You Gotta Ask Yourself One Question…Part II

I’ve been thinking about a very serious question, rather a series of questions, about Systema lately, questions I think you should also take some time to address for yourself.  I’ll give you my answers which may help you as well.

 

To recap here is the main question:

 

“Why Systema instead of other very effective martial arts or MMA?”

 

A mixed martial arts fight is about who is the biggest best toughest person around; t is direct “alpha-male” type of behavior. The idea is to prove who is at the top of the food chain.

However, wars are not won always by the strongest side. History is replete with stories of smaller armies defeating larger more dangerous ones. Those who were smaller needed different tactics and strategies to defeat those who are larger.

If you are close to alpha male status, you are the biggest strongest fighter, then it may make sense to focus all your energy on this type of event.  Someone huge like Brock Lesnar, well of course he would want to go head-to-head with anyone in an ego-contest.

The problem with alpha-male thinking is just that, there is only one, like the Highlander.  What about the rest of us?

I am 5’10″ tall 165 pounds. I fully understand that most people are bigger, heavier and stronger than I am. I can’t even think about going head-to-head with such people.

As a smaller person, I am fully aware that the problem for me to solve is how to defeat such bigger, stronger people.

What would I have to do to survive being attacked by someone like this?

The wrong question for me to ask is how would I defeat the person in direct combat.

Smaller people are more dangerous because the stakes are higher, just as the smallest scorpion has the deadliest sting due to its venom.

Smaller people cannot afford to make mistakes or to underestimate their opponents.

This is why I got into the martial arts in the 1st place, I was a small person in a large world.

I needed an edge, trying to be the toughest guy in the room wasn’t it. I needed the kind of training in martial art like Systema offers.

 

BJJ offered (and still does in many cases) smaller people like me an advantage over larger, stronger opponents.  But with the rise of MMA it has lost some of its effectiveness because Americans are great at adapting and have created strategies for dealing with it.

No doubt I’m a fan of BJJ/Sambo but as I said last time, it is context-limited.  Plus, it still relies on too much struggling and force for my needs (that’s why it is called grappling).

While this context is important to be comfortable with, the nature of Systema training give me other advantages.

For one, the pain management work in Systema is unparalleled in the martial arts.

The breathwork to deal with the pain of being joint-locked makes it much easier to escape locks.

The joint-strengthening and mobility work make it easier to avoid getting into locks in the first place.

The emphasis on breaking vs. locking makes it easier to NOT struggle or grapple.

The nature of Systema striking is vastly different from the boxing paradigm which makes it easier for me to debilitate a larger attacker without trying to box toe-to-toe.

The major principles of mastering tension and relaxation to use an attacker’s force against him without using much force myself has been the MAJOR reason I continue to perfect this part of the art.

Speed, strength, endurance all decline with age but the major principles of Systema improve with age and experience and are particularly effective for smaller people like me.

There you have it, a second answer to “Why Systema instead of other very effective martial arts?”

 

Brad

P.S. More answers to this question next time…there’s a whole bunch more to say on this topic for sure.

“You Gotta Ask Yourself One Question…Part I”

I’ve been thinking about a very serious question, rather a series of questions, about Systema lately, questions I think you should also take some time to address for yourself. I’ll give you my answers which may help you as well.

Here they are:

Why do I continue to train in the Martial Arts and why do I train in Systema rather than BJJ or MMA?

I am a smart, college-educated man, so what is it about Systema and other martial arts that I prefer them over MMA-type training?

Am I daft? Do I not see the clear advantage of MMA training?

Is it that I have too much invested in other martial arts training to give it up and do MMA?

Is it age?

Or could it be something else entirely? And are my reasons right for you?

The simplest answer I’ve come up with so far is that Systema gives me the greatest chance to protect myself successfully in the greatest number of different situations.

Every martial art, somewhere along the line, gets niched; they all get specialized into a narrow context, like being in a cage or even being “all knife, all the time.”

I happen to operate in multiple contexts:

I don’t regularly live in a cage, although home sometimes feels like a zoo.

I don’t always have a knife on me, although much of the time I do.

I don’t always NEED the deadliest, quickest kill techniques even if I’d really like to use on them on the idiot in line in front of me.

The bottom line for me is that I never knew when or where an attack (or attackers) might come from so I need to be best prepared to adapt to any eventuality. I need to be able to switch into self-defense mode in a split-second while keeping my wits about me to formulate the best response to ANY random, surprise attack.

Systema gives me the ability to use both instinctive responses and at the same time rational, creative thought to deal with shock and surprise.

Systema allows me to remain calm under pressure, assured of my ability to (to quote Clint Eastwood) “adapt, improvise, overcome,” faster, easier and more effectively than any other art or combinations of arts I’ve seen.

There you have it, the quick answer to “Why Systema instead of other very effective martial arts?”

Brad

P.S. More answers to this question next time…there’s a whole bunch more to say on this topic for sure.