Systema Class Notes – Tuesday, 05 Feb 2013

Theme for this cycle: Takedowns on the Move
Area of Focus: Breathing

Class Objective(s):

1. At the end of class you should understand what’s required to take a single attacker to the ground and control them
   1. In response to a grab, a punch, and a knife attack
2. You should understand the value of breathing out when taking your attacker down

Breathing Exercises:

1. Push-ups – normal
   1. then on breathe out and hold
   2. then on breathe in and hold
2. Squats – normal
   1. then on breathe out and hold
   2. then on breathe in and hold
3. Leg lifts – normal
   1. then on breathe out and hold
   2. then on breathe in and hold

Joint Mobility Exercises:

1. We’ll do some of the grappling warm-up that Jeff showed us
   1. Rolling back and forth
   2. leg raises
   3. leg raises and twisting
   4. up in a tripod – moving to the corners
   5. up in a tripod swinging arms/legs under and moving on only on hand and one leg

Work Specific Strengthening Exercises:

1. Drinking Birds
2. Backward and forward lunges
3. Falling/rolling

Drills:

1. Take your partner down – they will not resist – you will use this to find out where they’re tense and move them through it
   1. Do this with at least two different people
2. Same as #1, but we need to start controlling the person on the ground
   1. Take them all the way to the ground and turn them over (on their stomach) or at least away from you.
   2. Talk to them about using the body as a lever for the turn/control (this is the foundation of locks/submissions)
3. 1 on 1 – your partner is going to push you, you’re going to regain/maintain form, and put a hand on them – wherever your hand goes, you will start the takedown from there.
   1. Do this with at least two different people
4. Your partner is going to grab you – use that contact to start the takedown
   1. remember – breathe out as you put them down
   2. remember – if you want the person to go down, then you must direct them downwards
5. 1 on 1 – your partner is going to attack you with a knife – move (don’t get stabbed/slashed), takedown, disarm

Self Defense Applications:

1. Walking at each other, and as you pass, you’re going to get attacked.  Move, take down, control

Review:

1. Takedowns and control are the topics of the month – we’ve started this with breathing, and disrupting your attacker’s form
2. Takedowns come out of the principles of Systema – we want to breathe and our attackers to not, we want to maintain form and to break down our attacker’s form, we want to move our feet and to root our attacker, and we want to use minimal tension while driving our attacker’s tension into stiffness.