tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81591600817168683882024-02-18T22:43:35.550-08:00Systema Russian Martial Art SwedenSpyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-36379998382931133392011-04-30T03:36:00.000-07:002011-04-30T03:50:41.672-07:00Time to move on (to a new blog).<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Systema Sweden blog has more or less been a way for me to document and communicate the results of my exploration of martial art (both teaching and practice) and my geeky obsession with subjects such as sports science, bio-mechanics for sports, teaching motor skills, and the Alexander Technique, during the period 2008-2010. The fruit of my exploration and studies led me to gradually distance my self from representing a specific brand of Russian martial art activity and to the founding of the Göteborg Dynamo Club, which is nothing more than a vessel that will facilitate the research of combat and combat training in an open-ended and non culturally biased manner.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I find the activity of writing rather enjoyable but extremely rewarding, since it helps me put my thoughts into order, so all-in-all, the Systema Sweden blog was both interesting and fun for me. I hope that reading it was productive and insightful for you. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am going to continue my writing in the <a href="http://www.dynamoclub.se/">Dynamo Club blog</a>, so feel free to visit - I will be more than happy to exchange ideas!</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spyridon V. Katsigiannis</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjInu2XGMjbPk_Pop7FQWNGgNU0EJsCzYuTtQlsQMm9A36LjMxFzXl1yIkCDzhOIdjka-TAstHHerDxUj7xT61EjdCAFtZGlM42KuFhR4r_FRAAqcJoYiYthhgLgYb2-E_vDGI8ow-vxfY/s1600/DynamoClubRMAfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjInu2XGMjbPk_Pop7FQWNGgNU0EJsCzYuTtQlsQMm9A36LjMxFzXl1yIkCDzhOIdjka-TAstHHerDxUj7xT61EjdCAFtZGlM42KuFhR4r_FRAAqcJoYiYthhgLgYb2-E_vDGI8ow-vxfY/s200/DynamoClubRMAfinal.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div></div>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-51761878295470388052010-11-28T11:13:00.000-08:002010-12-02T04:40:46.181-08:00How to become a martial arts master!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>SV</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> <w:cachedcolbalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Helvetica-Oblique; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" lang="EN-US">OK, let me start this blog post by telling you something you might not know: if you're into martial arts and you're following a specific training program for more than few months [1], what you're after is a form of expertise. Even if you have never dreamed of becoming the king of the ring, the mat or the octagon, even if you only want to learn how to protect yourself, or aspire to gain better control and awareness of your body, your goal is, in a way or another, superior performance, so... expertise it is! People are somewhat afraid to use this word in connection to their personal goals, because they seem to think that expertise is the realm of the naturally talented, a do-not-enter zone reserved exclusively for the Michael Jordans, the Mohamed Alis, the Bobby Fischers and the Tiger Woods’ of this world, the ones also known as the “naturally gifted”. </span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Well, I personally find the idea of any type of expertise quite fascinating and for the past year I’ve read a few books on the </span><span style="" lang="EN-US">subject, most of them easy-to-read popularized science best sellers plus one quite stiff university textbook. From the stuff I’ve read, one thing you might find interesting is that scientists a) considerably disagree on a technical definition of what giftedness is (except for physical characteristics, such as height, body type or muscle composition) and on the methods by which it can be measured and b) have, after considerable research, all but abandoned the idea that innate giftedness and talent can fully account for expert performance. The two prominent scientific views on the subject of expertise today are the “nurturist” perspective (claiming that expertise is obtainable by virtually anyone, and expert performance, irrespective of innate ‘talent’ will inevitably emerge through an extended period of ‘deliberate practice’, typically either 10 years or 10.000 hours) and the “interactionist” approach that attributes expertise to a combination of </span><span style="" lang="EN-US">environmental factors AND an extended period of deliberate practice. In a few words, the Michael Jordans, Mohamed Alis etc of this world became the greatest either because they simply practiced too much or because they had some talent and realized its potential by, once again, practicing too much [2].</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">We cannot of course rule out the possibility that scientists might someday get to prove that innate giftedness can exclusively account for expert performance, but for now, I’d rather bet my money on the 10.000 hours of deliberate practice. Now, I hope you noticed, both now and earlier, the adjective “deliberate” before the noun “practice”. Yes, I am sorry to say, it is quite true that not all practice makes perfect, or as psychologist K. Anders Ericsson puts it, living in a cave does not make you a geologist. You need much more than just going through the movements for ten years in order to play with the big boys, whatever your choice of field (music, dance, sports, sciences etc). So, what is deliberate practice? Once again according to Ericsson, “<i style="">i</i></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">t entails considerable, specific, and sustained efforts to do something you </span></i><i><span style="" lang="EN-US">can’t </span></i><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">do well—or even at all. Research across domains shows that it is only by working at what you can’t do, that you turn into the expert you want to become</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US">” [3]. Doesn’t sound like much fun, huh?<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjeCJ_nremKxJ2ImwLKNxPl0WsM-i16SGsrCt-SqMmR4SZ71nP1t6x42pYnpqWBShhZ3gZFYoP8tfHTyEvo_H9M_0wk262nbOBsVhW_ijIZjl19dT3h1JAR6sOT6eUnOKO71rRIwh2Kc/s1600/talent-books-cover.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjeCJ_nremKxJ2ImwLKNxPl0WsM-i16SGsrCt-SqMmR4SZ71nP1t6x42pYnpqWBShhZ3gZFYoP8tfHTyEvo_H9M_0wk262nbOBsVhW_ijIZjl19dT3h1JAR6sOT6eUnOKO71rRIwh2Kc/s320/talent-books-cover.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546059438538772114" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EN-US">In order to give an example of what deliberate practice is people who write on the subject of e</span><span style="" lang="EN-US">xpertise – scientists and journalists alike – very often use the example of Benjamin Franklin and how he became the extraordinary writer he was. That is exactly what I will do right now – the following excerpt comes from the book <i style="">Talent is Overrated</i>, by Geoff Colvin, a well-respected American journalist. I guess the European readers of this blog will not know much about Benjamin Franklin, just like I did before I read the afore-mentioned book, and I hope they will find the story as fascinating as I did. My American readers most probably have studied the work of “America’s first great man of letters” in school, so I’ll just ask them to bear with me, because after the excerpt I’d like to make a few comments on how we can benefit from Franklin’s example to make our training in martial arts more substantial. Anyway, here’s the excerpt: “<i style="">As a teenager, Franklin seemed to think he wrote well enough, but then one day his father found an exchange of letters between Ben and a friend, John Collins, arguing a point back and forth. […] Ben’s father first told his son what was good about his letters; they were better than Collins’s in spelling and punctuation. Then he told him and showed him specifically how they were inferior: ‘</i>in elegance of expression, in method and in perspicuity, of which he convinced me by several instances’<i style="">, as Franklin recalled. […]</i></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Ben responded to his father’s observations in many ways. First he found examples of prose clearly superior to anything he could produce, a bound volume of the </span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US">Spectator<i style="">, the great English periodical written by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Any of us might have done something similar. But Franklin then embarked on a remarkable program that few of us would ever have thought of. </i></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">It began with his reading a </span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US">Spectator<i style=""> article and making brief notes on the meaning of each sentence; a few days later he would take up the notes and try to express the meaning of each sentence in his own words. When done, he compared his essay with the original, ‘</i>discovered some of my faults and corrected them<i style="">’.</i></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">One of the faults he noticed was his poor vocabulary. What could he do about that? He realized that writing poetry required and extensive ‘</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US">stock of words<i style="">’ because he might need to express any given meaning in many different ways depending on the demands of rhyme or meter. So he would rewrite </i>Spectator<i style=""> essays in verse. Then, after he had forgotten them, he would take his versified essays, and rewrite them in prose, again comparing his efforts with the original. </i></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Franklin realized also that a key element of a good essay is its organization, so he developed a method to work on that. He would again make short notes on each sentence in an essay, but would write each note on a separate slip of paper. He would then mix up the notes and set them aside for weeks, until he had forgotten the essay. At that point he would try to put the notes in their correct order, attempt to write the essay, and then compare it with the original. Again, he ‘</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US">discovered many faults and amended them<i style="">’”</i> [4]<i style="">.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMJ035lHp-c?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMJ035lHp-c?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Video: I believe we can all agree that this person here must have practiced his juggling in general and this routine specifically for a significant amount of time. It seems to me that learning how to manipulate a human body that - unlike those three little balls - is resisting, might requite even more training,. What do you think?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">So, here’s the outline of a deliberate practice program for you, and I believe there is no doubt that the program was successful. But how does Ben Franklin’s method relate to martial arts training? As I was reading the above text, some thoughts came to my mind, and I would like to share them, so here they are:</span></p><br /><ol style="font-family: arial;"><li><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" ></span></span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" lang="EN-US">Franklin taught himself to become a great writer, which basically means he assumed the full responsibility for his practice. He did not search for the ultimate method or some master teacher who possessed ancient secret knowledge on writing, and demanded eternal devotion from his disciples in order to share it. It is my belief that it is the same with martial art: all we need to know is either inside us or out there, hidden in plain sight. All we need to do is work hard enough to bring it to surface and eventually master it. The people whose help we need in order to make our struggle more focused are mentors and coaches, but certainly not “Masters”.</span></li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" ></span></span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US">In order to become a great writer, Franklin had already learned the basics of writing in school: the alphabet, a limited vocabulary, the rules of grammar and syntax. Unfortunately, nowadays schools, society and the modern way of life do not provide students with the basics of movement, in order for them to learn how to perform the actions found in martial art. But if your quality of movement is not good, then your actions will always be lacking (speed, power, coordination etc), so, if you are a martial artist, unless you’re very athletic, you are starting your study with a disadvantage. Train generic movement first, until it becomes fluent and effortless. <i style="">After achieving a good grasp of basics</i>, you need to continuously search for what good movement (martial or other) looks and feels like. Following one system religiously doesn’t quite cut it – it leads to a cultish mentality (the way “we” do it versus the way “they” do it) which makes you blind to a wealth of information that your art or system may not provide but you could absorb otherwise. It doesn’t really matter if you just want to become a Specnaz killing machine – you might find treasures of information on good footwork or power generation (and why yours isn’t so good) by studying the movement of Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, masters of Aikido, MMA or boxing champions, salsa dancers and contact improvisers. </span></li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" ></span></span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US">With the <i style="">Spectator</i> essays as a measuring stick, Franklin had a pretty good idea of what good writing was, i.e. he had a rough template of his goal, in order to compare his work to a standard and assess his weaknesses. How will you get to know what your weaknesses are? As a martial artist who is training in a specific style, first make sure that you understand the dogma, strategies and tactics of your art (the big picture, that is) [5] and then, for each and every drill you practice find out how it is serving the greater scheme of things. Do you drill in pushing people with your fists? Are you performing rolls on a hard floor? Make sure you know the reason why! Only then you will understand if you are practicing the drills correctly and you will be <i style="">able to assess and coach yourself</i>. Your instructor must provide this information in specific, easy-to-understand terms – if he does not, it means that either he does not know or he does not want to disclose this information to you. In both cases, a mentor who does not help you learn how to coach yourself is not a good mentor.</span></li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Franklin did not progress from a mediocre to an exceptional writer overnight. He took the time he needed. It is obvious that becoming an expert takes time and it is not something for the faint-of-heart. 10.000 hours of training is a prerequisite if you aspire to become a world-level martial artist. You can probably become a good instructor at somewhere around 5.000-6.000 hours of training and a decent practitioner at about 3.000 hours. If you are looking for additional short-cuts, there aren’t any. What I would suggest is that you start keeping a training log –today - so that you know where you are at every moment in relation to your goals. You might complain that you are way too busy to practice for so many hours. Well… tough luck. Ben Franklin managed his personal project while having a job that left him little free time – he practiced in the morning before work, at night after work, and during the weekends. But here’s some good news for you: you don’t always have to train with a partner or at a martial arts club, so you can fit part of your training to what your otherwise busy schedule allows you. Solo training can be very productive, as has been proven by Jerry Rice, probably the greatest American football player and definitely the hardest worker in the history of the sport. Rice’s legendary practice sessions included very little actual football playing and tons of strength, speed, and agility work that gave him a distinct advantage over his opponents [6]. </span></li></ol><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aWhTXlwYczI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aWhTXlwYczI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Video: There he is - the coolest guy in the world! Does he look like he learned his moves from some "grand master"? Yeah, especially the one he's doing at 1:40:-) And FYI, this guy has got a day job. Check his Youtube channel for the video where he explains that. Where does he find the time to practice? </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;" lang="EN-US">Well, now you have a rough picture of what it takes. If you have any thoughts to share on the idea of acquiring expertise through deliberate practice, I would be happy to hear them. Otherwise, go make a Ben Franklin out of yourself…</span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Notes and references:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[1] There is also the category of people who take up martial arts in order to learn “a few easy-to-learn, effective” techniques in order to defend themselves. I believe the military paradigm has shown that this is indeed possible and can be achieved in about 50 hours of training. After that, all the students need to do is occasionally refresh the basic tactics they’ve learned, in order to retain most of the skills acquired. This type of training is primarily tailored to the needs for efficiency of the army as an organism and not to the learning capacity of the students – a great number of recruits have to go through basic training in as short an amount of time as possible, so the idea of them becoming experts is in this case inapplicable. In this sense, the idea of civilians training in “military combat systems” for year after year (and getting graded with belts or levels) seems rather absurd.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[2]Starkes, Janet L., Ericcson, Anders K. (Editors). <i style="">Expert Performance in Sports</i>. Human Kinetics, 2003. p. 26 – 27.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[3] <span class="citation">Ericsson, Anders K.; Prietula, Michael J.; Cokely, Edward T. (2007). </span></span><span class="citation"><a href="http://www.coachingmanagement.nl/The%20Making%20of%20an%20Expert.pdf"><span style="" lang="EN-US">"The Making of an Expert"</span></a></span><span class="citation"><span style="" lang="EN-US">. </span><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Business_Review" title="Harvard Business Review"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Harvard Business Review</span></a></i></span><span class="citation"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> (July–August 2007)</span></span><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US">. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[4] Colvin, G. <i style="">Talent is Overrated.</i> Portfolio, 2008. p. 105.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[5] I recently read in some online forum an instructor claiming that having a strategy and tactics goes against the principles of his art. This claim is absolutely absurd and probably the result of ignorance. The principles of any art (the “how”) are born out of the strategies, i.e. the ways this art chooses to address the problems of combat (the “because”). If there is no “because” there cannot be any type of “how”.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="printonly"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[6] Colvin, G. <i style="">Talent is Overrated.</i> Portfolio, 2008. p. 52 – 56. </span></span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US"></span></p>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-8366774447162003182010-11-11T04:27:00.000-08:002010-11-12T03:04:11.219-08:00Will the real Russian Martial Art please stand up?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>SV</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> <w:cachedcolbalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Well, it’s been quite some time since I last posted something on my blog, so I thought I’d make a comeback with this Q&A-type article on the subject of my understanding and perception of Russian Martial Art, and the way we practice it at the Göteborgs Dynamo Club. Please keep in mind that the views expressed below are to a degree personal, but also the result of my research on the work of various instructors from <i style="">different styles of RMA</i>, some of whom I have had the opportunity to personally meet, train, and exchange views with.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">What is Russian Martial Art?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Contemporary Russian Martial Art is the old Slavic combat skills and training methods coming from as far back as the 10<sup>th</sup> century, that were systematized during the second half of the twentieth century, through the influence of Soviet scientific research in the field of human biomechanics and the neurophysiology of learning – in a few words, it is tradition viewed and treated through the eye of cutting-edge science, and at the same time, <i style="">a way to study combat within the context </i></span><i style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">of the</span></i><span style="" lang="EN-US"> <i style="">rational Western scientific tradition</i></span>. <span style="" lang="EN-US">In this sense, there is absolutely no place in RMA for irrelevant national folklore, false prophets, or masters demanding blind faith from their students. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Is RMA the creation of one specific person, group or family?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">RMA is a body of knowledge on combat and physical culture that has evolved over the centuries through the life experiences of the Russian people. It is not a martial art that sprang fully formed out of someone’s head. Having said that, we must point that there are indeed various persons who have developed their own <i style="">training approaches to contemporary RMA</i>. <span style=""> </span>Such persons are Alexey Kadochnikov (Russian Style), Alexander Retuinskih (ROSS), Mikhail Ryabko (Systema RMA) et.al. There are also a number of systems that are modern-day revivals of old Slavic fighting styles, such as Belov’s Slavyano-Goritskaya Borba, Gruntovski’s Skobar, Buza, and the Russian All-Around Fighting. These specific approaches are different <i style="">styles of RMA</i> but they share too many common elements - way more than their founders would sometimes like to admit. Alexander Retuinskih, for one thing, has been quoted as saying that “…<i style="">there are no Russian martial arts; there is only Russian Martial Art</i>” and this is the view I subscribe to.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Is RMA conceptually connected to a specific religious dogma?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Rational science cannot in any way be connected to religion. The idea that one’s religious faith affects his ability to learn a martial art is just as absurd as claiming that only a Christian can become a good doctor or that great physicists are exclusively Buddhists.<span style=""> </span>Having said that, <i style="">an interesting historical connection</i> <span style=""> </span>is that, in 1274 “wall-to-wall” fist fighting contests (one of the most popular cultural expressions of RMA) were banned in Russia, under threat of excommunication from Christianity for the participants, since the church considered them “barbarian ceremonies”[1].<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zgszfx1gHr4?fs=1&hl=el_GR"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zgszfx1gHr4?fs=1&hl=el_GR" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size:85%;">Video: Common people having fun and honing their combat skills at the same time - it's not just the "cammo pants crowd" that needs to prepare for war. Does it looks like a pagan ceremony? Sure! Is it Russian Martial Art? You bet!</span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Isn’t RMA the combat system used by elite units of the Soviet and Russian military?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Well, yes and no. Yes, because during the Soviet era, the Bolsheviks attempted to wipe out any martial tradition of native origin (something similar to what happened to Chinese martial arts during the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong). During that period, Russian Martial Art remained in practice due to its lethal effectiveness, in some (not all) elite units of the Soviet Special Forces concealed under the title “Combat SAMBO Spetsnaz”[2]. No, because the roots of Russian Martial Art can be traced back in the 10<sup>th</sup> century, in an era when Russia did not have a professional army (professional military units were introduced to Russia during the 17<sup>th</sup> century, according to the Western European standards [3]). Back then, in times of war, the people who defended their country were farmers, artisans and merchants, rather than warrior knights. These simple people were forced by circumstances to develop training methods that were: </span></p> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US">effective enough to keep them able-bodied and mentally tough, </span></li></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US">not injurious to the body so that they could keep doing their everyday jobs, <span style=""> </span></span></li></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><span style="" lang="EN-US">playful and challenging so that training would be enjoyable rather than a burden. </span></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Since Russian Martial Art consists to a large degree of those training methods that have survived until today, it is a combat system tailored to the needs of common people, that one day might be called upon to defend their land of family, rather than those of elite soldiers that make a living out of fighting.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6b5c1X2INsM?fs=1&hl=el_GR"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6b5c1X2INsM?fs=1&hl=el_GR" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Video: Military hand-to-hand combat training of a GRU special forces unit: a few things look like Russian Martial Art, but most don't...</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">How is RMA different from other styles of martial arts?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">In terms of the result we seek to achieve, it is not different. Just like most martial arts, RMA includes strikes, kicks, takedowns, joint manipulations, control and restraint techniques, defense on the ground, plus fighting with and against weapons. What differs though is the overall approach to learning, and the specific training methods that derive from it. The specific ways in which RMA differs from other combat systems can be summed up as follows:</span></p> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Health comes first, effectiveness follows. </span></b><span style="" lang="EN-US">In RMA, training is supposed to make one healthy for life, not able to fight for just a decade or so. We emphasize correct biomechanics that allow for maximum performance with minimum stress to the body. Other than contact injuries (that we seek to minimize using protective equipment or controlled force application) and accidents, all other injuries that happen <i style="">as a result of the training</i> are not considered “part of the job” and are dealt with through a diligent health-first approach<i style="">. </i>Now, can someone become a good fighter without good biomechanics? Possibly, but the price to pay in injuries will be steep when his fighting days are over.</span></li></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Training is non technique-based.</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-US"> Instead of practicing specific techniques until they become “second nature”, the RMA practitioner’s goal is to first understand a series of fundamental concepts and cultivate a number of basic principles that when applied, will allow him to improvise spontaneous solutions to a great variety of combat problems, i.e. “create techniques” under pressure. Take fist fighting as an example: instead of practicing the six standard punches of boxing, in RMA we first learn how to generate maximum full-body power, and then how to apply force with the fist from any position and at any direction. This way, someone who practices Russian fist fighting, can rather easily limit his options to those allowed by the sport of boxing, while a boxer cannot easily expand his options to movements he has not trained at. In this sense, <i style="">RMA becomes a set of concepts and principles that enhance performance whatever the strategies and tactics used by the fighter or the context of combat</i></span><span style="" lang="EN-US"> (un-armed combat, weapons fighting, sport fighting, self-defense etc), rather than a specific method of conducting combat.</span></li></ul> <ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><li style="text-align: left;"><span style=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-size:7pt;" > </span></span><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">All-around dexterity is valued more than specific skills or aggression.</span></b><span style="" lang="EN-US"> In RMA, we do not only train combat-specific exercises and drills. We also practice a great variety of exercises/games (balancing, rolling and tumbling, twirling with the staff, sticks and rope, etc) that result in the development of all-around dexterity<b style=""> -</b> the cultivation of “intelligence” in one’s body, so that it has the potential to perform ANY movement fluently and effortlessly. All-around dexterity is often mistakenly referred to as an “innate talent”, but the truth is that it can be cultivated. A body which is dexterous can learn surprisingly fast how to perform any task (martial or other) much more efficiently. This is why dexterity training is a valuable tool to improve performance not only in the field of combat, but also in all kinds of sports and of course, the physical activities of everyday life.</span> Besides the facilitation of the learning process, there is one more reason that makes dexterity very important: in the chaos of combat, it is not aggression and blind fury that will save one’s life, but rather morale, adaptability and improvisation. Dexterity training is the key to all three.</li></ul><object style="font-family: arial;" width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eoqzN1WFu6I?fs=1&hl=el_GR"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eoqzN1WFu6I?fs=1&hl=el_GR" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Video: Arkadiy Kadochnikov, Alexey Kadochnikov's son, demonstrating a biomechanical exercise with incredible flow! If there is no sophistication of movement, it's not Russian Martial Art...</span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:arial;"></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Does training in RMA include physical conditioning?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Practitioners of RMA are taught to use as little force as possible when fighting, but occasionally that might still be a significant amount of force, so conditioning is necessary. At the beginning stages of training our conditioning mainly consists of joint mobility work and stability work, but down the road Russian kettlebells and skipping ropes become our favorite (though not the only) tools.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Is there any full-contact fighting involved in RMA?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Historically, full-contact fighting of various forms (one-on-one and “wall-on-wall” [4] fist fighting, belt wrestling, one-handed wrestling, stick fighting) has been an important aspect of RMA.<span style=""> </span>At the Dynamo Club, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the skills that are developed through practice, we need to test them under pressure, so we do a number of drills against resisting partners and <i style="">occasionally</i> we fist-fight, wrestle or stick-fight using full force. Of course, we use the appropriate protective equipment to minimize injuries. Having said that, we believe that full-contact sparring is just a part and not the be-all and end-all of martial arts training.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ImhorazvBDE?fs=1&hl=el_GR"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ImhorazvBDE?fs=1&hl=el_GR" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size:85%;">Video: Some single-hand wrestling demonstrated by practitioners of Russian All-Around Fighting. A force-against-force drill that may not be "realistic combat" but builds skills useful in real combat.</span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Is RMA easy to learn?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">To make it simple, RMA is a training method that helps one to master his own body, in order to learn how to manipulate other people’s bodies in the context combat. It is a process that might be described as challenging, occasionally frustrating, extremely rewarding and definitely fascinating, but easy… no, not really. To put it differently, how easy is it to become a good (let alone elite) tennis player, pianist or dancer?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN-US">Who can train in RMA?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Theoretically, any person who is physically and mentally healthy can take up RMA. On a more practical level, it helps a lot if you commit to training because you enjoy learning new physical skills for the sheer challenge of it and not because you’re expecting short-term returns (like being able to disarm knives, AK-47s, bazookas, etc, especially if you have not spent a day of your life in the army). In a few words, if it is a few “simple, effective, and easy-to-use techniques” you are after, in order to become a “spetsnaz killing machine” within a few months, RMA is not for you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">Last but not least: the Göteborgs Dynamo Club is not your run-of-the-mill franchise gym, where you swipe your membership card at the reception desk and train while avoiding interaction with all other human beings under the same roof. In alignment to the centuries-old tradition of Russian Martial Art, we first and foremost are <i style="">a community of people exploring movement as related to hand-to-hand combat. We train as a community and we grow as a community</i>. In this sense, it is more important for one to become a good training partner than a good practitioner. If your personal agenda is the only thing you consider important and you cannot be a team player, there are other gyms out there that can help you more than we can.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >References:</span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_fist_fighting">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_fist_fighting</a></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[2] Retuinskih, Alexander. Russian Style of Hand-to-Hand Combat. 1<sup>st</sup> Books, 2001. p. xxv</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[3] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Russian_Army">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Russian_Army</a></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">[4] Wall-on-wall fist fights were usually held during religious celebrations in Russia. Men and youngsters of neighboring towns and villages met on fields or frozen rivers, formed lines or “walls” and fought with fists, under very strict rules. The wall that managed to break through the opponents’ wall was the winner. Although the wall-on-wall fights were held for entertainment, they were actually a type of informal military training. What was tested in these “competitions” was not the technical competence of the fighters, but their mental toughness and their willingness to fight shoulder to shoulder with their comrades when duty called. A famous Russian phrase, “Do not hit a man when he’s down”, is said to have its roots in the rules of wall-on-wall fighting.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-61152843196895489222010-05-21T06:54:00.000-07:002010-05-24T03:54:25.581-07:00You say you know what you want, but are you sure you know what you need?<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the things that I find increasingly cool about having trained at a number of martial arts over the years is that, at any given moment, I can revisit a style I used to train at in the past and reach new conclusions, since I am now approaching it from a different point of view. Breaking down the mechanics of the Muay Thai clinch with help from the concepts and principles of Russian Martial Art, or finding a non-classical way to train Silat throws are not only examples of mind-stimulating exercises, but also proof that the common </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">elements between different martial art styles are many more than their proponents often care to admit. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />This period, I am revisiting my Filipino stick-fighting with the help of a good training part</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ner and not only am I having a great time, but I am very content to notice my stick skills have improved, although I haven't trained at them for about three years! The whys and the hows of such a paradox might be the subject of a future blog post. What I wanted to share with you now is, well, a joke. I was going through my series of Dog Brothers Martial Arts DVDs the other day in order to remember some stick-fighting drills, and was reminded of the joke about the old lady and the Filipino </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilot">Hilot healer</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, that Guro Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny uses to introduce the material taught in the Combining Stick and Footwork DVD, so here it is: an old lady goes to the village healer and says to him, "It is very hard to admit, but I have a terrible flatulence </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">problem, I am passing a lot of gas all the time. You may not notice it because they don't make any noise and they don't smell". The healer thinks for a minute and he goes, "Hmmm, I see. Take these herbs and visit me again in a week". The old lady goes off, she takes the herbs, comes back in a week and says to him, "Listen, I know </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">you are a good healer, but I am sorry to say that things haven't got any better, they're actually a little worse, not only am I still having a problem with flatulence, but now they smell! They're still not making any noise, but now they smell". And the healer replies, "Good, now that we managed to clear your sinuses, let's see what we can do about your hearing".<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v5KkPcMUN_Q&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v5KkPcMUN_Q&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The point of this joke/story, in the words of Marc Denny, is that "</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >...people </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >usually </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >have an idea of what it is that they need, but very </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >often </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >the person who is giving the help has a different perspective</span><span style="font-family:arial;">". He goes ahead to point out that people often come to him and ask help with their stick-fighting, in the form of various "effective techniques that will win matches", but more often than not, the point they miss is much simpler and at the same time more profound: that the tip of their stick and their feet do not move together in a coordinated way! There are hardcore ways to train, for when you have to fight a death match the next month, concludes Denny, and then there are ways that you train in order to build yourself in the long haul.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlE-FFZVqAOVy10XjQ17D_P2DkIOWUEl2DQ5Fz9hi9nTAEuLKuze01WOGaM-OoUdO9J0zDB5mMcpmYrwEQaoK_UnHg8ij-Xk4ICqea5GKOPiQ90EI-YDIIsyDbxKip9rr__S6IgVXq0g/s1600/Knife_Defence.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlE-FFZVqAOVy10XjQ17D_P2DkIOWUEl2DQ5Fz9hi9nTAEuLKuze01WOGaM-OoUdO9J0zDB5mMcpmYrwEQaoK_UnHg8ij-Xk4ICqea5GKOPiQ90EI-YDIIsyDbxKip9rr__S6IgVXq0g/s320/Knife_Defence.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474782310712962946" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Well, what never ceases to surprise me is how many practitioners of martial arts approach their training as if they have to fight a death match in a few days! A few months ago I attended a two-day seminar with Alex Costic. For the best part of ten hours, Alex tried to present his personal training approach to Russian Martial Art (one that he has painstakingly developed over a number of years), which includes a series of biomechanical exercises in order for one to achieve freedom of movement, breaking down techniques through static drills, integrating techniques through fluid and dynamic drills and finally testing them under pressure. After nine hours of explaining and </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">demonstrating, Alex was rather surprised to find out that the majority of the </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">participants had only one question: "Can you show us some gun disarms?" In order to keep things into perspective, I have to add here that only one out of thirty or so participants was a law enforcement officer, and the laws of the country where the seminar was held do not allow its citizens to bear arms...<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It i</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">s not for me to try and explain the complex psychological processes through which each person's perceptions about martial arts are formed. Still, in the media-driven society we live in, I suspect the imagery used by the mainstream and other media channels to promote combat sports and martial arts play a major role in these processes. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">For example, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">in the increasingly popular MMA TV shows, magazines, podcasts, blogs and what have you, fighters are very often referred to as "gladiators" (very inconsistent with the attempt to present MMA as a sport and not a sp</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ectacle, if you ask me), they give interviews promising to "get in the cage, mess him up and knock him out" or something similar, and most often, after winning a match, they jump on the cage fence, scream, and beat their </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">chests - all that with a musical background of heavy metal music and a visual background of gothic monsters or patterns, printed on t-shirts and hoodies of dubious taste. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the "reality fighting" systems: in the city I live in, I see pretty often various fliers o</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">r posters urging potential practitioners to start training so that they "Take No S**t from Anybody!" or asking them "What will you do if the stuff you learn in the dojo does not work in the streets?". And I </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">guess you already know that, but Youtube is packed with videos of tough guys wearing camo pan</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ts</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5uohzXAsu_pMK4o4NwI0BhZU2ltIlmJfZSCINAhtWfBZNk_TOrO1y-Aremoskolp85IhF7rO-UTdpxpQbvDiNXdIOHKRR56RkOkz9kGk1ZySt4EkO9njYt0R-1XZ7YVXQsd8YPUW8Nc/s1600/kill-it-clothing-respect-your-freedom-tshirt.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5uohzXAsu_pMK4o4NwI0BhZU2ltIlmJfZSCINAhtWfBZNk_TOrO1y-Aremoskolp85IhF7rO-UTdpxpQbvDiNXdIOHKRR56RkOkz9kGk1ZySt4EkO9njYt0R-1XZ7YVXQsd8YPUW8Nc/s200/kill-it-clothing-respect-your-freedom-tshirt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474787517122514466" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">, stripping opponents off their knives, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">AK-74s, bazoukas and ballistic missiles. I can't be really sure of that, but it seems to me that after young men - who are naturally prone to particip</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ate in what Marc Denny </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">calls "young male ritual hierarchical combat" - are exposed to these media images, when they enter a martial arts school, they're more prone to fight and win <span style="font-style: italic;">now </span>rather than patiently train and learn in the long haul...<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">So, some of you might ask, why is that bad? Well, first of all, there's the ethical/sociological question regarding the benefits of having a great number of young men out there training to become angry pit bulls, but I won't really bother you with that, since the subject of this blog is </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">not society or ethics, but </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">human movement as related to combat and training for fighting. Let's get to more practical considerations, then. I believe it was more than ten years ago when Matt Thornton, head of the <a href="http://www.straightblastgym.com/">Straight Blast Gym </a>worldwide martial arts organization, introduced his concept of "aliveness in training". In a few words, this concept states that, in order for any combat training method to be valid, it must include the components of energy (i.e. real force being applied), timing and motion - without these it is nothing more than "</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">dead patterns ". In the Straight Blast Instructional DVDs, I remember Thornton stating that he wants his students to start sparring from the first day they enter his gym. In this </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">sense, a student who just begins his training in stand-up fighting will spend a few minutes learning the mechanics of the jab, throw a few jabs on the focus mitts and then start sparring using only the jab, on the first day of his training. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the jab is nothing else but a way of applying the mechanics of power generation, which include weight transferring, dropping and rotating the pelvis/torso/shoulders. But if one has no experience in these mechanics, if there is a problem or plain inefficient movement that is, how can learning be achieved by adding to the problem the tactical parameter of having to hit an opponent that hits back? Please do not misunderstand me - I do believe that training against resisting partners is a neccessary tool if one is to acquire functional combat skills, but <span style="font-style: italic;">it is not the only tool</span>.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_XJkLbQtflPbJRwQZP0i9wTJ2P9_mfSXgYf0D-KlIOPS-44eV8uZ2Kq_d2wFYe2DwqeIMYEGvxPLc89RHGXMMETtEdF8gfX1lQxwaDP3MGHgsFOLRdo2bMyfUxEQ9JekUjTV4bGC1ck/s1600/Boxing-sparring.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_XJkLbQtflPbJRwQZP0i9wTJ2P9_mfSXgYf0D-KlIOPS-44eV8uZ2Kq_d2wFYe2DwqeIMYEGvxPLc89RHGXMMETtEdF8gfX1lQxwaDP3MGHgsFOLRdo2bMyfUxEQ9JekUjTV4bGC1ck/s320/Boxing-sparring.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474782891264990946" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Training against resisting opponents builds mental tenacity, which is a neccessary attribute if one </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">aspires to become a fighter. Still, obsessing with "alive training" and focusing exclussively on the application of skills, usually happens to the detriment of movement efficiency and produces tough fighters with inferior skills - the ones usually referred to as "also runs". Exceptional fighters make difficult things look easy, because they take the time to <span style="font-style: italic;">master the movement first and then the various application</span>s. In my view, martial arts training has two components: number one consists of doing the strategically, tactically and technically correct thing while interacting with an opponent, number two consists of using your own body in the most efficient way while performing number one. For good or bad, number two is achieved through a number of not-so-cool exercises and drills, a lot of them performed solo.<br /><br />Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to train with a fair amount of people in the Göteborgs Systema-RMA club and based on my experience I believe there are lots of people out there with less than optimal motor control, due to simple and profound problems such as mobility or stability deficits, lack of balance, coordination or rhythm in their movement and trust me, these problems simply cannot be addressed by focusing on sparring against resisting opponents or disarming AK-74s from less-than-resisting opponents. Should you to ingnore the simple and profound stuff and focus on the "exciting" stuff, you run the danger of sparring yourself into an also-run tough guy or the danger of disarming your way into becoming a self-deluded "Specnaz killing machine". In both cases mastery - of both your art and your self - will be way beyond your grasp. And you will end up believing that flatulence is the worst of your problems. So, once again, you say you know what you want but are you sure you know what you need?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The YouTube video above includes highlights from a number of fights of Guro "Crafty Dog" Denny in Dog Brothers gatherings. He is usually the one fighting with no t-shirt on. You can learn more about the Dog Brothers<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> <a href="http://www.dogbrothers.com/">here</a>.<br /><br />To learn more about Matt Thornton (whom I deeply respect although I partially disagree with) and the Straight Blast Gym click <a href="http://www.straightblastgym.com/">here</a>.<br /></span></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-13562999595538803882010-04-22T06:52:00.000-07:002010-04-22T08:03:51.618-07:00Which way to mastery?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQrhVvZum0K0QGcpkw8GzMIX2Rb_D9dYLTZQekbZGldKhQ-jVQsoIOF_pk4CJOKXfBG4PPSrnFpJSb0ustTKXnjMjtUSwdDj0YVdglmZ7ESxsl-9iUOCHjuil3d8EDJ2Gkpq-nef9lM4/s1600/DriveBook.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQrhVvZum0K0QGcpkw8GzMIX2Rb_D9dYLTZQekbZGldKhQ-jVQsoIOF_pk4CJOKXfBG4PPSrnFpJSb0ustTKXnjMjtUSwdDj0YVdglmZ7ESxsl-9iUOCHjuil3d8EDJ2Gkpq-nef9lM4/s320/DriveBook.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462976807624833170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It was a few weeks ago on a Sunday morning when I found myself in an airport, ready to board an airplane, with nothing to read during the flight. My only option was the airport newsstand and, without giving it too much thought, I picked something from the non-fiction shelves - a book titled Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink. The book is about human motivation, the things that make us tick, and what scientific research has discovered on the subject. I found it a pretty insightful read, although the author tries to reach conclusions mostly on the gap between what science knows and what is commonly practiced in the field of business management (which I do not care much about). What impressed me the most from Daniel Pink's argument for the need of a new approach in order for people to get motivated, creative and productive, is the importance of the element of mastery, i.e. the urge most of us have to become better and better at something that matters. Here's some advice the author gives, which I believe will be helpful and inspirational to martial arts practitioners:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >One key to mastery is what Florida State University psychology professor Anders Ericsson calls 'deliberate practice' - a 'lifelong period of... effort to improve performance in a specific domain[. Deliberate practice isn't running a few miles each day or banging on the piano for twenty minutes each morning. It's much more purposeful, focused, and, yes, painful. Follow these steps - over and over again for a decade - and you just might become a master.</span> </span><ul style="font-family:arial;"><li style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Remember that deliberate practice has one objective: to improve performance.</span></span> 'People who play tennis once a week for years don't get any better if they do the same thing each time', Ericsson has said. 'Deliberate practice is about changing your perfromance, setting new goals and straining yourself to reach a bit higher each time'.</li><li style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Repeat, repeat, repeat.</span> Repetition matters. Basketball greats don't shoot ten free throws at the end of team practice; they shoot five hundred.</span></li><li style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Seek constant,critical feedback.</span> If you don't know how you're doing, you won't know what to improve.</span></li><li style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Focus ruthlessly on where you need help.</span> While many of us work on what we're already good at, say Ericsson, 'those who get better work on their weaknesses'.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Prepare for the process to be mentally and physically exhausting.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> That's why so few people commit to it, but that's why it works</span>".</span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">If you are interested in the idea of mastery you will probably find </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://systemasweden.blogspot.com/2009/08/manny-says-its-how-thin-you-wanna-slice.html">this</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> previous post on the Systema Sweden blog interesting.<br /><br />You can buy Daniel H. Pink's book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates us, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1847677681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271838170&sr=8-1">here</a> (Amazon UK). </span></span><br /></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-6090678822466109142010-03-14T01:25:00.000-08:002010-03-14T12:28:46.033-07:00How can you learn how to fight when you can barely stand???<span style="font-family:arial;">Although I own quite a few of them, I don't find martial arts textbooks especially useful. If one does not know how to read between the lines (and pictures), they seem to promote an inefficient way of teaching the arts, by focusing on directions on how to execute specific techniques: "1) Grab your opponent from the neck and biceps, 2) Push the neck diagonally to the back while at the same time pulling the arm in a 45 degree angle towards the opponent's front right corner", etc. Whether we like it or not, combat techniques are not like IKEA furniture, where if one blindly follows the instructions, the end result will inevitably be a couch or an armchair. The subtleties of manipulating an alive and resisting human body are infinite, so sensitivity and adaptive measures are needed every moment of the interaction, and no martial arts textbook can convey that. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Nevertheless, every now and then one can stumble upon valuable pieces of insight in books about martial arts and from my experience, these are usually located in the first, introductory chapters, where the basic principles of the art analyzed in the book are explained. For example, the other day I was browsing Total Aikido: The Master Course by master Gozo Shioda. On page 14 of the book, Shioda explains the first basic principle of aikido, namely Chusin-Ryoku, or "the power of the center line": "One of the basics of aikido is the principle of maintaining a straight center line in the body. For most people, even if they try to stand straight, their center line is not really straight. Even when we do stand straight and focus on keeping our center line fixed, we lose it again as soon as we move. If this happens, then the purpose of aikido, the development of breath power, becomes impossible. If we are able to maintain a strong centerline whatever direction we move in, we have focused power. By forging this focused power, we are also promoting strong posture, concentration and breath power [1]".</span><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UVTmCGSgP8Y&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UVTmCGSgP8Y&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now, Shioda, at a height of 1,57m and barely 50 kilos of weight, was by any measure a very small man. Still, if one watches his aikido demonstrations, it is obvious that this man, unimpressive in terms of stature, possessed extraordinary power and impressive skills, so we must assume that his writings must have some importance, right? The problem is that his descriptions seem to me pretty vague and open to interpretation (as is very common with most Asian martial arts, in my opinion). This should not be surprising: when Shioda was studying aikido under the founder of the art, Morihei Ueshiba, scientific research into the field of human movement was nonexistent, so the terms one could use to describe what happens into a moving human body had to be intuitive, which means that they lacked objectivity. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I don't even want to think about what on earth "breath power" might mean, but how about the term "center line"? Some difficulty might be also present here, in order to explain it. For example, some Wing Chun people describe the center line as an imaginary line drawn along the centre of the human body that joins the eyes, nose, throat, navel, knees, and groin as a central focus of attack. Some JKD people might add that the centerline should always be directed towards the opponent, so that all our weapons are available to use to the maximum of their capabilities. The way I understand these explanations, it seems that the center line is some sort of a topographical feature that lies on the front part of the body. In Shioda's description, I suspect that, much more than a topographical feature, the center line is a biomechanical feature of a body in motion. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Maybe then, if we turned to biomechanics and sports science, we'd get some additional insight. According to Joanne Elphinston, performance consultant to elite athletes, "...all sports require control of a central longitudinal axis (CLA) to achieve their most efficient movement. In practice this central axis is not a rigid position: it is the sense of a firm but flexible central reference point, which supports movement of the torso and limbs. Imagine a firm, thick metal cable passing vertically through the top of your head and down through the middle of your body. This cable would form an axis for your shoulders, thorax and pelvis to smoothly rotate around, but still enable you to move easily in all directions. [...] If the central axis collapses, rotational movement will be restricted due to joint compression on the concave side of the collapse, and soft tissue tension on the convex side" [2]. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Some of you might note that from the vague terminology used in some Asian martial arts we have moved into geek language territory, so we'd better try and make it simple: if you have seen the movie Karate Kid 2, you probably remember that little spinning drum Mr Miyagi used as an analogy to help Daniel understand the "secret technique" that was to save him during the final fight (if you haven't seen the movie, you haven't missed much, but you can check the final fight scene and the drum I'm talking about </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1B49eDypoU"><span style="font-family:arial;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and before you ask, yes I too believe that Ralph Macchio's central longitudinal axis is kinda crooked). OK, now try to think what would happen if the stick which runs through the middle of the drum, was made from soft rubber instead of wood - most probably, it would collapse under the weight of the drum, so rotation would be hard to achieve, if at all possible. Well, that's what happens if one lacks control of the CLA or, as Gozo Shioda might say, is unable to maintain a "strong centerline". And, obviously this does not only happen in martial arts practice - whether you play golf, tennis, or ice hockey, or you want to pack some serious power in your punches and make your throwing techniques more efficient, you must rotate your torso, and rotation will be strongest when it is performed around a strong, clearly defined axis. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So, how does one establish this central longitudinal axis? Well, it is mostly about maintaining a neutral position of the spine (keeping those gentle curves at the cervical and lumbar regions intact) with the least effort possible. In other words, you need to have an ideal posture, described once again by Joanne Elphinston as "simply and buoyantly supporting yourself against gravity, and allowing your body structures to move and interact in their least stressful, most effective relationships. An ideal dynamic posture should make movement easier, helping you to establish a central axis for balanced motion and allowing you to breathe freely" [3]. Unfortunately, nowadays this is easier said than done in our urbanised society, with most people spending many hours a day hunched in front of a computer, squeezed in a car seat, or collapsed on the couch in front of a television set. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It always strikes me as a paradox when I see Systema RMA practitioners in seminars trying to perform what is taught by instructors with perfect posture, using a less than ideal posture themselves. The problem is two-fold, in my opinion. On one side we have the students that focus on the end goal of each movement they try to perform, ignoring the process through which the goal can be achieved, what F.M Alexander, founder of the Alexander Technique, called the "means whereby": if one only cares about delivering a mighty Systema punch, he tends to "think with his fists", which makes focusing on the ideal posture impossible. On the other side, although all the Systema RMA instructors I have trained with (including Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev) have an ideal posture, they never actually refer to it as an essential ingredient of their skills. What they do is repeatedly urge the practitioners to relax - the problem is that bad posture, by its mechanical structure generates tension in order to be maintained, which means that relaxation is by definition unattainable... </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A protracted and backwardly rotated head, lack of mobility in the thoracic spine, abducted or winged shoulder blades, externally rotated hips, are all factors that contribute to a bad posture and will make your progress in martial arts (or any other type of) training arduous and, most probably, laden with injuries. If you want to check whether your posture is good, the mirror won't help you much - having a partner video your training sessions will. After you see yourself training, go check out videos of top practitioners of martial arts and top athletes and make a comparison (you can check once again the demonstration by Gozo Shioda above, perhaps a DVD with work by Mikhail Ryabko, but also videos of Mohammed Ali, Michael Jordan and even some accomplished dancers or gymnasts - ideal posture is not exclusively found in one martial art, sport or discipline). If you discover that you don't fare that well, you've got work to do, but please stay away from the "military approach" to posture: the advice to "stand up straight, head up, shoulders back, stomach in", will lead you away from your goal, by causing increased effort and muscular tension in your body. The basic Systema exercises (push-ups, sit-ups, flat-foot squats) can help you a lot, as long as you focus on executing them with a "long spine", imagining (not actively trying) that your head is moving away from your pelvis. Some stability training for your core, pelvis and shoulder girdle will also work miracles. Still, the best methods to improve your posture utilize subtle cues in order to activate neurological reflexes that stimulate your posture quickly and easily (the Alexander Technique is one of the most sophisticated I know off). You might want to try some lessons in one of those. And most importantly, when you're training, try not to think with your fists and feet. Before you try to perform any movement, even you warm-up exercises, just perform a mental check of your posture, until the neutral position of the spine becomes a habit for you (the slow training methods utilized in Russian Martial Art make this awareness possible). Because, just being able to stand does not in any way mean you're in a position to fight. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">References:</span></strong> </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >[1] Shioda, Gozo. Total Aikido: The Master Course. Kodansha, 1996. p. 14 </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >[2] Elphinston, J. Stability, Sport and Performance Movement. Lotus Publishing, 2008. p.17 </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >[3] Ibid. p. 61</span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-42892510245223904282010-02-21T07:14:00.000-08:002010-02-21T07:40:41.904-08:00A system of humans at play!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Whenever an opportunity to train with Alex Kostic turns up, I do my best to grasp it and you know what? - it's not just because I want to train with him. Please don't misunderstand me, Alex's seminars are full of insights and those "aha!" moments, regarding their technical content. What I find even more fascinating though, is talking to him, because he has this uncanny ability to draw analogies between philosophy and somatic psychotherapy (his fields of academic study) and martial arts training and practice. During the last two times we met and trained with Alex (November 2009 in Sweden and two weeks ago in Athens, Greece), we discussed extensively his personal approach to Russian Martial Art, which he has named "Sistema Homo Ludens" and honestly, a number of his ideas made a huge impression on me. For those of you who do not already know, "Homo Ludens" (Man the Player) is a book written in 1938 by Dutch historian, cultural theorist and professor Johan Huizinga, that discusses the importance of the play element of culture and society. My personal views on an approach of teaching combat skills (or any other type of skills) through play might be the subject of a future blog post. What I wanted to share in this post is a text posted by Alex himself yesterday of Facebook, regarding the philosophy of Sistema Homo Ludens, plus a video trailer highlighting the various aspects of Homo Ludens training and a video interview of Alex explaining more of his ideas. Hope you enjoy these! </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Homo Ludens: Philosophy </span></span>(<span style="font-family:arial;">by Alex Kostic</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Combat, as a diverse conglomeration of specific practices of relations with oneself and others, necessarily implies movement as a horizon of more or less set possibilities. For each of us, the possibility of movement is so axiomatic and immediate that we almost never think of it. The moves that people make are most often instrumental in character – walking from part of the town to another in order to get to work, bending over to reach an important document in a drawer, sitting down to get rest, etc. The common thread for all these motions is that they are not an end in themselves, but rather aimed at some purpose exterior to the movement itself. On the other side, in the window of glorious human dignified practices are those that have taken movement to an art: acting, ballet, dance, etc. What does it mean? It is to say that within those practices the movement is not in the function of some immediate goal, but instead it rises to the fullness of its temporality, which realized its essential capacities through the play. Play, therefore, is not something we use to attain any other goal – it is a goal in itself. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />The common attitude is that in combat training most important issue is the command of various fighting techniques. Nevertheless, in the course of such training, what is referred to as techniques, and meant to be the desired outcome of a movement, is usually simply “glued” to a body that tries, under the pressure of desire for success, to anticipate the unpredictable spontaneity of the situation, in which only a body educated through movement can lead to more or less favorable resolving of the conflict. The technical training attempts to compensate for what is lacking in the domain of corporal education, by reaching for the satisfactory outcome in a strictly controlled situation. That way, the combative training instills in its practitioners the uncritical self-confidence in an irresponsible manner, the self-confidence that is not founded in the freedom of move, but rather in the fantasy of efficiency. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />First one needs to suspend the yearning for the perfection of technique, for the sake of free movement. Such freedom does not bear with dogma or school uniformity, but instead seeks space for play, which in a conflict situation becomes the unpredictable struggle for survival. Therefore, a man who plays will not ask about the origins of the particular movement, but alternatively he will reinvent every “technique” himself. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />That way, the first step in educating the body entails linking the movements freely into various biomechanical kinetic chains. At first on one’s own and later with a partner, the body learns to anticipate force vectors and in the beginning starts with imitation, but soon follows with improvisation, in order to relieve itself from striving to do the “right” or “realistic” technique. In its place, it will make the necessary and sufficient movement, thus rewarding the practitioner with satisfaction. In that context, the satisfaction lures the body into breaking out of its shy autism and stepping into the field of its possibilities. However, in that field there is someone else waiting, and with regards to combat, that someone is threatening. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />The threat at hand simulates the feeling of being in danger, which cannot be escaped through any training. In the first stage, the subject has acquired fluid movement, softening the body with pleasure and forgetting about the threat. Once it matures, the body needs to be scared by strong hits, impossible situation that humiliate the narcissism of theatrical flawlessness. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />The threat at issue simulates the feeling of danger that cannot be avoided through any training. In the first phase, the subject has acquired fluidity of movement, softened his body with pleasure and forgot about the threat. Once the body has matured, it needs to be scared by powerful strikes and “impossible” situations, which humiliate the narcissism of the theatrical flawlessness. Only through perseverance in the experience of stressful contact it is possible to talk about mature, self-critical attitude towards conflicts. Once the spontaneity of movement, which does not stem from the conscious projection characteristic for technical exercises, is unified with the experience of the struggle and overcoming obstacles, the training becomes free play that is no longer played by the child in its naïveté, nor the adolescent in its competitiveness, but rather an adult person in its responsible relaxation. </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Let the spirit of play spread through the training hall, and not the dubious authority of a master, who compensates his fear from the loss of control through egotistical perfectionism. Let the gym become a temporal and unpretentious community of equal explorers of corporal movement, instead of a bullying domain, which insists on rivalry, thus establishing the ungrounded hierarchy that, as a rule, only results in selfish egotism</span>". </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-pUJHgcJdps&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-pUJHgcJdps&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WXtWg2SKGEU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WXtWg2SKGEU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><br />More on Alex Kostic and Sistema Homo Ludens at </span><a href="http://www.russianmartialart-serbia.com" style="font-family: arial;">www.russianmartialart-serbia.com</a></span><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You can preview the book Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ALeXRMGU1CsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=homo+ludens+Huizinga&source=bl&ots=FFkEs1x1Uf&sig=gHuoFG3RU0uNVNGUtrAkFyX1byQ&hl=el&ei=kk-BS9KjEYae_Ab937D7Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false">here</a>.</span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-20929321584626094322010-01-28T06:35:00.000-08:002010-01-28T07:05:27.193-08:00What would you rather play? The guitar or Guitar Hero?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nYBM8cg1unDSNXVG_6nCXmyEBCLb_HziO1vUstM5cEVNV6vc8-55D4vjo6NY_vFIBxD0R4nweQlEqObFdDwvoHKGRA4l2KSWDkG2Jh5nyhXCP7iTB69NosWB_fShfog9ZplvRSIJKzk/s1600-h/fretboard-note-chart.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431805005174869970" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 121px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nYBM8cg1unDSNXVG_6nCXmyEBCLb_HziO1vUstM5cEVNV6vc8-55D4vjo6NY_vFIBxD0R4nweQlEqObFdDwvoHKGRA4l2KSWDkG2Jh5nyhXCP7iTB69NosWB_fShfog9ZplvRSIJKzk/s400/fretboard-note-chart.png" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:arial;">Strangely enough, even though I grew up listening to and idolizing the great heroes of guitar (Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, but also B.B. King, Albert King, Steve Cropper, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and George Benson, among others), the people who designed and market the video game Guitar Hero, probably do not consider me (and most people of my generation) as part of their target group. Besides listening to famous guitar players, I also took up playing the guitar for a few years when I was younger. But since I also trained in martial arts, I decided that you cannot break bricks, boards and tiles and at the same time demand from your fingers to be agile, so I finally ended up just playing air guitar at parties...</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A few months ago I played Guitar Hero for the first time and although, based on my past, one would expect me to enjoy it, well... I didn't. Part of my dislike for the game comes from the fact that I'm rather the old-school type. I admire all guitar heroes, because they spent countless hours practicing before they managed to reach fame and stardom: first they got to know their "axes" as good as possible and perfected their "licks", then practiced with a band, then performed at humble establishments (to say the least) in order to get their act solid – in a few words they paid their dues. Nowadays, it seems that anyone can "live the experience" of being a guitar god, with the help of a piece of electronic equipment and none of the fuss – so typical of the age of instant gratification we live in. I’m afraid I just don't get it...</span>
<br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">
<br />Of course some of you might say that this is an ethical reason <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCedEagm9cMwd5kTAR-NAeegZ-iytGz6kICxGGPddRED5MRlduaB4qKW0sNGF7RZ7pdxP7kMYJhJYYsvhbD_UQCBHnRLW2EJkAa9uxS_7hEdGTu2MwPzJuJXj3yxiBlc82EY23LnzErC8/s1600-h/GuitarHerofretboard.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431805203140715650" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 243px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 145px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCedEagm9cMwd5kTAR-NAeegZ-iytGz6kICxGGPddRED5MRlduaB4qKW0sNGF7RZ7pdxP7kMYJhJYYsvhbD_UQCBHnRLW2EJkAa9uxS_7hEdGTu2MwPzJuJXj3yxiBlc82EY23LnzErC8/s320/GuitarHerofretboard.jpg" border="0" /></a>to dislike the game, but the ethics of one person do not necessarily coincide with those of another, and I am not going to argue on that. Still, there are a few more reasons I do not like Guitar Hero, rather of a practical nature, and I would like to present them too, so here I go:
<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">
<br />1. <em>The game is not that much of a challenge</em>. Sure, it requires some skill, but not much: some sense of rhythm and hand-eye coordination. A recreational guitar player definitely has those and something more: he knows how to produce tones from the instrument he's holding.
<br />2. <em>There's not enough freedom</em>. With only five buttons (!) on the fretboard plus a lever that simulates the picking of the strings, there are only twenty or so (correct me if I'm wrong) combinations of things you can do with your fingers of both hands. The combination to use each moment is provided by the game software – you are not allowed to deviate from the "correct" choice, which is dictated by the original recording of the song included in the game disc. So basically, you don't play the game, the game plays you. Isn't this very un-guitar hero? Can you imagine Jimi Hendrix playing the exact same solo every time he played a specific piece of music? Yeah, I thought so… Plus, you cannot regulate the sound of your guitar by using your wah-wah pedal, by playing with a slide, by bending, plucking, strumming the strings or whatever. Boring…
<br />3. <em>It simply doesn't get you anywhere</em>! After having "played to perfection" all the songs included in one of the game discs (possible, but not probable, since the compilations are rather uneven), the fun is over until you buy another disc. Whereas, a guitar allows you to learn new songs every now and then so you can have fun with your friends, become a virtuoso soloist, or even compose your own music – as long as you put the time and effort.
<br />4. A guitar player can very easily play Guitar Hero. A Guitar Hero player can't necessarily play the guitar. Do I have to elaborate on that one?
<br />
<br />Lately, a number of people with some experience in military Close Quarters Combat systems have contacted me in order to start training in Russian Martial Art. Some of them seem to think that RMA is a typical CQC system, only the "techniques" we use are more effective, due to the (partially) Soviet origins of our training method. I try to explain that in RMA, we treat every action (a sequence of movements with a specific goal) as a "symphony of movement". And in order to reach the level of skill needed to perform a symphony, one must first learn how to play scales of single notes, i.e. explore the movement potential of the human body for its own sake, then play some "musical phrases" with these notes, later start interacting with other "musicians" in order to understand the ideas of harmony and counterpoint, and finally perform the part which is needed in any given musical piece. The end goal of this process is what my friend and senior Systema RMA instructor Emmanuel Manolakakis calls "a set of skills for life", not only for combat or survival.
<br />
<br />The analogy I use between Russian Martial Art and music seems to put off the people who are interested in "a few high percentage techniques" that will address most situations, so they never show up for training. And I think that's for the better, because as an instructor and coach, I'd rather teach people how to play the guitar than play Guitar Hero...Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-51915769224108222042009-12-05T02:34:00.000-08:002009-12-06T04:18:36.087-08:00You think you're ready to train in martial arts? Well, think again!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJJMivia864dgMw6T9c8Me6yP8f3bSnRh6-FzZ6bXm8FlHXi9In1RqIOCCcXDGp2Nl2eZHh-OdG62fn3M3vHxe7M75m6vvTDxI-BDjpj5fzexTkXbApV2o1iYIWkRR4YagTzEtk2QPBo/s1600-h/Athletes+in+Pain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJJMivia864dgMw6T9c8Me6yP8f3bSnRh6-FzZ6bXm8FlHXi9In1RqIOCCcXDGp2Nl2eZHh-OdG62fn3M3vHxe7M75m6vvTDxI-BDjpj5fzexTkXbApV2o1iYIWkRR4YagTzEtk2QPBo/s200/Athletes+in+Pain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412094068996137938" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >I vaguely remember this warm afternoon back in the late nineties. My Kung Fu instructor had taken all his students to the local track, in </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >order to do a </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test">Cooper test</a></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >. I was in the first bunch of students to complete their 12 minutes of running, and I was standing aside and recovering while the second group performed the test. Maria was running with the second group - she was in her early thirties, and I guess she thought that training in Kung </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Fu fitted well with her alternative, slightly new-agey </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >lifestyle. I remember she had a sunny disposition and was almost always smiling, but as she was walking towards the rest of us after the end of the test, all I could see</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > in her face was discomfort and frustration.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />"Hey, what's with you?", I asked her as she was approaching.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />"Well, you know what?", she replied. "</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >I never had the slightest pain in my body... until I started </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >training</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >".</span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />I didn't pay much attention to what she said, I just found it rather funny - I mean, who would take up any kind of training in order to accumulate pain in their body? Still, as my Kung Fu years went by and both the volume and the intensity of my training escalated, as I gradually shifted my focus towards san shou competition, something strange started happening to my body. In the very beginning it was dull pain in both my knees, which was dismissed as "adaptation discomfort", and went away after a few sessions of acupuncture. Later, I started feeling some generalized soreness in my whole body after intense san shou sessions, and it did not go away until my warm-up for the next training session. At some point, I had to take almost a month off training because of a sharp pain in my right shoulder (which later developed into a nasty supraspinatus tendonitis that bothers me until today). The next body part to give way was my lower back: two, maybe three times a year, the muscles in my left lower back went into spasm, and I had to stay away from both training and my job for days at a</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > time. In late 1999, while preparing for the 5th World Wushu Championships, I trained </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >six hours a day, six days a week and at the same time, devoted a minimum of eight hours a day to my job. My body was constantly complaining and I had trouble sleeping at night due to numerous pains. I talked to my instructor </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >about this and his reply was that "my problem was fear, not injury" (or something just as stupid and ignorant), so I kept on training - I wasn't going to cave in to fear, right? Of course, in order to keep going, I had to take lots of pain killers and muscle relaxants. In the end, I was unable to peak my training for the championships, but I travelled to Hong Kong anyway and lost in my first bout. Six months later, in the Wushu nationals, I managed to win two fights, but in the third one, for the gold medal, I had to quit after two rounds. It was impossible to continue fighting, because I could barely stand upright - the pain in my lower back was excruciating and my left leg was numb from the buttock down to the toes. A few weeks later, an MRI scan revealed a L5-S1 hernia and degeneration of disk in my spine. Although my doctor (an orthopedic surgeon) told me that I would never be able to train again unless I had the hernia surgically removed, I ignored him and managed to make a come-back after three weeks of rest, another few sessions of acupuncture and some dead-lifting (no, seriously). A year later, I partially tore the meniscus in my right knee, and as I was pretty close to the age of 35 (which is the age limit for the International Wushu Federation san shou competitions), I decided to call it quits - something which gradually led me away from the Chinese martial arts altogether.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLg-vv2N8mLgbtls1y0e6nTo-5G5IyH5zFO6XHjEMaS_nrty_oLcdvFzLmJrPTTIV4x_QdTnkfIc9-MC_5Uo5PQFjiRL4HZ1k_RvCTvgcPqWPi9L-De1W0h_8_JDMP0aHCK-D1r_y7uTk/s1600-h/KatsigiannisSpyrosb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLg-vv2N8mLgbtls1y0e6nTo-5G5IyH5zFO6XHjEMaS_nrty_oLcdvFzLmJrPTTIV4x_QdTnkfIc9-MC_5Uo5PQFjiRL4HZ1k_RvCTvgcPqWPi9L-De1W0h_8_JDMP0aHCK-D1r_y7uTk/s320/KatsigiannisSpyrosb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412095551982789906" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >While it is relatively easy to describe the injuries, it is hardly possible to convey through writing all </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >the pain, the frustration and the anguish I felt </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >back then. After all, I was supposed to be a </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >talented</span> <span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > athlete! Why was this happening to me? Well, the thing is that my body was trying to tell me something by breaking down, and I was just not listening. In </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">the next years (as I grew older and, presumably, wiser) I decided to pay more attention to what my body was trying to tell, and I also tired to learn as much about the human body as I could. So, what I know today and did not back then, is that I started my training for san shou competition being </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >slightly</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> scoliotic towards the right side, so my right shoulder was </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >slightly </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">protracted and internally rotated (does this spell supraspinatus tendonitis, or what?). I was also </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >slightly </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">knock-kneed, and my feet were </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >slightly</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">everted in a normal standing position. I emphasize that all these problems were slight. They could not be detected, if one did not know what to look for, and it seems no one did. The orthopedic surgeon I mentioned above later told me that they were all deviations from the ideal, but still, well within what is considered to be</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >normal</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">. Oh, and one more thing: my squatting technique was very bad, but nobody seemed to know what to do about it. In any case, it seems that there was no particular reason (at least in the beginning) to suspect problems in my motor control, since I could easily perform all the skills related to my sport.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I suspect that the wealth of information widely available today on the structure and function of the human body was not available back then - certainly not in a country like Greece anyway. The thing is that all those slight asymmetries in my body were weak links leading to what sports scientists refer to as "energy leaks" due to poor biomechanics. You see, even if an athlete has some sort of deficit in strength, flexibility, coordination, stability or balance (like I did), the body will unconsciously find a way to perform what is asked of it, even if that way is less than technically optimal. This is known as "compensating" and that's exactly what causes an energy leak to happen. According to physical therapist and strength training expert Gray Cook, "</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >an energy leak occurs when all of the energy generated to perform a certain task or movement, does not go specifically into that task or movement. Science tells us that the energy must go somewhere. Usually the energy creates stress within the body. The stress can take many forms. It may cause unnecessary work or movement in another part of the body, placing greater stress on certain muscles and tendons (strains). It may create unnatural motion of the spine or limbs, placing greater stress on joints and ligaments</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (sprains). </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">This movement can create stress and trauma that may go unnoticed for weeks and months. Eventually the athlete will pay the price if the stress continues</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> [mybold]" [1].</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Keep in mind that we are talking about slight mistakes here that initially do not affect performance and usually cannot be detected by someone who does not know what to look for. So as the training load increases, a shoulder starts to hurt more and more, the lower back is consistently sore, a knee buckles, but the causes remain mysteriously unknown!</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />When one takes up martial arts training, it is taken for granted that his body is functioning properly and ready to accept the training load imposed by the needs of the art. Well, this might have been the case with young boys in ancient Sparta, the offspring of the samurai in feudal Japan, and the children in a Cossack tribe. Is it the same though with modern Western people (even youngsters) who grow up sitting for hours at a time in front of a computer, and who's idea of exercise is playing video game hockey or basketball? I very much doubt it. The body needs to be thoroughly tested and assessed first in order to determine if generic movement properties are correct, before one proceeds to learning martial art (or sport) specific movements. After all, a two arm shoulder throw (morote seoinage for you judo people) is nothing but a push and a pull, a rotation around the body's central longitudinal axis, a squat and a bend at the hips. Still, if there is even a minor problem in any of the movement components, the thousants of repetitions required in order to master the technique, will inevitably lead to injury. Oh, and one more thing: even elite level athletes use compensatory movement patterns, resulting in overuse injuries or training plateaus. Imagine what might be the case with an average 20 year old who walks into an MMA school with dreams of becoming "the ultimate fighter"...</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />So how is it then that one can assess generic movement properties, before progressing to specific skills? Well, there are numerous methods out there, and it is the responsibility (and dare I say, duty) of every coach, especially those working with children, to study as many of these as possible. Otherwise, some day a student might walk up to his Sensei, Sifu, Guro or Coach, and say: "You know what? I never had any pain in my body... until I started training". And that wouldn't be nice, would it?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >References</span><span style="font-family:arial;">:</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />[1] Cook, G. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Athletic Body in Balance</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. Human Kinetics, 2003. p. 9</span></span> </span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-71343093495774029642009-11-12T05:18:00.000-08:002009-11-12T23:53:11.447-08:00So, what's so special about this Fedor guy anyway???<span style="font-family:arial;">My good friend Vadim Kolganov, SAMBO Master of Sport, once told me that a lot of people have recently taken up SAMBO training, because they believe that this way, they'll discover Fedor Emelianenko's secrets. "But to be honest with you", Vadim continued, "Fedor is not SAMBO. Fedor is just...Fedor!" And what exactly might that be, then? Another friend, Coach Greg Mihovich, muay thai fighter and high level judo competitor, wrote on Facebook the other day that Fedor is "a tremendous combination of skill, power, mental strength, dedication, will, heart, spirituality and humility". I believe that Greg sums it up pretty well on what makes Fedor a great fighter and moreover, a great champion (if I'm allowed to say, a champion at the same level with mythical figures of the 20th century, like Mohamed Ali or Michael Jordan). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Still, in my mind the question remains: what is it that makes Fedor so much better than his opponents? Can it be the "style" he's practicing? Well, according to many hardcore MMA fans, who zealously share their opinions in various internet forums, he practices SAMBO and boxing, which is basically what every other MMA fighter on the planet is practicing - a grappling style combined with a striking style. Could it be that he's developed a set of more effective techniques? Mmm, those techniques have been revealed in the book "Fedor: The Fighting System of the World's Undisputed King of MMA", (widely) available by Victory Belt publications. Unless nobody on this planet bought the book, there should be a number of fighters out there who know the techniques by now. Why haven't they been turned into wrecking machines? OK then, is it possible that Fedor trains more and harder than his opponents? I very much doubt that: in this, world-class level of competition, I don't believe there's enough time in a 24-hour day to put more training in. How about his mental attributes and his sheer toughness? To be honest, I do not know enough about his mental attributes in order to judge, so maybe. Regarding his toughness, I'd say there's no tougher fighter out there than Minotauro Nogueira and even he, got soundly beaten by Fedor, not once but twice! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's pretty hard reaching a conclusive answer, so here's what I thought: why not watch Fedor's last fight against Bret Rodgers, and try to pinpoint a few things that Fedor does obviously differently than his opponent? Because - you never know - a secret might be hidden in plain sight, right? So, here's the fight and right after, what I notice:</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7aoD9juQdv0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7aoD9juQdv0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First, check and compare the two fighters' postures. It seems to me that Fedor keeps an upright, relaxed posture, with his shoulders kept naturally down, and his weight evenly distributed over both his feet, while Rogers fights from a semi-crouch, weight forward, spine slightly flexed, shoulders slightly elevated and internally rotated. Is it possible that the forward flexion of the torso does not allow for efficient rotation around the spinal axis, reducing the force of his strikes? Could it be that the elevation of the shoulders (through the use of the upper trapezius and levator scapulae muscles) directs forces to the cervical (the neck, that is) and the upper thoracic spine, towards structures who provide less support and stability, resulting, once again, in diminished power generation? Of course, I will not claim that Rogers is not a hard hitter, but inefficient biomechanics leads to waste of energy: with diminished structural stability, one tends to use pure muscular strength instead, and that leads to fatigue. Well, don't you think Rogers "gassed" relatively early for a world-class athlete? Oh, and one more thing: both spinal flexion and shoulder elevation can mess with an athlete's breathing patterns and guess where that leads: yep, fatigue it is! So, according to elementary sports biomechanics, the foundation for efficient movement is posture[1], still there's a number of MMA coaches out there teaching the "hunchback" as the best fighting stance. Go figure...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">At the exchange starting at 1.34 of the video, ending with Rogers being taken down, and once again at 3.01-3.10, notice how Fedor seemingly overextends with his leading right punch, but his feet follow up immediately so that his center of gravity always ends up above his base of support. This way, he maintains stability through mobility so he’s able to continuously generate power from any position. He probably breaks every rule in the textbook of boxing by abandoning his fighting stance and squaring up to his opponent, but guess what: it does not really matter, because he gets the job done by not being bound by his fighting stance! This is a perfect example of what is known as agility and dynamic balance, two fundamental athletic attributes whose application is not limited to fighting. And these attributes are trainable, as every self-respecting football, basketball or tennis coach will tell you. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What else do I see in Fedor that I don’t see in Rogers? I see beauty of movement and effortlessness, and these mean nothing else but technical perfection. To achieve this lever of mastery, according to Joanne Elphinston, performance consultant to elite professional athletes, one requires “<span style="font-style: italic;">a physical structure that supports the sport’s biomechanics, the neuromuscular coordination to correctly sequence the movement, the psychological skills to focus effort without unnecessary tension and the physiology to sustain the movement pattern until the event is completed</span>”[2]. What I’m trying to say here is that while Brett Rogers (and the majority of MMA fighters out there today) is a tough fighter, period, Fedor is a fantastic athlete, which makes him a-totally-different-class-of-a-fighter. The thing is that the “generic” attributes and skills that make a great athlete can and should be trained before one proceeds to train the specific skills of a sport. I have no specific information about how Fedor acquired those, but seeing that athletes from the former Soviet Union are demonstrating technical mastery more consistently, I can only assume that he has benefited from the advanced research done during the Soviet era in the fields of human movement, sports, and performance enhancement, which was later incorporated in the physical education system of the former USSR. On the other side, your Joe Average MMA fighter, begins as a young man, brimming with testosterone and a vague notion of toughness in his head, who goes to an “MMA Academy” and starts technical training from day one, hitting bags, pads and sparring partners, according to the methods of the so-called “old school” (OK, he also does some roadwork and maybe lifts some weights). Well, I have once heard someone say that there’s no better way of guaranteeing an average fighter than to train him in an average way (don’t remember who it was, so I cannot quote him, sorry ‘bout that) and I tend to agree with that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One last thing that I notice in Fedor, which I actually haven’t yet seen in any other MMA fighter out there, no matter how highly ranked, is adaptability and flow. Fedor is not trying to apply his SAMBO techniques, he is not “integrating his striking with his grappling” and he is not trying to impose a specific system’s fighting strategy – he just does what he has to do in order to break his opponent down. What do I mean by that? Take, for example, Minatauro Nogueira: as excellent a fighter he might be, in each and every one of his fights, he follows the exact same, typical of BJJ, strategy; shoot to take down, try for submission. In his fights against Cro Cop and Tim Sylvia, he just kept on trying to take them down unsuccessfully, until he managed to pull through, on the way taking quite a beating and surviving thanks to pure guts. Take away his BJJ strategy and he’s most probably in trouble. Why? Because he is defined by the style (art, system, sport, whatever…) he practices. Fedor, although he practices SAMBO, is not defined or limited by it. Check again the two exchanges from the Rogers fight I mentioned above, both ending with Fedor taking his opponent down: he leads with the right hand, seemingly loses his balance, steps deeply inside with his right foot and hooks with the left hand. Only, since he’s now in close distance, the second strike becomes a push that trips the opponent over his right leg. Is this “integration” of striking and grappling? No, because <span style="font-style: italic;">there is no distinction between striking and grappling</span> – both emanate from the same kinesiological basis! In this sense, I’d say that Fedor’s style can only be described as “<span style="font-style: italic;">pure fighting</span>”.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now, some of you might (justifiably) ask: is there a way to train people in this “pure fighting” with consistent results? I believe there is, but this is the subject for another, much more extensive blog post – or maybe even a book…<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Notes & References</span><br />[1] Besides Fedor, there’s another MMA fighter, very successful recently, who’s utilizing this upright body posture, Lyoto Machida. Also, the very talented Gerard Mousasi has adopted this posture, since he started training with Fedor Emelianenko.<br /><br />[2] Elphinston, J. Stability, Sport and Performance Movement. North Atlantic Books, 2008, p. 7</span><br /></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-27838924127858034382009-10-17T01:38:00.000-07:002009-10-17T04:41:37.559-07:00Systema cheat-sheet Vol. 3: a big extra on Movement<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It was about six months ago when I wrote the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://systemasweden.blogspot.com/2009/04/normal-0-21-false-false-false-sv-x-none.html">second installment</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> of a three-part series of articles about the sets of rules that provide context to the practice of Russian Martial Art. The article was about the "Three Pillars of Systema" (namely, breathing, structure and movement) and their relationship to combat performance. Regarding movement, I concluded that, since each one of our combat skills </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">(evasions, deflections, strikes, kicks, throws, takedowns, joint manipulations, submissions, immobilizations etc) is executed through movement, then movement obviously equals ability. </span><br /><br /></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsRK_CSNnLuaGO1a1vJ-CAfXKExo5ItYKPuOSUgT3lVhMy1LgqZXoye2dVpm9zem6k-nNqqKxeZICJoc2jE16Hp2EBF-0AuIem0nedKqvcVm_-KL-dYPleacjHU6H5hLxEfNZYc5ixKs/s1600-h/dynamicsofskillacquisition.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 143px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitsRK_CSNnLuaGO1a1vJ-CAfXKExo5ItYKPuOSUgT3lVhMy1LgqZXoye2dVpm9zem6k-nNqqKxeZICJoc2jE16Hp2EBF-0AuIem0nedKqvcVm_-KL-dYPleacjHU6H5hLxEfNZYc5ixKs/s200/dynamicsofskillacquisition.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393530296528829794" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A few months after I wrote this article, I was reading a textbook on the "constraints led approach" to motor control and learning. In that book, a chapter was included on the ecological psychology perspective on skills acquisition. In a few words, ecological psychology, also known as "direct perception", is a school of psychology based on the work of James Gibson [1] who argued that animals and humans stand in a 'systems' relation to the environment, such that, to fully explain some behaviour, it was necessary to study the environment in which this behaviour took place. The aphorism </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;">"It's not what is inside the head that is important, it's what the head is inside of", seems to capture that point [2]. Now, the reason ecological psychology is appealing to those involved with the study of motor learning and control is because it seems to provide answers on what is happening when acquisition of motor skills (such as a throwing technique, a punch, etc.) occurs without awareness of what is happening, i.e. when people cannot exactly explain how they move when they perform a specific skill.<br /><br />So then, what does ecological psychology and direct perception have to do with movement, the third pillar of Systema??? Well, a central idea in Gibson's work is that movement generates information, which leads to further movements and so on, i.e. indicates a cyclical relationship between perception and movement. "<span style="font-style: italic;">We must perceive in order to move</span>", wrote Gibson, "<span style="font-style: italic;">but we must also move in order to perceive</span>"[3].<br /><br />In one of our recent training sessions at the Göteborgs Systema-RMA Klubb we were practicing a drill were one person lies down on the floor (prone or supine position doesn't matter), three or more training partners lie on top of him, acting as dead weight and then he must find a way to "escape" from this positon. My interpretation of this drill is that, once under a pile of bodies, one must first and foremost find a way to breathe, locate a part of the torso which is not compressed where the minimum of movement required by breath can occur (being able to breathe delays the onset of panic and trust me, there's nothing that spells panic more than 300 kilograms placed on your chest). Once this fundamental movement of breath can be performed, it provides information about which direction one should move towards, in order to escape from underneath - where there's space to breathe, there is space to escape!!!<br /><br />Let's see another example of movement providing information that lead to further movement: have you ever seen a MMA fight where the competitors spend way too much time in a standing clinch position, without either of them doing anything decisive, peppering each other with annoying but not effective punches? In my oppinion, when some fighters get in the clinch they are mostly worried about being taken down, so they just brace defensively, remain immobile, and waste precious energy without implementing (actually, without even trying to implement) their strategic plan. What experienced fighters do when they get in the clinch, is continously move: they use the box stepping pattern and try to break their opponents posture, so they can initiate a throwing technique, disengage, or just create space in order to generate some serious striking power (as opposed to pitty-patting their opponent).<br /><br />There is an old-scool boxing saying, according to which "when you do not know what to do in the ring, just use your jab". I guess that a more inclusive version of this might be "when you don't know what to do, just move" - because movement not only equals ability, it also provides the information on how to use your abilities.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >References:</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Gibson">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Gibson</a><br />[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_psychology">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_psychology</a><br />[3] Davids, K., Button, C., Bennett, S. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Dynamics of Skill Acquisition: A Constraints-Led Approach. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Human Kinetics 2008, p. 65<br /><br />If you want to knnow more about ecological psychology and direct perception, you can find a very good texbook by Claire Michaels and Claudia Carello, in pdf format <a href="http://ione.psy.uconn.edu/%7Epsy254/MC.pdf">here</a>.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Gibson"></a></span></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-4335621908237950062009-09-28T05:17:00.000-07:002009-09-28T06:23:53.807-07:00More than one path leading to the same goal...<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I am always impressed to discover converging views expressed by people who seemingly belong to different martial or physical culture disciplines. Check out the following excerpts from two books I am currently reading, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Hidden In Plain Sight: Tracing the Roots of Ueshiba Morihei's Power</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Ellis Amdur, and </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Free to Move</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Scott Sonnon.</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Amdur writes:<br /></span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >For Ueshiba, however, 'kasutori' was not primarily for the purpose of martial prowess, as analogous training was for Daito-ryu practitioners, even though such martial effectiveness could still be developed. Practice is for the purpose of creating a body that is not only analogous to the enlightened spirit, but also <span style="font-weight: bold;">a body that makes the elightened spirit possible</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;">". </span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The word "kasutori" in the above text, refers to the extraction of the pulp-like sediment that is a by-product of the production of</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Japanese alcohol. The claim here, in a few words, is that through </span>the</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> practice of the Aikido basic techniques, we remove the tension that lies our partner's joints as if it was residue.<br /></span></span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Now, let's check what Sonnon says:</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >I came to realize martial art is </span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcRANNW3Zw5Io_nZ719vgDv85SiOKokH4ITXCoevImP-gJzeyCjGv9x60czS9voqeofsYG72kJbsheJrLXok96eEtNcUdd1DhIyM0XpU-TomIP89e0GQtFusyxfFDgIM5mDzG1B7_LVo/s1600-h/Free+to+Move.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZcRANNW3Zw5Io_nZ719vgDv85SiOKokH4ITXCoevImP-gJzeyCjGv9x60czS9voqeofsYG72kJbsheJrLXok96eEtNcUdd1DhIyM0XpU-TomIP89e0GQtFusyxfFDgIM5mDzG1B7_LVo/s200/Free+to+Move.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386501660736770722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >just a physical trick to convince the mind to adopt a higher vibratory frequency: to be more graceful and less disgraceful. The immediate and traumatic feedback of being hit, thrown, or joint-locked tells you precisely where you're holding tension. It shows you where your ego abides within you, when your mind should have no abiding place. Wherever you stop mentally, you amplify emotionally and brace physically</span><span style="font-family:arial;">".<br /><br />To my knowledge, Scott Sonnon has not studied Aikido, and my guess is that Ellis Amdur, a respected scholar and instructor of classical and modern Japanese martial arts, knows little about the range-of-motion exercises that Sonnon describes in his book (actually the book is about way more than healthy joints, but you get my point). Could it then be possible </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">that there are a number of <span style="font-weight: bold;">universal laws</span> which govern the relationship between </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">our mind as a manifestation of our matter (body) and vice versa? And if these laws do exist (I strongly believe they do) wouldn't they be independent of the cultural context (Japanese martial arts, Russian system of health, Alexander technique, Feldenkrais method, you name it) they are expressed in? Just a little food for thought and maybe basis for constructive dialogue...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">You can find out more about Ellis Amdur's <span style="font-style: italic;">Hidden in Plain Sight </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://edgework.info/buy.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">here</span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://edgework.info/buy.html"></a><br />For more info about Scott Sonnon's Free to Move click <a href="http://www.intu-flow.com/">here</a>.</span><br /></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-71313243395173368332009-09-15T05:25:00.000-07:002009-09-15T06:03:19.776-07:00The purpose of Aikido practice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCyQNXRJ0g6lAZU-E96B3YD4pDSTZvVgZNAHfvSlQTKr902qdQcRGhP7lnN33bnHLFO0G5NgfV4KvXSsL2JHEBt0UlJrIv-ElLZy-LiryThi5mASKaOpwrLvC5e4_aW8SxCuBe55N-N4E/s1600-h/HiddenInPlainSight.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCyQNXRJ0g6lAZU-E96B3YD4pDSTZvVgZNAHfvSlQTKr902qdQcRGhP7lnN33bnHLFO0G5NgfV4KvXSsL2JHEBt0UlJrIv-ElLZy-LiryThi5mASKaOpwrLvC5e4_aW8SxCuBe55N-N4E/s400/HiddenInPlainSight.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381677286968738082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">What follows is an excerpt from a book I read recently, and made quite an impression to me. The book is Ellis Amdur's </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Hidden in Plain Sight: Tracing the Roots of Ueshiba Morihei's Power</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. I want to make clear that I haven't ever trained in aikido, nor am I interested to. On the other side, I believe Morihei Ueshiba was one of the greatest martial artists of the twentieth century and also a great thinker, although limited by the era he lived in and the Japanese culture. I also consider Ellis Amdur an excellent writer and I especially appreciate the fact that he attributes Ueshiba's formidable power to his training and not to some supernatural energy he mysteriously tapped into.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's the excerpt:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >" A person with 'locked' joints has 'handles' and 'levers' - when force vectors are applied, such an individual cannot absorb and flow with said forces, cannot channel them into the ground, or cause them to resonate and amplify within a trained body, and more importantly, send them back through himself into the aggressor. Such locked joints do not only occur within the physical body. Ueshiba shows the same understanding as Wilhelm Reich, Ida Rolf, and Moshe Feldenkrais, that physical 'handles' and 'levers' are associated with binding and limitation within the psychological structure. Even with the most dedicated practice of physical technique, one very possibly will remain psychologically distorted, something we have seen in even graceful, very powerful martial artists. Similarly, were one merely to chant, meditate, or otherwise strive to cleanse the 'psychological/spiritual' body, one might be quite at peace until one 'runs into' the world, something occurring again and again when spiritual teachers of quite high attainment meet the temptations of modern society with a body still hungry for that energy".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You can find more about Ellis Amdur's work (which includes much more that martial arts training and writing books) here: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://edgework.info/">http://edgework.info/</a>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-84565109444810708192009-08-24T06:29:00.000-07:002009-09-15T06:05:46.932-07:00Manny says: "it's how thin you wanna slice it!!!"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3eMe-mT2_aLwm5HD3I1stFeVwouZ0-CFkUVuJHBTP92h7CMQqF4MZBH9eASHB6Ch8Iz1nr66UaTz7VMio387cYQZ6kNZgCvr8lq5FvSOYYSZZE6kFLHKCo6gXkNe_dDeemSmVT1ucjo/s1600-h/GladwellCover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3eMe-mT2_aLwm5HD3I1stFeVwouZ0-CFkUVuJHBTP92h7CMQqF4MZBH9eASHB6Ch8Iz1nr66UaTz7VMio387cYQZ6kNZgCvr8lq5FvSOYYSZZE6kFLHKCo6gXkNe_dDeemSmVT1ucjo/s200/GladwellCover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373821430895324226" border="0" /></a>I must have heard it someplace before, but it all came back to me during my summer vacation, when I was reading Malcolm Gladwell's last book, <span style="font-style: italic;">Outliers: The Story of Success</span> (a great read whether you're on vacation or not): in order to become a world-class expert in anything, you need 10.000 hours of practice. In one chapter of the book, Gladwell goes on to describe in detail how the Beatles had performed live for 10.000 hours before reaching their artistic apex, how Bill Gates had been doing computer programming nonstop for seven consecutive years before he dropped out of Harvard to try his hand at his own software company, how it took Bobby Fischer nine years to become a chess grandmaster and so on. It's not as if this conclusion is in any way surprising - we have all heard sayings about one having to "pay his dues", "put the time and effort needed", or even "sweat the t-shirt" as people say in Greece - but now we have a specific target number, synonymous with greatness: 10.000 hours. So, is that it? You fill in your quota and go ahead to become a master? Well, I'm not so sure and the scientists are not very specific either: "<span style="font-style: italic;">In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concerts pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Of course, this doesn't address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do</span>", writes neurologist Daniel Levitin, as quoted by Gladwell. A number of theoreticians suggest that it is the microstructure of the practice sessions (the specific routines and exercises) that is most important, but existing empirical research in the field has several limitations. OK then, if it isn't <span style="font-style: italic;">just</span> the 10.000 hours of practice, what else helps one become a master???<br /><br />A few months ago, I had the opportunity to spend about a week with senior Systema instructor Emmanuel Manolakakis. Manny, as he is known in Systema circles, has definitely done his 10.000 hours of practice - he's been training in and teaching Russian Martial Art for more than fifteen years and his fighting skills testify to that. He also has a great talent in communication and, when he's talking, some very complex ideas seem to flow out of him effortlessly. During one of our long conversations on the value of the Systema training methods and their adaptability to each practitioner's lever of skill, he asked me:<br />"How good do you want to become in this?"<br />"Well, as good as I <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> be", I said.<br />"You know what? It's all about how thin you want to slice it", Manny replied matter-of-factly.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17ldW13zx-V6gHnpxSDPVBA34n8sImMnQPjbJ7M3NA4Sl0coNdbl0t7IZcp3yFDFhhSFs-n2OrZTiqpyqfCCYoDru0yDpqyod-hHzC_o2ghfi9SXnDTSJr05LPUxT08gpuUFbsqKPKy0/s1600-h/FlowBookCover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17ldW13zx-V6gHnpxSDPVBA34n8sImMnQPjbJ7M3NA4Sl0coNdbl0t7IZcp3yFDFhhSFs-n2OrZTiqpyqfCCYoDru0yDpqyod-hHzC_o2ghfi9SXnDTSJr05LPUxT08gpuUFbsqKPKy0/s200/FlowBookCover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373823004558233618" border="0" /></a>Before I go ahead and try to explain what this means in the context of Russian Martial Art training, let me quote here psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, from his book <span style="font-style: italic;">Flow:The </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Psychology of Optimal Experience</span>, on the relationship between physical activity and the phenomenon of "flow" - a state of joy, creativity and total involvement, in which problems seem to disappear and there is an exhilarating feeling of transcendence. "<span style="font-style: italic;">Even the simplest physical act becomes enjoyable when it is transformed so as to produce flow", </span>writes Csikszentmihaly. "<span style="font-style: italic;">The essential steps in this process are: (a) to <span style="font-weight: bold;">set an overall goal, and</span> as <span style="font-weight: bold;">many subgoals</span> as are realistically feasible; (b) to find ways of <span style="font-weight: bold;">measuring progress</span> in terms of the goals chosen; (c) to <span style="font-weight: bold;">keep concentrating</span> on what one is doing and </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">to keep making </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">finer and finer distinctions in the challenges involved in the activity; </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">(d)</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">to <span style="font-weight: bold;">develop the skills</span> necessary to interact with the opportunities available; and (e) to <span style="font-weight: bold;">keep raising the </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">stakes if </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">the activity becomes boring</span></span>" [bold added my me]<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> As an example of this method, the author takes walking - as simple (some might call it tedious) an activity as one can do using his body. Well, a simple walk can be spiced up in a number of different ways so as to produce flow, Csikszentmihaly claims, such as choosing slightly different itineraries, selecting places to stop along the way, developing an efficient walking technique, paying more attention to intersting sights that might be located nearby, measuring the time taken to complete the route, or comparing the perceived effort needed to cover the distance each time.<br /><br />Now, let's take a moment to think about it: doesn't this recipe, suggested by Csikszentmihaly, on how to make a flow experience out of practically any physical endeavour, seem to be the path leading to mastery? Because what else is mastery, if not continuously setting goals (slicing it very thin, that is) and measuring one's progress towards them, concentrating, making finer and finer distinctions in the challenges tackled (once again, slicing it really thin), acquiring skills and raising the stakes again and again? Or is it that one becomes a master by simply "going through the movements" for 10.000 hours? I personally doubt that, or else our world would be full of people who have achieved mastery - for example, every person who's done a job for six years would be one - and this is obviously not the case. Oh, and one more thing: 10.000 hours of just going through the movements would make mastery an extremely dull affair...<br /><br />So, how is it then that Russian Martial Art allows one to divide the road to mastery to an infinite number of very thin slices? I believe the secret lies in the lack of emphasis on technique and what in sport science is known as "external focus training", i.e. concentrating on the results one's actions have on the environment. In Systema, there's is no "ideal" way of performing an action, so the practitioner builds up skills by actually solving motor problems, adapting from trial to trial, and not by constantly reproducing a supposedly ideal technique. Take, for example, a takedown that is achieved by rotating our partner's shoulder line, clockwise, by manipulating the neck and one wrist. Well, what if we tried for the same effect by manipulating the neck and one elbow, or the neck and one shoulder? How about if we rotate counter-clockwise, will our partner still fall down? We can also try to use our elbows instead of our hands to apply the force needed, and maybe add a hip or a knee-bump or a nasty little kick to the shin, in order to break our partner's structure further and do the takedown even more effortless. This freedom to explore can lead to endless variations on a specific action, and according to recent scientific research in the field of motor learning and control, what we have as a result is "better skills retention and transfer". Perhaps we could translate this as "a step closer to mastery"?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gnumFHrmOSA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gnumFHrmOSA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />In case you've missed the point here, I never claimed that one does not have to train for 10.000 hours in order to become a world-class expert in anything. My whole point is that practice doesn't necessarily make perfect - <span style="font-style: italic;">only perfect practice makes perfect</span>! So go ahead and put the time and the effort needed. But also make sure to do as Manny says: slice everything very, very thin...Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-9474815304701466452009-07-16T08:25:00.000-07:002009-09-15T06:05:21.576-07:00How much do you really know about stretching?<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Like most people involved in martial arts training for a long time, I too have done my share of harmful stretching practices. I still remember with dread my years of practice in a hard-style Shaolin style of Kung Fu, where stretching was accompanied by growls, moans and pretty often, screams! To be totally honest with you, even if I wanted to forget those "training" sessions, I still have the nagging injuries (insisting for more than a decade later) to remind me. I really don't know if the extreme Shaolin stretching methods are beneficial for the children in China that take up Kung Fu at the age of five, but they most certainly have not been any good for me and all the people I know who practiced them from the age of eighteen and up.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">After my Kung Fu years, I trained in Filipino martial arts and Judo, so stretching was never a serious part of my training - what I did was spend maybe thirty seconds stretching a muscle that felt "kinda tight" and that was it. So, the other day I was reading an excllent book on sports conditioning methods (</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >High-Performance Sports Conditioning</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">, edited by Bill Foran, published by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.humankinetics.com/">Human Kinetics</a><span style="font-family:arial;">) that included one chapter on Performance Flexibility, written by Nikos Apostolopoulos, director of the Serapis Therapy Clinic in Canada, the only clinic in the world pioneering the development of therapeutic stretching. In that chapter I found tons of interesting information I wish I had known earlier, so I thought I'd share some of it with you:</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >On why you should stretch:<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"Proprioceptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints, which sense muscle length, tension and joint angle, are critical in providing information to the motor system. Therefore, flexibility enhances the development of coordination and technique and the ability of proprioceptors to receive stimuli".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"Proper flexibility training can moderate, or even delay for many years, the deterioration of range of motion that occurs with age".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"Done at low intensity, static stretching and micro-stretching develop the flexibility reserve, decrease the influence of hypertrophy and other muscular changes during the development of strength, and decrease muscle tension, thereby increasing circulation and neural conductivity. This decrease in muscle tension also assists in decreasing muscle tone and aids the removal of metabolic wastes (i.e. lactic acid)".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />On how you should NOT stretch:<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"When the athlete performs a stretch and feels the muscles burning or senses an extreme pull in the muscles, that is a strain... A strain results in microtears of the muscle near the muscle-tendon junction. Microtears are microinjuries. The body responds to these tears by releasing collagen in the area, resulting in the development of scar tissue. As scar tissue ages it contracts, further tightening the surrounding tissues. These </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >microtears [...] are located in the area of transition between elastic (muscle) and inelastic (tendon) tissue. In contrast to the middle of the muscle belly, this area has poor circulation, which is further diminished with the development of scar tissue. Therefore the repair process is slower".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />On how often you should stretch</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">:<br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"...An athlete must stretch at least twice a day to improve flexibility. The athlete must stretch each muscle group at least three times per session".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />On how intensely you should stretch:<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"Performance flexibility stretching is always done at a low intensity level (approximately 30 to 40 percent of perceived exertion). At this level, stretching increases the pliancy of the connective and muscle tissues".</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />"While stretching it is critical to avoid strain or pain, which would result in the activation or constant maintenance of a subconscious protective loop. The body maintains this loop to respond to an injury. Its activation results in the development and reinforcement of muscle imbalances and a further decrease in the range of motion around a joint".<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >On how long you should hold a stretch:<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"The optimum length of time to hold a stretch is approximately 60 seconds. It normally takes about 30 seconds for a stretch to progress from the middle of the muscle belly to the tendons".<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >"... Individuals who hold a stretch longer than 90 seconds often complain of feeling tighter".</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Highly recommended (available from <a href="http://www.humankinetics.com/">www.humankinetics.com</a>):</span></span><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/003/97807360016321_zoom.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 318px;" src="http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/003/97807360016321_zoom.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-72006320795886526202009-06-28T09:24:00.001-07:002009-06-28T10:05:32.113-07:00My own, personal Systema cheat-sheet (Part 3)!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">Well, as the training season for Göteborgs Systema-RMA Klubb comes to an end, I believe the time has come to finish this three-part article on the sets of rules that, in my opinion form the backbone of Russian Martial Art. Just to remind you, the first part of the article referred to N.A. Bernstein’s definition of dexterity (you can read more about it here), which helps us view Russian Martial Art not as a set number of comprehensive, start-to-finish, martial arts techniques that someone learns in order to “graduate”, but rather as a training method to make one’s body dexterous, “clever” enough to solve the motor problems of hand-to-hand combat. The second part of my cheat-sheet was about the “three pillars” of Systema (read more about it here), the way breathing, structure and movement relate to combat performance and how they form a “martial dogma” that provides us with a unique way of explaining combat within the context of a rational Western scientific tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">So, let’s now move ahead to<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rules set #3: Victor Spiridonov's Combat SAMBO fighting strategy</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">Before we begin to analyze the Combat SAMBO strategy (the “single algorithm of actions used in warding off an onslaught” – more on this later), it would be a good idea to try and explain the historical framework under which SAMBO and what we currently refer to as Russian Martial Art were developed, and the connections between those two. Most people tend to believe that SAMBO (a Russian acronym meaning "self-protection without weapons" - SAMozashchitya Bez Oruzhiya) was developed as a pure grappling style in the 1930s Soviet Union, by Kodokan judo black belt Vassili Sergeevich Oschepkov and Victor Afanasievich Spiridonov, an officer of the Russian Army, who combined elements of Japanese jujitsu, judo, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling with techniques taken from the various native wrestling styles of the older Soviet republics (such as the Georgian <i style="">chidaoba</i>, Armenian <i style="">koch</i> and Tatar<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><i style="">kuriash</i>)[1]<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a>. Another view, less common, has Spiridonov and Oschepkov being among the group of combat experienced individuals, members of the Dynamo athletic society (also including Anatoly Kharllampiev and I.V. Vasiliev), that was assigned in 1923 by the Cheka (<i>Chrezvychaynaya Komissiya</i>, Extraordinary Commission</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">)</span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">, the Soviet state security service to conduct a worldwide research on the field of hand-to-hand combat in order to improve the combat system of the Red Army. These four persons were given the title of “combat investigator” and travelled around the world in order to study a great number of native martial arts. The course of this investigation lasted about ten years - in the history of mankind, there has never been such an awesome pursuit (and a state-sanctioned one!) of information into combat. The huge body of knowledge that was gathered by this research was to be controlled by the state and is said to have resulted in three combat systems, a Close Quarter Combat system to be used by the elite forces of the former Soviet Union and secret police, a Subject and Crowd Control Tactics system to be used by the police and a competitive form which would become the training regimen of the general military[2]<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a>.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d-S4fRDyVDs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d-S4fRDyVDs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">Although it is pretty hard to discern the thin line dividing history from propaganda when one is trying to research events that happened during the Soviet era, I believe it makes perfect sense that a world-wide research of combat styles would have naturally resulted in more than one approaches to combat and not only the unarmed, pure grappling style we know as SAMBO today (some refer to this version of SAMBO as a “Russian version of Japanese Judo”). There’s also another thing we should keep in mind: that the combat investigators of the Dynamo worked to some degree independently of each other</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">[3]. Now, while Oschepkov was a hulk of a man, very athletic and an accomplished judoka, Spiridonov was maimed during World War I from a bayonet wound to his left shoulder, something that greatly restricted his ability to practice any form of wrestling. It is safe to assume that even if these men had not worked independently, they would most probably have used different approaches to address the problems of hand-to-hand combat. So, once again it should come as no surprise that Spiridonov is said to have developed Samoz, a softer system than the pure grappling style of Oschepkov, “<i style="">one that could be used by smaller, weaker practitioners or even wounded soldiers</i>”[4]<a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T6Nih8S4z1o&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T6Nih8S4z1o&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">While, due to Soviet propaganda, sport SAMBO was to become the official version of the art, and also the one that was “leaked out” to the espionage of competitive nations as the supposedly secret Soviet fighting style, the Combat SAMBO</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">[5], reserved for use by the elite forces of the Soviet Army and the secret police remained a closely guarded secret. According to the chapter on Combat SAMBO included in former Russian president Vladimir Putin’s (who holds the title of ‘master of sports’ in both Judo and SAMBO) book on Judo, Spiridonov was the father of this style, since “<i style="">the techniques he developed became the foundation of combat SAMBO</i>”</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">[6]. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">I believe that the various expressions of Russian Martial Art that are taught today around the world (all of them became known to the West only after the collapse of the Soviet Union), such as the Ryabko-Vasiliev Systema, Kadochnikov’s Systema and Alexander Retuinskih’s ROSS are derived to a large degree from Spyridonov’s style</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">[7]. But even if the historical connection seems to be weak (once again, the obstacle in discerning history from propaganda in the Soviet Union seems sometimes insurmountable) once one studies the basic fighting strategy of Combat SAMBO, the similarities between the fundamental theory of Spiridonov’s style and the practice of contemporary Russian Martial Art become hard to ignore. And since this is exactly what this article is all about, here’s the Combat SAMBO strategy, once again as presented in the afore-mentioned book on Judo by Vladimir Putin:<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">“<b style="">Steps in Combat SAMBO</b></span></i><b style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">In combat SAMBO, regardless of the nature and substance of an attack, there is a single algorithm of actions used in warding off an onslaught. This algorithm is the order of steps, each of which represents the resolution of a specific tactical objective:<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step1: Minimize losses from your opponent’s attack.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step 2: Seize the initiative through diversionary actions.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step 3: Get your opponent on his back.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step4: Execute a final, pain-causing action.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Depending on the situation, additional steps might be taken:<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step 5: Disarm your opponent.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step 6: Search your opponent.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US">Step 7: Escort your opponent away</span></i></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">”[8].</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">For anyone who has studied any style of contemporary Russian Martial Art, the first four steps must seem very familiar. In Systema Ryabko-Vasiliev, for example, the first skill we train is evasion from all sorts of attacks. Why do we want to evade? The detailed analysis of the above mentioned steps in Putin’s book gives the obvious answer: “<i style="">If an opponent strikes (punching, kicking, or with a weapon) forceful blocks and props won’t guarantee uke’s safety. The most effective resolution is to step off the line of attack and at the same time deflect the attacking limb in the opposite direction</i>”</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">[9]. What is it that Systema has that Spyridonov’s style hadn’t? It is the knowledge in the field of biomechanics which can make the evasive movements more efficient! Now, regarding the second step, the Combat SAMBO theory states that “<i style="">After stepping off the line of the attack, if you are able to avoid a serious initial defeat and maintain combat readiness, you need to launch a counter-strike, preferably an injury-causing action. The nature and form of the diversionary action depend on the opponent’s positioning to one another, their respective height and weight, type of clothing, etc</i>”[10].</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;" lang="EN-US"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"> In Systema, this would mean that we either disrupt the opponent’s breathing or break his structure – both these actions result in taking the initiative from the opponent (see also the second part of this article here). For the third step, taking the opponent down seems to be a priority both in Combat SAMBO and in contemporary expressions of Russian Martial Art. About the fourth step, the detailed analysis states that “<i style="">Final injury-causing actions (the final blow) must be executed primarily by the legs (heel, toes, knees) and with the arms only in exceptional circumstances</i>”. Well, have you ever noticed what Vladimir Vasiliev always does in his demonstrations after taking down a partner? Exactly!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">So, what is the conclusion of this comparison between the Combat SAMBO fighting strategy and the practice of contemporary Russian Martial Art? I would say, that since Spyridonov laid the foundation of his style, the subsequently obtained scientific knowledge in the fields of biomechanics, neurophysiology and psychophysiology (and let’s admit it, scientific research was one of the <i style="">very</i> strong points of the Soviets) enhanced the application of a combat strategy that remains basically unaltered for about ninety years!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US">This article concludes the three-part series on the sets of rules that I consider to be my personal Systema cheat-sheet. The point I tried to make in it is that Russian Martial Art, rather than being an “all natural, anything goes, fully improvised” system of combat or a huge collection of “cool” (maybe even funky!) training drills, is a very specific framework of principles and concepts that allows one to study (as opposed to “learn”) hand-to-hand combat in the most efficient way. <span style=""> </span>In my opinion, one does not learn Systema – one studies fighting using the Systema method.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family:arial;">I sincerely hope these texts will be of help.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">References:</span><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span lang="EN-US">[1]This view is expressed, for example in Latvian born, Judo – SAMBO champion and coach Alexander Iatskevich’s book, <i style="">Russian Judo </i>(1999, Ippon Books).<o:p></o:p></span></span></span> <div id="edn2" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">[2] A very interesting and detailed article written by Scott Sonnon on the history of SAMBO can be found at <a href="http://www.sambo.com.ua/">http://www.sambo.com.ua/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn3" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;">[3] <span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_%28martial_art%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(martial_art)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn4" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><i style=""><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></i></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> [4] <span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_%28martial_art%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(martial_art)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn5" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">[5] We should not confuse the martial art of Combat SAMBO (<i>Boyevoye Sambo</i><span style="">) used by the elite forces of the Soviet military and secret police with the full-contact fighting sport of Combat SAMBO sanctioned by FIAS (Federation International Amateur SAMBO) which resembles modern mixed martial arts competition.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn6" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">[6] Putin, V., Shestakov, V., Levitsky, A., <i style="">Judo: History, Theory, Practice.</i> North Atlantic Books, 2004, p. 144<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn7" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="">[7] For the connection between Retuinskih’s ROSS, Kadochnikov’s system and Spyridonov’s style see</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">a)Darby, J., Young, R.W., <i style="">Secrets of the Russian Martial Arts.</i> Black Belt Magazine, September 2001, p. 67</span></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;">b)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadochnikov%27s_Systema">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadochnikov%27s_Systema</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn8" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span lang="EN-US">[8] Putin, V., Shestakov, V., Levitsky, A., <i style="">Judo: History, Theory, Practice.</i> North Atlantic Books, 2004, p. 144<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn9" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a>[9] Ibid., p. 145</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> </div> <div id="edn10" style="font-family:arial;"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8159160081716868388&postID=7200632079588652620#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></span></span></a> [10] Ibid., p. 145</span></span></p></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US"></span></span></p>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-91909999250297717432009-06-07T03:24:00.000-07:002009-06-07T04:00:04.698-07:00You Look the way you Move!!!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">An excellent blog post by Circular Strength Training coach Bao Tran (to find out more about Circular Strength Training, visit <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.rmaxinternational.com">www.rmaxinternational.com</a> or if you live in Sweden, check out CST Coach Ola Lindblom's website: <a href="http://professionaltraining4u.com/">http://professionaltraining4u.com</a>), who notices a very interesting connection between the way we move and our mental state:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >"On a very rainy Friday night over Japanese Yakitori at NYC’s St. Mark, I had a chance to listen to the thoughts and feelings of Ms. Yin Yue, professional dancer, celebrity trainer, and one of Tracy Anderson’s top instructors. Over our Japanese comfort food and beers (well I had beer and she didn’t), she mentioned one of Tracy Anderson’s beliefs about fitness, which was very similar to what I learned from Coach Scott Sonnon.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Dance and fitness Trainer to the stars like Madona and Paltrow, Tracy Anderson</span><a style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.tracyandersonmethod.com/"> www.tracyandersonmethod.com </a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >believes that “</span><em style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"><strong>you look the way you move</strong></em><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >”. When I asked Yin what she meant by her statement Ms. Yue gave me an example from her discipline of dance. A Hip Hop dancer wouldn’t look like a professional ballet dancer because they move differently which in turn reflects their mental state. Likewise a ballet dancer wouldn’t look or think like a Hip Hop professional dancer.<br />Interesting…</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Her comment made me reflect deeply about my own potential for flow, athleticism, health, and fitness. How is my current training program changing my whole appearance, mood, and brain? This is a really profound idea which many fitness enthusiasts rarely consider while exercising.</span><br /><strong style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">How many times do you think gym members are reflecting how their choice of exercise is changing their movement potential, brains, and holistic being? Not many but I am going to help you change that right now. </strong><strong style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"><br /></strong><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >I was not thinking about bodybuilding per se when I meditated on Tracy Anderson’s belief. I can see how and why body builders adopt a rigid mentality based on their choice of exercise. While their training does effectively build muscle mass it also builds an invisible prison for their joints and connective tissues. Ask a professional body builder honestly if he or she feels healthy and pain free. Yes, the “no pain-no gain” mentality is the reason why you look the way you do.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Many people like me who got hurt from Body Building and who got jaded when it didn’t help me improve my martial arts game return to and explore the health and fitness alternatives such as dance, yoga, martial arts, and much older strength training systems than body building such as sports, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, clubbell athleticism, and kettlebell training.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >What do these health and fitness alternatives has over body building?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >What is the missing secret ingredient to health and fitness?</span><br /><strong style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Movement sophistication</strong><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >.</span><strong style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Y</strong><strong><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >es, the missing key is movement, which is the key to health, longevity, and optimal performance. Anyone who has been researching the marvels of neuroscience can see the connection between movement base training and wellness. The human body has evolved and is wired to move multi-dimensionally and dynamically until it dies"</span>.</strong><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />You can read the rest of Coach Tran's post here: <a href="http://fit2flow.wordpress.com/">http://fit2flow.wordpress.com</a><br /><br />Before you go there, have a look at this video of Feldenkrais method practitioner Ruthy Alon exploring spiral movement to raise herself from a lying down to a sitting to a standing position. The video commentary is just as interesting: <span style="font-style: italic;">"Your individual, unique way of moving reflects not only the level of wellness, but your entire personality, the way you see yourself taking a place in the world"</span>, claims Alon. Well, what do you think???<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/igpJeOkgfzw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/igpJeOkgfzw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-43971788195161893692009-05-23T09:18:00.000-07:002011-04-30T04:10:21.628-07:00The irresistible charm of dexterity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Unlike today's fitness industry that places extreme emphasis on either physical attributes (strength, power, speed etc) or physical appearance, folk wisdom values dexterity (the ability of an "intelligent body" to spontaneously solve problems that arise out of the interaction with one's environment) very highly. The epics, fairy tales and proverbs of cultures from all around the world praise dexterity consistently - the famous Bible legend of yound David who beat the giant Goliath using his wits and skill is one of the first to pop in mind. Russian - Jewish neurophysiologist and pioneer of the science of biomechanics N.A. Bernstein included the following fable (presumably of Russian origin) in his classic text </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">On Dexterity and Its Development</span><span style="font-family: arial;">. I find it very inspiring so I thought I should share it:</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"><br />
"The father sent his three sons to travel around the world and to learn wisdom. In three years, the sons were back and told the father that one of them had learned the skills of the barber, the second one had learned the profession of the blacksmith, and the third one had become a fencer.<br />
The father asked them all to sit in front of the house and to wait for a chance to demonstrate their skills. The one who bested the brothers would inherit the house and all the valuables.<br />
They sat for a short while and saw a large hare hopping across the field.<br />
'This one is just for me', said the barber. He took his instruments, ran after the hare, put foam on its muzzle, and shaved it clean without cutting the skin.<br />
'Yes', said the father, "You are certainly a great master. If your brothers do not do something amazing, the house will be yours'.<br />
'Wait a minute, daddy', said the second son, the blacksmith.<br />
And exactly at that time, a carriage appeared on the road pulled by a pair of trotters. The blacksmith grabbed his tools, ran after the carriage, tore off all eight horseshoes and replaced them with new oneswithout stopping the carriage.<br />
'Wow', said the father, 'I can see that you also did not waste your time. I don't know who is more dexterous of you too. Your brother will have a hard time catching his elder brothers'.<br />
He had just spoken these words, when it started to rain. The father and the two elder sons crawled under the bench while the third son, the fencer, remained outside. He drew out his sword and sterted to swing it over his head hitting away each drop of water. The rain grew harder and harder and eventually it started to pour. But the younger son just swung his sword quicker and quicker and managed to deflect every drop according to the perfect rules of fencing, so that he remained as dry as if he were sitting under an umbrella.<br />
The father could not make a choice and divided his estate between all three sons. That was the only smart thing to do".<br />
</span><span style="font-family: arial;">I really don't know what made things change so much since the times when people recounted fables as cool as this, but it seems to me that nowadays dexterity </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is underrated or rather, ignored, especially in the world of martial arts and combat training, in favour of crude physical attributes, such as strength, speed and endurance. If you just perform a search on the internet, you will mostly find people obsessed with numbers: it's always about how much weight one can move, how many reps of a given exercise</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> one </span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can perform in a given amount of time or for how long can one continously </span><span style="font-family: arial;">perform </span><span style="font-family: arial;">one </span><span style="font-family: arial;">exercise</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">before exhausting himself. And then<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>there are the people obsessed with appearance - the "six-pack, the "big guns" (biceps, that is), and the shoulders that <span style="font-style: italic;">look </span>as if you can rest the world on top of them. Especially in North America this "notion" of </span><span style="font-family: arial;">cosmetic muscle building</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is so pervasive that some people believe Fedor Emelianenko can't really fight, since he looks like a fat guy!</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"><br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XuFXT5lJt-8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XuFXT5lJt-8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N9yuVcwiKjk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N9yuVcwiKjk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
</span><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, please don't misunderstand me, I'm not claiming that strength, speed and endurance are not important physical attributes, and of course, if you're interested in improving your chances of getting laid, a six-pack might come handy:-) But, just take a moment to think about this: why does one want to train in martial arts? Is it because he wishes to overcome an opponent who is weaker, slower and less enduring? Of course not! And what other than dexterity is it that gives an average David a chance at victory over Goliath?<br />
Unlike strength, speed or endurance, dexterity is a versatile capacity, it applies in many fields - in everyday life, in sports, or in war. It is accesible to everyone and it is exercisable, it can be developed. And, according to N.A. Bernstein, "<span style="font-style: italic;">it builds a bridge to the area of genuine intellect. It is an accumulation of life experiences in the field of movements and actions. For this reason, dexterity <span style="font-weight: bold;">frequently increases with age and is preserved until later years more than other psychophysical capacities"</span> </span>[my bold]<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">.<br />
</span></span>Do you want to be a great martial artist? Just build a good base in physical conditioning and then move on to dexterity - it is not muscular adaptation you're after in the long run, it is <span style="font-style: italic;">neuro-muscular</span> adaptation. Train movements, not muscles, and make sure you analyze the physiological aspects and biomechanics of each movement (or if you can't do that just ask help from someone who can).<br />
In order to get inspired, just check out the following video I found on YouTube, of people swinging heavy objects around. Then compare the stuff these guys are doing with what the "monster lifters" of the two videos above are doing. Honestly now - which ones impress you the most???<br />
<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KIj3dUyi1S0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KIj3dUyi1S0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;">And lastly, here's one last video for all of you who favour David in a match-up against Goliath</span>. <span style="font-family: arial;">Fedor may look like just a fat guy, but man, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">can </span><span style="font-family: arial;">he fight!!!</span><br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P3QzX1ZadJM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P3QzX1ZadJM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-11946074331908087282009-05-17T06:59:00.000-07:002009-05-17T07:17:26.445-07:00What does it take to become a master?<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OG3PhdFK-M&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OG3PhdFK-M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">"Bird began developing his basketball practice at age four, and never stopped practicing. After the Celtics </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">[Bird's team] </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">won the NBA championship in 1986, reporters asked Bird what he planned to do next. 'I've still got some things I want to work on', he was quoted as saying. 'I'll start my off-season training next week. Two hours a day with at least a hundred free throws'. Many professionals take some of the summer off, but not Larry Bird. He runs for conditioning, up and down the steepest hills he can find. On the blacktop court with glass backboard at home in French Lick, Indiana, he practices.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">During his years with the Celtics, Bird was known for getting on the court an hour or two before everyone else to practice his shots - foul shots, fall-away shots, three-pointers, shots from all sorts of angles. Sometimes, just for fun, he would sit on the sideline and pop them in, or find a seat in the first row and float them in.<br />No question, Bird likes to win. Still, according to his agent Bob Woolf, that's not the main reason he practices so diligently and playes so whole-heartedly. <span style="font-weight: bold;">'He does it just to enjoy himself. Not to make money, to get acclaim, to gain stature. He just loves to play basketball' </span>". </span></span></span><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">[my bold]<br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Excerpt from the book</span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span id="btAsinTitle" style="">Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span id="btAsinTitle" style="">by George Leonard</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">(Penguin Books, 1992)</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">.<br /></span></span><br /></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-53973151286746036252009-05-08T05:27:00.000-07:002009-05-08T06:45:02.005-07:00Is physical effort enough?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN96Z48NN5sWRb2Xku7DI8sBpUJ2Ao3C6CG8JgMENqz_-kL-_IdUZUNjSfSopkkx2AbpyBuGj80Zd41GVcZCBaF6s4V7gkcXF6WPcGU1pQeuybx4fbYPtlRv4__E-tW1aV6Gb2X2IQbjA/s1600-h/Matt+Thornton.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN96Z48NN5sWRb2Xku7DI8sBpUJ2Ao3C6CG8JgMENqz_-kL-_IdUZUNjSfSopkkx2AbpyBuGj80Zd41GVcZCBaF6s4V7gkcXF6WPcGU1pQeuybx4fbYPtlRv4__E-tW1aV6Gb2X2IQbjA/s400/Matt+Thornton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333439321194488114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's some valuable training advice by Matt Thornton, Brazilian JuJitsu and MMA coach and head of the Straight Blast Gym worldwide matial arts organization. I found it in an interview of his, included in the Functional JKD instructional DVD series. Check it out and see if it applies to you (the stranscription was done by me so there might be a few small errors, but the general content is there):<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"I hear that sometimes, my students will complain that some people are natural athletes. It is true, there are definitely people that pick up things quicker, they do BJJ for a year or two and they're really good. But alot of it also has to do with the way you think: a lot of the people that complain about learning slowly are just lazy. They may work hard physically, but they lack the most important element you must have in order to learn anything, which is imagination. When they see me learning something new and a day later they see me doing it in sparring, what they don't realize is that between the moment I learned the technique and the moment I came out and used, I have been thinking about it. I go to bed at night thinking about it, I visualize it, I wonder where it would fit in the context of the whole game, how it could be used from different positions, so I can see it in my mind and then I can use it. It's not just the physical training, there's also the mental part and I think a lot of people are just lazy, they just don't do it. 'Oh, that's the move? OK, show where else you can use it', they say, instead of 'Hmmm, I wonder where else you can use that move, let me think about it for a minute and let me use my powers of deduction'. You can't possibly learn this way. It's too complicated, so you really need that imagination. The people I'm talking about usually don't listen to music and they don't read a lot. If they exercised their brain muscle, they'd learn a lot faster too'.<br /><br /></span><span>Here's something for you to keep in mind: if you thought that training in martial arts is something that happens exclussively in the gym, and after you exit the door it is all over, you're going to have a hard time to get really good at your game. Visualization and mental rehersal can give you a serious edge: according to football coach Andrew Caruso, <span style="font-style: italic;">"virtually all re</span></span><span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">cent research has shown that five hours of physical practice and one hour of visualization is consistently better than six hours of physical practice!" </span><span>[1]</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span>All you have to do, is use your imagination. Elite professional athletes all over the world reap great benefits for this. Why wouldn't you?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">[1] Caruso, A. <span style="font-style: italic;">Sports Psychology Basics. </span>Reedswain, 2004.<br /><br />You can find out more about Matt Thornton and the Straight Blast Gym <a href="http://www.straightblastgym.com/">here</a>. You can also find some very interesting articles about training on his "<a href="http://aliveness101.blogspot.com/">Aliveness 101 blog</a>": <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.straightblastgym.com/"></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.straightblastgym.com/"></a><br /></span></span></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-2005496543569450262009-04-13T07:19:00.000-07:002009-09-15T06:04:31.401-07:00A few things you should know about breathing<span style="font-family:arial;">Here is a number of interesting things I have read about breathing during the last few years - I believe you'll find these interesting:<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4D0QRimT-HYOBVd5hvDB4rviH_2s14ffR7TGfZsjwYjxYSGS_sjBG1VjYt2oS-jL4sEJtaHtYGUw4BKuJHUMYDm575NG9_SYclQGM-on_LP_naxBQX22Xf9keEmzgZAkmUS2w8dFLk0Q/s1600-h/Embodied+Wisdom.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4D0QRimT-HYOBVd5hvDB4rviH_2s14ffR7TGfZsjwYjxYSGS_sjBG1VjYt2oS-jL4sEJtaHtYGUw4BKuJHUMYDm575NG9_SYclQGM-on_LP_naxBQX22Xf9keEmzgZAkmUS2w8dFLk0Q/s200/Embodied+Wisdom.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324186622180359922" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >"A person reacts to stress by breathing in shallow patterns using chest muscles. The habit carries to times even when not stressed and erodes into times of sleep. [...] When excess CO2 is exh</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >aled, blood becomes too alcaline, leading to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasoconstriction">vasoconstriction</a>, which causes a feeling of apprehension. The breathing pattern worsens and alkalization </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >lea</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >ds to increasingly sensitive ne</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >rve endings until pain can occur even during tasks, which were once pain free. Overused muscles (once postural but now used </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >for breathing) retain acid wastes becoming stiff and fatigue easily as they are used for non-productive energy even during sleep. Spinal joints stiffen as they fail to move properly during breathing. The person seeks more rest and less movement. [...] Finally sleep </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >deprivation then brings about mood and cognitive changes. This quickly becomes a case of physiology overwhelming psychology. By the time shallow breathers are seen in clinics, it may appear that the psychology is overwhelming the physiology and s</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >uch patients are labeled psychosomatic".</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Colangelo</span></span>, <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Joy. <span style="font-style: italic;">Embodied Wisdom : What our anatomy can teach us about the art of living</span></span>.</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">iUniverse, 2003, p. 112-113<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">"...Diaphragmatic breathing, with the belly expanding to the front and sides during inhalation [...] </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">has the followi</span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">ng effects on cardiac function:</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZ__FArPMaFB-nX4XkLnIVuYUomtYsQz03Dgyz80eJ114OAI_cGNarl5q5mg6GoVXATchGrk67Sy3uT_MVKx3qv1yEIumz1aCYTlVlQoAcUxVyBOBy208oAXc2TIjOgMAPIdiGRXASFE/s1600-h/Somatics.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZ__FArPMaFB-nX4XkLnIVuYUomtYsQz03Dgyz80eJ114OAI_cGNarl5q5mg6GoVXATchGrk67Sy3uT_MVKx3qv1yEIumz1aCYTlVlQoAcUxVyBOBy208oAXc2TIjOgMAPIdiGRXASFE/s200/Somatics.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324194158760934466" border="0" /></a><ol style="text-align: left;font-family:arial;"><li style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">decreased heart rate</span></li><li style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">decreased cardiac output</span></li><li style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">reduced peripheral systolic blood pressure</span></li><li style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">regulation of the cardiovascular system by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasympathetic_nervous_system">parasympathetic functions</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_nervous_system">autonomic nervous system</a></span></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >regulation of the heartbeat by the ebb and flow of respiratory sinus arrhythmia.</span></li></ol><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Number 5 is the most un</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >iversally recognized effect of respiration on </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >cardiovascular function</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Respiratory sinus arrhythmia refers to the way in which heart rate varies with the phase of respiration. The heart rate accelerates during the inspiratory phase, then decelerates during the expiratory phase. [...] The respiratory sinus arrhythmia, with its rising and falling pressure, and its variable rate of flow, has the effect of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >massaging and buffing the vascular walls, which are flushed smooth by the pulsating pressure. The vascular canals tend, then, to remain supple"</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span lang="EN-US">Hanna, Thomas. <i>Somatics. </i>Da Capo Press,<i> </i>1988, p. xiii</span></span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaeja23EXSCcd6CIrSxiZPHmONgDtugfY76-0Wx7Be1Ic5So20hyphenhyphenI0ZRSv76PX5L5rlTi0cYcOswUBmb675NNH84R5SkV0ZaPS93SMOObIqPyyQyN-c6cTPUg-o_36mOdfL6VWq3Wc4U/s1600-h/Manual+of+Freediving.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaeja23EXSCcd6CIrSxiZPHmONgDtugfY76-0Wx7Be1Ic5So20hyphenhyphenI0ZRSv76PX5L5rlTi0cYcOswUBmb675NNH84R5SkV0ZaPS93SMOObIqPyyQyN-c6cTPUg-o_36mOdfL6VWq3Wc4U/s200/Manual+of+Freediving.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324200438459471154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >For those who prefer the 'certainty' of physiological science, it may help to understand the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >localization of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_system">olfactory system</a> in our central nervous system. Over the course of evolution our have enlarged like a city that grows progressively. There is the historical part: the antique city that embraces the oldest quarters, which in our brain is the 'reptile' or 'primitive' part - the palocortex. Then, there is the new districts of the city, or the neocortex. The most sensitive nerve endings that cover the area of the olfactory receptors are in direct contact with the 'old city', or with the part of the brain that is the seat of instinct, inherited from our most distant ancestors. With reflexive mechanisms </span><span style="font-family:arial;">[i.e. breathing exercises] </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >we touch the 'visceral brain' and therefore organs such as the heart, blood vessels, bladder, intestine and gall bladder.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Through other connections we also influence the pituary gland and the hypothalamus that both lie in the primitive brain; in this way we stimulate, through the use of hormones, the whole endocrine system - the 'chemical nervous system'"</span><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Pelizzari, U., Tovaglieri, S. <span style="font-style: italic;">Manual of Freediving: Underwater on a Single Breath</span>. Idelson Gnocchi, 2004, p. 114</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-37882142482680905062009-04-07T07:39:00.000-07:002009-04-13T07:33:59.734-07:00My own, personal Systema cheat-sheet (Part 2)!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6zPd8qM_L9oSpWROTH-73-PNxWDflWyDmMkte3crCT_YG9lkvmhmkd6i_UVjo76wsyVMayJATj9DQP7n1eEg6z2iLHa5GiEc8tnA_JaLYZTiR2dosrZibyPlnhR6PzfzCFI29gvxhag/s1600-h/Cheetsheat2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6zPd8qM_L9oSpWROTH-73-PNxWDflWyDmMkte3crCT_YG9lkvmhmkd6i_UVjo76wsyVMayJATj9DQP7n1eEg6z2iLHa5GiEc8tnA_JaLYZTiR2dosrZibyPlnhR6PzfzCFI29gvxhag/s320/Cheetsheat2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321962546753653842" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">OK, I believe it is high time I wrote the second part of this three-part article, on the three sets of rules that in my opinion[1], provide a much needed context in Russian Martial Art, in order for one to be able to classify the huge number of Systema training drills or devise new ones, according to the attribute or skill which is being exercised and trouble-shoot his practice. Just to remind you, the first set of rules is neurophysiologist N. A. Bernstein’s definition of dexterity (you can read more about it <a href="http://systemasweden.blogspot.com/2009/04/understanding-russian-martial-art-part.html">here</a>), which helps us view Russian Martial Art not as a set number of comprehensive, start-to-finish, martial arts techniques that someone learns in order to “graduate”, but rather as a training method to make one’s body dexterous, “clever” enough to solve the motor problems of hand-to-hand combat. So, let’s move now to</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Rules set #2: The Three "Pillars" of Systema</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The most common explanation of the three pillars one hears from Systema practitioners is that a practitioner should “always breathe, move, and keep body in form”, which although true to a degree, in my opinion is a rather oversimplified way to view Russian Martial Arts’ unique way of explaining combat within the context of a rational Western scientific tradition. I will explain why it is so later in this article, but for the moment, let’s just examine how breathing, structure and movement relate to combat performance.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Besides being part of the processes of delivering oxygen to where it is needed in the body and removing carbon dioxide waste, <span style="font-weight: bold;">breathing </span>is the only bodily function we have that allows us to regulate the physiological effects of survival stress on our body. Well, what are those effects? Let’s check out what Bruce K. Siddle, internationally recognized authority on use of force training and the effects of survival stress on combat performance, has to say on the subject, in his classic book Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge: <span style="font-style: italic;">“…a ‘perceived’ high-threat stimulus automatically engages the sympathetic nervous system. The activation of this system increases the heart rate, which in turn has a crucial affect on motor performance, visual processing and cognitive reaction time. For example, at 115 beats per minute (BPM), fine motor skills (precision and accuracy skills) deteriorate. When the heart rate exceeds 145 BPM, complex motor skills deteriorate and the visual system begins to narrow. But when the heart rate exceeds 175 BPM, a warrior can expect to experience auditory exclusion and the loss of peripheral vision and depth perception. This initiates a catastrophic failure of the cognitive processing capabilities, leading to fatal increases in reaction time or hypervigilance (freezing in place or irrational acts)”</span>[2]. In a few words, when you are facing an emergency your sympathetic nervous system kicks in, and the effects of this activation can make all the martial arts skills in the world totally useless, since when you can’t think (that’s the “catastrophic failure of the cognitive processing capabilities” is all about), you cannot fight... Now, in comes breathing, the only voluntary method of control you have on the workings of your autonomic nervous system. According to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, former U.S Army Ranger, paratrooper and West Point Academy Psychology Professor, <span style="font-style: italic;">“breathing and blinking are the only two actions of your autonomic nervous system that you can bring under conscious control anytime you choose. As such, your breathing is the bridge between your somatic (voluntary) and autonomic nervous system. Think of your autonomic nervous system as a big, shuddering, shaking machine that has only one control lever sticking out from its side. Your breathing is that control lever, the one thing you can reach out and grab”</span>[3]. To sum this up, controlling your breathing means controlling your psychological state when fighting – <span style="font-weight: bold;">breath controls the intent</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">OK, let’s move ahead to <span style="font-weight: bold;">structure</span>, which, from a mechanical point of view, is every construction with the ability to bear load. Your musculoskeletal system, for example, is such a construction, which has evolved so as to allow you to negotiate the force of gravity when in a standing position. Since our ancestors did not collapse under their own weight, they were able to move from one place to the next, able to hunt, collect fruit or, escape from predators, thus they managed to survive, thrive and perpetuate their genes. Now, besides helping you to keep an upright posture (the “up” in “upright” is dictated by gravity, of course), your structure (or “form”, or body alignment) provides a stabilizing platform for your individual muscles to generate movement. If it was otherwise, each and every one of your attempts to move would have similar results as those one has when trying to fire a cannon from a canoe. One very important thing to understand about structure is that it’s not something statically maintained: you cannot “keep your body in form”, since form is dictated by function. What you can do is constantly align your structure in such a way that you are able a) to negotiate the force of gravity and b) generate force with your muscles so that you can move, <span style="font-style: italic;">according to the action you want to perform</span>! For example, your structural alignment when you want to generate forward pressure is not the same with the one when you want to pull something backwards and both are different from the one you need just to remain standing. <span style="font-style: italic;">In combat, the correct structural alignment is the one that allows you at any given moment to perform your chosen action directly and with minimum muscular effort</span>. Thus, relaxation, which is considered to be the “fourth pillar of Systema”, is actually a result of maintaining proper structure, so it is not an independent feature of correct technique (also the term used should be “selective tension” rather than “relaxation” in my opinion, since a lot of people confuse relaxation with being flaccid). When structure is “broken”, additional muscular effort is required in order for one to remain standing (thus the “expediency and economy in energy expenditure” principle we have seen in N.A. Bernstein’s definition of dexterity is violated – see first part of this article <a href="http://systemasweden.blogspot.com/2009/04/understanding-russian-martial-art-part.html">here</a>). Also, no defensive or offensive action can be performed before one returns to a sound structure, thus the initiative is conceded to the opponent, so it is easy to understand that <span style="font-weight: bold;">structure creates opportunity</span>.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Each one of our combat skills (evasions, deflections, strikes, kicks, throws, takedowns, joint manipulations, submissions, immobilizations etc) is executed through <span style="font-weight: bold;">movement</span>. Ability to move equals ability to utilize the specific weapons that one has in his arsenal, so it obvious that <span style="font-weight: bold;">movement equals ability</span>.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />In Russian Martial Art, one cannot view breathing, movement and structure independently of each other (as in “always breathe, move, and keep body in form”): breathing affects structure thus creating movement, structure is altered by movement and has to be accompanied by breathing, movement causes breathing which affects the structure.<span style="font-style: italic;"> It is the integration of the “three pillars” in a unified whole that defines what proper technique is!</span>[4] This way we arrive at the fundamental truth (the axiom, or the dogma, if you like) which lies in the core of Russian Martial Art, out of which, all our strategies, tactics and specific techniques emanate: in combat, we strive to always keep our breathing, structure and movement integrated, while at the same time trying to disintegrate our opponent’s breathing, structure and movement, thus depriving him of his intent, opportunities and abilities. This is why for a large part of our practice, we study correct movement through the biomechanical range-of-motion exercises, we examine how various breathing patterns affect our psycho-physiological state and we also train on how to integrate breathing, structure and movement through a large number of floorwork exercises.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the core of every martial art or combat system lies a set of fundamental “truths”. For example, Tae Kwon Do is built upon the presumed superior strength, power and reach of kicking attacks, while Wing Chun Kung Fu is based upon the supposedly universal applicability of the centerline theory, the linear striking action, the simultaneous attack and defense. But are these basic principles true or are they just assumptions (maybe even wishful thinking) made under a specific historic or cultural bias? It is up to you to search for an answer to this question. The fact is that the core axiom of Russian Martial Art is based on the sciences of biomechanics, neurophysiology and psychophysiology and their findings regarding the way the human body and brain function – and that’s why it allows us to look at all sorts of combat settings (fist fighting, grappling, fighting with or against weapons, fighting on the ground, restraint and control tactics etc) within the context of a rational Western scientific tradition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the next and final part of this article we will examine a third set of rules which provides context in Russian Martial Art: Victor Spiridonov’s Combat SAMBO fighting strategy.</span> </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />References</span><br />[1] Once again, I want to clarify that these sets of rules in no way constitute an “official Systema training guide”, that’s why I’m referring to them as a personal cheat-sheet.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />[2] Siddle, Bruce K. <span style="font-style: italic;">Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge</span>. PPCT Research Publications, 1995, p. 7</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />[3] Grossman, D., Christensen, L.W. <span style="font-style: italic;">On Combat</span>. PPCT Research Publications, 2004, p. 329</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />[4] You can read a pretty good and very detailed analysis on the integration of breathing, structure and movement in Scott Sonnon’s books <span style="font-style: italic;">Body-Flow: Freedom from Fear-Reactivity</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Prasara Yoga: Flow Beyond Thought</span>.</span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-48188657134310586722009-04-05T04:08:00.000-07:002009-04-07T07:59:42.894-07:00My own, personal Systema cheat-sheet (Part 1)!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW8X26NV0Wgx15j99upC-IcyxL5WPxaFqUZ5oh0UmixU68dJWtmf0hy4ifEbtKjHaKkCOscfCYc88odRtmtGv4GbzcqZ8M-x4UojY59GDbYjhr2oF5j2hPFGE9TAji59M3SVYaCl-FyU/s1600-h/Cheetsheat1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW8X26NV0Wgx15j99upC-IcyxL5WPxaFqUZ5oh0UmixU68dJWtmf0hy4ifEbtKjHaKkCOscfCYc88odRtmtGv4GbzcqZ8M-x4UojY59GDbYjhr2oF5j2hPFGE9TAji59M3SVYaCl-FyU/s320/Cheetsheat1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321209041870869698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">“Can you suggest some Systema drills I could incorporate to the martial art I already practice?” This is a question that practitioners of various combat systems ask me every now and then and, honestly, I find it rather frustrating. Never mind the answer (or, if you really want to know, it’s both yes and no) – what I find frustrating is that there’s a large number of people out there who are involved in the martial arts and think that Systema is just a large collection of drills and exercises! Out of this collection, they believe they can pick whatever they find useful, or plain cool, and practice it out of context: for example, I’ve heard of Kenpo people “using Systema concepts” and others who practice “a combination of Systema and Krav Maga” and you know what? This is simply not possible! Even worse is the fact that there are also people who actually practice Systema and think that it’s just a collection of drills, simply because they’re missing the art’s context…</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />So, to make a long story short, I thought about writing this article in order to clarify that there is a context - a bigger picture, if you like – and explain what this context is, based on my knowledge and training experience. What I’m going to describe is three sets of rules (my personal cheat-sheet) that I’ve come upon while studying various Russian resources on hand-to-hand combat and athletic movement in general. I use them to help me classify the huge number of Systema training drills or devise new ones, according to the attribute or skill which is being exercised (so that I know what I’m training for) and trouble-shoot the training sessions of the Göteborgs Systema – RMA Klubb (so when something does not work, I know what the mistake is). Before I begin, let me clarify one more thing: these sets of rules in no way constitute an “official Systema training guide”, that’s why I’m referring to it as a personal cheat-sheet. Oh, and they’re also not set in stone, right???<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;">Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I’ll begin!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Rules set #1: N.A. Bernstein’s definition of dexterity</span><br /><div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><strong></strong>I do quote Bernstein’s work pretty often, I know, but when one’s field of study is human movement and especially athletic movement, it is practically impossible to by-pass this hugely important Russian Jewish neuroscientist of the 20th century. Well, according to Bernstein: <em>“Dexterity is the ability to find a motor solution for any external situation, that is, to adequately solve any emerging motor problem correctly (i.e., adequately and accurately), quickly (with respect to both decision making and achieving a correct result), rationally (i.e., expediently and economically), and resourcefully (i.e., quick-wittedly and initiatively)”</em>(1) . I believe it is quite obvious that any sort of combat skill, such as striking, evading a strike, throwing an opponent down, escaping from a restraining hold etc., can be treated as a motor problem that needs to be adequately solved, so it is a matter of dexterity. In this respect, the Russian Martial Art training methods place equal emphasis to each one of the four features of dexterity, according to Bernstein, in the following ways:<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">• In Systema, when training for a specific skill, we just follow a universal set of guidelines (do not hold the breath, keep a sound body structure, do not restrict your own mobility) and focus on the effect one’s movement has on the environment. For example, when we practice throws, instead of giving exhaustingly detailed instructions on how a technique is performed “correctly” (e.g. “put your foot exactly ten centimeters on the outside of the opponents foot" or "the left hand pulls diagonally down, while the right hand pushes straight up"), we just emphasize the universal guidelines and then focus on throwing the opponent to the ground. This way, the body learns how to solve a motor problem by… well, actually solving it! Contemporary sports science has proved that this approach to teaching motor skills is more effective: according to the constrained action hypothesis (2) proposed by a number of sport scientists in the beginning of this decade, </span><em style="font-family: arial;">“… when individuals focus on their movements they tend to consciously intervene in control processes that regulate the coordination of their movements. Yet, by attempting to actively control their movements, they inadvertently disrupt automatic processes that have the capacity to control movements effectively and efficiently. In contrast, focusing attention on the movement effect promotes a more automatic type of control”</em><span style="font-family:arial;">(3).<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">• It might seem strange, but in Systema we train for quickness in achieving the desirable result by INITIALLY training at slow speed. This way, we first develop the correct movement mechanics (which is in direct relation with the rationality of the movement, the third feature of dexterity) that will inevitably lead to more speed in performing an action – slow becomes smooth, and then smooth becomes fast. Also, by beginning our training at a slow time framing and gradually increasing the speed, we condition the brain to perceive multiple stimuli, thus increasing our reaction speed and at the same time building anticipation skills.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• Regarding the issue of efficiency in movement (i.e. getting the job done with minimum energy expenditure, getting more bang for your buck, if you like), first of all, keep in mind that the human body is a natural energy-efficient system: for example, if it is possible for you to lift an object by using one single motor unit (this means one motor neuron and the muscle fibers corresponding to it), you body would rather do this than use two or three motor units and thus waste energy. The historic roots of Systema as a combat system taught in the elite units of the Soviet military, place special emphasis on movement efficiency. The reason is pretty simple: unlike a professional fighter, who has to face only one opponent at a time and can “give 110%” of his effort in each of his fights - since his next fight is after two months - a soldier must find ways to drastically reduce his fatigue and recover to pre-combat levels of energy, because he must always be ready to fight. One more thing, and please pay extra attention to this, because it is crucial for your training: what you focus upon when you’re training affects the amounts of energy you expend! Gabriele Wulf, PhD, professor of kinesiology at the University of Nevada, claims that </span><em style="font-family: arial;">“…an external focus has been shown to reduce muscular activity, thereby enhancing movement efficiency. Moreover, an external focus seems to result in more effective coordination between agonist and antagonist muscle groups”</em><span style="font-family:arial;">(4) . So, once again, when training pay attention to the desired effect of your actions on the environment (your opponent for example), not minuscule details of your own movement – these have a tendency to take care of themselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• The fourth feature of dexterity, according to Bernstein, is resourcefulness and the heart of it, in my opinion, lies in the ability to correctly find a solution to a motor problem in conditions of an environment that changes unexpectedly. Well, one of the basic doctrinal tenets of Systema is to rely upon spontaneous improvisation to generate uniquely appropriate solutions to unfolding situations and that is why we do not train in pre-arranged techniques.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />So, the first part of the context I was talking about in the beginning of this article is that Russian Martial Art does not consist of a number of comprehensive, start-to-finish, martial arts techniques that someone learns in order to “graduate”. It is rather a training method to make one’s body dexterous, “clever” enough to solve the motor problems of hand-to-hand combat – even those one hasn't faced before and does not expect to face...</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the second part of this article we will discuss the “Three Pillars of Systema” (yeah, I know some people talk about four pillars, but I can explain that).</span><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">References:</span><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">(1)Latash Mark L., Turvey Michael T. Dexterity and Its Development. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1996, p. 228<br />(2)Wulf, G., McNevin, N.H., & Shea, C.H. The automaticity of complex motor skill learning as a function of attentional focus. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 1143 – 1154 (2001)<br />(3)Wulf, G., Attention and Motor Skill Learning. Human Kinetics, 2007, p. 113<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">(4)Ibid., p. 116 </span></span></div>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-36647732627510018892009-04-02T08:12:00.000-07:002009-05-08T06:47:00.047-07:00Why on earth do these guys train slow???<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YiuXkP9WWaM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YiuXkP9WWaM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">What I would like to discuss in this article is the importance of this particular method of drilling we use in Systema, known as "Soft Work" (the original Russian term, copyrighted in Russia by General Alexander Retuinskih of the ROSS System, was translated in English as "Softwork" and subsequently copyrighted by Scott Sonnon, Retuinskih's representative in USA till a few years ago, so I prefer to use the non copyrighted "Soft Work":-). In Soft Work what we do is simulate combat situations using slow time framing (low speed, that is) while trying to keep the energy of our attacks real. This training method of Russian Martial Art has been highly publicised, mainly through videos available all over the Internet and it is because of this training method that Systema has been accused by practitioners of other combat arts as "unrealistic", "flowery", "girly" and various other reeeally cool adjectives!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Before going deeper on the specific reasons of using Soft Work as part of our training, I would like to state something that for Systema practitioner is already well known: we do not ONLY train soft in Systema - on the contrary, we use both soft and hard methods and each of those plays its own distinct role in our fighting preparation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now, in order to analyse the scientific basis behind Soft Work, we must first take a deeper look in the most common emotion we experience during combat, which is fear. Extensive research on the human emotions in general and especially fear has been conducted in the last 30-40 years and one of the most prominent scientists in this field is Joseph LeDoux, Professor of Science in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Referring to the fear system in the brain, LeDoux writes that "it is a system that detects danger and produces responses that maximize the probability of surviving a dangerous situation in the most beneficial way. It is, in other words, a system of defensive behaviour".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Basically, what this means is that we are designed to survive. The millenia of evolution have hard-wired us with a personal protection system, which roughly functions like this: a potential threat is perceived by our senses (sight, hearing, touch taste and smell) and then sent for processing by a structure in the brain which is called the sensory thalamus. Subsequently, the info follows this route:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a) it goes to your "thinking" brain (cortex), which, based on your memories, previous life experiences, skills etc, will assess the situation and prompt you to an appropriate response, and also follows a parallel route to</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">b) your amygdala, another structure in your brain, which is not wired for thought but for direct action.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">c) The info which has been processed by the cortex also goes to the amygdala, but it gets there a few milliseconds later than the info sent directly by the thalamus.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What's also interesting is that the info that goes into your thinking brain is as accurate as possible, while the info that goes to the amygdala is crude and almost archetypal (something like what you hear when you speak to your mobile phone in an area where the signal is weak). The results of this process are described in this example given by LeDoux: "Imagine walking in the woods. A crackling sound occurs. It goes straight to the amygdala through the thalamus. The sound also goes from the thalamus to the cortex, which recognizes the sound to be either a dry twig that snapped under the weight of our boot, or that of a rattlesnake shaking its tail. But by the time the cortex has figured this out, the amygdala is already starting to defend against the snake. [...] Only the cortex distinguishes a coiled up snake from a curved stick. If it is a snake, the [response evoked by] the amygdala is ahead of the game. From the point of view of survival, it is better to respond to potentially dangerous events as if they were the real thing, than to fail to respond. The cost of treating a stick as a snake is less, in the long run, than the cost of treating a snake as a stick".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So, the motto of the fear reaction system for which the amygdala is responsible, is "better safe than sorry" and in the long run of evolution, this has been a successful strategy. But, guess what: the amygdala, in order to initiate emergency reactions, is capable of ignoring a lot of information as irrelevant (under stress, you see less, hear less, miss more cues from the environment) and of course, it is also wrong a lot of the time!!! As Lawrence Gonzales, author of the best selling book Deep Survival puts it, "emotions [like fear] are survival mechanisms, but they don't always work for the individual. They work across a large number of trials to keep the species alive. The individual may live or die, but over a few million years, more mammals lived than died by letting emotion take over, so emotion was selected".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There exists a number of modern self-defense systems (among them Krav Maga, Rapid Assault Tactics, Tony Blauer's S.P.E.A.R etc) that are based on this function of the brain. These are known as "adrenaline based" or "reflex based" and the logic behind them is that since most crisis situations will trigger the fear reaction system, the training should take advantage of these fear responses as starting point for a few gross motor skills techniques. Systema instructor Kevin Secours from Montreal, Canada, has an interesting point to make regarding this approach: "If we simply decide that 'all reflexes are good', then we will be relegating control to every impulse and nervous twitch that we have and deprive ourselves of the incredible powers of our cognitive brains that have made us the dominant species that we are today".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now, imagine you're training in martial arts, Systema, or what have you. You want to work against a front kick and your partner decides to throw it not slow and smooth, but hard and fast. Your eyes see a leg coming towards your mid-section at 60 kph. The visual information goes through the thalamus to your cortex that will decide that this is your training partner who doesn't really want to hurt you, so you should try to do something technical and martial artsy, right??? Wrong! Because a rough version of the same info will reach your amygdala first and it'll go all "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!!!" So your abdominal muscles will tense, you'll probably bend at the waist and your arms will flail uncontrollably towards your partners leg trying to stop it, resulting in a... well, less than technical move. Let's presume you survived the attack (although this depends more on your opponents speed, or lack of it) by using this primal instinct, which is triggered without your cognitive brain even knowing what exactly happened. Please keep in mind that, even if your partner"offered" you a chance to counter-attack (like and arm you can manipulate, a slight loss of balance you can capitalize upon, or a vital target which is waiting for you to reach out and touch it), your amygdala has considered this information as irrelevant and ignored it!!! Have you learned something from this exchange? Have you gained some sort of experience that you'll be able to use against real life danger? I'm afraid not... The only thing you've probably "learned" is to be fear conditioned and respond in the same spastic way every time somebody front kicks you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The most important thing about our training sessions is that they should be educational and productive. There is a time and a place for both soft-smooth and hard-fast training. But training is not survival, and it is definitely not contorting our faces with anger or flushing our systems with poisonous chemicals (like adrenaline) which will do us harm in the long run. Training is about learning skills which some day may aid to our survival, in a sustainable way. So, next time you come to a training session think of this: if you go hard and fast, you use your amygdala which cannot be educated. If you go slow and smooth, you use your cognitive brain, which can be educated. Which one will you choose?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*The Youtube video above is an excellent example of soft work by senior Systema instructor Martin Wheeler - really impressive!</span><br /><br /></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><b>Suggested reading<br /></b>1. LeDoux, Joseph: <i>The Emotional Brain</i> (Simon & Schuster, 1996) Although this is a popular science book, it doesn't in any case constitute what one would call a "light" read. Still, if you're interested in knowing more about the workings of fear in the human mind, it's excellent.<br />2. Gonzales, Lawrence: <i>Deep Survival</i> (Norton, 2003) This one is a very entertaining book, by a journalist and writer who's been studying human behaviour under extreme circumstances of stress (like accidents) for more than thirty years.<br />3. Be sure to check the articles on senior Systema instructor Kevin Secours' site: <a href="http://www.montrealsystema.com/" target="_blank">www.montrealsystema.com</a></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8159160081716868388.post-4986842072318354062009-03-24T04:01:00.000-07:002009-05-08T06:46:35.340-07:00Don't just relax your body, relax your face too!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDto9oez9ElTzgvXzWUcAcGSyCpFlbTGluJ9EWrmero3m_t5SIL_Svc8x0G4aIfBqJ-hd_ba_kB6bWbPJM-nCpoMVokn55frLOacNl_jJE8JAw_9xVRGoFs5cZVuzCEgUEqHJOboFwuw/s1600-h/Facial+Expressions2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDto9oez9ElTzgvXzWUcAcGSyCpFlbTGluJ9EWrmero3m_t5SIL_Svc8x0G4aIfBqJ-hd_ba_kB6bWbPJM-nCpoMVokn55frLOacNl_jJE8JAw_9xVRGoFs5cZVuzCEgUEqHJOboFwuw/s320/Facial+Expressions2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316708421274071506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I believe it was right after </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge7kdJSt8zQ">Fedor Emelianenko’s victory in his MMA fight against Andrei Arlovski</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, when I read in some martial arts forum a number of comments on how and why this dominant Russian fighter manages to keep his face totally expressionless before, during, and after his fights. Well, in my opinion this is pretty typical of most Russian fighters – for one thing, Fedor’s brother, Alexander Emelianenko is pretty famous too for his facial expression (or rather, lack of) when he fights, and during my competition days and later, my refereeing days in san shou (Chinese kickboxing), I had the opportunity to meet from up close with a number of formidable Russian fighters who, when on the ring, looked as if they were spending just another boring day at the office!</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Most of the explanations given on this matter by the members of the forum I was reading had to do with Fedor not wanting to give any information about his emotional state to his opponent. This view is actually quite correct - without a doubt, the human face is an enormously rich source of information about emotion. Still, there is another explanation to Fedor’s emotionless facial expression - not a strategic but a neurophysiologic one - which is based on the claim posed by a number of scientists that the information on our face is not just a signal of what is going on inside our mind, but in a certain sense, it <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>what is going on inside our mind.</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_HZhbqWiiXjRoocwue-oZa5CuDRAxKEm_2mfE6sQJLOupifZiLMj0KC32PL50_YtjbwBSXm383hdPHsq3FeMy-WhaJWX8I9wPxZLUnLSQnaBqjCE_iILtccI-FTDVRmJONk66aH7KNU/s1600-h/Facial+Expressions.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_HZhbqWiiXjRoocwue-oZa5CuDRAxKEm_2mfE6sQJLOupifZiLMj0KC32PL50_YtjbwBSXm383hdPHsq3FeMy-WhaJWX8I9wPxZLUnLSQnaBqjCE_iILtccI-FTDVRmJONk66aH7KNU/s200/Facial+Expressions.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316709266444756050" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A great deal of our understanding of facial expressions comes from the work of </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.paulekman.com/about.html">psychologist Paul Ekman</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. During the sixties, Ekman was interested in studying faces, so he travelled to Japan, Brazil, and Argentina and also visited some remote tribes in the Far East, carrying photographs of people making a variety of facial expressions. To his amazement, everywhere he went, people agreed on what those expressions meant. After that discovery, Ekman and his collaborator Wallace Friesen decided to create a taxonomy of facial expressions. What they did was sit in a lab and try to move each one of their facial muscles, first separately and then in combination with other facial muscles. This way, they documented (through video) over ten thousand facial configurations. Most of those were nonsensical, but about three thousand of them were indicative of specific emotions. Now, here comes the interesting part: when Ekman and Friesen were working on expressions of anger and despair, they discovered that after a session of “putting on” these faces, they were feeling terrible, so they started to keep track of this effect! “<span style="font-style: italic;">What we discovered</span>”, said Ekman, “<span style="font-style: italic;">is that expression alone is sufficient to create marked changes in the autonomic nervous system. When this first occurred we were stunned. We weren’t expecting this at all. And it happened to both of us. We felt terrible. What we were generating were sadness, anguish. And when I lower my brows, and raise the upper eyelid, and narrow the eyelids and press the lips together, I’m generating anger. My heartbeat will go up ten to twelve beats. My hands will get hot. As I do it, I can’t disconnect from the system</span>” [1].</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">Ekman and Friesen conducted further research on this subject, and so did a German team of psychologists a few years later. The results were, in my opinion most interesting: while we think of the face as the place where emotions end up, the process also works in the opposite direction – <span style="font-style: italic;">emotions might also start on the face</span>. In a few words, just forcing a smile can make you happy!</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />So, how does this relate to hand-to-hand combat and our training? Well, without getting very scientific here, the tension in your face can result to tension in your body and disintegration of your skills. So, during training, when performing a task that you find challenging, instead of contorting your face in a mask of agony or superhuman effort, just relax and keep your expression neutral. When you find yourself frowning (yes, you have to try and be aware of that), just stop the drill you’re performing for a moment, and rub your forehead, cheeks and ears with your palms and then give yourself a few light slaps on the face, before you resume - you will find that it helps a lot to get rid of the tension in the rest of your body and enhances your general performance.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Try this out and let me know how it works for you!<br /><br />[1] </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">as quoted in the book Blink (Little, Brown & Co 2005), by author-journalist Malcolm Gladwell<br /></span></span></span>Spyro Katsigiannishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668264882086939171noreply@blogger.com2