Jackal
Orange Belt
(Systema people already know everything IÂ’m about to say. I just feel the need shout this somewhere.)
Gripe mode on: CLICK! :soapbox:
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this from countless “reality fighting” advocates:
“The only way to train properly is against an uncooperative, resisting opponent.”
Maybe itÂ’s just the wording, but that phrase just conveys some awful working habits to me.
You create the resistance, not the opponent! The opponent is only “uncooperative” when you insist on doing something the opponent doesn’t want to do. Then it’s all about dominance, not survival.
“You fight like you train.”
True. So why endorse the aforementioned statement if you’re interested in personal protection as opposed to “stage fighting”?
Isn't it obvious that working against an uncooperative, resisting opponent trains you to work against an uncooperative, resisting opponent?
ThatÂ’s a bad thing by the way.
I trained that way for over a decade and all it did was teach me to fight. If someoneÂ’s trying to hurt you, why would you want to fight? Fighting implies a struggle. Fighting is for sportsmen. What happened to addressing and resolving the situation as soon as possible? We study, not to fight, but to end fights.
If you train to struggle, youÂ’ll get comfortable with it and look for it every time youÂ’re in conflict.
In regard to scathing remarks from said “reality” enthusiasts when observing Systema:
“Blah, blah…Hey you’re cooperating! Blah blah…”
I, personally, have never seen a cooperative drill performed in Systema. I had my @$$ handed to me when I first went to Toronto. And you know what? Not one person resisted anything that I did. It didn't matter how aggressive I got. They just moved where I wasn’t and proceeded to break me down. There are no drills in Systema where it’s “this person’s turn”. Just because one person pushes and the other person yields to the push instead of taking the shock, it’s looked at as cooperative as opposed to intelligent. I was a “reality” fighter before the kindly gentlemen at club Vlad introduced me to their reality. I left mine on that floor. Gave theirs a shot. No contest since.
Recently I took a few classes in sambo just to see what it was like.
I was grappling in a sport sambo sparring match the other day and was “properly” resisting my opponent as was expected of me. I thought, after a few minutes of abrasive aggression, “Now this feels wrong after several years of being so ‘cooperative’.” So I stopped resisting and let the other guy be aggressive. Did I throw him? No. But he wound up throwing himself to the ground 10x during the match (alright, I helped him a bit). Ok, so it wasn’t proper sambo, but I’ve never really been concerned with being proper.
Summary: Just because you’re not interested in “fighting” doesn’t mean you’re not going to destroy the other guy.
Gripe mode off: CLICK!
(Whew! *deep breath* I feel better now. Thanks for listening.)
-Jackal
Gripe mode on: CLICK! :soapbox:
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this from countless “reality fighting” advocates:
“The only way to train properly is against an uncooperative, resisting opponent.”
Maybe itÂ’s just the wording, but that phrase just conveys some awful working habits to me.
You create the resistance, not the opponent! The opponent is only “uncooperative” when you insist on doing something the opponent doesn’t want to do. Then it’s all about dominance, not survival.
“You fight like you train.”
True. So why endorse the aforementioned statement if you’re interested in personal protection as opposed to “stage fighting”?
Isn't it obvious that working against an uncooperative, resisting opponent trains you to work against an uncooperative, resisting opponent?
ThatÂ’s a bad thing by the way.
I trained that way for over a decade and all it did was teach me to fight. If someoneÂ’s trying to hurt you, why would you want to fight? Fighting implies a struggle. Fighting is for sportsmen. What happened to addressing and resolving the situation as soon as possible? We study, not to fight, but to end fights.
If you train to struggle, youÂ’ll get comfortable with it and look for it every time youÂ’re in conflict.
In regard to scathing remarks from said “reality” enthusiasts when observing Systema:
“Blah, blah…Hey you’re cooperating! Blah blah…”
I, personally, have never seen a cooperative drill performed in Systema. I had my @$$ handed to me when I first went to Toronto. And you know what? Not one person resisted anything that I did. It didn't matter how aggressive I got. They just moved where I wasn’t and proceeded to break me down. There are no drills in Systema where it’s “this person’s turn”. Just because one person pushes and the other person yields to the push instead of taking the shock, it’s looked at as cooperative as opposed to intelligent. I was a “reality” fighter before the kindly gentlemen at club Vlad introduced me to their reality. I left mine on that floor. Gave theirs a shot. No contest since.
Recently I took a few classes in sambo just to see what it was like.
I was grappling in a sport sambo sparring match the other day and was “properly” resisting my opponent as was expected of me. I thought, after a few minutes of abrasive aggression, “Now this feels wrong after several years of being so ‘cooperative’.” So I stopped resisting and let the other guy be aggressive. Did I throw him? No. But he wound up throwing himself to the ground 10x during the match (alright, I helped him a bit). Ok, so it wasn’t proper sambo, but I’ve never really been concerned with being proper.
Summary: Just because you’re not interested in “fighting” doesn’t mean you’re not going to destroy the other guy.
Gripe mode off: CLICK!
(Whew! *deep breath* I feel better now. Thanks for listening.)
-Jackal
