It did look like Vladamir... and the description credited Vladamir...
Anyway here are some looks at your suggestions, to save people time.
Vladimir Vasiliev
Ryo Onishi
Brian Zettler
(if you see him miss the atomic butt bounce in the beginning, keep watching, he does connect the atomic butt bounce at the end... 3:30)
Hi
So I just watched all the clips and sharing my views on them
1. Vlad
I think he’s a talented martial artist and some of the principles illustrates (eg redirecting strikes into disruptive directions) are totally valid and quite interesting
However, for me this clip falls into the Jedi mind trick category and it’s bonkers to believe that waiving your arm around will cause someone to fall over
It’s also really, really easy to test. Just try it with anyone not training in Systema. Or even see if you can manipulate someone without contact outside of the martial arts context
2. Ryo
The first 30 seconds was more on the practical end of the scale, but his attacker was over responding to the manipulations
I liked the principle he was showing to make a sudden movement just as the attacker commits in order to disrupt their “game plan”
However, I really hope no one here genuinely believes that you can deal with an assault by rooting your feet 6inches apart and either bending your knees or waiving your arms around to make your attacker fall over or utterly give up on their attack
3. Brian
Some of the principles shown to receive strikes & redirect your opponent into a strike of your own are great
I also like the way that the participants receive strikes, albeit they are grossly over compensating
However, this is a good example of participants moving in different speeds during slow training. The attacker is slowly approaching with an outstretched arm and the defender moves much quicker when delivering strikes
The defender is overreacting to fairly light strikes and unnecessarily compromising their structure at each stage. This allows the faster moving defender to deliver a sequence of pretty ineffective strikes that result in the attacker tying themselves up
It’s a very different dynamic when both people move in the same time zone and you need to generate a material amount of power to force your opponent to compromise their structure
I feel that many of the principles in Systema are valid and the style has some interesting and useful characteristics, but the most commonly used training method seems to direct people in an increasingly self deluded direction
I feel that this is a problem in all martial arts to some extent. There is a spectrum and I’m sure that there are people in styles on the far end of this spectrum who have found ways to counter this natural dynamic in martial arts