Every week, someone new walks through the door at Systema Colorado.
Sometimes it’s a person who has never trained a day in their life — no karate, no judo, not even a self-defense class. They show up a little wide-eyed, not entirely sure what to expect.
Other times it’s someone with twenty years of martial arts under their belt — maybe a black belt in Taekwondo, a seasoned BJJ competitor, or a lifelong Kung Fu practitioner. They walk in confident, already sizing up the room.
Here’s what’s interesting: both of these people have a harder first few weeks than they expect. And both of them, if they stay, have a breakthrough they didn’t see coming.
We call them Newbie Mike and Experienced Eddie. You’re probably one of them.
Meet Newbie Mike
Newbie Mike has no martial arts background. None. He’s never been in a fight, never taken a class, and honestly wasn’t sure he was the “martial arts type” until something — curiosity, a self-defense concern, a friend’s recommendation — pushed him through the door.
His biggest fear: “I don’t know anything. I’ll look ridiculous. I’ll be the weakest person there.”
Here’s the truth about Mike’s situation: his lack of experience is actually his greatest advantage in Systema, even if he can’t see it yet.
Because Systema isn’t built on technique stacking. It’s built on natural movement, relaxation, and the ability to respond to what’s actually happening — not what you memorized. Mike has no techniques to unlearn. No bad habits to break. He moves freely because he has no idea he’s “supposed” to move differently.
What Mike struggles with in the beginning is confidence. He pulls his punches. He hesitates to attack his partner because he’s afraid of hurting someone. He constantly asks, “Is that right?”
The instructor’s answer becomes a turning point for him: “Is he on the ground? Then it’s right.”
There isn’t one right answer in Systema. There are many. Mike’s job isn’t to find THE technique — it’s to find A solution. And every time he does, the confidence compounds.
His first real milestone — what we call the First Peak — usually comes faster than he expects. One day in class, he’s escaping grabs and controlling attackers without thinking about it. He can’t explain what he did. But it worked. And he starts to understand that this is the point.
Meet Experienced Eddie
Experienced Eddie has put in serious time. He’s disciplined. He’s tough. He’s accumulated real skill in his art, and he’s proud of it — as he should be.
Eddie walks into his first Systema class and immediately does what any experienced martial artist does: he maps what he’s seeing onto what he already knows. “This is like Aikido. This is similar to what we do in Silat. I’ve seen this principle before.” Psychologists call this confirmation bias — we see new experiences through the lens of existing ones.
Eddie feels comfortable. He thinks he has a head start.
Then class starts. And he discovers that his techniques don’t quite fit.
It’s not that his previous training was wrong. It’s that he keeps reaching for a known tool when the situation calls for something else entirely. He’s trying to fit a round peg in an oval hole — it almost fits. But not quite. That small gap creates enormous frustration.
Experienced Eddie’s other obstacle is ego — and this isn’t an insult, it’s just honest. He doesn’t want to look like a beginner. He tries to prove himself to the other students. He comes in too hard. He forces techniques that don’t belong in the moment because he needs to demonstrate that he’s somebody.
The uncomfortable truth: Newbie Mike is often moving more freely than Eddie is after two months of training. Eddie sees it. He doesn’t understand why.
What Eddie is experiencing is the dissolution of his technique library. In his previous training, he was told: when this happens, do this. Systema says: when this happens, respond to what’s actually happening. That’s a fundamentally different instruction, and it rewires how you train.
His breakthrough comes when he stops trying to apply techniques and lets his body respond. Suddenly, the techniques he spent years drilling appear on their own — flowing out naturally, without the mental search. Bruce Lee described it as “Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle.” That’s exactly what Eddie is working through.
When Eddie crosses that threshold, Systema transforms from a frustrating puzzle into the deepest extension of everything he’s ever trained. His background isn’t wasted — it becomes fuel.
What They Have in Common
Mike and Eddie seem like opposites. One has too little knowledge, the other has too much. One is timid, the other is aggressive. One is overwhelmed, the other is overconfident.
But they’re going to the same place.
Both of them, at some point, will have a class where something just works — where they stopped thinking and started responding, where the body did what the moment required without the brain voting on it first. That’s not a beginner thing or an advanced thing. That’s a Systema thing.
The path just looks different depending on where you start.
We sometimes describe this as the viscosity factor — things sink in at different rates. Some concepts land immediately; others take months to absorb. What matters is that you keep showing up, keep moving, and trust the process long enough to reach your First Peak. Everyone does. It just doesn’t happen on the same timeline.
Which One Are You?
If you read the Newbie Mike section and felt seen — welcome. You’re going to find that your open mind is your most valuable asset. The things you think disqualify you are actually the things that will help you move freely.
If you read the Experienced Eddie section and felt a little called out — also welcome. What you’ve built is real and it’s not going anywhere. But you may need to loosen your grip on it, at least temporarily, to find what Systema has for you.
Both paths lead to the same destination: movement that feels natural, effortless, and genuinely useful — not because you memorized the right sequence, but because you trained your body to respond to what’s real.
Systema Colorado — Longmont, CO
Ready to Find Out Which One You Are?
Your first class at Systema Colorado is free — no experience needed, no commitment required. Come move. Come see for yourself.
Systema Colorado · 1830 Boston Ave, Suite F, Longmont, CO · (303) 485-5425