BUT STILL?

The systema, through its practice regular and through breathing exercises
and physical as well as techniques of " internal relaxation » who will teach you to:

WHEN YOU START: 

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These benefits will allow you to :

– Going far beyond the framework of simple physical confrontation

– Will prove useful in your daily life

 » THE HISTORY OF SYSTEMA & TRAINING IN TORONTO « 

https://russianmartialart.com

Martin Wheeler

http://wheelersystema.com/

**Why Systema?**

Over the past few years, I've read with interest the online debates about the validity of Systema training, often from observers who have only seen experts in the art on YouTube or in videos. Comparisons are usually made to the more visual martial arts, such as mixed martial arts (MMA). The same types of questions come up again and again: "Why do they train slowly? Why does it look so easy? Why did that man fall and seem unable to get up?"

And I read with equal interest the various ways in which this art is defended by Systema practitioners. Not that these questions aren't valid—they certainly are—but I rarely hear these same questions in seminars, classes, or sparring sessions, regardless of the participants' background or the speed at which they work.

To restore balance, I began martial arts at a young age and have studied in many full-contact environments, from boxing systems to grappling systems, including smart weapon-based arts and street arts. I have enjoyed sparring, fighting, and training for the past thirty years with everyone I have encountered, from beginners to world-class full-contact fighters. I was a bouncer for ten years and am currently engaged to share my insights on close-quarters combat with elite security professionals around the world, as well as MMA fighters, Systema practitioners, traditional martial artists, and civilians.

So why, if I've studied all these other full-contact systems with relative success, would I choose Systema?

For me, the answer is simple. It's because I tried it. I'm just one of those who brought whatever they had in their little bag of tricks to test Vladimir Vasiliev, or, heaven forbid, Mikhail Ryabko, when we first met. And I've never yet seen anyone come away from that experience the same way I did—confused, in pain, but with a deep understanding that something fundamental had changed.

Simply put, there's a lot more going on with Systema than meets the eye. And if that weren't the case, if you could really understand what's going on by watching it on YouTube, then it wouldn't be a very good Systema.

Mixed martial arts is dramatic, fast-paced, and stunningly visual. It's the best method for two pugilistic grapplers since the gladiators of ancient Rome. You can see what's happening, and the results are obvious. They feature some of the best-conditioned and most versatile athletes.

I love watching them, I love training with them, and I always enjoy working with anyone from that background. And in my opinion, anyone who trains in MMA, even halfway decent, male or female, should be taken very seriously.

So you ask me: Well, if Systema is so good, why isn't it in the UFC? And I think that's a great question.

But I might ask: Well, if the UFC was so good, why don't they throw a knife in the cage?

As unrealistic as it may seem, perhaps you understand my point? The dynamics of a fight would change immediately if a knife were actually thrown into the cage. You would see two highly trained fighters having to immediately adapt to a completely new set of rules or die almost instantly.

I think everyone would agree that receiving jabs from an experienced fighter, probably the least lethal punching attack in MMA, is unpleasant, but relatively pleasant compared to a single knife wound.

When I first trained with Vladimir, he stopped me in the middle of a sparring session and said in his inimitable way, "Martin, I know men you'd tear to pieces in the ring." Of course, stupid and beaming with pride, I thought he was complimenting me, until he turned away to attend to another student and added flatly... "But they'd kill you."

And here's the rub. Nearly every visible strategy, philosophy, and move that's great in an MMA sports environment is useful on the street and even on the battlefield. But only useful. While everything in Systema is deliberately designed for the latter environments, it's not visual, and has proven effective in those arenas as much as MMA has in the cage. The structure of Systema is intentionally designed to appear structureless, and the speed of the action, while appearing slow to the eye, is actually highly developed relational timing, deceptive due to the calmness of the Systema practitioner.

Recently, I was invited to introduce the Systema concept to a special operations unit overseas. While there, I was shown a video of various instructors invited to train their operators and showcase what they had to offer. Among them was an MMA coach from Pride. I asked what they thought of his training. "Excellent," said the Colonel, "but for us, practically useless."

This is in no way a criticism of Pride's coach; he was obviously excellent. But the fact remains that what's good in one arena isn't necessarily good in another. Systema isn't designed primarily for a sporting environment or a sporting mentality, any more than MMA is designed primarily for a battlefield environment or a fighting mentality.

You could train for twenty years in jujitsu, for example, and be an incredible grappler. But if you introduce just one more opponent into the fight, you won't be doing jujitsu anymore. It's simply not designed to effectively fight two opponents at the same time, even on the ground. It's primarily structured to fight one opponent at a time.

I'm not saying the jujitsu fighter wouldn't prevail, I'm simply suggesting that if he had to fight two or more possibly armed opponents at the same time on a daily basis, then his training might soon begin to resemble, at least from the outside, Systema. And armed with this knowledge, the way he would work against a single opponent would also change dramatically. After ten years or more, it would look as foreign to another jujitsu practitioner observing him from the outside as Systema does now after centuries of refinement.

Systema, as a martial art, in the form it exists now, is primarily designed for real-life application. It works in unpredictable situations (such as multiple opponents, various weapons, uneven terrain, low light, confined spaces, etc.) for professionals in the military, law enforcement, and security, for someone who must fight while injured or must protect a woman or child, for someone who is older or in poor physical condition. Systema training and fighting are designed to prevent injury and even heal old injuries. And it requires a very different bag of tricks, look, and feel than a sport fighting art.

As Vladimir once remarked with that deep, relaxed calm: "Systema is just a martial art." And to understand this gem, one cannot simply observe it from the outside...

*Article by Martin Wheeler of The Academy Beverly Hills*