Systema Saturday

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