Rachel's Systema Writings >> Seminar Reviews >> Systema Seminars with Adam and Brendan Zettler - November 20-23, 2008 at Fighthouse Systema Seminars with Adam and Brendan Zettler November 20-23, 2008 at Fighthouse (Scroll down for photos and Q&A Sessions) Thursday I arrived late. The first drill was push/yield and return the punches. Then grab/escape and return to strike. "Your foot should move first." Then grab/escape and respond with two punches, and reminding everyone to punch from a short-work "comfortable" position, with straight fists, no haymakers. "Be precise," he said, showing the spots, on the neck and upper body. At this point they broke for five pushups, leg raises, and squats. Then striking with takedowns. First, stepping back to evade, then just touching with the fist to evade the incoming strike, keeping arms up and loosely at a 90 degree angle, but not like a tight boxer's fists. Move the feet first. Staying close, no hyperextended strikes, keeping foot moving. Then a marvelous demo by Brendan of 'finding the tension' from a 'comfortable' position to break posture and affect the takedown. Also was demonstrated 'stirring the joints' exercise making sure shoulders are loose, tension evaporated through constant movement. Your partner stands there and gently rotates the shoulders, and the hips, seeing how it affects the partner's body, trying to use the full range of motion and see which movement releases the tension and where the body becomes stuck. This made me aware of my own injury and how painful it is to stand. Adam showed how to absorb punches, "inhale, then exhale right away, so it doesn't go too deep." He advised us to drop and do a slow pushup if the pain is bad. They ended with a warrior drill walking towards each other than pushing or punching once. Brendan said this is a great drill for street fighting as it gets you used to exchanging blows. It's also good for tempering fear. He said to strike/push to the face as well. They did the same but walking past each other — not so easy, up to five and down again. Then 5-5-5 pushups, leg raises, and squats. Brendan also showed 'swimming' through the punches and lading a few, using the forearms to wave away the punches, which seemed to relax everyone and accustom them to the feeling of contact. They resumed grab-and-escape with takedowns, which they had begun earlier, but this time emphasized the slow sparring game, which is always a treat to watch. Then another 5-5-5. Q&A Session Q: About the warrior drill, how do you get accustomed to accepting strikes, other than just doing it over and over again? A: Don't work with fear. Take a pause if you or your partner become fearful of strikes. Q: Should you hold your arms up all the time for striking? A: Tense the fist only when you make contact. Don't tense the shoulder — there's kickback! Q: Working with big heavy guys? A: Often big guys have weak knees. Keep moving. Try the hip/shoulder combo for a tense guy. See your own tension, then you can find it in your partner. Q: Recommended exercises for lower back tension? A: Very slow leg raises are great for lower back tension. The 'stirring the joints' partnered exercise from the beginning, especially with old injuries. Unlock your knees and drop down slightly. Breathe, of course. If you don't breathe, you'll never relax. Saturday Regrettably I could not attend Friday evening to observe as the doctor advised me to rest my leg or put the walking cast back on. Perhaps someone who was there on Friday would share a few thoughts? It was about an hour in when I arrived. They were working on preventing knife attacks by targeting the knees to "stop" the partner with the legs. More of a prevention than a disarm; warned us to work lightly. The hard part is that after a few swift kicks to the kneecap, most of us will become unwilling to approach our partners. A&B were careful not to demonstrate past that point. I thought to myself, it's 80% timing and footwork, 10% precision. They also showed how to work against the ankles, using the heel and toe to kick to lower leg muscles, hitting the calf, making the person take a step, then locking the ankle. Then some short work warning us to "be careful." Then putting it all together, punching, locking ankles and knees, working against slow grabs and punches. Not moving the feet is a common mis-step. We broke for lunch. Stick work began in the afternoon. First, swinging the stick horizontally/circularly, and sampling evading and yielding. The work was done slow. "Invite him in," they advised us, showing how to target the ears, eyes, and temples, short, invisible work, sort of clapping the face, is a way to describe it. They moved onto thrusts with the stuck, putting together the earlier exercises against the knee joints, stopping the partner coming in with the knife. Three dimension stick work using both ends, swinging horizontally and vertically, while the other person simply escapes. "Work slow and keep breathing," was their advice. These same stick-swinging evasion drills were done with one person kneeling, moving slowly from kneeling to sitting to low squatting, rolling if necessary, to avoid the stick. To be okay in any dimension, even midway through a roll, is a high level of skill. It was hard for me to watch this because it's such a fun drill. One part hit the other with the sticks — one person raised the arms above the head. "Don't tense up. Release with the feet," they demonstrated striking each other in the stomach and chest. I thought this would be great for my tension from the injury, so I stood up. My classmate struck me in the stomach. Our sticks are light and I am well padded, but it stings. I had to pause the brush off the pain. I asked him to strike my right leg since it is tense from doing to work of two. Next it was my turn to strike him. He's well-tempered to pain and took the blows on the calves, thighs, and butt quite well. I struck him in the stomach, first horizontally, then three-dimensionally, shearing downward. Though he was admirably stoic, I suggested that, with a downward shearing strike into the lower stomach, he should drop his hips and release the pain so it doesn't get stuck. I also struck him lightly in the ribs and the side of the neck to relax him. I rolled the stick over his shoulder blades and neck muscles to relax him. That is always enjoyable. Afterwards, I felt much better. Thanks, buddy. After the striking with sticks, back to absorption, moving in and out, behind the stick, always moving the feet to evade first. One of them told an anecdote about yielding with the chain, and how with proper relaxation, you can catch the chain around your neck and step in such a way as to yank it right out of the other person's hands. I noticed that it's difficult not to grab the stick for this final drill. During the last five minutes, I saw one of my classmates getting frustrated because her partner would not commit. I got up to demonstrate how the stick could be dynamic even after the takedown is attempted. In other words, if your partner does not succeed the first time, don't treat it like a drill that has to be re-set. Continue to try to get them. Because of my bum leg in an air case, I don't know how successfully I did so, but I felt an urge to show the work. Perhaps people freeze mid-attack from a misguided notion that it makes it easier on their partners. It doesn't; a moving partner is easier to take down, and striking to restore motion is a more delicate tactic than biomechanical manipulation with someone already in motion. Constant movement is a key principle. Next they did some wrestling on the ground with the sticks, very soft, then the warrior drill, exchanging five punches each as they walked towards each other. Brendan showed how to open your chest to absorb the punches, ending with 5-5-5 push ups, leg raises, and squats to "clean the blood." Q&A Session Q: Exercises to improve ankles weakened from contact sports injuries? A: Slow squats. Isometrics with one person stepping on the toe with gentle resistance, the other gradually raising the toe, then the reversing the feet, lowering the toe with isometric resistance. Walking with ankles turned inward and outward, on the blade of the foot, and on instep. Q: Strengthening the knees? A: Isometrics opening and closing the knees while your partner provides steady consistent resistance with his knees. Walking on knees. Q: How to generate power with a kick/three-dimensional kicks? A: Either walk in or just land a kick, but not a hyperextended or reflexive one. Shorter is better. Q: Learning to strike? A: Try punching with different kinds of tension. First, tense the whole arm, holding it at a 90 degree angle, and see what striking is like. Then, try striking with just the bicep relaxed and the forearm and shoulder tense. Then relax the entire arm and strike, and finally see what it's like striking with just the tense shoulder. Another drill to learn striking: your partner holds his arms loosely up and ready to strike slowly; each time he does so, you slap his fist to stop him. This is an excellent drill for working against strikes. Sunday We had been promised that Sunday would include the 'joint breaking' work, that is, Vlad's dynamic limb destruction. I arrived a little late on Sunday, at about 12:30. I am afraid that I am a lazybones and like to sleep late on the weekends; being on the bench has made me even lazier. They were working on evading from straight kicks and using a neck crank to drop the person. They cautioned everyone to go slow and work to the head. Next was the same, but evading from roundhouse kicks by either stepping in rotation at the same pace as the incoming kick to get behind the person, or rotating in place to slide off the incoming kick, then applying pressure to the neck to achieve the takedown. This was interesting work, deceptively simple stuff. As often with observing, I realize how important the footwork is, even more so than the mechanics of affecting a joint break. Next, simple finger locks, at a very slow, comfortable speed, one person approached the other as if to grab, and then the other practiced the lock. "Get comfortable grabbing the fingers," was the advice. For this one, as I happened to be standing, and I was fortunate in that the balance of students and instructors was exactly right, Brendan offered to work with me a little. We moved towards each other as if to grab, going back and forth. Mainly I applied the pressure at the tips of the fingers, looking for the angle of the elbow, though sometimes I worked against his fingers and wrist as well. I told him I thought finger locks are excellent work for women. He gave me some advice about working against a man with a large, strong hand: drop my shoulder slightly then raise it up again to generate enough wave-like energy to make the person uncomfortable. Since that was a simple drill to work on timing and biomechanics of the fingers and wrists, they didn't spend too long on it. I did spot one of the twins showing a police officer some police work — using the finger to control the person during and after they fall, and using finger locks to prevent them from rising again. Although joint breaks are brutal work, they can also be humane. I know it's difficult to grasp this concept, but it's always better to incapacitate someone and remove their will to fight than it is to do serious harm. If an aggressive person is unable to walk and too preoccupied with pain to struggle any further, as distressing as it may be to cause that sort of injury, it does allow for running away, which is by far my favorite method of conflict resolution. The next topic was elbow locks. One person kicks the other, just a slow straight kick and a steady pace, and the other responds with the lock. They demonstrated how to use the rotation of the shoulder to affect this, and also that sometimes you must swing the arm to disrupt the person's balance, or drive the arm into the shoulder to cause a shocking sensation that stops the person. To make the elbow lock more comfortable, the simple extension by pushing into the body was demonstrated. I recalled what they had said on Saturday about "inviting him in" and placing yourself in a "comfortable" position. Remember that I was on the bench for this entire seminar, so I saw quite a lot that I would have missed had I been preoccupied with the drills. Although I could not hear the conversation, I noticed that one of the brothers demonstrated to a student how to break the nose by cupping the nose and driving the other hand into it. He suggested that cupping the hand to cover the eyes is an easy way to alleviate the natural hesitation to inflict this injury. We paused for lunch and I took the opportunity to stretch my calves and lower back on the empty floor, drink some coffee from my Thermos, and have a nibble from the food I had packed. The lunch break was rather quick and many students did not eat, since training on a full stomach can be uncomfortable. The afternoon work began with lying on the floor, breathing, and tensing different body parts, as they led the class through this exercise. Then rolling all together as a group — it's one of my favorite drills for learning controlled rolling. It challenges the ability to change direction mid roll. The partnered work began with one person on the ground, the other approaching, and the person on the ground had to disrupt the structure of the one approaching. They also showed how it is possible to achieve multiple breaks, disrupting the 'bottom half' first "like a building," in order to collapse and lock the approaching person. "Slow and precise. The slower, the better," advised the instructors. The above drill was repeated with both partners on the ground. Towards the end, the students began to put everything together, working on both grab-and-escape and strike/evade, returning with strikes and/or locks. "Pushing's better [than striking], guys," said one of the instructors. Different targets on the head, neck, ears, and face were demonstrated. If you've seen Vlad's joint breaking video, no doubt this work is familiar to you. One of my classmates recently had Lasik surgery and was unwilling to risk a finger to the eye, as that would have resulted in him having to have Lasik done again and another two weeks on the bench. I offered to work with him since we both had to go quite slowly. I was carefully not to target his eyes. Because I trust him implicitly, it was easy to work, to take him down, as well as to be taken down by him. I could not resist forcing him into a roll after he took me down with a gentle tap to the balls with my injured foot. He nearly rolled into a chair but was a perfectly good sport about it — the wide-open "Colussus" stance after you've dropped someone can be perilous for both men and women, but men in particular. Training with friends is always the most fun and I was grateful to him for working with me and restoring my confidence that my Systema skills have not disappeared, even if my walking skills are not all too impressive these days. Some advice about the methodology of learning Systema: "Move, escape... escaping is better. It's more like a game. Keep escaping, guys." There was a little bit of elbow locks as a way to thwart knife disarms. I was able to work with Denis Dmitriev on this, because of the number of students and instructors, he did not need to partner with someone. As we disarmed each other, going back and forth, he told me with a big smile that Edgar says I am so cool, also that he, Denis, thinks I am good at Systema. Naturally I was delighted at the words of praise. There was a little work with knife disarming on the ground, showing the redirect of the attacking arm by manipulation of the elbow, but I had to rest after my brief foray into knife disarming. The seminar ended with stick work, first, a very simple evasion with one person on the ground, the other swinging the stick at them. I saw a student without a partner and offered to swing the stick at him, but he declined, being too afraid of exacerbating my injury. This does happen accidentally, as it's rather difficult to thwart someone yet be sensitive to their fragile physical state. At last they asked everyone to remove their shoes and socks, lie in a circle, and inhale/exhale through different parts of the body, finding the pulse points. Although I was sitting with my legs propped on another chair, I intended to join this exercise. Unfortunately I was distracted by anger. Some guys who had been loading photography equipment up the freight staircase for an event the following day decided to move from the room that they were renting, where their equipment was piled, into the boxing ring so they could horse around. I tried to focus on not being irritated; I work at Fighthouse and I'm accustomed to this sort of thing; however, I was simply too irritated to find my pulse points until they left the ring. At that point the exercise was almost over but I did detect my carotid artery on my injured side, which is hardly surprising given my anger, as well as the pulse in the vein behind my knee on the uninjured side. When I stood up, I felt extremely relaxed, as the twins have calm, well-modulated voices, and the steady foot-falls of the one walking as he led the students through the inhale/exhale was quite soothing. I ought to add that I often fall asleep during these sorts of exercises and have to really urge myself to stand up when the instructor ceases them.