When we breath out it is important not to allow the body to become weak. This is accomplished by a sharp out breath that tightens the muscles around the core without the need to tense them consciously. The out breath has to be proportionate to the strike. The harder the strike the sharper the out breath should be.

To learn to breath out in the correct manner so that the body remains strong we have the following drill. The person stands as already described and the training partner places a hand on the back of their head. They also place a hand on the stomach. They then slowly increase the pressure and attempt to fold the person doing the drill over.

The person practicing then uses correct breathing to keep their form and to breath out in such a manner that the area on the stomach being pushed becomes strong. This can be done with a hand on different parts of the stomach and the pushes can be at any angle.

Once we understand about our breathing we are ready to take a few strikes. This should be under the supervision of an experienced instructor and there are a few basic rules to assist in the process.

1	The person being punched only steps forward to be hit when they have dealt with the last strike they have received. It is important to the learning process that the student takes the time to feel what is happening inside them.

2	The person punching starts off hitting externally and then increases the depth only when the student is ready for it. It is not un common to have to use slaps with the flat of the hand to start of with until the student learns to breath correctly.

When you start being punched it is important to remain calm and use the breathing method to stop the strike entering the body. If however the strike does enter you need to feel where it is going in the body then allow it to exit by literally throwing away the strike. This is very difficult to describe and is definitely best felt if you want any real understanding of how it is done. For a clip showing the basic progression of these drills click here.

The reason for this is type of work is because a skillful person can put angles and curves onto the direction that the force travels through the body. It is even possible for the most professional Systema masters to single out specific organs to attack by sending the force through the body of their opponent no matter what the original point of contact of their fist was.