Russian Martial Art the System

This is small Systema Knife article that I wrote for "Combat Magazine" in 2000 they never published i

I would like to thank Vladimir Vasiliev for his time and expertise for taking the time to make a set of Photos on this series of articles.

One More note I apologize for the quality for the first set of Pictures I lost the originals from my computer in a Crash and had to scan these from the one I printed. the original photo's are lost.

Systema Knife defense article number 1 of 6.

Part 1

Foreword

Knife defense is a sober subject that must be carefully considered if you are serious about your self-defense needs.

An edged weapon is the number one weapon that you may be confronted with in this or indeed any Eastern or western country, because of this fact, knife disarming and control techniques must be addressed.

the use of weapons is becoming more ubiquitous as social order steadily degenerates and knives are all too easily available.

In the Quiet! town where I live there have been four murders with edged weapons in the last year. Three of which were drink or drug related.

_{A
policeman friend that I have been training told me that he has dealt with
three}

to four incidents a month that have involved knives and is very grateful of even the little training I have given him.

It is possible to defend yourself against a knife attack even a frenzied one, I am the survivor of three knife attacks in my life time I survived unscathed through a combination of luck and quick thinking (quick running in one case) I only needed to end two instances with combative measures. Believe me when I say you will consider your mortality I did and I was very scared, Im not going to lie and say it was a breeze I would not be doing you a favour. I do not advocate taking on an armed attacker without training, on the other hand if you have no choice but to defend your self, for instance if you or someone else is already injured or you are protecting a child then I say use everything you have got! It may be the only chance you have, if you want to improve your survival chances you will need to train in good knife defence like the Systema provides.

Use this series of articles wisely, If possible train with someone who is a qualified Teacher and has real life experiences of knife attack, if thats not practical train with a friend and keep in mind the seriousness of what you are doing, as a beginner Never train with a real knife or you will just be inviting a disaster, on the other hand use a blunt or wooden training knife that feels like, and has the same weight and heft as a real blade. The SYSTEMA uses defences that go directly against the blade and so using a rubber knife is out of the question.

Systema a Resent History

The Systema is an ancient Russian Martial Art That dates back to the tenth century and it was adopted by certain special operations units in Spetsnaz (Russian special Forces) it is still being taught there to this day by Mikhail Ryabko the Captain of a special operations unit, the tactical commander of hostage rescue teams, Chief Instructor of tactical training for the Emergency Response Team of MVD, counter-terrorist operations and armed criminal neutralization, He is one of the top masters of the Systema in the world and is the teacher of Vladimir Vasiliev.

_{Vladimir Vasiliev
has been very kind in contributing to this series of articles, he}

spent ten years in a special operations units in Spetsnaz and fought in the Russian-Afghanistan war and is very a experienced professional soldier and teacher to operations units, bodyguards and police forces on both sides of the Atlantic. Both these men have had many successful experiences in combat using the very techniques that will be demonstrated in this series of articles.

Because of the work of Vladimir and Valerie Vasiliev and others the Systema is becoming very popular the world over as more people witness for themselves its truly simple, inspirational and devastating methods. Now Martial artists can start to look westward again for answers to fighting arts questions.

Systema Knife Training

the knife defence training of the Russian Martial Art is somewhat different to what is seen in the clubs self-defence schools and Dojos around the world the Systema is dissimilar to most Martial Arts in that it relies on natural spontaneous human responses and reflexes rather than the constrained Methods of forced conditioning though long Kata or training sets which typically fail in the face of the reality of a murderous attack.

The first and most essential thing in Systema knife training is to Breath in order to RELAX'

It is fundamentally the most important principle You must relax the whole of the body so that can move freely, and on a psychological level a relaxed body also means a relaxed mind, you can not physiologically have one without the other, In the Systema all of the techniques are applied in a relaxed manner and with the up

most economy in body movement. being relaxed means that you can respond and physically change direction faster than the mind can think.

Although you see the Systema Knife work fundamentals are in the form of a series of pictures that doesnt mean that the technique has to be done only that way on the contrary you are encouraged to find your own personal way of applying the movement only you know your own body dynamics and in the Systema every practitioner has his own System. Unfortunately a series of pictures is the only way we can teach in this particular medium and they dont convey the systema s continuous movement, also your attacker will never attack in the same way twice that is something that is all to often overlooked.

You will notice that there are no preparatory Kamae or Stances in the photographs. The philosophy of the Systema dictates that you are required to fight from any position that you happen to be in at the time, Stances pidgin hole your body movement and holding out your arms to protect your self may work

well in hand to hand but will become targets it an knife attack, unarmed against a knife you need complete freedom in movement in every direction in order for you to escape from an ever changing knife trajectory.

One of the principles of the Systema is to invite your assailant in to attack you, thus you bring him to your technique, the way this is done is to be wide open, far from being suicidal it sends a message to your adversary that you are not willing or are unready to fight (when in fact you are ready). If you were in a preparatory Kamae or Stance you would send a message that you know something or are prepared to fight unarmed, this may cause him to hesitate and not commit frilly to his attack, if you are to restrain him you need him close and not waving a knife about five feet away, that could end up being more dangerous for you.

Another overlooked problem is that conditioned techniques often go straight out of the window when the reality of the situation is realised, in cold reality you will probably not even remember to go into a stance as you own innate responses and body reactions take effect. What makes the Systema different from other Martial Arts is that it utilises these very innate responses and body reactions to apply the art and you train in exactly the same way as you would fight.

I will continue to convey more Systema principles as this series of articles continues. the first two articles will deal with Overhead Strikes with Ice pick grip the classic Psycho attack. this particular attack has been recognized as being one of the hardest knife strikes to defend against but the Systema makes very short work of it.

_{Overhead Strike
defence 1}

]

Fig 1. A Relaxed Vladimir is attacked with an overhead strike. As he is under threat he will naturally bring his arms up to protect himself.

Fig 2. Using his instinctive reaction to defend himself he brings his left arm up but does not block the knife but merely makes contact meeting with the attackers wrist.

]

Fig 3. Vladimir changes the direction of the attackers strike away to his left, raising his elbow up in order to loosen his grip on the knife and also to avoid being cut.

Note; Raising the elbow changes the angle of the wrist so that it rests on the flat of the blade, in this way it is safe to use this technique even on a double edged knife.

Fig 4. Vladimir turns over the attackers arm slightly counter clockwise and brings his left hand under the attackers arm and pushes on the flat of the blade.

close to the tip as he can for leverage and to remove the knife.(this action also causes the attackers body to turn away making it harder for him to punch Vlad

_{with his free
arm).}

Fig 5. The opponent is now disarmed and under Vlads control for him to continue.

Note 2; after fig3 you can grip his right wrist and continue bringing it out and down counter clockwise (from

your perspective) in a big circle and he will lose the knife.

Part2

psychology of Knife use

The type of knife your attacker uses or favours can say a lot about his psychology or indeed the fact that he is carrying a knife at all says something of his psychology.

In a civilian situation the motivation for carrying an edged weapon is Fear.

Fear of the individuals ability to control the situation, this psychology is the same if the knife is carried for self-defence or threat i.e. Robbing someone. The only other motive would be revenge or murder but the knife other than just being the tool of destruction is also a symbol of power for the aggressor.

The shape of the blade and even the type of blade can also say volumes about your antagonist, if the blade is overlong or serrated and looks threatening to look at, he may be compensating for an inadequate personality, if the blade is very short like a carpet knife a push dagger or any concealable weapon that can be easily hidden and commanded for use may demonstrate a shrewdness or a lack of

empathy with others, even the expense of the knife can say a lot, a very expensive knife could mean that he is skilled in its use and has spent money on his chosen weapon.

If on the other hand he has an ordinary kitchen knife he may well have just picked up the nearest available knife to hand and this lack of planning could mean that

he is desperate and a or amateurish although still dangerous.

Of cause once the fight has begun there is little value in psychological profiling and you do not need to consider such issues in fact you do not want to be thinking about anything at all except relaxing and letting the body do the responding.

How do I Relax?

Let your joints be joints once you do that, then your muscles have to relax, the state of mind is determined by the state of body and vice versa.

if you are tense in your psychological state then it follows that you will become tense (rigid) in the body, In the face of the terror of being threatened with a knife it is all to easy to become tense, as Vladimir Vasiliev told me the is fundamentally the first and major mistake that many people make when threatened at knife point.

]

There are two places in the body where fear can and does originate.

mental fear

This fear comes because of the realisation of the consequences of what is happening to you, This happens when the mind disassociates itself (steps back) from the event and tries to figure out whats happening, in extreme cases it takes the form of denial e.g.

This is not happening to me! Remember fear starts inside the mind and not outside.

physical fear

Caused by adrenaline rush the butterflies in the stomach which unfortunately has

been associated with our thespian friends stage fright.

I tell all my students that so called butterflies is only the body telling you that its

ready for exertion any other interpretation is fanciful imagination.

Vladimir says that in Spetsnaz they were told that it is very important that the fear from the stomach must not meet up with the fear of the mind or A domino affect

can happen.

_{If the mind
is tense because of fear then the body will tense up also.}

Its one thing to be fighting your opponent, the last thing you need is to be fighting yourself at the same time as you adversary and this is where training helps, its one thing to think that you can deal with an attack its quite another thing to do it in

reality, you will only really know how you will react when you are in a real or a very realistic training situation, this is a very important point and may have to be dealt with during a training exercise, mentally, you may understand that your training partner

isnt going to kill you but your body may still fear the contact.

Most trauma and injury comes from physical fear your body reacts inadequately, you twist away sharply and may tear your knee, or you may put added pressure on a shoulder that is stressed by trying to pull away, In this way you cause your own

injury, its a result of your own response to pain.

I will talk more about fear in training and reality in a future issue.

Overhead Strike defence 2

This month we continue with the second example of the overhead strike.

photographed appropriately in the infirmary section of Furness abbey.

<Fig 1 As the attacker (left) strikes downward with the knife a relaxed Trevor rises his right hand up to engage the outside of the knife arm, the arm takes on the shape of a roof so that the attackers arm slides down it, the strike is deflected to Trevors right.

Fig 2> As the strike nears its completion at chest level Trevor twists his body away from the knife and grabs the right wrist of the attacker with his left hand palm-up, his right hand continues to move around the back of the attackers head

_{the palm naturally
moving into the nape of the neck.}

<Fig 3 simultaneously Trevor swings up on the attackers right arm (against the elbow joint) and pushes down on his head towards the ground targeting the opponents head to the area to the outside of his right leg, spiralling him down to the ground.

_{Fig 4> If
the fall itself did not disarm the attacker, then you can kick the knife out}

of his hand as in

Fig 5 maintain contact with him to monitor his movement.

Trevor kicks the knife away, the kick is not wasted as he will bring the foot back down on to an appropriate target to put the attacker out of action.

Part 3

Letting the body Think

One of the major principles of Systema is Natural movement, but what is natural movement?

_{Natural movement
your own personal body movement and dynamics and}

reactions that you were born and grew up with.

Learned movement can only become natural only if it is in sink with your personal natural movement and only after significant practice, learned movement usually takes the form of Kamae or stances (postures) sets, Kata or repetitive scenarios to condition the body and mind to do a specific task, in the majority of cases these often uniform procedures or styles do not take into account an individuals personal way of moving and reacting to an opponent either on a physical level or indeed a mental one.

Another problem is that these styles or sets, Kata and repetitive scenarios become formalised over time by the Arts that are utilising them reaching a point where their methods bare no relation to the reality of combat in is raw ever changing and basic form on the street.

This problem is the classical mess that Bruce Lee addressed.

Indeed some schools imitate animal movements and these stylised movements may look artistic and may confuse an opponent but are a long way from natural human movement, pretending to be an animal or anything else is far different from being yourself, There is a saying in the Systema A rabbit doesnt make a very good wolf¹. in the same way a Human doesnt make a very good pretended cat, bird , insect or a even a mythical dragon, he can only become a good human and pretending to be something else is going against human body movement and ultimately human nature.

Thinking

So now that you understand that natural body movement is of the utmost importance in the Martial Arts, the next objective is to acquire skill with it,

A major obstacle in acquiring natural body skill or indeed any other skill in the Martial Arts is Thinking or to be more exact introspection this usually takes the form in combat or sparring of thinking about what you are going to do, when he does this or that even before the event has arrived,

_{Everyone I know
of has gone through this learning curve, the way people try to}

get around this is by the usual methods mentioned earlier, they think that by training long and hard they will by labour-some petition get around it, other methods of include embarking in Zen practises and meditation to quiet the mind and to reach the magical Right brain Mu-shin(Jap) (no-mind, no-thought) state.

The reality of this state of mind is there for the taking for anyone who wants it, It is just a decision and not something that needs decades of training in fact most of use go into this state daily ,It is not just for the domain of the great masters, this is how it works in relationship to body movement.

When you go through the your day, you dont say or keep reminding your self to hands do this or hands do that, You dont tell your limbs to move this way or that way, If you consciously think about walking you cant do it very well, the reality is that your body knows more about moving, balance, timing, distance and tactile feeling than your brain thinks it does. When you start thinking it all goes wrong.

It then follows that it the body that should be charge of movement in your Martial

Arts as it knows more about it than the mind does, most people have a fear feeling associated with this letting the body take charge process, the consensus is that its the brains job to look after the body not the other way around so the fear feeling comes letting go of the brains responsibility and your a bit worried that the body will not do the job right! but when you truly let go, to your amazement

you will find that the body can move and cope better than you could ever imagine and your skill levels will go through the roof

So you can let your body get on with what it knows best, that is Dealing with variants in trajectories from all directions faster than the brain can think. A bit like crossing a very busy street especially when you have to run a bit, have you noticed ? you stop thinking (introspection) when you do it.

This it vital in Knife defence if you think before you act in an armed encounter you will not last long, everything can change in a microsecond and the mind cannot cope with this speed of change but the body freed from the shackles of the minds influence and formalised sets can cope and does cope very well.

On a resent seminar I was conducting in Stoke on Trent an invited photographer entered the building as I was sparring with five people at the same time, all had

different ability levels, one had been training in the Martial Arts for twenty years, all were losing badly,

He sat down and watched until Id finished, I walked over to welcome him and I asked what he thought about what he had just witnessed, He said how can you see all that is happening, they never hit you once even attacking four or five at the same time? I told him that I cant see it all, my body does, my mind just

witnesses the results, If I tried to think my way through it I could not cope with all that information and so I just let my body do it.

Front stab defence 1

<Fig 1 an attacker prepares to strike Vladimir Vasiliev to the stomach, Vladimir stays as relaxed as he can.

Fig2>Vladimir steps to the outside from the line of attack and slides his hand around and under the attackers forearm.

<Fig 3 Vladimir grabs his right hand with his left to bring the opponents elbow forcefully towards his body, at the same time pushing his shoulder on to the opponents knife hand or wrist.

]

Fig4> If this is done properly, the tip of the blade will point at the opponents throat.

<Fig5 This threat to the throat and Vladimirs pressure on his elbow will bring the opponent down.

Remember there are many variations to this movement, and in the Systema you are encouraged to vary the attack speed, direction and distance to fully train your natural responses.

_{Part 4}

Last month we looked at letting the body think and how that related to natural body movement.

This month we look at escaping or more specifically how you train the body to defend its self by escaping from an attack.

Escaping

In the majority of Martial arts escaping from a attack is accomplished by

Blocking an attack or by the use of footwork to sidestep or avoid the attack by the legs moving the body out of harms way, Both are widely used with great success in unarmed fighting but both have pit falls that need to be addressed when it comes down to knife defence.

In the systema the whole of the body is taught to defend itself by allowing each and every part of the body to escape when and where it needs to, this is done by relaxing and letting the body think for itself, which I have covered in the last instalment.

Blocking

Blocking with the hands or any other part of the body for that matter has its place in Knife fighting, the Problem rests not with blocking in general but in the type of blocks being used, for instance Blocks that finish with the body in any kind of stance that is rigid and there also is a definite end to the technique (i.e. you have stopped) this kind of blocking motion will leave you in a very dangerous position if you have not disarmed the Knife of the attacker he may well be able to continue

]

his cutting movements, and you may not be able to stop him from the position you are now in.

You must be able to continue from wherever or whatever position you are in, if you can do this then that's good, if you cant then you need to look at the options.

Parrying the knife hand or even the Knife is used in the Systema, it is done in a way that let the knife continue on its way without much hindrance and danger to the defender, parrying movements in the systema Knife fighting structure is the same as it is for unarmed or Stick or gun disarming this is a trait of all battle field tested arts, and a way to tell real fighting arts from immature arts or sports

In the systema you learn to parry in a natural way with all of the body i.e. the hands, arms, shoulders, head, torso front and back, the hips , knees and feet, and all the parts of the body in between, to achieve this the fighting is very close in, if fact you are trying to fight inside the opponents defence.

To get there you bring him to your defence by enticing him in by looking wide open,

this is why there are no stances in the systema, if you look like you know what you are doing or look like a Martial artist then he may not come close to you, this is a very important principle in the systema.

This type of fighting also has within it many insurances, for instance if you miss the parry with the hand then the arm comes into play, if the knife is to fast and

you miss, then you parry with the shoulder and so on. this is far better that relying on just one blocking action to save your self.

The parrying actions are also done in a three dimensional way that is you block in three directions at the same time, I will explain this in a later instalment.

Against a slash for instance (hypothetically) you first try to escape with the body i.e. ducking (if that appropriate) and you engage the weapon arm as it comes to you (with the right timing of course) you then push (sometimes block) the arm and weapon away from you and also taking the opponents balance ( balance breaking is very important in the Systema) at the same time, at this point you use

foot work and body movement to control the adversary according to the situation you can then disarm the opponent by either knocking or peeling the knife from his grasp in ways that will be clarified in this Knife series.

Footwork

Footwork in the systema is as natural as walking down a street, there are no set patterns of walking other then a few special stepping and sliding actions, the major reason being that, in a real situation you will not have either the time or the presence of mind to remember elaborate stepping routines as you will be either

too anxious or too busy to think about such things, leave footwork to the feet they Know more about footwork than any Martial art! Let your body escaping determine where legs need to go.

In a real encounter you must be able to defend your self in any position that you find yourself, in many cases you will have very little time to prepare yourself for combat as events move on faster than you my have anticipated, it can go from bad, to your worst nightmare in seconds, and without you actually training in knife defence then all these articles can hope to do is make you aware of the danger you will be in in a real knife situation, Start training!

Front stab defence 2

This month we look at a second front stab defence this particular defence is best accomplished close in.

<fig 1Trevor waits as relaxed as possible for the strike, When it comes he raises his left arm up to the outside

_{of the attackers
knife hand to contact just down from the wrist.}

>fig 2

As the strike is delivered Trevor's blocking arm (wrist) rotates clockwise to push the knife away from its target with his forearm the elbow also comes down to the body and the whole body turns clockwise, the block is a soft block, he keeps

_{contact with
the attackers wrist throughout}

<fig 3

When Trevor reaches the point as shown in fig 2 (see fig 2) he turns his left hand over and pins the attackers wrist lightly, this is not a grab, the hand merely stabilises the wrist, as in fig3 Trevor turns back and uses his elbow to disarm the knife in a shearing motion

( the impact is at 45 degrees perpendicular to the hand and not 90 degrees this is important to disarm the knife cleanly) Trevor stays very relaxed throughout.

>fig4

After the elbow strike the arm is not re-cocked but continues on and into a slapping strike to the attackers left temple, that continues and Trevor takes the attackers balance by pushing the attackers head back and down to the attackers rear, at the same time Trevor has managed to secure a wrist lock to the attackers right hand but this is optional, Trevor continues to take him to the ground where he can subdue him as is appropriate.

Part 5

Last month we looked at escaping and how you train the body to defend its self by escaping from an attack. This month we look at bringing the opponent to your technique and its importance in Knife defence and the Martial Arts.

Bringing them to your Technique.

This tactic is used in in just a few Martial Arts around the world and it is an important part of the Systema, This is how it works,

Basically you invite your opponent to attack you by looking like a sitting duck, if you initiate a fighting stance at the beginning of a confrontation either standing or sitting on the ground, your attacker will hesitate or hold back.

Most defensive stances (as opposed to receiving stances) adopt a position where the arms (or legs) are out stretched in front of the body to fend off an attack, this position sends a message to the attacker to stay back at a specific distance (this depends on the far away the defender appears to be according to his stance).

He will also get the impression that he must somehow get around or through the defenders position, in a knife fight (where the defender is unarmed) adopting a defensive stance as described above will set yourself up as a target, as your fending arms (or legs) will now be seen as the first port of call for his blade.

Another problem is if the stance is offensive, as in a forward stance, if he rushes you, you will find yourself back peddling and trying to position yourself into a defensive stance rather than just dealing with the initial attack.

This is because is because the forward stance is for attacking with not defending with, it is O.K. to use these types of stances in unarmed competition there your life is not at stake ,In the real world where everything you do or don't do, counts there is no room for error and stances can be the beginning of your downfall in a knife confrontation.

Page1

What the practitioners of the Systema do, is to not adopt a stance, in other words they either just stand normally or sit normally if you do anything else you will look like a Martial Artist or professional and you will not be able to bring them in to your technique, initially when practicing the systema it can be very surprising how well you can defend yourself from any position

Remember that Miyamoto Musashi the sixteenth century Japanese sword master who wrote the Go Rin No Sho (book of five rings) guide to strategy, adopted this kind of position (wide open) the attitude was known as Happo Biraki or open

on all eight sides, there is no possible opening for an attack recalled Musashi he also said it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in every day life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance and that means natural stance to

me!

Musashi determined that this position (stance) was indomitable and for a good reason as in this scenario; Your opponent takes up an offensive position in front of you, but you on the other hand just stand there smiling (thats done a lot in the systema!) with your arms just hanging down by your sides and radiating an air of confidence.

If you put yourself in the position of the attacker you will most likely respond in one of these two ways depending on his current state of mind

1, Think that your victim is a sitting duck and you can attack when you want to in the full confidence that the victim will be unable to defend himself.(he will come to your technique)

or 2 Why is he not afraid? he should be! I don't understand, whats he got up his sleeve, he hesitates unsure of his ability to control the situation (he might not attack). Either way you can have the advantage, coupled with all of the rest the tactics in this series.

In an earlier article for COMBAT I mentioned Relationship in combat and this is a vital element needed when bringing them to your technique, this is an amendment to what I wrote;

The Russian System dictates that only the natural response of the body will provide a proper defence.

As the Martial Artist moves towards the spiritual realm (none thinking), the difference in the relationship between the defender and attacker fade, and the fight becomes merely a moving relationship of energy.

The defender does not stop the attackers movements, but lets them continue in a new direction using his strength with him not against him(not just his strength but also his psychology) . The attacker gives the defender things to bring about the aggressors defeat the aggressor truly defeats himself through his own actions.

The defender steals from his attackers movements to the extent that every move the opponent makes is a mistake and a flawed action.

To accomplish this the defender must always go along with the attackers movement, as I said before it is an interactive spontaneous relationship and that means the opponent also reacts to what the defender is doing (in other words he will react to your stance!) Take note you have to be in a constant continuous relationship with him

in rapport to realize this. We are always in a relationship with our environment, if you disregard this you will pay the consequences.

The attacker must believe he is winning right up to the moment of his defeat (or he will change his movement). To accomplish this the defender must become completely selfless or devoid of introspection, only then is he able to understand that it is not what the defender thinks he must do that is important, but the importance lies in what the attacker is doing moment by moment.

And so the defenders movements (techniques) are a direct reaction to the attackers movements and not the defenders idea of what he thinks he will do to the attacker. This principle applies even if the defender is attacking!

At this level you are now working with timing space and energy. At this level there is no such thing as conflict. You are able to step inside the fight itself and control the opponent in a safe space and the opponents movements are no more than energy influx.

If any of you study Nero Linguistic Programming (NLP) this is the same as matching pacing and leading,

_{Front stab Defence 3}

]

<fig 1 Trevor is attacked with a stab to the stomach. his left hand meets the attackers arm from above as the strike comes to him (this is done softly)

fig2> As the strike continues Trevor redirects the attackers arm downward with the back of his left wrist as he lightly grabs the inside of the attackers right arm just above the elbow joint (the attackers forearm movement is controlled by Trevor's wrist) and Trevor rotates away from the attack.

<fig3 Trevor now pulls his right arm forcefully towards himself while pushing up and away with the left wrist and then bringing his left hand over the top to control the attackers arm as in fig3 the knife is pointing away.

>fig4 Trevors right hand now holds the attackers forehead and pushes up and back at an angle (towards the attackers right hip) this causes considerable pain (be

careful when practising) Trevor also reinforces the hold by pulling up on the bottom of the nose (above the top lip) to cause even more pain ,Trevor is also stood on the attackers right foot to prevent him from using his legs The attacker is now under control.

<fig 2A after fig1 you can disarm the attacker very quickly by knocking the knife from his grasp, this will depend on the position of the attackers wrist and your relationship to him,

The strike is whip like and you must keep relaxed to generate a lot of power from such a short distance.

There is more than one way to do this so I will give you a couple of examples to work with.

_{If the attackers
arm position is similar to fig2A, You and chop the wrist in the}

crease on the inside of the wrist, the strike goes down the inside of the forearm to the crease and hits at 45 degrees if you

do this correctly the knife will easily be knocked from his grasp. (practise this) If the attackers palm is facing down as he attacks you can slap the knife out of

^{his hand, If
you use fig 2A as a guide I would use my right hand for the job from}

this position because I could hit the back of attackers hand at 45 degrees backwards rather better with that hand. and then you can continue to subdue him as appropriate

Part 6

Last month we looked at bringing the opponent to your technique. This month we look at flowing action and its relationship in Knife defence and the Martial Arts.

Flowing action

There are many important Principles used in unarmed combat strategy, these principles are the same for armed fighting as there is no differences in body movement at the principle level,

The most important principle is the Relationship principle that I covered last month.

The Relationship principle is the core of all principles and every other principle needs Relationship to work, the principle of flowing action also utilises relationship as well as some other primary principles they are Relaxation, Timing, Distance, Direction (Angling) and Balance.

Relaxation is the most the most important element in flowing action for ease of movement, it is used so that the body can flow and change direction smoothly and

]

quickly a relaxed body can also escape, as each body part can move in three dimensions when you are relaxed.

Timing is used in relationship with the opponent and timing ultimately replaces speed as speed itself can only be used in relationship (fast compared to what?) and in timing with the opponent.

Distance is always in relation with you and the opponent interestingly the

Japanese word for distance Ma ai means interlude and points back to timing,

Direction is your position in relationship to the opponent as you may not be face on or in an ideal position this can be critical in a Knife fight ,also Direction is important in the trajectory of the attack and the Direction of your counter moves to disarm or disable the opponent

Balance is important for power in your movement and techniques you also need balance to flow well when you lose balance (physically or mentally as in surprise) you will tend to lose Relaxation and this in turn compounds the lose of balance

all the above element must be considered in flowing action.

Related to timing is Rhythm there are many types of rhythm in a knife fight and there are many reasons why flowing movement can be interrupted here are a few, you can fall down, be distracted (startled), injured, you can lose contact with the opponent and lose the timing (rhythm), fear, this can make you tense and freeze up and trying for a technique that you are not in position for, all these points can stop the flow.

Exercise 1 for timing distance and relationship

Stand facing a partner about five feet apart, your partner steps towards you or back away from you, to his left or to his right, you must maintain the same distance and spatial relationship to him, e.g. if he steps back you step forward, if he steps to the side you step with him with the same timing (as if you can read his mind) and maintain the same distance at all times.

When you both get used to this exercise you can make the moves more elaborate

Exercise 2 for flow and sensitivity

Stand facing a partner about two feet ,apart you hold up your hands palms forward (like the surrender pose) and lightly place your fingers together (your right hand to his left and your left to his right) the fingers only touch and do not press hard.

You close your eyes (your partner keeps his open) and your partner then starts to move slowly around the room, keeping your eyes closed you follow, you must maintain only touch contact throughout, as the exercise progresses your partner can make more elaborate moves i.e. down onto his knees , on to his back , stretching high or low, you must maintain only touch contact throughout keeping your eyes closed always, also don't lose balance by over compensating for his movement, do this exercise for five minutes changing around with your partner and then later discuss with each other what you felt, this is an excellent exercise for flow.

Exercise 3 for Knife defence flow sensitivity

With a partner. Your partner makes some gentle striking movements (slashing or stabbing) slowly with a training knife, he does this in a continuous way flowing

one attack after another non-stop, he can use any grip and any strike even change hands (in fact it is important that he does) the important thing at this stage is to keep it slow, bare in mind that this is an exercise and not a competition also do

not set-up or stage or rehearse any of the moves beforehand, (you cannot rehearse spontaneity!)

your work is to engage the weapon arm as it comes to you and with great economy of movement and energy and push it pass yourself keeping contact as long as possible, you are not trying to disarm him yet , your are learning to control your opponents movement while flowing in relationship with him.

when he has reached the end of a strike and withdraws his arm, you go with it, keeping contact and controlling his limb, (a good tip here is to try and control his elbows when you can by pushing in from the outside, you can control the whole body this way) the important thing is to maintain a good constant flow

this exercises is similar to the Wing Chun sticking hands, or Tai chi pushing hands, at this stage your should not worry if he gets you now and again, over time you will become more skilled and he will find you more difficult to cut.

look at the photos in this series for guidance.

In a later articles when you have seen more systema knife disarms I will convey more sophisticated exercises for you to train with.

This month we will look at a more complex attack this is an reverse grip strike.

_{Outside reverse
grip strike defence 1}

<fig1

_{Vladimir is
attacked to the lower mid section with a reverse grip strike,}

>fig2 Vladimir moves his stomach and hips back out of the path of the strike and lets his right arm meet the opponents wrist with his forearm and softly controls it away to his left without resistance.

<fig 5 Vladimir continues to control the opponent by pressing his knee onto the outside of the elbow joint and pulling back on the wrist (be careful with this when practising as you can easily break the arm with a quick pull ).