Vladimir Vasiliev - Russian System Guidebook (New)

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Copyright © 2018 V. Vasiliev The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Published by Russian Martial Art Systema Headquarters Vladimir Vasiliev Vasiliev Print ISBN 978-0-9781049-4-8

















THE

RUSSIAN SYSTEM GUIDEBOOK BY VLADIMIR VASILIEV

This book was compiled through throug h conversations with with Mr. Vasiliev during January 1997. th This 2018 edition is to commemorate the 25 anniversary of Systema Headquarters Toronto. Systema is a fast evolving and expanding art. Some of the concepts and resources in this publication might be only of interest as a historical reference. For the up-to-date information on Systema, refer to the instructional materials on RussianMartialArt.com

















Disclaimer The exercises, ideas, and suggestions in this book are for education and information purposes only. Always consult your physician or health care professional before beginning any new exercise technique or exercise program, particularly if you are pregnant or nursing, if you are elderly, or if you have any chronic or recurring medical or psychological conditions. Any application of the exercises, ideas, and suggestions in this book are at the reader’s sole discretion and risk. The author and publisher of this book and their employers and employees make no warranty of any kind in regards to the content of this book including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The authors and publishers of this book and their employers and employees are not liable or responsible to any person or entity for any errors contained in this document, or for any special, incidental, or consequential damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.



















































ABOUT THE AUTHOR VLADIMIR VASILIEV VASILIEV,, born and raised in Russia, has intense combative experience. He received profound Systema training with the legendary Colonel Mikhail Ryabko. Vladimir moved to Canada, and in 1993 founded the first school of Russian Martial Art outside Russia – Systema Headquarters. He has since personally trained and certified hundreds of Russian Martial Art Systema instructors who are teaching in over 300 schools in 40 countries worldwide and has produced produced an Award-Winn Award-Winning ing instructional instructional film collection. collection. Vladimir holds a number of government medals and awards including the Russian “Order of Duty and Honor” and the “Order of Loyalty”. He offers regular training at his school Systema HQ Toronto, at international seminars and camps, and through Systema video program. For more information, complementary newsletters, training tips, details on training sessions, camps, seminars, instructional instructional materials, free video clips, and to receive a free DVD, visit: RussianMartialArt.com

















CONTENTS Russian Martial Art – A Brief History Soviet Special Units Tr Training aining Teaching Tips The Russian System System of Combat – Some – Some Philosophy 10 Guidelines Guidelines for Achieving Achieving Mastery Introduction Intr oduction to the Russian Health System S ystem Appendix – Training Tips by Vladimir Vasiliev How Hard Should You Train? 3 Types of Fear - 3 Ways Ways to Breathe Training Trainin g Without a Partn Partner er Are You Really Training?

















Russian Martial Art – A Brief History Throughout its history, Russia has been under attack. Whether from North, South, East or West it’s been a rare year when Russians weren’t involved in battle. Because it is such a large country, these battles took place on different terrains and in a variety of climates ranging from freezing winter to sweltering summer conditions. Attackers always came with their own unique styles of combat and weaponry. As a result, the Russian defenders had to learn to fight against a variety of styles and in a variety of conditions. The Russian Martial Art dates back to the 10th century and evolved because of the wide range of conditions and attacks the Russians faced. The Russian warriors acquired a style that combined a strong spirit with extremely clever and versatile tactics. These tactics were simple, practical and deadly, worked against any type of enemy under any circumstances. They were also not limited by strict rules of engagement or structure. This separated them from most other martial arts. There were no stances, no katas, no uniforms and no formalities, rituals or belts. All training consisted of real-life, immediately applicable principles. Right away, students themselves learned how to defend yourself against a knife to the stomach, punch to the head or a painful choke.

A “People’s” System It also must be remembered that most of the early Russian warriors were not

















Boys often started their training at the age of two. First they learned to use toy weapons. Then, at age four, they’d learn to ride a horse. By age ten, a boy was expected to master weapon techniques using wooden weapons and by age twelve to master unarmed techniques. At eighteen, young men were given demanding tests in all fighting skills as well as swimming and breathing through a hollow cane while under water. They also had to pass a survival test where they were left alone far from any shelter without food or weapons. These were intense, grueling exercises. Not surprisingly, Russian fighters have been much respected by other cultures throughout history. The Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Avars all tried to employ them for their own armies. The Russians were renowned for their courage, loyalty and physical preparation. Unfortunately, these great martial art skills and traditions developed over the course of centuries were nearly lost under Communist rule. Following the Revolution of 1917, all national traditions were suppressed. The Russian fighting style was lost for the common man. The masses were supplied with the substitute fighting system “Sambo”. The old Russian system continued to live on in secrecy in private academies and among a few people who quietly continued their training and passed it on to new generations of their family. The Russian Martial Art also lived on in those few Special Operations Units (SOU). There, they were perfected. Combat techniques, defense tactics, new philosophies and survival practices were grafted onto the system. All levels of human ability – the physical, psychological and psychic – were utilized.

















Soviet Special Units Training The Soviet Special Units approach to training in their Russian Martial Art system was, to put it mildly, harsh. Most people would call it cruel. Some perhaps criminal. But their goal was to create a soldier who would be immune to the psychological torment of battle. They wanted their elite Special Operations Units (SOU) not to fear death. Fear was to be kept in its proper place, at an intermediate or lower level where it would activate the necessary combat response without producing any of the inhibition fear can bring. In the beginning, soldiers were brought into morgues. There, they were forced to carry dead people to make them less sensitive to the dead. When there were serious car accidents, they’d be called to the scene to deal with the gore and pain there. All this time, the trainers were watching to see how the trainees reacted psychologically. They were being screened to see if they were mentally fit to continue. If they passed this segment of training, the trainees went into the next phase where they were tested to see how they perceived and responded to their own physical pain. Electrical shock was used. They were also hit and punished into pressure points to see how they reacted. In the Russian Martial Art, pressure points aren’t fixed as with other martial arts. Different points on the body will evoke different emotions in different people and at different times. Certain places would provoke fear. Others would



















wasn’t enough, somebody else would get a knife and start poking him with it. He was then given a choice of the two extremes – breaking his arm or being cut with a knife. Then they’d take a friend, another trainee, and have them administer the punishment to see what the reaction was. They wanted to see to what extreme the person could go before breaking. They also used this exercise to teach how to relax under pain and open up new personal potentials for endurance. Again, the goal was to teach the trainees how to survive in any kind of environment. Trainers would also attach strings to the students’ ankle or arm during sparring matches. Every once in a while, they’d pull the string rendering him without the use of a leg or arm and throwing him off balance. He’d have to continue defending himself while overcoming this handicap. Again, the purpose was to teach him to fight under any circumstance. They’d also be exercised to the point of exhaustion and made to continue far past this point. They’d be run hard for long distances, 10 miles or so, while carrying heavy ammunition or armaments and then have to begin fighting or sparring without benefit of any rest. And they didn’t put up with any holding



















Perhaps more importantly, they were also expected to learn how to be creative and act spontaneously. Divergent thinking, being able to come up with unconventional and unusual responses and decisions in different situations, was an absolute necessity. They had to be totally adaptable to survive in the unit. The key to this adaptability was the psychic training received. The soldiers were expected to go well beyond mere physical and psychological mastery, to a point where intuition and that sixth sense that we all have but seldom use, became a part of their daily life. Awareness, or tapping into your sixth sense, was a focus for many of the exercises. Training classes could run for 5 hours and, in some, they’d be blindfolded for the entire time. They’d have to follow what was going on, do their exercises and come to an understanding of the principles the instructor was teaching without the use of sight. While sparring, the instructor would also walk around the class looking for trainees who weren’t paying attention to the total environment they were working in. If he thought someone wasn’t aware of his presence, he’d hit him with a stick over the head. This taught the trainee very quickly to be aware of



















became completely aware of how a room looked, sounded and smelled. He even became aware of tactile, or touch, perceptions. He would then put all this information into a mental picture and then fell asleep. If anything at all changed while he was sleeping, he was to waken immediately to respond to any situation. The trainer would change something in the environment, sometimes even slightly, and the student would have to wake up or answer for it with his superiors. After much experience, many could learn how to do this. They were also taught to sleep with their feet outside of the blanket or bag. That way, if some threat presented itself, they’d be able to get up immediately to respond. After a few months of this kind of serious physical, psychological and psychic training they’d gain an enormous potential for fighting skill. Because they were in a special unit and could do a lot, they didn’t have to show off. It became difficult to even hit somebody at this point unless they had ample cause. Eventually, they came to understand and respect the extent of their lethal powers and learned to use them only when necessary or in pursuit of the necessary military goal. As we’ll talk about later, there is a strong moral side of



















natural. If you have an evil nature, your movement will be a prisoner of that evil and lacking in freedom. You You won’t be nearly as effective. We We teach this principle in our classes strongly today. Certainly, not everyone who practiced these arts became good and respectful of God and nature, but the best masters did. When you reach a very high level of training, you come to understand that there is something beyond you. This understanding brings you to new levels of ability. However, practical application of a martial art is a sad and inevitable part of our civilization. There are many aggressors out there. They have a persistent need to control, put down or hurt somebody. They also fear the possibility of their own humiliation and this drives them even harder away from good. With all the aggression in the world, there’s also a great fear of becoming a victim. The Russian Systema tries to free the student of this fear and protect him from the even greater terror of becoming an aggressor. Sometimes in life we become those things that we fear the most, and the Russian system guards against this kind of excess. In short, an aggressor can only be overcome by an individual who is strong



















be able to be serious when a real threat comes along? Systema’s philosophy is that if you take life and training seriously all the time, you will be unable or too fatigued to make the change in demeanor necessary to react to a truly serious situation.









































Many of the traditional martial arts are very serious, though. The fighters look tough. Laughter and jokes are very uncommon if not inappropriate. Faces take on a tense or stern expression. In many martial arts, moves are choreographed. If your opponent takes a particular action, you act with a specific, ingrained response. You have no flexibility. But if you take your sparring more as a game, as is done with Systema, you are allowed to act with intuition and freedom of movement. This would be essential to proper execution. The main difference is tension-free movements in Systema. The key goal of training is to tense up only the muscles required to perform a task and keep





















But this is not very practical. Nor is it good for somebody who has never had to deal with a real strike. If somebody is coming at you with a bat in real combat, you wouldn’t want to use a block. There’d be a good chance you’d break your arm.









































What is important is to learn what your natural response to such an attack would be. Though it may sound illogical, given the need to control fear, it is important to experience fear to know how you’d naturally react to a strike. This “natural reaction” is something you’re born with and it is essential to become conscious of it when learning Systema. We should know how we’d naturally act when struck or attacked. We do something similar in class, make the student aware of what his first reaction is. Each person will always move away spontaneously in a particular manner. Bringing attention to this movement will help him realize what his natural













































Teaching the Body to Think Then again, to master this system you must also be able to move so that your limbs and the rest of your body can move in different ways simultaneously. It’s It’s a













































One thing to remember: There is no single kind of combat situation. They are all different and you must be ready for anything. Conflict can take place at day or night time, in heat or cold, on slippery ground or boggy sand, in heavy forest or open park, in an elevator, in a car – virtually anywhere.























threat, indifference or confusion with your own body. It’s also very important to be able to show unusual or unexpected stances. Still, it is natural movement, a person’s natural reaction to unpredictable

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Appendix – Training Tips by Vladimir Vasiliev

















How Hard Should You Train? Your Goal The goal of training is to accumulate power and not tension. I believe that with each training session, while doing the same or higher workload, we should get less tired at the end of the class. We should try to perform each exercise in such a way, that with practice, we are able to do it with less and less exertion. This is achieved by utilizing only the muscles needed for the movement and keeping the rest of the body tension-free. Moreover, if you move naturally and correctly, your psyche also relaxes, and your physical and psychological potential will be noticeably enhanced. This is your test, if your feel more calm after training, you have been moving correctly.

Take It in Stages At the first stage of your training regiment, you should train so that by the end of the class, there is always a reserve to react if an unpredictable situation happens. For example, if a street attack happens when you are walking home from class, you should have enough energy to defend yourself. At a later stage of your training, you should feel even stronger and more energetic after every class.

No Fixed Routine Note that each day is different. There are days when you can go all out and others when you only do a few repetitions or a few minutes of work. This applies to both your body endurance and your will power to do the work.

Sore Muscles If your muscles feel sore after training, keep in mind that muscles generally adjust to a workload within three days. Make sure that you restore yourself with breathing, combative body massage, and relaxation after each session and your muscles will feel better. Also, when you are sore, let that day be your chance to

















than making the body into a tough training machine. The objective is to become more human, seeing your own weaknesses or letting your partner win at some points. In my opinion, the most valuable quality of a person is his positive disposition no matter what happens. Training sessions should be used to overcome pride and fear, and to gain humility and benevolence.

















3 Types of Fear - 3 Ways to Breathe We can view our fears on three levels. The first one we can call Personal Fear. It is the type that develops without any physical contact. It has formed inside us as a result of a verbal threat, an aggressive scene, a potentially scary situation. We might be only partly aware of the true causes and the magnitude of that Personal Fear. It is our internal picture that may or may not be accurate. This fear comes along with a specific type of breath interruption – irregular inhale and exhale, constricted breathing, or a choking breath. Second is the fear based on the concrete and imminent Physical Impact. This threat is very specific and real. It is the fear that we will not be able to move freely, or will get injured or seriously hurt, or will be unable to breathe. Breath interruption that happens in this case is a lot more serious and extended in time. And the third is the fear resulting from an actual Weapon Confrontation, such as a knife, a stick, a chain, a gun. It could be any object that an attacker is planning to use as a deadly weapon. This fear is due to the threat to our life. This fear can rise in a certain area in our body without our awareness. The breath hold and interruption here would be extremely debilitating, bordering with panic and complete movement incapacitation. There can be more than one of these fears piled on each other in different combinations. The severity of the reaction is different in each case. The approach should be different as well. There are optimal breath practices used to deal with each situation, described in detail in the book Let Every Breath: Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters and on DVD/downloadable Breathing and Fear.

















Training Without a Partner “One of the most commonly asked questions is how do I practice when there are no training partners.” The key in Systema is not techniques but realization of movements. The emphasis in your training should be on understanding movements of all kinds – your own movements, those of others and just movement itself. Movement is external – visible changes in the body positions, and internal changes – the activity of your mind and energy, movement of your thoughts, perceptions and intentions. The goal of training is to make them both free, fluid and precise. How do you achieve that goal? Pick the moves that you like from one of the instructional films and then ask anyone to assist you. It may even be a person who has no interest in the martial arts. Make it simple, fun and non-imposing for the other person. People like when you ask them for simple favors. So, do not be shy to ask, unless you live alone on a desert island, ‘no partners’ is just an excuse. Do not be afraid to seem funny in any way. The fact is that people will actually respect you more for having genuine interest in life and for having the courage and talent to pursue it. If something does not work, do not get concerned, look at it with a sense of humor and go on to other moves. Light pushes are a good kind of exercise. For example, you may ask your friend to give you a push or a few pushes any time he walks by. This way, you explore your movements and the friend will enjoy his task. There are two goals in this drill – learn not to be afraid of contact and to see how and where your body is restricted. Another good way to explore movements is in a crowded place, where you can study how you and other people move, practice keeping your balance, while staying relaxed, watch how you move through a crowd of people leaving a movie theater or coming through a busy subway, for example. Any obstacle on your way is a challenge to the movement of your body. There



















Training in the special units included carrying out tasks while blindfolded or having one eye shut for half a day and the other eye shut for the second part of the day. When you move blindfolded, your body begins to relax right away. And if you only have one eye open, it throws you out of balance and improves your skill of adjusting to your surroundings. At home, you can walk around blindfolded for 5 or more minutes. Try to find your way around, to get dressed or to do some work this way, you may try to do rolls and other exercises with your eyes closed. You may try to have one eye shut as you walk outside. Developing symmetry is very important for having smooth, balanced movements. You can try doing any simple tasks that you normally do with the right arm – now using the left arm or with both arms together. You can practice standing on one foot and using the other foot to open doors in your home, to pick up or move objects with your foot. If you ride on a bus or a train, try to keep your balance without holding on to something. You will observe that if your body is rigid, you will not be able to keep balance. If your body moved abruptly while it was tense, the stress goes in to the internal organs as well, affecting your health negatively. When you view the instructional films, you will notice that you initially see only the movements that are simple and the ones you understand. Try to be relaxed even as you are sitting and watching, let the movements you see on the screen get in you. When you watch the movements in full more than once, you begin to understand them. Then, if you are relaxed, you will be able to recreate them.

















Are You You Really Real ly Training? Have you ever noticed this about yourself: Your partner does an unfair move towards you, for example: he responds to your light strike with a hard and painful one. And then you get angry. Or your partner is a bit arrogant or slow to learn, and you get irritated. Or you find your moves work very well, and that makes you proud of yourself. Or someone praises you and vanity starts to creep in. I see this happening every class. In this case, your real training time might be only a few minutes out of the entire session. Technique is relatively easy to learn; you can break it down into parts and grasp it. It is specific and with some practice – you have got it. The focus of Systema is different – you need to understand yourself. What does that mean? Watch constantly what is it that interferes with your calm, objective and continuous movement. Uncontrolled emotions are detrimental to effective work. These feelings come in a subtle way and unnoticeably begin to dominate and eat away at your strength. We must be vigilant. Step one is to be aware of these weaknesses; step two is to try to overcome them through breathing, understanding, changing the attitudes and the movements. Then, we gain true strength and skill.

















unstable – you are not really working any more. When we come to class, we come to train, that is the foundation. You might be disappointed in yourself or something in class could be disagreeable. No matter what happens in a session, it should all serve its useful purpose. The work of recognizing and facing our pride and weakness is much more difficult than polishing techniques, but it is much more profound. As we know, memorized techniques often let you down in real unrehearsed confrontations, for example, if your arm is broken or if you are in a confined space. Whereas, if you can control your emotions and study movement, you will be capable of solving any problem in a multitude of ways. I know from experience that such work is extremely rewarding, it creates true skill and allows us to survive and succeed.

















BOOKS BY VLADIMIR VASILIEV LET EVERY BREATH: Secrets of the Russian Breath Masters STRIKES: Soul Meets Body EDGE: Secrets of the Russian Blade Masters Available in print and e-book format In English, Spanish, French, Russian, and Japanese languages RussianMartialArt.com

Vladimir Vasiliev - Russian System Guidebook (New)

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