For a lot of years I am observing one vital misunderstanding of Systema and its real-world application.
MA people often suppose that Systema principles are bullshido and can not be applied in MA situations. Well, they are at least partially right. Systema has a solid inner paradox.
Systema is a military, combat philosophy. A set of principles guiding primordial survival and killing your opponent. Literally. Not winning a comfortable martial arts contest in some warm and cozy dojo. And when you try to use these principles on its full – you automatically transpose the battlefield into a MA match. And no known MA rules would allow this, so you “lose”.
Still, take it or leave it. This is the very history and inner philosophy of Russian “MAs”. As these are not martial arts. These were practices of 1000 year survival in the face of permanent battles with waves of nomadic invaders, treacherous greedy neighbors, European expansionary and cruel Nordic nature.
When you use Systema, you exit childish games of warm rules. And contact a chthonic realm of simple and cold natural survival. This is not for anyone.
Where can I learn more about it?
I have a couple books and articles downloaded although I would recommend getting a trusty instructor, there are some good videos on youtube but material is scarce honestly. I will try to upload what I have to some place.
thanks!
Generally, there are a few things to go over when talking about Systema, and these talking points tend to get glanced over by MMA losers while talking about the topic.
Firstly, Systema isn’t much different from Defendo and is in the same category of fighting arts as Krav Maga. Defendo was developed as a joint effort between the Canadian and USian armies in the 1920s, based from the martial arts of the Hong Kong police and fused with the western sporting arts of boxing and wrestling. Defendo was, at one point, the ultimate form of western martial arts. And, still, it’s the basis of the Anglo nation’s military martial arts. So how is it different from Systema, which has a similar background?
Secondly, Systema wasn’t developed to be on par with arts like Karate, Boxing, Etc. Rather, the core ideal of the style is to provide a means of protection to the whole of the Soviet population, regardless of how able they are. This is achieved through the materialist philosophy of the art. It shouldn’t matter if you’re in your prime, or if your prime is only a memory. It shouldn’t matter if you’re fully capable, or if you have a minor disability. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a man, a woman, or any of the other options. The only thing that matters is how well you can grasp the concepts. Instead of being a brutish system for fighting, such as Boxing, the core of the philosophy is about biomechanics. It helps a practitioner to understand the human body, and use the material conditions of the body against threats.
Third, there are many different forms of Systema. Ranging from health to military. On one end, classes are more about learning about your body’s biomechanics and being active while learning some basic defence skills, while on the other practitioners are encouraged to research other martial arts like Judo, Kung Fu (white crane style), etc. and blend that into what the other end of the spectrum teaches. This is a lot like other martial arts in western culture. You can take a boxing class purely to get active while learning how to properly throw a punch, you can take a kung fu class and learn how to put on a show, or you can take a karate class to learn how to do real damage to an attacker. Or any combination of those examples. The only difference Systema has in this regard is its fluidity with other martial arts.
Last, and this touches on the first, the intention of Systema is to either murder or incapacitate an attacker who’s trying to do the same thing to the practitioner. In the same way Krav Maga doesn’t quite work in an MMA setting, Systema also fails. The only way to make Systema work in an 8-sided ring is to drastically change it, mold and distort it to a point that it won’t instantly DQ the practitioner. You would have to do to it what has been done to nearly all of the eastern martial arts to make them work in competitive settings, which btw also made those arts less as useful in real-world combat. This brings us to another point. MMA isn’t real world.
Yes, some of the MMA styles work well in a real combat situation, but if a person tried to use American Wrestling against a knife-wielding assailant, they probably won’t make it out of the encounter stitch-free. In the context of fighting under a set of rules and with safety regulations, sure Systema isn’t the greatest of your options. But in the context of police or military fighting criminals or other military forces in hand-to-hand, Systema is a wonderful option - Just as Defendo used to be.
Don’t you want to be a moderator here? You seem be more knowledgeable than me about the topic.
This is post from Reddit’s Systema community, I only fixed some typos, but what is exemplified here is a complete valid description of Systema.
