise the impact of a given action.

Which brings me to my next point. Flow drills as demonstrated in the earlier videos have their time and place - I'm not deriding them as useless. It is important, however, to discern their true purpose. Drills such as those are not weaponised drills - that is, they do not train skills that can be directly applied, ad exercitum, in combat. Their purpose is to build familiarity with the state of exogenous flow and teach the practitioner to apply their endogenous flow to prolong that exogenous flow as much as possible, with the aid of a cooperative partner who feeds force and intent in a controlled fashion to facilitate the drill.

In an actual encounter, you can expect an attacker to do neither, and your weaponised drills must reflect this to a significant degree. Transient moments of exogenous flow that you achieve under such circumstances are and should be incidental and purely the means to an end (decisively ending the encounter in your favour), not an end in themselves.

In conclusion, the state of true flow is ultimately internal, above and beyond external considerations. Master this state and learn to hold on to it in the midst of chaos, and physical, externally observable flow will manifest spontaneously as and when it is appropriate. Obssess over the latter, and you will gain neither.

Till next time, train well and stay safe.

References

[1] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990), Flow: The psychology of optimal experience

[2] Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rathunde, K. (1993). "The measurement of flow in everyday life: Towards a theory of emergent motivation"

[3] Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1975), Beyond Boredom and Anxiety

The Breath of Life (and Death)

2011-02-26T22:30:00.000+08:00

A melodramatic title for a short article touching on something we do every minute of every day we're alive. This one goes out primarily to my students, who have to practice this for homework, but will also serve as a useful primer to breathing as used in the Ryabko System, but with my own take on it (as with all things).

Burst Breathing

What

Rapid, active, shallow exhales and shallow passive inhales deriving from the very top of the lungs.

When

Generally used to overcome distress and pain, such as when winded with fatigue or experiencing severe pain or other discomfort, such as after taking a particularly penetrating strike or performing a difficult exercise.

Why

Rapid active exhalations and passive inhalations appear to reset the diaphragmatic nerve, enabling relaxation of the muscles of breathing, which in turn reduces the overall state of alarm of the nervous system, restoring psychological and in turn biochemical equilibrium.

How

Activate the compression of the lungs with the muscles of breath in order to exhale, then immediately relax them while keeping the airways open, allowing the elastic recoil of the lungs to draw air in without conscious effort. It helps to practice this in a closed, silent room so you can listen to the very quiet passive inhalation. Enter into burst breathing with an exhale:inhale ratio of 1:1, then gradually increase the ratio to 2:1, 3:1 and so forth as you get more practiced. It is better to emphasise the exhalation over the inhalation as overinhaling leads to hyperventilation, which will lead to increased stress levels and even dizziness or loss of consciousness. As always, exhale through the mouth, inhale through the nose. Practice this in conjunction with intense physical exercise and note its effect on your heart rate and breathing drive - both should come down appreciably if you do this right.

Square Breathing

What

A single breath divided into four discrete phases of inhalation, breath hold with full lungs, exhalation and breath hold with empty lungs, each stretched out over the same length of time, hence the name.

When

Used as a meditative focus to calm down the nervous system (works great to slow the heart and shut off the brain for sleep), and also a training tool to stretch the body's capacity to work under (perceived) hypoxic conditions, as well as to detrain panic responses to perceived hypoxia.

Why

This pattern of breathing appears to reduce sympathetic nervous tone (fight or flight) and increase parasympathetic tone (rest and relax/feed and breed). From a conditioning point of view, with less panicked signal noise jangling in your nervous system and your heart beating slower and more efficiently, you learn to perform a given amount of mechanical work at a lower metabolic cost to yourself.

How

Enter into the pattern by sitting or lying down comfortably and counting off the seconds in your head, beginning by exhaling and holding empty lungs. Start with 1 second each phase - empty hold (1) -> inhale (1) -> full hold (1) -> exhale (1). Gradually increase the count to as high as you can manage with at most mild discomfort. Variations include pyramid breathing (increasing the count by 1 every so many breaths till you reach your limit, then decreasing by 1 every so many breaths till you come back down to 1) and combining the breathing with various forms of exercise, using repetitions of the exercise to count down the intervals (eg. pushups, steps when walking/jogging).

26/02/2011: Asymmetrical Engagement – Striking vs Grappling

2011-02-26T21:59:00.000+08:00

An interesting and educational session today, in which we explored the effect of giving and removing consent to engage symmetrically, ie. with the same methodology as an opponent. The overall conclusion arrived at is that attempting to engage someone who does not consent to fight in the same way as oneself is a lot more difficult that it may at first appear, while giving (or appearing to give) consent to do so tends to lull an opponent into a frame of mind suited to a controlled, limited conflict - a fight with 'rules', as it were.

From a technical perspective, the uses of fundamental standup grappling controls to facilitate close-up striking were explored, as well as to smother strikes while on the way in to execute takedowns. For a change of pace, instead of a set of conditioning exercises after class today, we played a game of 3-on-3 Kabbadi with house rules, as detailed in the log. I am glad to report that much fun was had by all.

Homework assignment is as follows:

1.) IntuFlow joint mobility series: I can't emphasise this enough. Without a limber, supple body that moves exactly the way you want it to, much of the potential of Systema is lost to you. It only takes 10-15 minutes and zero energy, so EVERY DAY, folks. Without fail.

2.) Basic rolls, falls and other ground engagement: As all of you have already attended at least two or more classes, you will know by now that you can expect to fall down a lot during class, whether by accident or design. 5-10 minutes each day doing slow, smooth rolls and falls, preferably on hard ground. The more comfortable you are with the ground, the more friendly it becomes when things kick off.

3.) Breathwork: Square breathing and burst breathing. I will detail these in a short article immediately following this log. Practice both these breathing methods in addition to what has already been taught in class.

4.) Specific conditioning callisthenics: Pushup/plank for upper body striking alignment (involving the whole body), squat for spinal and lower-body structure for level changing and developing a strong, supple base. Those of you who haven't learned this yet, get the methods from your mates who have during the week, or else approach me before class next week. These take literally 3 minutes to do each day, so they can be done completely extemporaneously.

5.) General conditioning syllabus (TacFit Commando routines): What you get out of training depends on what you put into it. The better your work capacity and rate, the more you can put into training, plus the greater your functional reserve of strength and endurance during actual combat. Assuming you attend training without fail every week, do this at least once more each week on your own, preferably two (for a total of three, including weekly class). You can either use the free Gymboss app for smart phones to time your session, or Daniel's audio timer, which can be found HERE.

Objectives

- Learning the importance of controlling consent to engage in symmetrical struggle (ie. the same ‘type’ of fighting) with opponent; learning to give and remove consent

- Blunting grappling attacks with striking and defensive grappling

- Smothering and defeating strikers with offensive grappling

Warmup

Intuflow Beginner/Intermediate routine

Prep Drills

- Pinned Limb rolling

- Neck and body pummelling

- Strike absorption – free-standing reciprocal and restricted motion (use a wall or other obstruction if third parties are insufficient)

- Marionette/Sweater-snag drill

- Hair-brush defence

Weaponised Drills

- Slipping punches to clinch – tori aims to slip past uke’s punches to secure a head clinch; drill begins at half speed and creeps up in speed according to comfort; uke may aim to actively fend off clinch attempts from time to time.

- takedowns from clinch – tori and uke begin in collar-and-elbow tie; tori aims to execute any takedown of choice from the clinch; drill begins with passive resistance on uke’s part and creeps up to more active resistance according to comfort level and mutual consent between partners

- strike absorption from clinch – tori aims to maintain clinch on uke while absorbing strikes from uke; drill begins with simple absorption and may creep up to uke attempting to break or seize control of the clinch and tori aiming to manhandle uke in the clinch to diffuse the strikes.

Asymmetrical Sparring

Partners begin the fight in head-and-elbow tie. Designated grappler will attempt to secure a full clinch and takedown, while the designated striker will aim to either break the clinch with strikes or else seize control of the clinch and continue to strike from superior position. If clinch is broken, drill continues with grappler attempting to close and regain the clinch and striker aiming to fend off grappler with strikes.

Circle

House Rules Kabbadi

Two teams of three lined up roughly five metres from a central boundary line. Each team takes turns sending a single raider across into the opposing team’s territory, whose goal is to carry, drag, push or otherwise manipulate an opposing team member across the boundary line into their own territory. Raider must perform all actions in a single breath, chanting, “Kabbadi,” repeatedly at all times while on the opposing team’s side. If the raider inhales while on the opposing team’s side, the round is lost and no point is scored. All members of the defending team may act in any way to prevent their members from being moved across the boundary.

18/02/2011: Plural Engagement, Part 2

2011-02-21T11:36:00.000+08:00

This week, our focus was on building upon the lessons of the previous class. The last session involved plural attacks in a relatively open and unimpeded environment. This week, I turned up the pressure by introducing attackers who actively attempted to restrict the defender's movement as well as attack with strikes, which showed some interesting changes to the dynamics of the fight. Directly introducing mechanical tension to someone's structure leads to increased psychological tension, which brings the person closer to their own panic threshold if said tension - physical and psychological - is not addressed.

The homework assignment for the week is as follows:

- conditioning syllabus, including both joint mobility and TFC syllabus: your freedom of movement, usable (functional) strength and work rate determine how much you get out of your training. Joint mobility should be done every day without fail, and if you come to class each week, you should get in at least one more day of conditioning on top of what we do in class.

- rolling and falling: Being able to engage the ground smoothly and without coming to harm is very important in what we do as you can expect to fall a lot in training. It is also a good way to overcome fear and train shock absorption on your own. Spend at least 10 minutes each day practicing what you have learned of this in class.

Objectives

- Surviving plural attempts to force cessation of movement

- Maximising effective range of movement under hostile resistance

- Inoculation to fear and discomfort of physical compression and contortion

Warmup

IntuFlow intermediate routine

Drills

- Pinned limb rolling : trainee attempts to roll on the ground with one limb pinned by partner; emphasis on breathing through tension and discomfort and finding effective range when one limb is pinned

- Restricted Motion Absorption Drill, standing version : trainees work in threes; tori is bearhugged from behind by one uke and receives strikes from another, attempting to absorb impact without breaking free

- Restricted Motion Absorption Drill, prone version : tori is held down and contorted by multiple uke (3 or more) who proceed to strike to points of tension; emphasis on absorption and using torsion from one source to cancel out another

- Dogpile : tori is dogpiled by multiple uke and must attempt to get out from underneath by any means necessary short of actual attacks

- Limb torsion escape drill: tori is subjected to jointlocks, restraining holds and sundry other contortions by uke and must escape with minimal use of strength; drill escalates from one to two attackers (optional use of counterthrows and holds for advanced students)

Sparring

Tori is attacked by two uke, one of whose objectives is to immobilise tori, the other’s being to attack tori with strikes. Tori’s objective is to survive the encounter for a set duration by evading or countering attempts at immobilisation and fending off both attackers by any means necessary.

Variation for new students – uke attack with grabs and holds only; primary goal is to escape and survive.

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge/Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee/Ball of Foot – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee/Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Basic/Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Basic/Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Basic/Twist – 20/10 x 8

Circle

12/02/2011: Plural Engagement, Part 1

2011-02-14T09:30:00.000+08:00

A heartfelt welcome to our new students, and congratulations on your initiation into this crazy thing we do ;-) Good session had by all on Saturday with a balanced mix of hard and softwork, and I could tell that everyone left with a much better understanding of the dynamics of plural engagements. I left out the conditioning element this time around so we would have more time to drill skills as the class was larger than usual, which demanded more coaching time to make sure everyone was on the same page.

Homework assignment is as follows:

- Freeform ground engagement: as done in class, minus of course the people walking around you; new students simply practice your basic rolling and falling for now

- Conditioning: We will be cycling back to TFC Mission 1 soon, so I suggest you revise that one.

Objectives

- Mental/emotional inoculation to plural engagement

- Introduction to the mechanics of plural engagement in multiple modalities

Warmup

IntuFlow intermediate routine

Prep Drills

- Freeform ground engagement from Brownian walking

- Partner assisted altitude-rolling – forwards and back

Plural Engagement Drills

- plural push drill – partners work in threes, with two uke applying pushes to tori from all angles; drill progresses naturally to strikes according to comfort level

- Zombie evasion drill – three on one and zombie infection; emphasise economy of motion – no more than two-step evasions; progress from simple evasion to adhering to and following uke

- Stick evasion drill – tori evades versus swings and thrusts from uke at comfortable pace; drill progresses from simple evasions to getting close enough to touch

- belly walk shock absorption drill – progress from walk to low jump to box jump according to comfort

- grounded evasion drill – slow-speed evasion versus stepping and slow-motion kicking; two on one

Combat Drills

- two-on-one slow sparring: tori aims to survive against two simultaneously attacking uke and effect takedowns and evasions for the duration of each 1-min round

Circle

Open Mat

29/01/2011: Fundamentals Revision – Footwork, Timing, Distance, Striking

2011-01-29T18:51:00.000+08:00

For today's session, the emphasis was getting back to basics with footwork and timing for standup encounters, adding in a little hardwork realism with the shove to reset range towards the end. Homework assignment is as follows:

1.) joint mobility

2.) Rolling and falling, square breathing, slow callisthenics (pushup and squat)

3.) bodyweight conditioning syllabus

Objectives

- Revise and develop upon the foundations of control of distance and timing in standup striking encounters

Warmup

IntuFlow intermediate routine

Solo Prep Drills

- Pyramid breath-walking – 1 to 10 counts back down to 1 again

- Freeform rolling and falling from walking pace

- Rolling over stick

- Slow pushup and squat – 20-counts, down and up

Partner Drills

- partner fist-walking with pushup on clap

- Partner 360-degree strike drill - uke walks around tori throwing strikes from all angles to the body and legs

- Zombie evasion drill – one on one; emphasise economy of motion – no more than two-step evasions; progress from simple evasion to adhering to and following uke

- Stick evasion drill – tori evades versus swings and thrusts from uke at comfortable pace; drill progresses from simple evasions to getting close enough to touch

- Zombie evasion drill – two on one; emphasise economy of motion – no more than two-step evasions; progress from simple evasion to adhering to and following uke

Combat Drills

- one and two-step evasion versus strikes – evasion only

- one and two-step evasion versus strikes – evade to counterstrikes

- one and two-step evasion versus strikes – evade to counterstrikes and shove to break engagement

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Warrior Lunge/Cossack Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Swing Plank Knee/Full Swinging Plank – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Airborne Squat Shin/Airborne Squat Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee/Full Spiderman Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Shinbox Twist/Shinbox Invert – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Table Lift/Base Switch – 20/10 x 8

Circle

Open Mat for Sparring - Standup and Ground Grappling

22/1/2010 – Fence Series Part 2: Attack and Defence from the Fence

2011-01-28T00:26:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the late and rushed nature of this log post, as I have been very busy this week with multiple time-sensitive projects. Homework remains the same as last week - see you all this saturday.

Objectives

- building mental and emotional resilience against pressure on the Fence

- finding position and remaining oriented for decisive action from the Fence

- defending sudden attacks on the Fence

- Initiating attacks from the Fence

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Ranging, Interception and Control Prep Drills

- Tenderisers – dependant wave striking drill, reciprocal face-slap drill

- 1 and 2-step evasion versus knife and empty hand: evade to superior position, evade to control, evade to takedown with control – allow speed to creep according to comfort

- 1-step slow sparring with blade to reciprocal disarm flow

- 1 and 2-step slow sparring with empty hand

Revision of Fence Concepts

[See previous week]

Pressure-testing the Fence

- Counters to being grabbed and manhandled in the Fence

- Counters to strikes from the Fence

- Counters to blade attacks from the Fence – open and concealed blades; cues for spotting the hidden weapon, manoeuvring for position versus a knife-threatener

Proactive Fence

- Attacking from the Fence with strikes

- Attacking from the Fence to achieve takedown and control

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 2 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Lunge Twist/Lunge Twist Knee Strike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Revolving Table/Swinging Tripod – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Scorpion Crucifix/Hanging Scorpion – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Bear Squat/Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Rocca Forearm/Rocca Squat – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Bridge Clap – 20/10 x 8

RESET Drills to cool down

Circle

11/2/2010 – Mental and Emotional Engagement: Controlling, Defusing and Initiating Encounters from the Fence

2011-01-17T20:33:00.000+08:00

Something new for everyone today. Thus far, I have been teaching mostly fighting methods - things to employ when the confrontation has already kicked off. Today's work focused on defusing an encounter before it kicks off and, if violence is inevitable, ensuring it kicks off in your favour.

As I mentioned in class, the Fence derives from classic psychological strategies such as the Empty City and Creating Something Out of Nothing (refe. The 36 Strategems), and one thing all such posturing has in common is that it has be backed up by something solid for two reasons - 1.) lest the enemy call your bluff, and 2.) so you don't betray yourself through your own lack of confidence in your abilities (which will show in a high-stress situation). As I've said before, self-defence is 90% awareness and psychology, 10% fighting skill. To this I add a corollary - the confidence built through training fighting skill is the foundation for the awareness and psychological toughness needed to effectively defend oneself with or without violence.

This week's homework:

- Conditioning: I understand the Commando bodyweight series is very intense. For now, 2-3 times a week total should be plenty, but I want EVERYONE to do your joint mobility series EVERY DAY. It takes 10-15 minutes and almost no energy at all, so unless you are bedridden, there is no excuse. This is the foundation of all the movement training we do and will stand you in good stead to gain as much as you possibly can from each class.

- Basic skills: 1.) rolling and falling. I still see people falling with an arm outstretched to the ground in spite of how I keep harping on it session after session. Much more of this and the mats will go. 2.) Begin working on the square and pyramid breathing I demonstrated and explained in class. You can try the combinations with various exercises I mentioned, but for now, focus on the breathing alone. Once you are proficient with it, you can begin incorporating the callisthenics, though the walking drill is worth a try. Make sure you are not breaking the inhalation and exhalation into discrete blocks - it is one inhale/exhale stretched out over the length of the entire count, not multiple inhales/exhales.

- Psychological skills: As far as possible, revise your Fence skills with a partner and go through as many possible scenarios as you can, with an increasing number of steps to each interaction. If you do not have access to a partner, build your own 'script' to use in each of the four broad scenarios we covered in class and polish it in front of a mirror.

Train well and see you all this coming Saturday.

Objectives

- establishing physical, mental and emotional safety buffers in confrontations

- dictating the outcome of a given confrontation through mental and emotional tactics

- setting up for a decisive attack from the fence

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Ranging, Interception and Control Prep Drills

- 1 and 2-step evasion versus knife and empty hand: evade to superior position, evade to control, evade to takedown with control

- 1-step slow sparring with blade to reciprocal disarm flow

- 1 and 2-step slow sparring with empty hand

The Fence

Demonstration Series

- Definition – creating physical, mental and emotional barriers between assailant and oneself to attain dominance of the encounter and dictate its course

- Analysis from the Fence – Determining an assailant’s intent and mental state

- Stalling from the Fence – Soft Approach: talking down an angry assailant/incoherent babbling and pleading for life; Hard Approach: Shock and Awe Posturing/semi-Hard Quiet-but-Tough Approach

- Defusing an encounter from the Fence – the Tactical Retreat, a.k.a. Abandoning the Goods to Save your Skin/Losing Face to Save Your Life; the Mutually Face-Saving Conciliation

- Initiating an Encounter from the Fence – setups: the Zen Koan interview; the Fake Submission/Conciliation; the Sudden Straight Right

- Cycling from one approach to another

Freeform Practice Series

- Students break into pairs to roleplay random scenarios, each assigned a different aggressor role which they will keep throughout the session to encourage getting deeper into potential attacker psychology so as to develop sophisticated and realistic responses.

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 2 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Lunge Twist/Lunge Twist Knee Strike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Revolving Table/Swinging Tripod – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Hanging Scorpion – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Bear Squat – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Rocca Forearm – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Diagonal Bridge – 20/10 x 8

RESET Drills to cool down

Circle

11/12/2010 – Power Generation and Impact Delivery

2010-12-14T17:21:00.000+08:00

A good session by all today. Although we didn't get to do conditioning due to time restraints, it was an enjoyable and educational experience nonetheless as we delved back into the mechanical basis of Systema and learned to apply it under pressure (not to mention how messy anything becomes when subject to pressure). Constantly revise these basics as striking effectiveness depends less on strength and much more on efficiency, which is guided by...'feeling' is probably the best word I have for it - the kinaesthetic sensitivity that tells you when everything is perfectly aligned to deliver an almighty whack with your whole structure behind it, not to mention which keeps you from fighting your own power and pulling your punches subconsciously. 'Feeling' or sensitivity is also the first thing to go when you start to get out of practice. With that in mind...

Homework

1.) Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning - joint mobility, strength and conditioning work as we have been covering in class so far. The better condition you are in, the greater your potential to learn and successfully apply what you pick up in class. Karl Gotch said, "Conditioning is your best hold (as in wrestling hold)." Need I explain further?

2.) For today's work, the wave and other movement drills are very important for grinding out the resistance to your own movements and sensitising yourself to the fine adjustments needed to guide power to its intended destination. Most of them belong in the joint mobility syllabus in the first place, so practice them along with your joint mobility.

3.) 'Heavy hands' is simply another way of expressing removing resistance to your own movements in the context of hitting someone, as we discussed at the end of class. The solo drills help develop this, but there is no substitute for working with (and hitting a partner). Continue to train amongst yourselves while I am away.

Objectives

- Basics of power generation - Wave versus Ball

- Impact delivery - aligning structure for optimal impact transfer

- Basics of intercepting, translating and redirecting impact

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Skill-Specific Prep Drills

- Arm waves

- Lateral arm waves

- Dropping waves

- Spinal waves

- Heavy hands drill - taichi arm swing

- Heavy hands drill - falling knife catch

Skill Drills

- Wave power versus Ball power; Wave = sequential summation of momentum across adjacent bodily segments originating at prime mover and ending at end-effectors (eg. from foot to hand); Ball = instantaneous transfer of power from prime mover to end-effector via all bodily segments acting as a single unit

- Ball power partner push structure check - partners respond to sustained pushes by maintaining structure and moving as a single unit

- Tenderiser - reciprocal wave striking

- Ball power strike training - hand-to-hand slapping; structural disruption test by slapping to body

- Partner push drill to force movement - passive, creeping to resisted; goal is to target structural weaknesses and point of weakest stance integrity; experiment with both wave and ball power

- Intercept impact on arms and recycle wave into dependant strike - start versus circular strikes, creep to linear strikes as comfort level increases

Limited Symmetrical Sparring

Each partner stands their ground and throws strikes at the other in competitive fashion, aiming to slip or batter through their partner's defence while simultaneously absorbing and redirecting incoming attacks back into their own attacks. Speed is to remain moderate, while power is allowed to creep upwards along with comfort level.

04/12/2010 – Fundamentals of Ground Grappling, Part 2

2010-12-05T18:16:00.000+08:00

The second and final part of this series on positional ground grappling. Good effort put in by everyone as far as learning the important skills went. A word of caution, however - learn to regulate the amount of intensity you put into your rolling, especially when unfamiliar with the zone of engagement. Especially, keep in mind the rules of engagement put in place for training safety - more than once, I saw uke (person on top) attempt to submit tori (person on the bottom) when my instructions quite clearly said to maintain positional dominance only.

If you find yourself going into an adrenaline-fuelled fugue during sparring, slow down, exhale and remind yourself that it's only training. Your goal is to refine your skills, not destroy your partner (or yourself).

Homework

Your homework assignment remains the same as far as joint mobility and conditioning go. Revise also the three biomechanical drills taught in this class - they will stand you in good stead for ground engagement in general. As a rule, don't do them to any appreciable level of fatigue. Rather, treat them as a skill to be mastered and go through them with an eye to performing them as smoothly and effortlessly as possible, with an eye at all times to good form.

Objectives

- Developing fundamental skills for defence and attack during ground grappling

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8

Biomechanical Prep Drills

- Quad base switch

- Hanging and Alternating Hemi-Circular Scorpions

- Stationary Shrimp

Bottom Drills

Side Control

- Sweeps versus side control

                 § Push head to leg scissor
                 § Body pendulum to roll into side control (used when opponent stays close)

Back

- Defences against an opponent in back mount or taking the back

               § Trap underhook, shoulder bridge onto opponent, trap attacking arm against head and turn to guard
               § Attack of opportunity – ankle trap versus improper back guard

Top Drills

Side Control

- Moving from side control to mount
                                   § Knee slide
                                   § Cockroach killer

- Submissions from side control
                                  § Figure-4 locks (kimura/Americana)

Knee on Belly

- Establishing knee on belly from takedowns

- Establishing knee on belly from side control

Situational Sparring

Tori starts in bottom position – mounted or guard in alternating fashion – and aims to sweep or submit uke. Uke aims to retain positional dominance.

26/11/2010 – Fundamentals of Ground Grappling

2010-12-01T11:25:00.000+08:00

Covered some technical groundfighting on saturday's training, which was somewhat different from our usual offerings. Very important to know, regardless, as combat doesn't happen in a vacuum, but as a response to what the other party is trying to do. Things like brazilian jiujitsu are very popular nowadays, and present a very real threat in a street assault, so basic grappling skills are essential, both for their technical benefit as well as psychological - when the mind is free of the fear of close contact, a high tension/compression environment and being on the ground, the body is freer to act.

Note that just the fact of being trained in groundfighting does not under any circumstances oblige one to fight on the ground. Groundfight with a specialist and you will come out holding the short stick. The whole point of groundfighting training as we do it here is to learn to survive long enough to get to your feet if you do get taken down. The attacks taught ('submissions') are to be used purely as ones of opportunity.

Homework

- Conditioning - joint mobility and Tacfit Commando syllabus

- Rolling and falling

Objectives

- Developing fundamental skills for defence and attack during ground grappling

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8

Skill Drills

Bottom Drills: Sweeps, Replacing the Guard, Basic Submissions

- Scissors sweep from guard

- Knee-push scissors sweep variant

- Basic mounted sweep

- Mounted return to guard

- Basic armbar from guard

- Basic naked front choke

Top Drills: Taking the Top Positions – Mount, Basic Submissions

- Basic standing guard pass

- Basic armbar from mount

- Basic front naked choke from mount

20/11/2010 – Softwork: Fundamentals of Standup Grappling – Clinchwork and Takedowns

2010-11-21T11:02:00.000+08:00

Good session, guys, even if the class was a bit small today. At least those who showed up will have a major leg up on the others next time around! For those of you who had questions about takedowns the previous session, hopefully this session will have answered at least the most important ones. It's a large, large body of work, so it's only natural that it will take you a while before you start to 'get' it.

Homework assignment:

1.) Ground engagements - forward/backward rolls, pistol breakfalls; attempt these from standing now that you are more comfortable with them

2.) Conditioning syllabus - joint mobility, callisthenics, plank, slow squat

Objectives

- Developing fundamental motor patterns for clinch fighting and executing takedowns

- Attacking and defending stance integrity, loading structure to disrupt equilibrium, joint hyperfunction (neck, shoulders, hips)

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8

Basic Skills for Standup Grappling

- Ground engagement warmup

- Establishing the clinch – neck plumb, bodylock

- Pummelling – neck, body

Biomechanics of Standup Grappling

- Stance integrity – spotting the triangle point

- Grips for takedowns – locking arm, driving arm

- Hyperfunction vs Dysfunction – facilitating natural movement to fool opponent into following along into takedown versus attempting to force takedown via threat of pain and injury

- Neck – S-shaped movement pattern

- Shoulder – sagittal plane circle, oblique transverse shoulder-spinal circle (fulcrum BETWEEN points of contact – usually wrist and neck)

- Hip – figure-8 movement pattern (demonstrate via single-leg, double-leg, trip takedowns)

Sample Techniques

- Renovated large outside reap (O-sotogari)

- Renovated hip toss (harai-goshi/koshi-guruma/o-goshi)

Free Drilling

Tori attempts to take uke down with any technique or variation thereof versus passive resistance, ie. uke attempts to maintain structure and firmness against tori's attempts but does not actively fight off grips or attempt to break engagement.

12/11/2010 – Softwork: Fundamentals of Movement and Impact, Simple Structural Manipulations

2010-11-15T12:23:00.000+08:00

After the meatgrinder of hardwork to put things in perspective, I finally felt ready to move everyone on into softwork today. As I explained in class today, hardwork is testing and toughening, while softwork is learning and economising. Without the perspective built in hardwork to keep one grounded, softwork becomes an exercise in building airborne castles, while hardwork alone falls to the level of fear, conditioning and gross motor responses without the building of new, sophisticated and mindful responses to combative stimuli that happens during softwork.

Homework assignment is as follows:

1.) Conditioning - Mission 1

2.) Basic forward and backward rolls, as well as all the new exercises covered in this session (never mind the sophistications for now, but do them if you are able); be mindful of your breathing and tension states in these exercises - your goal is to achieve the minimum necessary tension to perform each exercise in good form, and the way to do this is by regulating your breath to prevent the global spread of tension. Visualise yourself breathing through each spot of tension to encourage it to release.

Objectives

- Developing fundamental motor patterns for level change, ground engagement and impact delivery/absorption

- Basics of structural manipulation

Warmup

- IntuFlow intermediate routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt

1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8

Solo Drills

- Slow pushup on knuckles, 20secs down, 20secs up; sample sophistications to:
§ Screwing pushup
§ Panther walk
§ Centipede hop
§ Spinal wave or spinal roll from Crow

- Slow squat, 20secsdown/up; sample sophistications to:
§ Cossack knee switch
§ Cossack knee switch to shinbox
§ Cossack knee switch-basic descending shin roll

- Pistol breakfall

Partner Drills

- Partner push drill – 360 degrees, upper and lower body, switch tori and uke at each interval

- Partner fist-walking from plank drill

- Partner strike drill – 360 degrees, upper and lower body, switch tori and uke at each interval

- Sweater snag drill – via one-knuckle push, to disruption of equilibrium, reciprocating (mention locking + driving arm, stance integrity, joint COM for takedowns)

- Stop-motion strike drill – strike to takedown in five moves, reciprocating

Slow Sparring – ¼ speed

Uke attacks tori freestyle. Victory objective for tori is takedown to control. Focus on smoothness of transition from one movement to another.

06/11/2010 – Bladework: Part 2 – Ambush, Weapon Retention and Re-Possession

2010-11-07T12:57:00.000+08:00

Solid, focused session today, as well as everyone's first true exposure to plural assailant work.

Homework - as we discussed, continue to focus on your rolling and falling, as well as your conditioning (both joint mobility and the bodyweight callisthenics). Next week, we'll be working on a different skillset, so reinforcement of your knifework isn't that crucial, but those of you who haven't attended the knife series until this week should go through the solo drills to improve your handling for when we bring knives back into the picture.

Train well, stay safe and see you all next week.

Objectives

- Execution of and defence against sudden attacks with a concealed blade

- Retaining a blade in the face of disarm attempts

- Fighting for possession of a loose blade

- Grappling with a knife

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit

1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Retrieving loose blade from forward roll – solo, free-for-all with multiple partners

Preparatory Partner Drills (with steel blade)

- Slow standup sparring to reciprocal disarm

- Plank position possession drill – slow sparring over loose knife to reciprocal disarm

Primary Skill Drills

- Concealed quickdraw ambush – 1 uke, 2 tori; uke aims to draw concealed blade and cut/stab either tori at will, tori aims to evade attack and disarm uke

Objective-based Sparring

3 participants begin circling around a loose knife on the floor. When signal is given, each will fight for control of the knife by any means necessary. Victory is achieved when one partner achieves a clear position of control as well as possession of the weapon.

30/10/2010 – Bladework: Defence, Disarm and Counter at Speed, Part 1

2010-11-01T12:23:00.000+08:00

Lots of intensity today, and also a little bloodshed (props especially to Nick for being a warrior ;-) ). Two training blades also got broken today - how's that for intensity?!

Homework assignment for the week:

1.) As always, rolling and falling and revision of the conditioning syllabus.

2.) Solo knife handling drills - you can do this with any old eating knife from the kitchen. A slightly larger blade will make them easier to do. Don't try them with a cleaver, though.

Do your homework and I'll see you all next week for bladework Part Deux.

Train well and stay safe.

Objectives

- Revision of bladework basics

- Inoculation to blade combat at near-full speed

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit

1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Leverage disarm drill

- Body figure-8 to stab

- Biker flip grip change

- Figure-8 draw cut

- Rolling snap cut

Preparatory Partner Drills

- Partner push drill with blade

- Sweater-snag drill with blade

- Partner zombie walk drill with blade – to evasion, gait-shadow and soft takedown

Primary Skill Drills

- Empty hand versus blade – attacks at combat speed; evasion, counter and takedown

- Blade versus blade – combat speed; counterslashes, control to takedown or finisher

Objective-based Sparring

Uke attacks tori with blade. Tori, working from empty hands, attempts to disarm uke and either effect a position of control, apply a finisher having gained weapon possession, or both. Drill continues until tori achieves victory objectives. Round-robin format.

23/10/2010 – Aggressive Standup Engagement: Striking

2010-10-26T17:48:00.002+08:00

This week, we took the intensity up a notch by allowing speed and continuity of strikes to creep towards combat speed, and learning how to deal with the battering and power on through to victory with a solid and aggressive defence (read: counterattack). Survive a rain of punches with intent and power, and you're not too badly.

A closely related concept covered was that of the bridge, or the physical and conceptual meeting of two bodily structures to form a contiguous system of mechanics. For the purposes of training, I have simplified things from my earlier experiments down to a simple catch-all defensive that is easy to learn and do and transition into any other work, namely, the 'hair-brush' defence. RBSD aficionados may also know this by any number of other names, but I call it this for the sake of being safely non-denominational.

For homework, I want everybody to revise the solo drills covered in the lesson.

1.) Hair-brush Defence - practice keeping the movements tight and close to your body and maintaining shoulder-pack (shoulders de-shrugged, ie. pulled downwards) at all times during the movements; catching a hard hit with an elevated shoulder is asking for an injury; also practice in combination with the lower-body drills as we did during class to build coordination; work slowly and mindfully in the beginning and let the speed creep up only as far as you are comfortable doing so.

2.) Rolling and Falling - this remains the same as in previous weeks. Very, very important part of the syllabus - those of you who have been falling behind in this will already note how insufficient ground engagement skills will severely curtail your training.

3.) Conditioning - continue to revise the TacFit Commando syllabus as we have covered to date and train with intensity at least twice a week in addition to what we do in class. In combat, you don't rise to the level of your skill - you fall to the level of your fear and conditioning. Challenging yourself with intensity on a regular basis will help you to overcome this hurdle and access your skills.

In addition to the above, feel free to practice any of the partner drills as often as you like when partners become available.

Objectives

- Understanding and developing pre-emptive and simultaneous (with opponent) attack as the best defence

- Developing the bridge: finding, seeking and defending the centre-of-mass, 'hair-brush' defence, strike absorption on guard while maintaining structure

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit

1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Drills

- Partner fist-walking drill for strike placement

- Hair-brushing defence drill – inside-outside, outside-inside, combination with Cossack knee switch walking and gluteal tank for coordination

Preparatory Drills

- Partner push and strike drill: wave movement - dependant pushes and strikes

- Partner push and strike drill: ball movement – keeping form under heavy contact and absorbing with footwork

- Partner strikes into guard: absorbing strikes on guard surface while maintaining form

Bridging with Hair-Brush Defence

- Intercepting strikes: tori intercepts full-speed strikes from uke; drill creeps from extended (‘left out there’) single strikes to retracted single strikes to 1, 2 and 3-step combinations as partners feel comfortable doing so

- Intercept and take structure: tori intercepts strike(s) from uke and aims to enter joint COM and control uke’s structure, planting a push (slow-motion strike with structure) to demonstrate degree of control by upsetting uke’s equilibrium

- Intercept and take structure to takedown: same as above, but ending with takedown to position of control

Objective-based Sparring

Uke feeds tori upper-body strikes in any combination. Tori intercepts and is allowed to counter with strikes and takedowns. Uke may defend and recounter as sees fit. Round-robin format.

16/10/2010 – Fundamentals of Locks and Holds: Locks, Holds, Escapes and Counters, Part 2: Plural Engagements and Use of Clothing

2010-10-17T19:16:00.002+08:00

I know I have been remiss in logging the past week and I do apologise - things have been crazy. The last session saw a large number of newbies - complete novices in martial arts - come in, so I didn't have a chance to do a lot of what I wanted to during the session as I had to spend a lot of hands-on time with the new guys. This week's session was a continuation and revision of last week's work.

Homework for this week follows the standard pattern:

1.) Joint mobility

2.) TFC mission 2conditioning exercises

3.) Rolling and falling - VERY, VERY IMPORTANT

This and last week's work were all very partner-based, so there's not much else you can do to practice on your own, but if you have access to a partner, definitely run through all the drills again.

Objectives

- Understanding the use of locks and holds in a standup fight and how structure is affected by such

- Understanding the use of structure to effect, escape and counter locks and holds

- Learning to use structural perturbation from multiple sources to cancel one another out and effect escapes and counters

- Learning the role of clothing as a weapon and an obstacle in grappling

- Grappling and being grappled by multiple opponents

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 2 – Recruit

1.) Lunge Twist – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Revolving Table – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Scorpion Crucifix – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Bear Squat – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Rocca Forearm – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Bridge Clap – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Drills

- Rolling and falling

- Dogpile-lock anti-tension striking drill

- Headlock escape drill

- Pinned limb ground movement drill

Technique Drills

- Wrist locks – inside-to-outside, outside-to-inside (main examples: omote/ura gyaku)

- Elbow hyperextensions – weight-down, weight-up armbars (main examples: elbow/armpit pressure armbar, arm-wrap figure-4 armbar)

- Shoulder locks – figure-4 locks (main examples: onikudaki/mushadori family, hammerlock)

Plural Source Tensional Manipulation (a.k.a. the octopus drill)

- Tori is grappled by two uke who constantly attempt to lock and twist him, and must make use of the two separate sources of force to cancel each other out – drill is allowed to creep naturally from simple survival to escape, takedown and counter

18/09/2010 – Legwork Continuation (Angular movements and Combinations), Fundamentals of Bladework

2010-09-19T19:04:00.000+08:00

Yet another good session today, but as always, never enough time to do everything I actually wanted. Still, we got the essentials done and I have the others squirrelled away to cover another day. The steel blades came out today and despite them being eating knives with blunted tips and not very sharp serrations, they were still enough to give pause and make everyone wake up, which was exactly the effect I was aiming for. Amazing how a sense of clear and present danger - however ludicrous to the observer - refines movement to the bare minimum necessary.

Also moved on in the TacFit Commando syllabus today. Mission 2 with lots of twisting evoked some interesting responses after some initial doubts at the deceptively simple level 1 movements. The Scorpion Crucifix in particular was rather funny to watch - everyone has lots and lots of ambient tension in the anterior chain and spiral line! More grinding away at immobility before you move on to the sexy stuff, guys.

For homework, I want you all to work on your joint mobility. While I am gone, you can refer to no less a teacher than Coach Sonnon himself:

Here are the six episodes of the IntuFlow joint mobility series he generously put on his YouTube account. Follow through and focus on the stuff we do in class, play around with everything as and when you have time. It's all good to do, but cover the hard basics we do in class first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1aLdYgfr3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmLsRHdNsew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tri0MtGdbvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9cN--Cf5CU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O40QCK5Qybo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDWrMXiehTM

In addition, I want you all to continue working on your rolling and falling. For those of you with grass allergies, work from your knees on harder ground. Focus on exhaling through compression and immobility. Your tensional state is linked to your breath - by disciplining yourselves to exhale through tension and discomfort, you will eventually find ways to flow around the blocks to your flow.

The above two are the primary things I want you to work on. In addition and secondary to them, I want you to continue working on your fist plank and panther walk, for those who can do the latter. Also revise the new exercises from Mission 2 - no need to go to maximum intensity every single session, but be sure to do them consistently to groove the movement patterns into your nervous system.

Accessory to all the above, anything at all we've covered in class is fair game. Keep moving, keep hitting one another, keep breathing and keep form. I'll see you all when I get back from my two weeks' reservist training.

Objectives

- Understanding the nature of angular leg attacks and flow from one movement to another

- Understanding of ranging in blade usage and defence

- Blade disarms and reversals

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit

1.) Lunge Twist – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Revolving Table – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Scorpion Crucifix – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Bear Squat – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Rocca Forearm – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Bridge Clap – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Biker flip grip change

- Figure-8 draw cut

- Rolling snap cut

- IntuFlow sophistication – 4-corner leg circles

Structural Drills

- Strike absorption with legs – roundhouse kicks

- 2-step structure break with legs

- Evade on contact with knife – evade to trap

- Evade on contact with knife – evade to trap and takedown/disarm/counter

- 2-step evade knife to trap + takedown/counter/disarm

Ranging Drills

- Ranging versus single knife thrust – slow speed, evade + trap

- Ranging versus single knife thrust – slow speed, evade to trap + takedown/counter/disarm

Asymmetrical Sparring

- Slow-sparring game – knife on knife, to takedown, control or disarm. Round-robin format.

11/09/2010 - Fundamentals of Legwork, Preparation for Bladework

2010-09-11T22:52:00.000+08:00

Another solid session today. So much to cover and so little time! Wanted to touch on both legwork and knifework today, but had to keep the class to a manageable length and decided to go deep into legwork and drop in a few knifework preparatory exercises today.

Regarding homework, refer to last week's programme. The falling is especially important as the movement habits in ground engagement I've been seeing lately on the mat are, frankly, alarming.

Objectives

- Understanding the use of the legs in force delivery, absorption and redirection

- Understanding the nature of leg attacks and how to defuse them

- Use of the blade as a tool of conditioning

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit

1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Basic Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Basic – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills

- Wrist-flip grip change

- Body figure-8 to stab (dynamic squat variation where applicable)

- IntuFlow sophistication – 4-corner leg circles

- Resisted leg-push (‘heavy legs’) drill from opposed side-recline

Structural Drills

- Partner push drill with blade

- Partner push drill with legs (to legs and body)

- Striking drill with legs

- Marionette/sweater-snag drill with legs

Ranging Drills

- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (evasion, slow)

- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (slow, receive + guide momentum)

- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (medium speed, receive + soft takedown)

- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick (slow, evasion) [pushed to next week]

- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick (slow, receive + guide momentum) [pushed to next week]

- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick( medium speed, receive + soft takedown) [pushed to next week]

Asymmetrical Sparring

- Uke aims to attack with kicks and punches, tori aims to achieve takedown to position of control. Round-robin format.

04/09/2010 – Asymmetrical Engagements: Striking versus Grappling

2010-09-05T19:58:00.000+08:00

Another solid class. Today, I wanted to teach how difficult it can be to fight someone who does not mutually agree upon rules of engagement with you. Yes. You read right. Rules. There are rules in every engagement, be it in the ring, on the street or the battlefield, and these rules are not necessarily written nor codified by large international organisations (see: Queensbury Rules of Boxing, Geneva Code of Conduct in War). They are often implicit, unspoken and determined by culture and plain old human nature.

I won't get too deep into this, but suffice it to say that unconsciously playing to the rules puts you right in your opponent's playing field, which will get you killed. Breaking them too blatantly gives your attacker a perceived moral advantage, which can give them that much more juice, psychologically. The trick, as with all things, is bending them just enough to get your way. On Saturday, we explored this from a technical perspective, pitting upper-body striking and defensive grappling against a pure grappling approach. By removing consent to engage on common ground, the engagement immediately became that much more chaotic.

Today's homework is as follows:

IntuFlow joint mobility beginner series
TacFit Commando Mission 1 - Recruit Level
Panther Walk on Fists
Forward and Backward spinal rolls
1-legged Soft Back Fall

Also, Daniel, one of my students, has been very much on the ball and developed an MP3 timer which those of you without an asymmetrical timer (like my Gymboss and the Gymboss for iPhone app) can use to run your own 20/10 routines.

You can get it here.

Objectives

- Understanding the nature of asymmetrical engagements without mutual consent to common rules

- Development of striking and grappling abilities to defend against their functional opposites in a free-form environment.

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit

1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Basic Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Basic – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills – 1min each

- Forward and backwards Spinal Roll

- One-leg soft back fall

- Panther walk on fists

Ranging Drills

- Zombie walk drill

- Zombie walk to hand on shoulder and match gait

(All round-robin format)

Striking Drills

- Partner Reciprocal Push drill

- Partner Dependant Striking drill

- Partner Stop-Hit Striking drill

- Stop-hit to advancing strike

Grappling Drills

- Neck Pummelling – Pummel to takedown after second minute

- Takedown versus clinch from disengaged face-off (round-robin)

- Takedown versus sudden advancing clinch (round-robin)

Asymmetrical Sparring (Round-robin)

- Uke attacks to takedown with grappling methodology only, Tori (man in the middle) defends with strikes and defensive grappling.

The Fence Applied - Failing the Criminal Interview.

2010-08-30T11:04:00.000+08:00

Excellent practical example of manipulating psychological and emotional distance by Coach Sonnon. Click here to read more.

* All images and material are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

28/08/2010: Systema Saturday - Fundamentals of Standup Grappling

2010-08-29T22:54:00.000+08:00

A good, focused class for my new group of students today. Next week, we will touch on integrating the lessons of the two previous classes (striking and grappling) into a seamless whole.

Objectives

- Standup engagement and control

- Manipulation of structure for control and takedown in grappling context

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit

1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

4.) Basic Pushup – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

5.) Spinal Rock Basic – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

6.) Tripod – 20/10 x 8

Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills – 1min each

- Forward and backwards Spinal Roll

- Shinbox + Shinbox switch (to cover next week)

- Threading shoulder bridge (to cover next week)

- Sumo squat switch (to cover next week)

Pummelling

Neck + Body, 2 mins each

Sweater Snag Drill

From neck and elbow tie, continuous pressure manipulations to takedown, approx. five steps each – 2 mins

Hyperfunction workshop

- Triangle point

- Hip-knee-ankle complex

- Loading for hip and leg takedowns

Asymmetrical Sparring – Round-Robin Format

Uke wrestle to maintain control, tori wrestle to takedown.

Homework

For homework, I want everyone to practice the following the stated number of times each week:

IntuFlow joint mobility series - daily. If you forget segments of the series, don't worry. Do what you can and catch up on what you've forgotten this coming saturday.

TacFit Commando Mission 1 exercises - 2-3 times in the week. I don't expect you to do the 20/10 protocol - it's difficult to do without a specialised timer like what I use. Instead, just do 10 reps of each exercise, one exercise after another as a circuit. Take 1.5-2 minutes' rest between each round of the circuit and aim to complete 3-4 rounds. If it seems easy doing it this way, don't worry about it. I just want you to practice the movements so you're more sure of yourselves and can push harder on saturday.

Forward and Backwards Spinal Rolls - daily. After having done your share of falling, I want everyone to practice these every day for about ten minutes. Start on your knees and you should be able to do them on hard ground without getting hurt.

Fist Plank - daily. Hold a plank on your fists for a minute or more. Aim to use the minimum necessary muscular contraction to maintain a straight, flat back and tucked-in abdomen in this position. Just once will do.

Slow Squat, 20 seconds down and up - daily. Mind the postural details I taught you during class (spine pulled long and at most a slight angle to the vertical, shoulders down and back, hips hanging under the head, knees behind the toes) and aim to stretch your descent and ascent out over 20 seconds each way. Just one of these will do.

Systema Saturday

2010-08-22T12:36:00.006+08:00

A simple but focused session for the benefit of a group of new guys. The TacFit Commando was especially well-received >;-) See you all next week!

Systema Saturday – 22/08/2010

Objectives

- Introduction to TacFit Commando high-intensity metcon

- Introduction to striking and shock absorption

- Introduction to basic structure breaks

- Basic step sparring

Conditioning

IntuFlow Basic Routine

TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit: 1st half

1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8

1min rest

3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8

Influencing Structure Through Intermittent Force

- Partner Push drill

- Partner Reciprocal Push drill

- Partner Striking drill

Influencing Structure Through Continuously Applied Force

- Marionette Drill to soft takedown

Simple Step Sparring to Soft Takedown

- Round-robin format soft sparring, 1 and 2-step

Circle

Homework

- Holding plank on fists

- Slow squat – 20 seconds down, 20 seconds up

TacFit Lab - Adrian's HRP: Day #1 - Moderate Intensity

2010-08-16T13:03:00.002+08:00

I've introduced Adrian before, and last night over coffee, he expressed his wish to regain the Men's Health cover body of his youth. For those of you who don't know him, he used to be a national swimmer and part-time model. Some twelve years later, four of which have been spent married and working in an investment bank, some unfortunate changes have been made. Adrian, however, is nothing if not an incredibly tenacious natural athlete, and so he has given himself over to me to have some CST magic worked on him. With that in mind, I've decided to toss him in the deep end with an HRP that incorporates both FlowFit and TacFit - the guy thrives on adversity.

For those unfamiliar with CST terminology, HRP stands for 'Hard Responsible Push', that meaning a repeating cycle of three moderate-intensity days (at a rate of perceived exertion - RPE - of 7-8/10) followed by one high-intensity day (RPE 9++/10). This protocol yields very rapid results in both conditioning and physique change, but cannot be maintained for more than 28 days at a shot, which must then be followed by two weeks of nothing but joint mobility and low-intensity yoga to decompress the joints and release built-up residual tension before moving on into the next cycle. Also, each session must incorporate the appropriate joint mobility warmups and compensatory yoga cooldowns for the same reasons. Failure to comply will almost certainly result in overtraining and injury.

Objectives follow:

1.) Fat loss and lean muscle gain - 'nuff said.

2.) Increase overall functional ROM, with especial emphasis on shoulders and hips - Adrian is also my martial arts training and research partner and has been a fighter for a long, long time, and a pretty darned good one, at that. With that in mind, I'm amazed he's come as far as he has with horrible tight shoulders and hips like his - even after having done yoga for about three years (albeit on and off)!. Throughout this routine, I'm going to prod him to maintain due diligence with IntuFlow to grind away all that immobility and build strength through his newfound ROM with FlowFit, which I find is the best quick-fix solution for bound flow when used in tandem with IntuFlow.

3.) Increase functional attributes for martial arts - TacFit was designed for this. Again, 'nuff said.

Warmup

Intuflow

IntuFlow basic routine, emphasising all major joints and the 4-corner balance drill, and omitting arm and spinal waves for now.

FlowFit

Learning the flow, mostly at level 2, but with some exercises at level 3 (seated twist) and level 4 (upwards dog press) and one slightly modified from the standard progression (twisted tripod in place of rotating table). 6 flows completed without timing.

TacFit Alpha - 20/10x4

For those of you not familiar with the TacFit protocols, TacFit 'A' consists of 4 different exercises - scaled at four levels of difficulty each - each performed with a Tabata protocol with 1 minute's break after each exercise is complete. For those of you not familiar with the Tabata protocol, it involves repeating sprint/rest cycles of 20 seconds and 10 seconds respectively, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. And by sprint, I mean sprint - balls-to-the-wall, go-at-it-until-you-die, RPE 10 intensity. But, as with all things in CST, in good form. Today being a moderate-intensity day, however, not to mention Adrian's first introduction to TacFit, I eased off on the outright intensity and told him to focus on improving his technique instead. With each exercise, the final score is the lowest rep interval during each round of 4 minutes.

1.) Clubbell Swipes @ 2 x 10lbs : 6 5 4 4 4 4 5 7

2.) Pullups @ commando (dropping down to jump-up from round 3 on): 13 8 5 5 5 5 6 8

3.) Ring Pull @ Single Ring: 13 8 8 8 7 8 9 13

4.) Plyo-box jump @ Jump-up: 6 5 5 5 5 5 6 6

Cooldown

Each of the following asanas held for 20 seconds each - both sides for asymmetrical asanas.

1.) Downwards Dog (posterior chain and hip extensor release)

2.) Static Leg Swoop (posterior spiral line release)

3.) Seated Twist (hip external rotator release)

4.) Table (Pectoralis, anterior deltoid, serratus anterior, subscapularis and hip flexor release)

5.) Upwards Dog (Anterior chain and hip flexor release)

6.) Plough (Erectors spinae and hamstring release)

Stay tuned for Day #4, which will be TacFit Alpha again, this time at high-intensity!

Systema Saturday - 31/07/2010

2010-08-02T21:14:00.000+08:00

Objectives

- Developing the basics of ballistic striking

- Simple applications of ballistic striking

- Developing fundamentals of edged weapon control, retention and disarming

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Skill-Specific Preparation

- 5-minute plank

- Heavy hands drill – taichi arm swing

- Heavy hands drill – falling knife catch

- Partner push drill with knife

- Zombie Walk drill with knife

- Wrist-lever knife solo drill

Ballistic Striking

- Single strikes to pads (stationary)

- Simple two-hit combos – trinity strike prep (stationary)

- Strikes to pads while moving

- Strikes to partner (torso, stationary)

Knifework

- Evasions versus thrusts (start slow, emphasise natural speed creep)

- Evasions versus slashes (see above)

- Partner knife push to simple leverage disarm

- Disarm and/or control versus one-step free-form attack

Systema Saturday - 24/07/2010: Fundamentals and Standup Grappling

2010-07-25T14:33:00.000+08:00

First off, welcome to Hashim and Hok Keong, our two new group members. This week's class was quite productive, despite some space-sharing issues early on in the session. Next week's session will expand on the concepts covered and add in training the basics of ballistic striking as well as knifework, so stay tuned. Also, do your homework, guys! And by that, I mean your rolling, slow pushup and squat, however much the latter two may feel like holy hell!

Warmup

- IntuFlow Spinal Wakeup, Hips and Shoulders

- Slow pushup and squat, 20 seconds down, 20 seconds up

- Forward and backward rolls

- Basic striking and absorption

Forcing Movement, Absorbing Through Movement

- Wave movement vs Ball movement

- Partner displacement through pushes, passive resistance

- Partner displacement through strikes, passive absorption through footwork

Standup Grappling

- Neck pummelling

- Marionette/Sweater-snag drill

- Asymmetrical standup wrestling – tori wrestle to takedown, uke wrestle to maintain control, round-robin format

Circle

Meet Your Coaches

2010-07-19T21:11:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick blurb on each of the two top-level RMAX coaches in attendance for November's seminar, as taken from the RMAX website. With two such highly-qualified individuals teaching, you'd be missing out on a lot if you didn't come!

Ryan Hurst

Ryan Hurst is the newest addition to the RMAX Faculty Coaching Staff and is the representative for RMAX/CST Asia.
Ryan competed in gymnastics from a very young age, a sport which he continued throughout highschool. In Junior High, while also practicing gymnastics, he started Aikido and became fascinated with the Japanese culture.
A desire to further his education in the martial arts and the Japanese language led Ryan to travel to Japan while in university. He stayed in Japan and continued his training in Osaka. During his first long stay in the country, while at the University of Niigata, he lived with his Kendo instructor as an 'uchi-deshi' or 'live-in (Martial Art) pupil'. His practices included weekly meetings and bouts with members of the Niigata Police force and Japan Self Defense Force. It was through hard work with these people that Ryan earned his black belt rankings in Kendo and Iaido, and first began training in Judo.
Also while at university, Ryan was introduced to the practice of Raja Yoga. Yoga became an extremely important part of Ryan's life, and he devoted daily practice to the asanas and meditation in order to advance himself physically and, more importantly, mentally. Ryan would later discover how important that yoga practice was in helping him cope with the intense stress of the hustle and bustle of life in Osaka and the corporate world.
Having graduated from university, Ryan moved to Osaka to continue his Martial Art practice. He dove head first into Judo while working at the Sumiyoshi Budokan (Sumiyoshi Martial Art Complex), located at the Sumiyoshi Shrine. At this time Ryan also worked with instructors in Kendo, Daito-Ryu Aiki-jujitsu and Shorinji-Kenpo. However, it was Judo that consumed the better part of his practice time, and through his contacts at the Sumiyoshi Budokan he also practiced with police officers at Osaka Castle (Shudo-kan) and at the Minatoku Police Station. His black belt rankings in Judo were all earned through winning at tournaments as a representative of the Minatoku Police Station's Judo club, Minatoku Ju-yu Kai.
Ryan was first introduced to Scott Sonnon's material through the original Grappler's Toolbox. He was intrigued by the video and used it to help him with his martial art practice, but it wasn't until he suffered a serious shoulder dislocation that he fully came to understand the beauty of CST - how it can help a person in recovering full range of motion while also working towards the prevention of injury.
Ryan released the Japanese version of Intu-Flow®, Joint Wellness, in 2005. In 2006, in collaboration with Head Coach Jarlo Ilano, he released the Prasara Primer textbook, and in 2007 followed it up with the Prasara Primer DVD. Ryan has appeared in multiple magazines and has been featured on GAORA Sports Station conducting a bi-weekly show that features Prasara Body-Flow Yoga. In August of 2008 Ryan released Yoga-For-Men.com, an online portal where guys can learn yoga like a real man should.
Ryan specializes in complete body transformation, instructing in both Japanese and English at his private studio in Osaka. He also offers personalized online programs to his students around the world. Ryan also trains several Japanese media stars, and his monthly workshops are filled with people who travel in from all parts of Japan.

Jarlo Ilano

Jarlo Ilano graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1998 with a Master's degree in Physical Therapy. His entire career has been a relentless pursuit of the best methods of rehabilitation, and he has logged hundreds of hours of continuing education credits in his quest for personal excellence. His passion for learning led him to explore CST, and in 2004 he obtained his first Instructorship. In May 2006, thanks to his unwavering diligence and dedication to his personal practice, he was one of six Instructors chosen by the RMAX Faculty to pioneer the next evolution in the CST Instructor Cadre - the hard-won position of Coach. Coach Ilano's unique insights into CST are the product of the literally thousands of patients that he has treated in his clinical practice. This time in the trenches allows him to convey difficult concepts with the skilled ease of an experienced Coach.

Coach Ilano's career as a health care professional has progressed in synch with his lifelong passion for the martial arts. He is an RMAX FlowFighting®® Athlete, and he underwent a rigorous selection process in July 2006 to become a member of Team RMAX. He is also a certified Instructor of mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiujitsu, and Filipino Martial Arts under Burton Richardson of JKD Unlimited. Coach Ilano believes that martial arts training involves more than simply learning how to fight - it is also a vehicle for self expression and for transcending one's perceived limitations.

Coach Ilano is currently based in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he offers high quality instruction in the martial arts, health and wellness. He frequently travels to the mainland U.S. and Asia for seminars and private instruction. For more information, please visit www.csthawaii.com, which contains an archive of articles for both the beginner and the seasoned veteran.

Hardwork Class - 16/07/2010: Distance Entries into Engagement

2010-07-19T16:17:00.000+08:00

Due to the roads being flooded from torrential rains this week, the guys missed more than half the session, so we didn't quite get to do all the work we wanted to. Still, it was a good transition into RMA methodology from the Wing Chun.

Objectives

- Engaging and clearing the bridge from a distance

- Testing of structural strength in force-on-force lockups

Warmup

- Neck pummelling

- Strike absorption – passing the wave - fists

Engagement Drills - Striking

- Clashing Bridge – force-on-force impact; emphasise maintaining structure and attempting to disrupt opponent’s structure

- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge – from force-on-force impact, tori aims to clear the bridge and land a push as a test of structural integrity; allow impact to creep up to strikes as situation allows

- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to Counter – as above, but uke aims to absorb or otherwise defend initial strike and channel energy into counterstrike

- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to Recounter – as above, with tori aiming to re-counter

Engagement Drills – Grappling

- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to clinch – as above, but with clinches

Chen Taiji Wrestling

2010-07-15T09:19:00.000+08:00

Chen Bing demonstrating chen taiji wrestling applications. Note his rock solid structure in every position and the savage applications of fajing to send his opponent flying.

Deliberations At a Fork On The Thousand-Mile Road

2010-07-14T21:10:00.000+08:00

I normally don't go public with what goes on behind the curtains here at VTS, but I feel that this is something worth sharing.

I had another long conversation with Adrian today on where I want to take the martial arts classes. For those of you who don't know Adrian, he's my long-time friend, training partner and research collaborator, as well as a guest instructor here at VTS, who will soon have his own profile on the website.

The VTS combatives syllabus, while ostensibly based on RMA - and delivered via RMA pedagoguy - is very much our brainchild and the result of our cumulative training and experiences. Recently, things have come to a head and we have had to take a stand regarding the focus of the syllabus and the direction in which we want to evolve the system.

Line Up and Snipe, or Engage and Control?

At the heart of our dilemma lay the central ethos that was to guide the evolution of our system. Did we want to focus on developing a system optimised for those critical initial three seconds of combat, which would enable to a student unload a series of devastatingly accurate strikes from any orientation in the blink of an eye? Or did we want to develop a system that would emphasise entering into and maintaining a position of control from any engagement scenario?

Either way, focusing on one end of the spectrum would perforce cause us to neglect the other end to some degree, simply due to the finite amount of time available for training and planning.

Confounding Factors

At first glance, optimising to dominate the initial three seconds of combat seems to be the way to go. The most respected reality defence authorities today tell us that this is the the space of time in which actual combat happens on the streets, and I strongly agree that it is critical. However, experience - both ours and other people's - tells us that if there's one direction a fight tends to go, it's south. It's all well and good lining up a partner round about your own size for a straight blast that sends him sprawling on his arse. It's another thing entirely facing down a charging rugby forward with an iron jaw who's been getting his beer and aggro on or a junkie so hopped up on PCP he's numb to everything except the urge to kill the evil out of you* until you die from it.**

Landing a solid punch at range on a bag is already no easy proposition - it takes a lot of good coaching and diligent practice over a goodly period of time to do right. In a brightly-lit ring, in which you can afford to devote all your attentional resources to just one task (knocking the living daylights out of your opponent), this gets even harder with a live opponent doing everything he can - within the rules - to mess up your plan. Now imagine doing it at the start of a three-second fight, when the realisation that things have just gotten very, very real has sunk home and the adrenaline starts flowing. Now imagine you're past the intial three seconds, during which your engagement plan went south, and are trying to land a solid punch while being manhandled by someone significantly larger and stronger than you.

Not so easy, is it?

(If you have difficulty picturing this scenario, I suggest you find a large, strong friend who doesn't mind getting hit to try this out with. For best effect, enact the scene in a poorly lit, confined space filled with dangerous obstructions like metal support beams, sharp debris on the floor and furniture with sharp corners.)

Engagement and Support System versus Integrated System

Quite simply, you have to have a support system behind your three-second engagement plan, a concept espoused by our above-mentioned reality defence authority (Geoff's personal choices are boxing and judo). We wanted to take it a step further past the technical aspect of engagement methods versus recovery methods and create a system that enables the student to seamlessly move into and maintain positions of control from the initial engagement. Coming as we both do from martial arts backgrounds that emphasise continuous control of an opponent - Goju karate, taijiquan and Systema on my end, Wing Chun and muay thai on Adrian's plus a shared background in wrestling and submission grappling on both our parts - this is something we have always been conscious at an intuitive level, even if our explorations into longer-range striking arts took us in a different direction.

Control and Effecting a Mechanical Solution

Quite simply, control is everything, in combat and out of it. If you can control your opponent, you have the option to strike, restrain or reposition him as you please. More importantly, you can devote a much higher portion of your own total resources to doing so than he can to resist you. This is what I refer to as effecting a mechanical solution to a combat encounter, and it has also been the single most important lesson drilled into me by round about 24 years of martial arts training.

Being as I am the most unathletic person I know who isn't actually crippled in some way, I learned rather early on that I will never in this lifetime float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. A lesson reinforced when, while training under Coach Syed Abdul Kadir, I got the chance to observe some of our national boxers at work. Above and beyond even diligent training, it takes talent to effectively hit someone using a paradigm like that, which puts it out of reach of a good 90% of the human race. Not that boxing and similar arts aren't good to do. Quite the contrary - it is an excellent foundational and supplementary training to have under your belt. My point is that you cannot base a paradigm for broad-spectrum combat on something like that, simply because you are leaving the spaces in between exchanges of blows to sheer athleticism and, dare I say it, luck. In such an exchange, the younger, faster, stronger man inevitably wins.

Not quite the point of training in martial arts in the first place, is it?

Again, nothing wrong with being stronger and faster - we are after all in the business of making people so. But above and beyond that, we want to them better.

Systems that emphasise control as their base get around this problem by fixing down an opponent and making it far more energy-inefficient for him to defend himself or otherwise resist your efforts to subdue him.

Once in a position of control, you are free to cycle the above cascade from observation to action - coined by John Boyd - at a much faster rate than your opponent. As first postulated in the Thirty-Six Strategems, observations engender analysis which engenders tactics which in turn results in more observations. The further ahead you are in this cycle in a given encounter, the more highly evolved and therefore effective your tactics will be. Likewise, by reducing the attentional resources your opponent has available to devote to this process, the less evolved and therefore effective his tactics will be against you.

Conclusion

I will continue to blog significant paradigm shifts to our system as it continues to evolve. In the meantime, you know what to expect from future classes. Train well and stay tuned.

* - I'm not saying you're evil. Just that he thinks you are.

** - Yes, that was a Hotshots 2 reference.

Pullup Density Progress

2010-07-13T17:08:00.000+08:00

Almost! Almost nailed 25 without a rest pause! Last week was a major performance nadir, with energy way down the flusher. Was hoping I was fully out of it this week, but that didn't seem to be the case. Will nail 25 for sure next week, and then I'll take another 5 reps on to the density cycle to hit that magic 30.

Saturday Morning Systema - Bridge and Structure Revisited

2010-07-12T10:23:00.001+08:00

Decided to revisit the concept of bridging as applied in RMA on Saturday, and also introduce the concept of ball movement, ie. moving the body as a point mass, as I've been paying less attention to footwork than I should have lately.

Objectives

- attacking and defending structure in the bridge for infighting

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

- Fist-walking on partner’s body

- ‘Forty-fives’ squats - 5-second holds at 1/3 down and 2/3 down x 3, followed by 5 squats with empty lungs.

Shock Absorption Through Structure

- Partner pushing drill with fists

- Partner pushing drill with legs (versus body and legs)

- Strike absorption versus fists

- Strike absorption versus kicks

Forcing Movement, Absorbing Through Movement

- Wave movement vs Ball movement

- Partner displacement through pushes, passive resistance

- Partner displacement through pushes, active resistance

- Partner displacement through strikes, passive absorption through footwork

Bridge and Clinch Fighting Drills

- Defending the Bridge - pushes

- Defending the Bridge - strikes

- Defending the Bridge - blades

Reciprocal Sparring

- Reciprocal and continuous 1-step sparring with each attack counting as one step

Systema Saturday

2010-07-04T20:30:00.000+08:00

Took on two new guys, Peter and Terry, yesterday. Both are students of Wing Chun Kuen under Sifu Ken Lau. I like wing chun guys as we tend to be on the same page regarding concepts such as movement, structure and efficiency, not to mention single-minded combat effectiveness, so I don't have to mince words when talking to them.

Spent some time addressing topics such as fear-reactivity and the use of breathwork to deregulate the emotional response to combat and enable calm rationality in the heat of combat. From a theoretical perspective, this entailed some talking at length on stress psychophysiology. From a funtional perspective, this entailed a good deal of shock absorption and mutual poking with steel blades.

I also expanded for them (and myself also) the concept of structure beyond the wing chun perspective ("the ability of musculoskeleture to dynamically respond to force from any direction in order to absorb, translate and redirect it in any direction at any given point in time with the least expenditure of energy") .

All in all, an interesting and fruitful morning. Looking forward to next Saturday!

P.S.: Be sure to do your homework, guys. I'll know if you don't, and then you'll see what the whip is for :-P

Newbie Introduction Class – 03/07/2010

Objectives

- Introduction to RMA fundamentals – Movement, Breathing, Structure

- Deprogramming of fear-reactivity

- Determining individual optimal engagement range

Warmup

Slow pushup, 20 seconds down and up

Slow squat, 20 seconds down and up

Structure, Shock Absorption and Fear-Reactivity Deprogramming with Blades

Breaking and regaining structure to absorb pushes

Breaking and regaining structure to absorb strikes

Pushing drill versus blades

Strike absorption, take two

Finding Individual Engagement Range, Disguising Body Language and
Disrupting Structure

Zombie-walking drill

Zombie-walking drill to shadow

Sweater-snag Drill

Zombie-walking drill to structural takedown

Slow Sparring

One-step sparring to takedown

Reciprocal two-step sparring to takedown

Reciprocal three-step sparring to takedown

Homework

IntuFlow basic joint mobility – three spinal sections, shoulder rolls, rooted hip

Forward and backward rolls from kneeling

Slow pushups and squats

2010-07-03T15:38:00.000+08:00

Stronger, harder, faster isn't better. Better MAKES stronger, harder, faster.

Orthorexia nervosa - healthy eating is a mental disorder?!

2010-07-02T11:16:00.007+08:00

Absolutely ridiculous on the part of the bio and psychomedical establishment. When I was taught about the conspiratorial nature of mainstream medicine in university, I used to think it was just conspiracy theorism on the part of my admittedly Marxist lecturer. Some years on, I've realised he was right all along.

Food, Glorious Food

2010-06-24T13:22:00.000+08:00

Here's one of my quickie lunch recipes for the fit foodie on the go. From fridge to plate, this takes about 20 minutes in total to do (including washing and chopping and otherwise preparing ingredients).

Stir-Fried Beef with Mixed Vegetables

Beef - 300gms

Broccoli - 1 head

Yellow Zucchini - 1

Red Bell Pepper - 1

Shiitake mushrooms - 1 small packet

Spring Onions - 1 bunch

Garlic - 1 bulb or to taste

Ginger - 1 medium-small knob or to taste

Soy Sauce - to taste

Sesame Oil - to taste

Salt and Pepper - to taste

Chop the vegetables roughly - mushrooms can remain whole. Pay especial attention to separate the onion bulbs of the spring onions from the shoots, as the bulbs will be going in the hot oil ahead of everything else. Heat some cooking oil in a hot wok and brown the garlic, ginger and spring onion bulbs for a few minutes before adding the beef and browning well. Sprinkle with salt and dash light soy and sesame oil to taste. Once the beef is further browned, add the vegetables a portion at a time, turning constantly to ensure even cooking. Continue to season with soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil as you go, tasting constantly to ensure the flavours aren't overwhelming. The broccoli is the acid test of whether or not this dish is cooked as uncooked broccoli contains nutrient blockers that, predictably, aren't good to eat. Once the broccoli is a little tender, the dish should be ready to serve.

Serves 4, or one very hungry foodie (like me).

Stopgap - Escalating Density Training

2010-06-22T22:29:00.003+08:00

My apologies for not posting for a few weeks. The move to full indy operation has been ridiculously busy. With that out of the way, here's a fitness-oriented article to tide you all over until I manage to follow up on the series I have planned.

Escalating Density Training

What is it?

First off, let us define density. In exercise terms, density refers to work done per unit time. For those of you who remember your basic physics, this should seem simple - reps x weight/time, right?

As it turns out, it's not quite as simple as that. Furthermore, EDT (short form) can be and has been done with bodyweight training. Unassisted, I might add, by weighted vests and the like. So how does this work?

Rather than talk in simplistic terms about 'weight', I prefer to divide resistance into two broad categories:

Mechanical Resistance: Newtons of force generated by the muscles.

Metabolic Resistance: Joules of chemical energy released by the metabolic system.

Mechanical resistance, the first of the two is the more immediately obvious way of increasing resistance. The simplest method is increasing the weight lifted, which lends itself to certain limitations, particularly with bodyweight exercise. The more sophisticated option is to sophisticate the exercise at hand, that is, to perform a more challenging version of the same exercise to elicit a stronger neural response which will, in turn, result in stronger and more complex muscular activation. This is done especially often in bodyweight training, but any and all weighted exercises can likewise be sophisticated for greater resistance with the same weight (or other external resistance, as is the case with stretch bands).

Head Coach Adam Steer demonstrates an example below:

Metabolic resistance is to some degree linked to mechanical resistance - after all, our muscles need to get their energy from some place. However, the metabolism supplies energy to more than just skeletal muscles. Everything we do requires energy - breathing, thinking, transmitting nerve impulses, creating and secreting hormones - and all this places a load on the metabolism.

Therefore, while skeletal muscle is generally the organ system with the single largest energy demand in the body, it is not the only one. By finding ways aside from magnitude of skeletal muscle activation to challenge the metabolism, it is possible to vastly increase the concentration of energy-producing enzymes in the metabolic system, hence improving metabolic power and endurance.

By far and away the best way of doing this is through sophisticating neural activation, which is why circuit training is superior by far to traditional station training for eliciting metabolic adaptations. Even more pronounced is high-intensity flow routines, which even more strongly emphasise the transition from one exercise to another without pause in between.

CST Instructor John Sifferman demonstrates the higher levels of the signature flow routine FlowFit below:

Now we have a working definition of resistance, let us move on to work. Here, we have to modify the elementary physics equation of work = force x distance moved, as, very often, the total mechanical work done during exercise is zero according to Newtonian physics (we lift a weight and put it down again).

Instead, I define work as total time under resistance (or tension, as Coach Sonnon likes to express it, but I like the term 'resistance' as it better illustrates things from the metabolic point of view). In other words, how long one spends under continuous challenge to the systems being trained. That leaves us with total Newtons of force produced by the muscles and total Joules of energy produced by the metabolism.

When we express the above as a time-limited function, we get work/time = POWER.

Hence, EDT is ultimately a way of increasing one's sustainable power, either mechanical or metabolic, usually some measure of both.

So, what are the nuts and bolts of building an EDT routine for oneself? I present three sample methods below.

1.) The safest and simplest method of going about EDT is to simply compress rest intervals. For instance, if you are following a circuit routine and rest 90 seconds between rounds, you can aim to knock a number of seconds off that time every so many sessions until you reach a given goal, assuming you take roughly the same time to finish each round of the circuit. I cannot stress enough at this point that, for the length of a given cycle, everything else must remain the same or you risk courting injury and overtraining. Once you have attained your target rest time, start a new cycle with your original rest time and increase one variable of resistance - either peak resistance, sophistication or volume - and aim to reduce your rest time all over again.

2.) Another method is to aim for volume over time - either to complete a given volume of work in as short a time as possible, or else perform as much volume as possible in a given time. Kettlebell athletes are very familiar with this approach and use both aspects to train for their sport, which is a perfect example of a density event. In their case, work volume is measured as reps x resistance and this can be carried over to other forms of training, using sophistication as a possible substitute for increased weight. This can be done with either a single exercise, or a circuit or flow routine, whereupon one aims to complete rounds for time.

3.) A popular mainstream approach to EDT is the classic pyramid routine - gradually increase the resistance each set till close to the threshold of failure, then reduce it in a symmetrical step fashion.

Pyramid Training Protocols

The problem I have with traditional pyramid training is that, from my experience, it tends to cause muscular fatigue before significant neural adaptations can be elicited to increase strength (which is the usual goal of pyramid routines). Suitability really depends on one's specific training needs - bodybuilders, for example, love traditional pyramids because it is a way of volumising the sarcoplasmic reticulum for the pumped look. However, if one is training for strength, I prefer the ladder protocol, which runs as follows:

1.) Follow the ascending side of the pyramid till you reach 100% 1RM (or whichever measure of resistance you choose).

2.) Drop right back to the bottom of the pyramid on the next set and ascend again but stop just prior to failure. In other words, if you feel yourself about to fail in the middle of a set or on the next set, stop immediately and drop back down to the bottom. From a strength perspective, training to failure is training to fail as fatigue causes the neuromusculature to develop self-imposed limits to force development as a failsafe against injury. Keep that brick out from under your accelerator!

3.) Repeat steps 1 and 2, taking each near-failure point as your new endpoint until you are unable to continue any longer. This form of EDT enables you to sneak a large amount of neural training under the fatigue radar each session, letting you get more bang for your strength buck.

Until next time, train smart, train hard.

Saturday Morning Systema - Bridge and Clinch Fighting

2010-06-06T11:01:00.003+08:00

For today, I decided to build off the last session and introduce the concept of the bridge, to borrow a term from Chinese martial arts.

What is the bridge? It has been defined many times over, but I like to think of it as the functional centre of the mechanical interaction that is a physical fight. Generally, it tends to fall between the 1/4-arm to 3/4-arm distance (though not always) because this is where a human being tends to be in the strongest possible position, anatomically speaking, to apply pressure forwards into one's opponent - too much or too little extension leads to insufficiency on the part of the musculoskeleture to efficiently apply force.

This zone of engagement is crucial to a fight because, whenever it is clearly defined, the joint centre of mass (from hereon referred to as JCoM) of both fighters, to borrow a term from Coach Sonnon's Immovable Object, Unstoppable Force series, falls herein. By achieving structural dominance at the bridge, one can control the movement of the JCoM and thereby dominate the standup fight and, if necessary, bring it to the ground in a position of advantage.

I will write more on this topic later, but for now, suffice it to say that relatively few drills were performed today, but in great volume. Today's class was focused and intense - just the way I like it to be.

Systema Singapore – Saturday Morning Group 05/06/2010

Objectives

- attacking and defending structure for infighting

Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

- Wall-walking with fists

- Floor-level walking lunge to Cossack knee switch on turn

- Neck and body pummelling

Bridge and Clinch Fighting Drills

- Defending the Bridge - pushes

- Defending the Bridge - strikes

-Defending the Bridge - bladework

- Pummelling to structural takedowns – neck and body

Step Sparring

- Reciprocal 5-step sparring with each structural deformation counting as one step

Website Goes Live!

2010-06-01T22:12:00.000+08:00

At long last, the website goes live!

Click here!

Saturday Morning Fight Club - Standup Grappling Intro

2010-05-29T20:06:00.000+08:00

Another fruitful session this morning. Will be adding video as soon as I get the camera sorted!

Systema Singapore – Saturday Morning Group 29/05/2010

Objectives

- Structural manipulations for standup grappling

- Movement training for level-change and groundfighting (selected BodyFlow exercises)

Warmup

Intuflow Basic routine

BodyFlow drills – quad base switch, threading bridge, shin roll, spinal rock (basic and shinbox variations)

Structural Drills

- Sweater snag drill with one-finger knuckle

- Sweater snag drill with basic structural takedowns – emphasise triangle point targeting and spinal manipulations

- Brief workshop on gripping (locking and driving arms) and loading for simple hip and leg throws

Technical Drills

- One-step lock escapes

- Lock-to-counterlock flow

- Lock-to-counterlock-to-structural takedown

Competitive Resistance Drills

- Neck and body pummelling

10-10-2009 - Systema - Single lock/hold to takedown

2010-05-24T22:06:00.000+08:00

Controlling and breaking structure through the vehicle of simple locks and holds.

10-10-2009 - Systema - Passing the Wave with Strikes

2010-05-24T22:05:00.000+08:00

Some early explorations into dependant striking that took place last year. Will soon publish some of this year's work so you can see how our work evolves.

Mako Knife with Arsen Melikjanyan

2010-05-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

Arsen Melikjanyan demonstrating his system, called Mako Knife. I know little about this man aside from what I've written in the video comments, but he comes to me highly recommended by my friend Yury Ershov, a student of Master Yury Fedin of the eponymous Wave Systems of Combat.

Alexander Kisten, Legend of Spetsnaz

2010-05-23T11:26:00.002+08:00

Economy of motion and purposeful flow personified. I cut my Systema teeth on a lot of flashy stunts, not knowing any better at the time. As my training progressed, however, and I received formal training at qualified hands, my view of the ideal crystallised and I realised that, no matter their affiliations, they all worked towards the same end result in combative movement. Note Kisten's rock-solid structure, maintained all throughout each drill, which allows him to bring the full power of his body and the earth to bear in each and every movement.

Video and information courtesy of Coach Scott Sonnon.

New Video Archive

2010-05-23T00:23:00.000+08:00

Our video archive has also been moved to a new YouTube site. I am in the process of moving all the old videos over and will add more in the weeks to come.

Check us out here

Live on Facebook!

2010-05-22T12:33:00.000+08:00

We are now live on Facebook! Hop on over and check us out!

(For those who haven't noticed, the above is a link.)

Reflections on Violence, part 2: Ethical Grounding as Compensation for Mental and Emotional Adaptations to Violence

2010-05-19T19:46:00.000+08:00

It has been a while since my last article and I do apologise, but the sequel is finally here.

In this installment, we will examine some practical steps the student of combat can take to avoid the slippery slope into sociopathy, or 'aggressive psychopathy'[1], starting with acquiring a firm ethical grounding.

[You will also note that I have broken this sequel into multiple parts. Much as I would like to keep it brief, killology is a subject that demands treatment in detail, so for the next four weeks, I will be writing an additional weekly chapter on this topic.]

Resolve Your Ethical Issues

This may seem obvious, but the overwhelming majority of self-defence, combative and other purported 'real-world' martial arts studies gloss over - if not completely ignore - this incredibly important question.

Why are you fighting? And, by extension, for whom or what?

Many people, whether or not they admit it to themselves, walk into a martial arts class wanting to learn how to become invincible Hollywood arsekickers at some level (I certainly did when I first took up the martial arts). What they don't realise is that fighting isn't the way Hollywood portrays it - a glorified schoolyard brawl against the ultimate school bully, at the end of which the winner gets accolades and the girl and then the end credits roll. Fighting, depending on where and why you do it, is either a sport and should be treated with all due respect and diligence as one, or else a deadly serious affair that begins long before the first blow is struck and continues long after the survivor flees the scene.

In 'On Killing', Boyd writes of the use of moral distance from the enemy as a means of legitimising killing in combat soldiers. Simply, the fighter's cause is made to seem just and the enemy are universally painted as criminals, judged and proven guilty at the start of the conflict. In this way, what may have originally begun as a morally ambiguous struggle over the sundry things nation-states fight over becomes a righteous crusade against injustice, and any violence done to the enemy just punishment for crimes committed.

At the level of individual self-defence, of course, I am not in any way, shape or form advocating that anyone mimic this process with self-propaganda. Instead, what I am suggesting is that the aspiring student of combat use the following steps as a guide to developing a personal code to frame and rationalise violent actions one may have to undertake in the course of one's own life. Absolution - from self or others - is an important part of the rationalisation process that follows acts of violence, and when this process fails, psychological trauma follows.

Step 1.) Determine What it is You Fight For

The first and most important question. Do you live in a bad neighbourhood and have to fight to defend yourself, your friends and loved ones against unprovoked aggression? Are you a professional who has to throw himself/herself in the face of human aggression - military, law enforcement - on a regular basis to defend others? Or are you still lingering in Hollywood delusions and ready to take a swing at anyone who looks at your beer funny?

I make no (overt) moral judgements here, but whatever your cause, have a good, long and honest think about it and decide what your primary motivation to fight, when fight you must, is.

Step 2.) When is Avoidance Impossible?

As I always teach my students, the best fight is the one you didn't have. Sun Zi likewise wrote that a strategist of the highest order wins battles without fighting. Have you done everything in your power to avoid violent conflict? Did you take a detour around the bad street to go home by brightly lit, crowded areas? Did you attempt to redirect your attacker's aggression with verbal de-escalation and distractions like your decoy wallet (you do have one, don't you?)? Did you tell your family to run back to the bright, crowded street as fast as their legs could carry them? Did you apologise for knocking Pugnacious MacThugly's beer over and offer to buy him another (while keeping your fence up, of course)? By the way, why were you drinking in the same pub as him?

I could go on and on with illustrative examples, but you get the idea by now - rangers are taught to 'box' or detour around enemies they have not been instructed to engage. Keep your eyes and ears open for avoidable trouble and do likewise with it.

Note also that posturing and blustering to scare the bad guys into backing down is a valid tactic, and the oldest trick in the animal kingdom. Just be sure to use it judiciously, study it well and have something to back it up when it fails.

Step 3.) Recognise the Triggers

Funakoshi once stated , "There is no first attack in karate-do." Some karate instructors have interpreted this to a regrettable degree of literalness, declaring a complete moratorium on striking first for whatever reason on moral grounds. Despite their good intentions, however, idealised morality must always bow to the reality of the art of war, that being that the party that lands the first effective attack generally comes out on top in any encounter. Modern armies spend vast sums of money and training and planning time to achieve just that in a real conflict, and so should any student of combat that intends to survive an actual encounter.

The crux, then, is learning to recognise 'triggers' - cues that an encounter has already progressed past the stage of de-escalation. In your typical faceoff, the party preparing for physical aggression will typically evince signs that include head-bobbing, deterioration of speech to repetitive single syllables, stalking (side-to-side or circular walking focused on the object of aggression), forceful arm-waving and other gestures in an attempt to look larger and more intimidating.

Most importantly, however, they will be mostly likely be moving towards you.

I cannot emphasise that last point enough. If someone is moving towards you while displaying aggression, they mean business. If you do not clean their clock while you still have a chance, your blood be on your own head, and quite probably the blood of anyone you might be protecting as well.

If nothing else, someone running at you full-tilt brandishing a machete should be a pretty important clue that they mean you grievous bodily harm. It isn't always this obvious, though. Yes, I do have a sense of humour.

On the other hand, if someone is displaying aggression while moving away, they are attempting their own avoidance and shouldn't be a threat. Even so, this would be a good time for you to practice some avoidance of your own, as your dance partner may get a serious case of sore loser's guilt and return shortly with a mob and/or weapons for a rematch.

4.) How Far are you Willing to Go?

So now that blows are being exchanged and you are navigating the swirling currents of violence, seeking the safety of the opposite shore, how far are you prepared to go? How much damage are you willing to do to your assailant(s)? How much damage are you yourself prepared to endure to defend whatever it is you are defending? What tactics are you willing to use in the process? Are you prepared to endure the consequences that may follow - prosecution and revenge attacks on yourself and your friends and loved ones being the foremost amongst them?

Conclusion

Note that none of the above offer easy answers. The purpose of this article is to encourage the student of combat to ask hard questions now, when at training in time of (relative) peace so they don't come to haunt him or her during the times in which his or her skills should be given free rein from doubt and fear.

Until our next installment, train smart, train hard.

References and Bibliography

1. Grossman, Dave: On Killing - The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

To-Do List: Future Article Matter

2010-05-16T14:09:00.000+08:00

This post is a diary entry for future articles that I have elected to keep here rather than on my finicky electronic devices. I will edit it to include new ideas for projects as they occur to me and tick off ones that have been done so far.

- Reflections on Violence: series on mental and emotional compensations for martial arts training and surviving violence in general - part 3 pending

- Awakening the Dragon: killology article about rationalising necessary violence to disinhibit appropriate responses in combat and minimise psychiatric trauma from combat - pending

- Boyd's Loop: OODA cycling for hand-to-hand combat pending

- Effecting a Mechanical Solution: Effective and reliable conclusions to combat encounters

- Optimal cycling for the development of mental and emtional skills pending

Books to get:

- Red Gold Peak Performance Techniques of the Russian and East German Olympic Victors;

- Consistent Winning: A Remarkable New Training System That Lets You Peak on Demand;

- The Inner Athlete: Realizing Your Fullest Potential

- The Geoff Thompson series

The Return

2010-05-16T11:31:00.000+08:00

After a lengthy hiatus, we are active once again with regular saturday morning classes. Met Wei Xian and Daniel today - both great guys, one a rookie to Systema and combatives in general, the other already with some Systema and Krav Maga under his belt. An absolute pleasure to work with them both and looking forward to further classes every saturday.

I will also be following up on my blog articles - expect the long-delayed sequel to Reflections on Violence, as well as the article after that, which will explore my frequent exhortation to 'effect a mechanical solution' to a combat encounter.

It's great what a fresh start can do, isn't it?

Systema Training - Beginner Introductory Class

Training Objectives

- Introduction to Systema basics: building structure, basic breathwork, rolling and falling

- Applications of structure in evasion, absorption and power generation versus empty hand and blade

- Psychological implications of bladework in training for empty hand

- Basic step-sparring

Intu-Flow®

Beginner routine x 1

Master routine x 1 (after class)

Warmup and Conditioning

- Slow squat - 30s down and up

- Slow pushup - 30s down and up

- Basic rolling and falling

Structural Drills

- Basic partner pushing drill, progress to passing the wave

- Pushing drill with blade

- Basic structural breaks to takedown

Evasion Drills

- Zombie walk drill with empty hand

- Zombie walk to shadow

- Zombie walk to structural takedown

Slow Sparring

- One-step sparring - defend and counter versus single simple attack, with active use of upper body only

Reflections on Violence, Part 1: Classical Budo as a Mental/Emotional Compensation for Realistic Martial Arts Training

2009-10-17T22:03:00.000+08:00

About a week ago, I was having yet another late-night angst-ridden conversation with an old friend and training partner of mine when the talk turned, as usual, to martial arts and fighting and the impact they have had on both our lives. After having spent over twenty years in the martial arts, we have both noticed that martial artists tend to be troubled, angry people and, lo and behold, we both realised that is exactly what we both are.

So what exactly makes them that way? Is it because the martial arts tend to attract such people in the first place, or does the process change them to become that way? A bit of chicken-and-egg, really.

Before I go on, my friend comes from a colorful background, to say the least - one that involved running with all the wrong sorts of people and more than a few close shaves on the streets. He's long since gone straight, of course, and done very well for himself, but the circumstances that first led him to practice martial arts of his own volition - fending off violent juvenile gangsters as young teenager in school - have always been uppermost in his mind, as have the circumstances that kept him in them for the years I'd known him in school, namely challenge fights and weaponed street brawls as a gangster himself later in his teenage years. A former national athlete as well as a street-tough fighter, he is about as far from the stereotype of a classical budoka as one can get and, for many years, this was the essential dichotomy between us as I had cut my martial teeth on karate - a classical budo - whereas he had started out in muay thai and then moved on to BJJ - both modernised martial arts with only one end in mind.

Yet, on the night of the conversation, he told me he had been giving a lot of thought to how his training and thinking on martial arts and combat has changed his personality, and not necessarily for the better. The fear that had led him to martial arts had sublimated into seething aggression just barely held in check, and apt to blow its lid at the slightest provocation. Considering how my friend works in the investment banking industry, where everyone is rude and aggressive by default, it is definitely causing him a lot of stress. The thought of someone like him carving a trail of carnage through his colleagues did cause me no small amusement (I have no sympathy for most investment bankers), but the thought of him going to jail for it did not.

As anyone who has studied Systema or any other realistic combat system for some time would understand, effective combat training is ultimately a process of psychological remodelling. The most destructive weapon in the world is only as dangerous as the operating system guiding it. Likewise, the most finely-honed body in the world is harmless in a fight if the mind behind it hasn't been trained to guide it rightly in combat. And, unfortunately, as countless studies and observations of individuals and groups - highly-operational military and law enforcement personnel, hardcore gangsters and jailbirds and even refugees - optimised for survival and function in the midst of violence have shown, being optimised for violence all too often leaves one unfit to function and reintegrate into peaceful society. Adaptation to survive violence and fight back entails not only psychological resistance but a willingness to be proactively aggressive - 'getting in your self-defence first', as the saying goes. Enough stimulus to adapt and this can graduate towards an uncontrollable tendency or even a taste for aggression. Without a suitable outlet for this surplus aggression, the individual can very quickly spiral into patterns of self-destruction and become a danger both to themselves and others - incidences of substance abuse, depression, suicide, domestic violence and violent crime among war veterans attest to this, as does the pathological need to engage in violence for its own sake amongst street thugs who have spent long periods of time in violent surroundings.

In Circular Strength Training (CST), the concept of compensation is of prime importance. This principle states that for every training impulse in a given direction, a training impulse must be applied to the functional opposite, and also tension in the primary training dimension must be released, all in the interest of fostering balance and health in the organism under training stress.

A simple physical example would be as follows:

Distance runners, because of their stride technique, tend to be tight and overly-strengthened in their inferior posterior chain, the network of muscles down the back of the body including the gluteals, hamstrings and hind calves and loose and insufficiently strong in the anterior chain, the functional opposite. My sister, who was a cross-country runner in school, had this syndrome with especial severity because her coaches had absolutely no concept of compensatory training and trained to performance only. Plus, as a carefree teenager, she spent her time hanging out with friends and doing absolutely stuff-all from a training perspective during the off-season. As a result, she had severe lower-back stiffness and all the attendant postural deficits arising therefrom. Had she worked, for instance, on the Downward Dog pose of yoga, which is a posterior lengthener and anterior strengthener, it might have gone a long way to alleviating her problems.

Again drawing from CST pedagoguy, the Training Hierarchy Pyramid progresses from General Physical Preparation to Specific Physical Preparation, Skill-Specific Preparation and, at its apex, Mental and Emotional Preparation. At each level of the pyramid, imbalance can occur and compensation must be applied to correct it. And so, just as musculoskeletal imbalances can be compensated for with appropriate training methodology, might not mental and emotional imbalance be likewise addressed?

To draw on a historical example, when the Warring States era ended with the ascension of Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Shogunate of a unified Japan in the mid-17th century, a lot of samurai - career soldiers born into a social class bred for war - found themselves out of work. Those who remained in their old jobs found that their job scope had changed. In a unified country (largely) at peace, practical martial skills came a distant second to skills in administration and the general exercise of sound judgement. Essentially, an entire social class had to find a new reason to exist. No surprise, then, that this was the time of the flowering of classical bushido - the mindful pursuit of any given task at hand with the diligence and discipline required of a martial art, both as an end in themselves as well as way to educate a career warrior with the broad-mindedness and tolerance necessary to administer a country.

Judging by the unity and relative peace Tokugawa-era Japan enjoyed for some 300 years, this method by which wartime soldiers transitioned to peacetime administrators must have had some value. Of course, Tokugawa isolationism played a role also, but that is a story for another time.

This shift of emphasis from simply developing fighting skill to developing character and inner equilibrium through martial arts training enjoyed a second renaissance during the late 1800s and early 1900s, during which it became known as classical budo. For the purposes of this discussion, I will use the two terms - bushido and budo - interchangeably.

So now that we have established that those who train for violence require a moderating influence to keep from destroying themselves emotionally, what practical steps can be taken in this regard? Good question. Tune in for the next installment of this article, in which I will discuss concrete methods by which the astute student of combat can ameliorate the potentially destructive effects of a psyche overdeveloped for violence.

Train smart, train hard.

Saturday Morning Systema goes live

2009-10-10T23:52:00.000+08:00

Our YouTube Channel

Today's Group Training

Good work all round this morning, despite the inclement weather. I borrowed a HD camera to take videos of the class, but ran out of memory about three-quarters of the way through. Today's focus was on increasing progression of striking work to actual melee, plus the beginning of the standup grappling series. Lots of emphasis on structure versus muscle, plus flowing around resistance for escape and counter purposes. We're all still a little rough about the edges, but significant progress has been made since last week.

Saturday morning Systema

2009-10-03T17:43:00.000+08:00

Saturday Morning - Iteration Two

Good training all round today. Randell brought down his Australian friend Paul, who comes from a pretty interesting background of both formal combat sport and family tradition, by which I mean bareknuckle pugilism as well as all-out street brawling. Good to know some folks out there are keeping the old ways alive ;-)

Training itself focused on the basics, as may be noted from my log, and everyone did good, honest work while keeping things light, lively and very funny, which is how a session should always be.

Great work, all of you. Let's keep the momentum going.

Prasara Day

2009-09-28T21:21:00.000+08:00

Somnolent Prasara

I really have to discipline myself to get more sleep in. Glamorous as being overworked, underpaid and thoroughly unrested may be in this part of the world, there really isn't anything glamorous or smart or healthy about it.

Today's training - slaying the ego

2009-09-25T19:28:00.001+08:00

TacFit Charlie

TacFit Bravo

2009-09-25T00:19:00.001+08:00

TacFit Bravo

Training for strength

2009-09-23T22:00:00.000+08:00

Cycle Day #10 - Strength Supersets

As a young man struggling to escape the fate of being the stereotypical fat kid for eternity, I was obssessed with being bigger, stronger, faster and better than everybody else. Over the years, my obssession with being bigger has faded, particularly in the light of the injuries I lug around, but I am certainly still obssessed - moreso than ever before - with being stronger, faster and - in the light of CST - especially better. Stronger and faster can always be beat if they are taken out of context, but better is always just, simply, better.

That said, my experiences in strength and conditioning have taught me that everything builds from a base of strength. Without sufficient general preparation in strength, many levels and modalities of training are simply inaccessible. Strength breaks plateaus and gives access to new heights of training. Hence my devoting at least one day each week to heavy strength overload training. And hence also my frustration at my current slowness to regain levels of strength that I had previously possessed.

That said, this is nothing new. I have faced this sort of thing before and I *will* overcome it. Failure is not an option.

Training diary - day #9

2009-09-21T17:03:00.000+08:00

My latest training log

Since I have this thing going, I might as well post daily updates to my training log on the RMAX forums. Today was a low-intensity day, hence Prasara yoga.

Humble Beginnings

2009-09-20T21:21:00.000+08:00

The main website is up in principle. And by that, I mean it is a shambling patchwork mess of bad, Microsoft Word-assembled HTML that gives browsers nervous breakdowns. Still, it's a start. Very much a work-in-progress.