Starting Friday evening, 31 March 2006, and until Sunday afternoon, 2 April 2006, I was fortunate to attend the Systema seminar for Law Enforcement in Blue Springs, Missouri. In case you are not familiar with the area, Blue Springs is a suburb of and just east of Kansas City, Missouri. Strategos, Intl hosted the event and Mr. Vladimir Vasiliev was our instructor.
Let me just make a couple of disclaimers before I begin. First, despite the title of the seminar, our friends at Strategos indicated that it was open to all whether law enforcement professionals or not. The work was generally tailored to law enforcement requirements but the principles can be applied to non-law enforcement needs as well.
As with so much in Systema, it was sometimes difficult to distinguish an exercise from a drill so I do not attempt to make a clear distinction here. Also, though I had hoped to take more extensive notes and to get more photos to go along with it, I found myself instead getting so involved in the next drill that I did not stop and so most of the notes are from the afternoons as muscle fatigue led and much of the mornings were rusty in my memory. This is, in no way, a comprehensive list of all we did. I hope others will be able to fill in where my memory fails.
I will be adding a lot of these drills to my Systema Review web pages, though perhaps in a step-by-step rather than descriptive form. Most will probably fit best under the movement drills category there.
The Friday evening class was led by Mr. Sonny Puzikas assisted by the seminar host, Mr. Ken Good. Ken Good is the president at Strategos and a gifted martial artist and teacher. Sonny Puzikas is an associate of Ken's and also a gifted artist and teacher and the founder/chief instructor at The Russian Combat Academy in Sarasota, Florida. We began at 18:30 and worked until about 21:00 that evening at Ultimate Martial Arts in Blue Springs.
Unfortunately, my notes were least verbose from Friday so a good deal was lost to my fleeting memory I'm afraid. But, I manage enough notes to remember a few things that I think were quite helpful and that set us up for the next two days. I hope you can find these useful in your training groups. I just made up some names for the various drills just to give them a "handle" for discussion. Some may have other names for them that are better established than my names so feel free to correct me if something seems confusing.
We began with an easy walk around the room, turning at random and mingling in the crowd. When Sonny would clap, we were to drop to the floor as quickly and flat as possible. It was a simple drill but I think it got us into the basics of breathing and feeling the motion of others around us in the crowd. It got us more comfortable with the close quarters work involved with Systema as well. At one point, Sonny told us all to close our eyes as we walked about and then fall when we heard the clap. It really worked on that fear of falling that all of us have.
Anyone who knows Sonny knows there will be pushups involved when he is leading. These, along with the drills that followed, gave us a better sense of movement and fluidity. You begin with a slow pushup but on the way down twist one leg over the back and touch the floor on the opposite side of your body with your foot. Attempt to make your leg swing over your back at the same speed you are doing the pushup so that your foot and body reach the floor at the same time.
Lift your legs slightly off the floor and hold. After a few minutes, act as though you're walking swinging your legs without letting them hit the ground. Then, after a time, switch to crossing and uncrossing your legs in air. This seemed to be one of many exercises to come that concentrated in lower body strength.
We began by doing a pushup and when we came to the floor we'd lie flat then attempt to roll forward without pushing off with our legs. I have tried these many times with little success but the trick seems to be curling one shoulder under your chest and exhaling to provide the momentum from relaxation. After rolling forward and ending our our backs, we would attempt to roll backward the same way.
This is a drill with two partners. One attempts to slap and the other attempts to evade getting hit. Sonny made it clear that if we were doing the drill correctly, we should all hear a lot of smacks from people unable to evade every time. I had the chance to work with Mr. Kwan Lee, the chief instructor from Russian Martial Art, Arizona. I think Kwan might have taken Sonny too seriously and slapped this old man all over the mat. After a bit he gave me some help understanding how to evade and I did better. One thing that was especially helpful was learning to move my legs and to squat back on one leg to lean back without having to move every time. The burn in my legs gave me a greater appreciation for squats and leg lifts. Kwan is a great instructor and I felt fortunate to have even a few minutes of his time. He was very patient with my slow reaction and worked with me to help me see how I can improve it. Working with such talent would be a theme of the weekend.
This is the basic drill of your partner attempting to make a grab while you evade his attempts. At first we started without using our hands, we just had to evade without pushing him away. The idea is to evade without losing your form so it meant squatting a lot when your partner attempts to get a grab/hold on your head or neck. I was rather slow in this one but we did the same drill Saturday and I could sense an improvement in that one day.
Mr. Vasiliev began the class at 1100 and ended around 1600 with a short break about halfway between. Saturday and Sunday sessions were both held at Blue Springs High School in the wrestling gym.
We each got a partner and Vlad had one do pushups on the back of the other. We were instructed to put as much body-weight into our partner as possible as we moved our hands to move all about our partner's back. Doing the pushups was easy compared to taking the pushup in a sense. But, taking the pushup was relaxing after a bit and when I got up I felt wide awake and refreshed and lose for movement.
We did standard pushups but with breathing and pausing at challenging positions as Vlad gave us instruction. Sometimes we would inhale going down then exhale going up then switch it. Then we did 10 with an inhale and 10 after an exhale.
You partner lies on the floor face down. You walk around him until you hear Vlad's clap then drop beside your partner and hide as flat as possible behind him. Progress the drill to cover - land on top of - your partner. With this drill we were learning to move around another person and adjust our body position with theirs.
Make a circle of 4 or more and one in the middle. Start by gently pushing the middle person back and forth inside the circle attempting to push him where he has tension. The circle partners learn to sense tension and the middle person learns to identify it and relax while moving. Progress the drill to strikes, not hard but just learning to place them where you can find tension. The strikes should be just enough to move or stop the person being hit. The circle also learns to control with pushing or striking another moving person and to learn to receive their momentum and turn it into reversing their direction with strikes and pushes.
The purpose of this drill was to get used to working closer gradually and to learn to place rather than just throw strikes. The two partners stand apart. They begin to walk toward each other and each places a strike on the other as they pass. You should get comfortable with doing this without having to reach or break your form to do it while moving. I realized an additional benefit in that it helps with your timing when attempting to hit a moving target. The drill progresses so that with each pass you place 2 strikes, then 3 and so on up to 15. After 15 strikes per pass, we counted back down to one.
Five to 7 line up and first in line turns to face others. Each in line approaches the first and places a strike while the first moves with it and away from the impact. After placing the strike, go to the end of the line and next time place two strikes and so on to about 5 strikes then person taking goes to end of the line and second person in the line takes his spot. The receiver learns to move away from the strikes while the strikers learn to place strikes on a moving target.
I do not remember if this was on Saturday or Sunday but it is similar enough to the previous drill to put it here and make it easier to explain. Line up just as in the Line Approach Striking with first partner facing all the others in a line. The second partner begins to place strikes on the first while circling the first. The others in the line place strikes on the back of and follow the person in front of them. The second person (striking the first) should make a very slow circle or the whipping around of the end of the line will lose the last partner in the line. This one is great for getting used to moving and striking at the same time while receiving strikes from other directions. After 2 complete circles, change to the second partner facing and the first goes to the end of the line.
One partner approaches a second and attempts to place a strike. The receiving partner uses strikes as he moves out of the way to redirect and control the attacker. This helps to learn how to move, receive, and place strikes all at the same time.
One partner pushes on second and second gives to the movement and uses it to redirect the attacker's movement. Some of us have used the term "puppet drill" for this kind of drill.
One partner on the ground sitting or lying down as he wishes. Second partner circles watching for an opening and ready to strike as quickly as possible. On the leader's clap, the standing partner attempts to kick the one on the ground. The one on the ground attempts to avoid the attack. This one is good for the person on the ground to learn to react quickly while being relaxed enough to move freely away from an attack. The one standing learns the quick reaction and attacking from odd positions when he may not be ready or perfectly set up to kick.
One partner attempts to grab second. The second starts by simply evading with movement away from the stress of the grab but then progresses to using strikes to stop or redirect the grabber. Take it slow so that you can see how the movements work. If you get grabbed, try not to fall into the trap of struggling to break free with strength - instead try to think about where you feel the pressure and where you feel a way out of the hold. After you are comfortable using strikes to turn the grabber, try turning him in such a way to set him up for a takedown and then take him to the ground. Strike, push, pull or whatever to learn his movement and set him up - just go slow to capture the concept of how your movement can work with his momentum.
Now add a limitation on yourself where you can only use one hand to stop/redirect/takedown the attacker.
After each partner has a chance to be grabber, add a third partner and now work against two attackers in the same way. Learn how to redirect on into the other in a way that you can tangle their limbs and take them down together or use one to block or trip the other. Also learn to move with the pressure instead of just by sight so that attacks from behind can be more easily avoided as well.
Mr. Vasiliev began the class at 1000 and ended at 1500 with a short break about half way between. During the mid break, we gathered by one wall for a group photo.
I must admit, this was the most welcome drill at this point with my muscles a bit sore from the two earlier sessions. Lie on your backs and breathe as instructed by the instructor - in through the nose, out through the mouth. When the instructor says inhale, do so, when he says nothing, hold it. After a few minutes of this, tense your entire body with the inhale then relax with the exhale. Then tense one part - legs, chest, stomach, back, and so on. Try tense on exhale and relax on inhale. Try tensing your left side with inhale and your right side on exhale. Try not to fall asleep - oops.
We got into groups of 3 or 4. My group was toward the back of the room at the time and were not sure that we got the directions clear so this may not be what everybody else did but... One would do a pushup of some kind then each in the circle would do the same kind of pushup one at a time and the next person in the circle would start us with a different pushup. One did a traditional pushup, one did the one hand back and to the side and the other out toward the front, and so on.
Do situps and pushups so that you exhale on the way down and inhale on the way up, then reverse.
Three partners gather with their backs against one another. All squat to the ground and sit down together then get back up. The secret seems to be first, have strong legs and second, to push back against the backs of your partners and trust that they are not going to move. But it teaches a sensing of another person against you and matching their movement.
Three partners line up side by side. The middle partner is facing opposite the two outer partners. Link arms and squat and lie down together first so that the middle partner ends on his front then back up together and down again so that the middle partner is on his back. Again, it is learning to move with the movement of others.
Three or more link arms facing each other in a circle. All squat together to sit flat then roll as a group. This one is a lot of fun but on that hard floor it was painful when it was your turn for the bottom. It also taught us learning to move with the movement of others.
Line up in groups of 3 or 4 and link arms. Do a squat and sit down together then get back up. Control breathing to go down on inhale and up on exhale then reverse the breathing.
Gather in groups of three. Two partners stand beside each other or one behind the other or in any way relatively close together. The third partner uses their limbs to tangle them together and take them down together and pin them so that neither can escape. Start out by wrapping the arm of one around the neck of the second to pull them down together. Try different things like turning their heads in a way that make them fall together in a pile or pushing the knee of one into the knee of the other to make them collapse together. Great drill for learning to subdue multiple opponents by using their own movements against them.
In a group of 3, two will be partners and try to take down the third - call him "badguy". Learn to work as a team by first signalling each other when to move and one partner pass the hand of the badguy across to this partner to twist the badguy in on his own center of gravity to afford an easy takedown. Each partner should end the takedown with some sort of pin to subdue "badguy." One should lift one arm over his head palm down and press his knee on a pressure point in that arm. Perhaps the second can put the other arm in a goose-neck wrist lock. At first, badguy should let the partners practice the movement slowly but after a bit he should try to resist and evade - but go slow to learn the movement.
Three partners. Two are pressing against each other in mock fight. Third uses their tension to take them down together either using the momentum at the beginning of an attack or redirecting them to knock each other down with their own discoordinated movement. Use their limbs to tangle when the option presents itself. Learn to recognize and exploit opportunities in their tension with strikes or redirection of movement. There were several drills very similar to this some had the fighting pair locked in a wrestling hold and some involved one running at and attempting to attack the other.
Somewhat of a variation on the previous but in this case you want to stop the fight by keeping the fighters separated. You step in between them and back up against one to move him back. When the other begins to follow, turn around and back into him to push him back and so on keeping them too far apart to fight.
Two partner drill with attacker having a training knife. At first, start with contact where attacker is allowed to put the knife into contact. Learn to move away from the knife pressure and use the side of the blade to form a lever. Try not to get locked into the mindset that you have to disarm but instead try to redirect the point back at the attacker so that he stabs himself. Experiment by using strikes to redirect or disarm the attacker. Progress drill so that the attacker is not in contact but in the midst of the attack - redirect and control his attack with strikes and attempt again to redirect the attacker back on himself. Takedown when the opportunity is presented and disarm when not redirecting back on the attacker.
Work in groups of three, two working against a badguy with a knife. Disarm or redirect him to attack himself as before but now coordinating with your partner. Keep it slow to learn the movement and coordination of movement.
Gather in threes on the ground. One has a knife and is the bad guy that has to be disarmed by the two partners. When disarmed, the one holding the knife changes his alliance and becomes the bad guy must be disarmed. Again, learning to coordinate with a partner and learn to deal with a rapidly changing situation from differing positions.
One partner has a training gun in its holster or in his belt. Second partner attempts to grab the weapon and first denies him by moving away from and avoiding or deflecting the grab. At first, just move. Then progress to use strikes to stop the grabber or even take him down and subdue him. This is easily adapted from the common Systema drill of evading a wrist grab.
Progress drill where "officer" is holding the weapon ready to fire and badguy attempts to grab. At first, use small circles to evade the grab. Then allow him to make the grab but as he pulls to try and take it away, just follow his movement so he has nothing on which to grab. Watch for your opportunity to redirect the weapon to point back at him or to use the weapon as a club or scratch him with the site or butt of the weapon.
Toward the end of the day Mr. Vasiliev demonstrated how to work with a shield. Please excuse my ignorance on this subject but from what I understand there are a couple of different kinds of shields. The one he demonstrated was a shorter version and not the tall shield often seen in crowd control. Mr. Kwan Lee was the lucky recipient of the demonstration and we all could see from his pain how effective the work was. I will not even attempt to describe it but it occurred to me that the shield is not just a blocking defensive weapon but really a tool for deadly offense in the right hands.
After the shield work, we broke up into several groups of varying size and Mr. Vasiliev walked around the groups and answered questions with demonstrations to the different groups. I wandered around a bit and found a group where a bunch were huddled around Mr. Lee and the shield. Ken Good came over and gave some more descriptions of shield work which included a lot of interesting twists.
Of course, thanks have to go out to Vlad and the other instructors that helped out. Thanks to Ken and Strategos for hosting the event. And thanks to all the LEOs I had the opportunity to work with - you guys are a credit to your profession.
