can understand where your coming from on the working hours. work from 11pm to 7am myself. and have always suffered from insomnia reguardless of hours worked. sorry to hear about you driving problem. have no idea what i would do not being capable of doing as much. how are you getting to work much less attempting to attend martial art classes? considering your situation my advice would be this. if you have friends that take martial art classes (training partners mentioned earlier?) learn whatever style they practice. granted that limits your choices to say the least yet is still a better idea than attempting to use videos alone. the odds are your friends/training partners would jump at the chance to share thier art with you. have learned some basics of kenpo and other styles my friends/training partners study.
My grandfather drives me. All my friends have ended their Martial Arts classes. One almost reached Black Belt but didn't wanna pay the 300 bucks. The other two just got too lazy. I suppose I could call them when I get home.
Yeah. I checked it out afterwards. Definitely a McDojo. But there was no denying that this kid was good. I haven't seen him fight in awhile though so I'm not sure how he is now.
I've learned Krav Maga for couple of years (got a green belt), and not long ago started practicing Systema on my own. And I gotta tell you Krav Maga is very practical and all, but Systema got some wicked tactics to it so I'll have to choose it over KM. If you'll see Systema in action you'll know what I'm talking about - its carzy. Check out the video trailers of the Systema tapes Here
The jury is still out for my views on Systema. Went to a school and watched a few classes. It looked good. Yet I chose Krav Maga becuase it looked a little better IMHO.
Trying to learn any art without instruction is pointless. Systema is learnt in a way where it is the practice of unrehearsed drills that brings about the improvements along with decent instruction. To do this you need to train at a decent club. I love systema, but would recommend anyone thinking of studying through dvd's to rethink and look locally to find another art that they can train in regularly. By the way there are also some very good Krav classes out there, but it to really can't be learnt without instruction. Paul Genge
Argeed! Was just commenting on Systema or Krav Maga and would not ever recommend training just by video. Why do you think negative things get said about Systema? Because it's difficult to understand from just watching?
The people who usually talk trash about systema or other arts tend to do so without any experience of it with a decent instructor. This and the fact that systema breaks so many of the preconceived methods of training martial arts confuses viewers of clips. Add to this some of the odd explanations that have been given by some systema practictioners, the fact that the russian systema instructors teach from a different cultural view point and things start to get really confusing for non-practictioners. Lastly there is those out there that try to score points or strengthen their buisness position by trashing anything that does not look like their own art. Everyone wants to be the best. The important thing to do is find a good class no matter what the style and if it suits you train hard. Trying to set the world right by basing opinions on clips really achieves nothing and helps no one. Paul Genge
Firstly; I think both KM and Systema have much to offer so I don't think it has to be one thing or the other. If we aren't careful, many such debates end up being a contest to trash the other style. Imho, nothing can replace dedicated training in the presence of a good instructor, however, DVD's do serve a purpose and I think that they are excellent supplements to regular training. Both the DVD's by Moni Aizik and Vladamir Vasiliev respectively are worth seeking out. As for what's best, speaking as someone who has practised Systema for nearly 3 years and as someone who has watched a great deal of KM, I think that the differences are pretty fundamental. KM (imo) tends to be tactics based and lends itself towards learning certain techniques to cope with specific types of situation. Undoubtedly it has very applicable street defence applications and is relatively fast to learn. Systema is based upon grasping certain principles and applying those concepts and princples to any given situation rather than (like KM) having a series of set tactics to execute if a certain situation requires it. I think that Systema is an extremely powerful martial art and its principles are hard to argue with when its fully understood. The problem many practitioners of other arts have with Systema is that it doesn't dwell on tactics which goes against the grain for many people out there. The DVD's by Alexei Kadochnikov explain these principles very well and when observed make much sense. Imo, it takes longer to fully appreciate and understand the power behind Systema and in all probability KM could be learned faster as a self defence system. However, once fuly understood, imo, System does offer the practitioner more options as it is not technique reliant but utilises principles based on body movement, balance and body mass etc that can be adapted to suit the individual who is carrying it out. That said, both could compliment each other very well as a x training experience. Just my 2 cents.
I really can't imagine this being practical- http://www.russianmartialart.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=64 I'm sorry, but if I try to front kick someone, they're not going to drop me by gently pushing down on my thigh. If I swing a chain at someone, I'm not going to fall or be disarmed because he put his forearm up. That's absurd. Come on, the guy threw a front kick at the instructor, the instructor pushed against the inside of his calf and he fell down. Good luck doing that at full speed. Same with the chain. If that guy was swinging a heavy chain like that at anything less than 1/8 of his full speed and power, unless you're wearing armor, you're not deflecting that with your forearm. That's begging for serious damage to be done.
