just wondering what people thought of this art?
www.russianmartialart.com
Some people like it some don't.
I took only four lessons, and although everyone I trained with were nice guys, I did not like at all the way they trained and what they trained. I found it wholey unrealistic.
It is nothing like Sambo, in anyway. If you like Aikido you'll like Systema.
Try it out for yourself if interested.
go on the canada forum and ask poobear about it, he trains with a systema guy.
it's nothing like sambo. aikido with strikes would be closer to accurate. i like it alot dispite some of the cult like statements made in marketing. solid fighting art
I saw some vids on the net. Some of it looked ok, but alot of their demonstrations were so staged they looked silly. The attackers were throwing these slow motions knees and punches, very little realism. But this says nothing to how effective the system could be. If you want self-defense from a russian system, Combat S.A.M.B.O. is the way to go. Of course schools can be tough to find..
The Systema video clips are classic. A picture is worth a thousand words, someone please re-post the clips.
Here I am, here's some recent clips, there's literally dozens up all over the place.http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/video/clips/kh.v7%20100-768.wmvhttp://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/video/clips/Moscow%202003.wmvhttp://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/video/clips/nc.wmvhttp://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/video/clips/studens'work.wmvhttp://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/video/clips/ded%20moroz.wmvThe second to last shows some students from the Toronto school.My friend Demetrey Furman just did a weekend long seminar in Seattle with something like 40 guys, including 2 practioners from a rival RMA organization, and some MMA fighter named Travis in Seayttle who just ko'd some guy in a cage match earlier this month. These people and others were invited to attack full-on, which they did (many seemed to come with the attitude that my boy, being a systema guy, was fake). He would defend them, and, when people stood around scratchin their heads wondering wtf happened, he would do it again in slo-mo so they could understand. We are waiting for the video footage to be mailed up here.In any event, this is pretty consistent with my personal experience with using systema on trained people from outside of systema, although since the real situation will probably not involve anyone from some other style, the relevance to self-defense is not as big as how it works on someone with no training and less compunctions. But it works that way too.One of our affiliates in New York, fighthouse, has regular open mat days. I hear they have managed to garner some respect.And of course the door of ourselves and others is always open.No, at the age of 38, I am not going to enter the UFC.Try it and like it or don't, I don't really care.
BTW the Seattle seminar detailed grappling, striking from the ground, escaping a GNP, ground maneuevrs with firearms, throws, using strikes to set up throws, and a lot more. Aikido? I DON"T THINK SO!!!
But of course, the scope of systema is far too vast to be covered in 4 lessons, especially in a club where the guy running is so far away he might see a russian instructor maybe 2-4 times a year.
[edit - not to mention his 20 years or so of aikido might have just a teensy bit of influence over how he interprets systema, ya think?]
Lastly, am I seeing things, or is this guy on e-budo relating his training in COMBAT SAMBO at NYKK talking about SLOW MOTION SPARRING?
Political? No way, this ballyhoo about slow motion sparring could NEVER be political... [because we all know that every russian ex-military type trying to make a buck would NEVER have or let his students slag potential rivals LOL]
http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21601