Russian Martial Arts Northwest
Michael then moved onto the main focus of the seminar which was punching. We practiced
numerous drills to improve precision of placement and our method of delivering the
punches. It is safe to say that precision is crucial to Systema. Simply waving your
arms around wildly or hitting blindly are never going to bring reliable results.
When Michael pushes or hits you with his fists he catches you movement and redirects
it in a different angle so that there is no resistance.
To learn to align our fists
correctly we spent 5 minutes at a time stood on our fists in the press up position
and had to walk up and down the walls on our fists. By relaxing the muscles that
we did not need for these exercises our fists soon became heavy and full.
Later that
evening we were driven by Michael across Moscow for a small class attended by his
advance students. These included several Spetsnaz officers including Sergie Oschereljew.
Sergie took us for a warm up that included rolling along and crawling over benches
in various directions. We were then shown how to fall into a wall if pushed so that
we remained relaxed and received the wall across our whole back. Michael then demonstrated
using precise pressure to various points to effect someone’s balance. He did this
whilst balanced precariously on two benches that had ne stood on top of each other.
The reason for this was to remove the possibility of pushing using support on the
floor. Michael then moved onto connecting these points to effect balance using the
lightest of pressure. This session was followed by Michael taking us to dinner before
returning us to our hotel.
The next day we returned to punching and taking strikes
onto the body. The warm up was taken by Valentine who was introduced as one of Michael’s
oldest students. Valentine started to train at about the same time as Vladimir Vasiliev.
He used to be a boxer who used a gym that Michael was teaching in. Being unconvinced
of what Michael was teaching he decided to challenge him to a fight. In his own words
he woke up on the floor having been there for some time. He was very confused by
this because he could not feel any pain from being hit.
Valentine started to train
with Michael. The hardest thing he found in what Michael wanted was to be a good
person. After a year he was still not convinced and challenged Michael again. This
time he was beaten so badly he simply wanted to go home. Michael refused to allow
this and told him he had to stay or he might die. After treating him with a special
tea and some massage Michael explained there was only good and bad and that Valentine
needed to make his choice. To this day he studies with Michael.