No System for Striking

Vladimir, in a rare moment, talked to Jake quite a bit about striking instead of just hitting him a lot. I was able to listen in, so I will try my best to paraphrase/reinterpret what he said. The two phrases that really got me are "There is no system for striking" and "our bodies do not belong to us". The first makes very clear sense with respect to striking, and the second is a bit more ethereal.

Not having a system for striking seems obvious. Strikes are an energetic concept that require a genuine approach instead of pre-fabricated techniques. The exercises in Systema approach striking in various manners, but what is important is simply optimal energy transference (and in taking strikes, optimal energy dispersion). A lot of concepts get thrown around with respect to Systema strikes such as "heavy hands", "full hands", "being at a comfortable distance", or just "being relaxed".

These concepts are well and fine, but they dance around the very bottom issue of energy transference. Watching the subtleties of Vladimir's structure when striking compared to someone unexperienced is amazing. There is no shock reverberation traveling back into his body--oftentimes he will just use an arm to strike (no movement in the shoulders, hips, etc.), and if you can't see his arm, you would never know he was hitting somebody (well, obviously the guy flailing to the ground as a result of the strike gives it away). At the highest level, striking is a uniform and appropriate mixture of gentleness and power, sensitivity and force, and relaxation and tension. He mentioned that when one learns how to strike well, they don't need to be strong to affect somebody with a strike. This is purely on a physical impact level. Add in the dimension of psychology to striking, and there are no foreseeable boundaries to effectiveness.

What he said about our bodies not belonging to us ties these concepts together. Our bodies are made up of material just like anything else in the universe. We cannot control them to the extent that we would like--we constantly pester Mother Nature for her secrets. The rocks just sit, the sun just shines, the ocean just moves--why can't we just hit someone?

Vladimir said that striking is just natural, but we try to possess it, make it our own, create systems for it, etc. I can feel the unnecessary tension in my own strikes, I restrict the energy by trying to force a stronger impact onto my partner. My muscle fibers contract and expand in all the wrong ways as I deliver the strike--myself thinking that I am in control of my body and all its inner functions. Yet fortunately my heart beats without my consent, and my digestive system does its duties without asking for my permission. Striking can work in the same manner--there does not need to be a thought process or technique involved, just hit. Structure, alignment, breathing--yes, stay aware of these things. What I find funny about myself is that I needed to intellectually learn the obvious about striking: keep the structure so bones don't get broken, don't strike hard surfaces with hard surfaces (e.g. knuckles and forehead), and all those things that say that I am too out of touch with my body and its nature to simply just strike someone.

But I will keep trying until I can get out of the way of myself and just let my body do the work.

Respect the Distance

I've had the pleasure of being at Vladimir's school up in Toronto for the past few days. As always: there has been a flood of information to take in and plenty to think about with respect to future training.

One topic that I had the chance to talk with Vlad about was striking distance. I might have posted on this a little bit before--but working with Vladimir directly really drives the concept into it's full solidity. This distance is a "comfortable" distance for doing work, in this case striking. Vladimir said that people aren't typically used to this middle ground--they will either fight with at least some amount of fear or with a lot of aggression. Some will fight in sparring mode: staying a safe distance then moving in quickly for a kick or a jab. Others will fight aggressively, closing the distance, taking the fight to the ground, or overpowering the other person with strikes. In order to be effective with either of these two extremes and everything in between, the distance must be respected.

The specific drill we worked on today was a progression from some arm-only strikes. We ended with one person trying to grab and the other keeping the comfortable distance while doing a few quick and hopefully effective strikes. This distance is kept no matter whether the opponent is backing off or pursuing. In other words, keep this middle distance until the work is done. This distance is best seen by walking around your partner while they stand still and placing your fist on them. A good understanding of structural alignment and also of impact transferrance in strikes helps with this. By placing your fist on your partner with proper structure (straight spine, relaxed shoulders, not reaching for the strike, but not too close either), one can get a good idea of what will be an effective distance for striking. I know there are a lot of concepts involved in this concept of "middle distance", but the best way to describe it is just to find the most comfortable position.

Vladimir referred to this as "the warrior's distance". A warrior will fight at this distance because it allows the most freedom from too much fear or aggression. Two warriors, fighting against eachother, will still fight at this distance, and one will eventually prevail for whatever reason.

Sticks And Sticks Will Break My Bones

I brought the staff in today so we could have some fun with a capital F. Ricky didn't show up until later so Fabian and I started off with some staff striking warmups. Taking strikes with the staff is worlds apart from taking strikes with the fist. Staffs hurt the bones, bring sharper pain to the muscles, have a different effect on the nervous system. There is also a little more trust required of one's partner--that a shot to the chest won't bounce up and hit the chin or the neck, for example. We didn't hit too intensely though--at the very hardest only striking a little bit harder than what would allow the person being struck to keep their composure.

This striking drill gradually became a movement drill. We both started moving around while one person would get struck. The point of this drill was not so much evasion as it was moving the body in such a way that the strike would be the least damaging. This is another parameter to explore with respect to getting struck by anything--damage control.

That Guy Hits on Everyone

Today we began with some breathing/body warmups. We started out with one step per inhale/exhale (step/inhale, step/exhale) as we walked around the room. Making our way up to five or six steps per inhale/exhale, we went into a light jog. We peaked at ten steps per inhale/exhale and climbed back down to four steps. We talked briefly about the effects experienced during the warmup. Involuntary upper costal breathing (breathing only into the upper parts of the lung in a desperate attempt for more oxygen) seemed to happen to all of us a little bit in the higher stages. We all also begin to feel slight discomfort due to oxygen deprivation when jogging at six to seven steps per inhale/exhale.

Learning to relax in this drill is so much more than just a muscular, skeletal, or psychological concept. As is often repeated in Systema, breathing is not just the mechanical action of the lungs inhaling and exhaling. The inhale and exhale literally extend into the entire body. A proper breath involves physiological efficiency well past the scope of lung operation. The body must be relaxed in an internal level. Training on this level requires a little bit more sensitivity, but is hardly outside anyone's capabilities. Simple exercises such as feeling the pulse in certain parts of the body or performing a single pushup can open doors into the internal mechanics of the body.

After our warmup, we started into some striking work. There were four of us today, so we paired off and began with a basic fist and body alignment drill. One partner stands still while the other walks around that partner, placing their fists on different parts the person's body. This drill is great for feeling one's own structure and form with respect to the person they are striking. The endless contours of the body require that each part of the body be struck genuinely. After the fist placement drill, we started to do some fist pushing. This validates the concept of structure even further. One should try to push with the fist in such a way that they don't move backwards or forwards. In other words, the person being pushed should move, not the person doing the pushing. This is a dynamic balance issue that sounds a little boring from the outside, but a lot of fun to play with once you get into the structural issues.

We eventually got into some real striking. Jase showed up for the first time so I paired off with him so I could jabber a bit about these concepts while striking him and letting him strike me. I explained to Jase how our dominant side usually carries the most tension. I explained this after he noticed himself that his left side was much more tense in receiving strikes than the other. I also explained that certain types of trauma can affect how the body handles strikes. I have had some digestive issues for the past year or so that began with a few occurences of incredibly sharp pain (possibly pancreatitis) that would last for twenty-four hours (bad combinations of prior stress and combining the wrong foods with alcohol). So strikes in certain areas of my body are not received very well. I constantly made reference to breathing so he would get the idea behind being able to take a strike. I also showed him the full spectrum of muscular tension when receiving a strike. Being completely tense sends shock all throughout the body and may possibly result in muscular tissue damage, while being completely loose allows the strike to penetrate the interal organs resulting in a very sickening feeling and potentially some internal injury. So in just a few minutes he had some of the tools to start playing around with receiving strikes. He seemed to like these concepts and ran with them quite well as I continued to hit him.

We did another drill which Fabian accidently began by hitting me as I was hitting Jase. The concept of transferring the momentum/energy of a strike received into giving someone else a strike is similar to the game "hot potato". So at first we lined up and the person in the back of the line started out by striking the person in front of them. That person strikes the person infront of them, and so on. Every so often we would rotate. After doing this for a while, we modified it so that everyone in the line faced the person in the back of the line. So the person in the back of the line would strike the person in front of them, and that person would have to turn around to be able to strike the person in front of them, and so on so that by the time the end of the line was reached, we would all be facing the person in the front on the line. Then the person in the front of the line would strike the person in front (technically behind) them and start all over again. After this we did some strike avoidance drills until the kids showed up for their class.

Irresistable Movement

We are finally back to a normal training schedule. Fabian and Ricky showed up on Saturday morning for about an hour of training. We did some lock/hold escaping drills based using the concept of "least resistance" as the basis for escaping. Two people would apply a lock on one person and hold the lock until that one person escapes. This drill is essentially an exploration of freedom while under the influence and possibly illusion of restriction. There is so much that can be explored, but the mind can come to a screeching halt when an already painful wrist-lock is torqued a little bit more or head/neck movement is restricted completely.

We started out doing this drill while standing, which typicall resulted in both arms and the neck being held or locked in some fashion. This gives room for a lot of default options with respect to movement: footwork, leg movement, and torso rotation can usually be employed. So in a sense, being locked up while standing allowed for some exploration in using these default options appropriately. Going to the ground creates less room for any type of movement, meaning there are few, if any, default options. In this setting, movement must be explored genuinely to take advantage of what little room one might have. Even a quarter of an inch of room (possibly less) will suffice to escape in some situations.

In addtion to moving from standing to the ground, we also begin reapplying locks and holds as soon as they were escaped until the drill became a grappling-type flow. Initially once the lock/hold was escaped, the person applying it would step away. But as we progress and the drill becomes a little easier, we increase the difficulty.