Jim King Guest Teacher - Wednesday, March 1st, 2006

Jim King Guest Teacher - Wednesday, March 1st, 2006

Jim taught classes for three days at Fighthouse in the week preceding the 2-day seminar. It goes without saying that this was a great experience for us, to train with Jim all week, what a bonus on top of the two seminars! The focus was "short work" and Wednesday evening Jim introduced us to this topic, Thursday evening we practiced leg work, Friday, ground work, Saturday, all topics, and Sunday, everything plus striking. It was a lot of information to absorb, and for the week following, I was still thinking about the experience and couldn't even begin to write about it. It also quite tough, I have to confess. Training for six consecutive days has never exhausted me so much during any previous seminars, guest instructors, or even summer camp. It wasn't that it was too tiring, and I got plenty of rest each night, but I got sort of dinged-up with various minor injuries. By Sunday morning, I was so sore and stiff, I almost wanted to stay home. Almost, but not quite! I wasn't about to miss the final day for any reason.

Jim is a great teacher, friendly and engaging, highly skilled, but humble. I remember him telling us on Friday that during one demonstration, the other guy (who was very strong) had him pretty good and he wasn't sure he'd escape. It was an interesting perspective, as I tend to think of the instructors as invincible, but they certainly do not see themselves that way! Throughout the five days, Jim often stopped us to ask, "What is the goal of this exercise?" He wanted to make sure we knew the drills have purpose, and of course, to encourage us to think for ourselves and not just do the drills because we were supposed to. Jim described Systema's applications as "physical, psychological, spiritual, and social." He also said something interesting that I missed, but my mom related to me. He said that the goal was not necessarily to eliminate all mistakes, as that would be nearly impossible for any of us, but only to learn to recover from those mistakes more quickly. (See Rob Green's post on the "Vlad the magician thread" for more on that!)

I had thought that training every day would be much more fun than working, but you may be surprised to read that by Sunday morning, I didn't feel I could recover quickly enough to do so. I'm not one of those students who wants the actual Spetz training. I never had any desire to join the military, and if for some reason I had to, I'm sure I'd wash out. So how could I succeed training in a military style? I just figured I'd continue to give it my best shot without expecting to excel. A couple of things changed my mind. On Sunday, while Jim was answering questions, I asked him if we should be able to train like that every day. It was a rhetorical question; I didn't expect any answer but Yes. To my surprise, he said, "No, I was trying to condense a lot of information in a very short time," so it was more intensive that we were accustomed to. Another thing surprised me quite a bit, as I was saying Goodbye at the curb before Jim was getting into the car, I said off-handedly, "I give anyone a lot of credit just for showing up for all five days." Jim said, "So do I! It was hard, and I meant it to be!" I had thought it was rigorous for me simply because I wasn't fit enough for it. Until that moment, I never thought that it was tough for me because Jim intended to challenge us.

Before this gets too unwieldy, let me get to the point: Wednesday night's class. After introductions, Jim started off telling us that this was a different approach to Systema than were probably accustomed to: less art, and more functionality. And also that a fight shouldn't last more than 2 or 3 seconds, ideally, and that he wanted to help us discover this kind of quick resolution, which some people call short work.. Short, in "range" or distance, in that it's often close quarters or in confined spaces, but also short in the timeline of the conflict resolution, which is a lot more compressed than the slow exploratory flow training (although after class, when I talked to Jim, he agreed that flow training also has an important role in Systema training). With short work, there's no art, it's about ending the conflict quickly and not necessarily with any sort of elegant style.

We started with grab and escape, a very basic Systema drill, where you simply grab your partner and he escapes. Jim demonstrated how we can fall into a pattern of grabbing in stupid ways, allowing our partners to escape almost unconsciously. In the Guidebook, Vlad describes a simultaneous unconscious desire to help your partner as well as thwart him. I had to break myself of the habit of grabbing like a Frankenstein monster, visible from halfway across the room. Jim said to take your partner down if there was an opportunity to do so. My partner grabbed me and as I tried to escape, and it was quite simple for him to take me down, he did so every time I approached him.

But, when it was my turn to grab him, I realized I was grabbing my partner, but still allowing him to escape. So I grabbed him, and as he evaded, met him again with another grab, one leading into the next, trying to feel where he was going and meet him, sometimes, I'd give a little push here and there. I realized how easy it is to break someone's posture if they aren't doing anything to stop you. Even though he was moving well, he was not using his arms or legs nor doing anything else to prevent my grab. So I could break his posture easily, but I didn't take him down, because I wasn't sure how much I ought to pursue it. Would sinking an elbow into his back go beyond the simple grab and escape? So I just continued to grab him, breaking his posture sometimes, but not taking him down. Jim had us do this slow, faster, and "as fast as you can go," which for me, is rather "as fast as I want to go." I'm afraid this isn't very fast—I have a terrible lazy streak when it comes to running or going very fast.

Jim explained that evading a grab successfully was all about moving your feet—that's where the evasion starts. I've noticed that when things aren't working well for me in Systema practice, it's nearly always because I'm not moving my feet. Another thing that Jim told us throughout the entire week was how the spine must be changed from a straight position to affect the other person. He demonstrated pushing on the head of someone with a straight spine to very little effect, but as soon as the head was bent in one direction or the other, pushing easily changed the structure."Align the spine" he told us many times, a straight spine will make it difficult, if not impossible, to affect the other person's stability.

We switched partners to do the same grab and escape drill. My new partner was more aggressive. Although I didn't strike him, somehow, my fist seemed to end up at his face as I stepped to avoid, and I just gave a gentle push to turn his body away. He commented that I liked to go for the face, he seemed sort of glum about it. When I grabbed him and met him again as he was evading, he also seemed a bit miffed about that; I had this vague feeling that I was going beyond what the drill required, just as with my previous partner, I felt that I was not quite doing all the drill required....a change of partners is always a bit of a revelation! He muscled me to the ground a few times, and even though using strength to prevail is not the Systema way, nonetheless, I think it's good practice for me (though not so much for the stronger partner). I started to take him down from the ground, sort of rolling him over me so that he ended up on the opposite side. I'm not sure why he was letting me do this. If he moved around to my head or kneeled on me or otherwise controlled me once I was down, it would have been impossible for me to do so. Things weren't very smooth between us; I got the feeling that he was getting angry with me. It wasn't that this guy was a poor student, a bit too physical, but he was probably not very experienced and that's typical of students who are just starting out. It's just that he did not like that I was prevailing sometimes, even though he was also doing the same to me sometimes, but he seemed to want to "win" 100% of the time. When he tried to take me down, sometimes he ended up on the floor instead. I think what ticked him off was what he perceived as "cheating," pushing his face, taking him down from the ground, not giving up. Maybe he was right, perhaps I was being a bit stubborn, not giving up unless my partner truly demonstrates that he has control, if he leaves me any wiggle room, then I'll try to escape. Since he remained by my legs, it was easy to entangle him and bring him down, or else he fell with me, but did not stop me from getting the advantage on the ground.

But finally, just before we ended the exercise, he did take me down so that I fell forward, then he was able to sit on me and lock my arm very hard. I was breathing fast to manage the pain, as he applied more and more pressure to my arm. Being stubborn, I said nothing, though it was painful, but what would it accomplish to say Ow, ow? But I think he wanted me to say something. He knew he could easily break my arm, he really did a good job of locking me up tight. I have to give him credit for that, after all those other times I managed to wiggle free after he took me down, he wasn't going to let that happen again. But the more pressure he applied to my arm, the less I was inclined to say anything. Briefly I wondered if I was going to let him break my arm, and I was glad he had my left instead of the right. I can certainly be stubborn. But finally, my partner got tired of waiting, and said "OK?" meaning, have you had enough? And I said "OK," and he let me go. When I stood up, Jim was nearby, he had probably been observing the whole interaction. I gave him a big smile, and he said, "Ah, so you're the first casualty." I looked in the mirror; there was blood all over my teeth, certainly not the first time my attempt to be charming came off ghoulish instead.

Next we did some isometric exercises, and truthfully, I wasn't thrilled to be working with this same guy. I don't think we had a very good interaction. I have to be honest and this means that I am sometimes critical of my training partners. In the past, some of the readers of this forum really came down hard on me for this, e.g., "What right do you have to rip the guy apart on this forum?" All I can say about that is that I hope you can see that I am not absolving myself of any responsibility for my actions. No doubt the other guy thought I was being unreasonable about this whole interaction. However, it's for obvious reasons, a bit harder to be objective about yourself. Now, if any of my classmates wanted to write about training with me, and describe all my little foibles and stubborn flaws, I'd be delighted. Sure, it would be hard to read, just as it was hard to listen to some of the suggestions Jim King gave me on Friday night, when I waited until Edgar had stopped videotaping and almost everyone had left before I asked him for advice. But it's helpful. I've gotten better at accepting criticism as I grow older. So lest you think I'm ripping this guy apart, it's just not possible for me to describe training without also mentioning my partner's behaviour, and just because no-one is writing about training with me, doesn't mean I don't have my own foibles and flaws.

The isometric exercises we do in Systema are partnered work, and I think the intention is to strengthen and limber the tendons. Usually they take the form of one person trying to spread their arms or legs, or else bring their arms and legs together, while the other provides some subtle resistance. I can feel that my whole limbs are involved, even the bones seem to be doing their share of the work. Jim described this as a chance to see how well everything was functioning, as any kind of small injury or weakness will be revealed by this exercise.

We did a few variations on this, one person lying on the ground, trying to spread the legs, while the other stands over them, holding the legs together with the feet, and just inching out slowly to allow the person to gradually spread their legs with just a subtle amount of resistance. It takes some sensitivity to do this. Usually I have to ask my partner if it's too much or too little. We did this in all different ways, mostly sitting or laying down, raising the legs at a 90 degree angle and pushing down to the floor while the partner provides resistance, raising the arms from a sitting position while the partner provides resistance, raising one leg and lowering the other at the same time while the partner provides two different kinds of resistance. Also sitting with arms stretched out on either side, which was hard, and stretched behind, very difficult.

My partner had very strong arms. The leg exercises were OK, but for the arms, I was unable to provide any significant resistance, he simply closed or opened rather than pressing them slowly. Then, when it was my turn, when I was supposed to spread my arms to his subtle resistance, he easily prevented me from moving my arms at all. When I was supposed to close my arms from a spread position, he simply pressed down on them so that my arms were quickly pinned to my sides, rather than gradually inching downward with steady consistent pressure. We tried a few more times but always with the same results, instead of opening or closing my limbs, he just pinned me until Jim led us to the next position. I was sorry, not because I couldn't do the isometrics, but because we should have been helping each other, instead, it was just a way to demonstrate who was stronger. I felt bad about the whole thing, obviously, he found the isometrics pointless. I thought about all the other times I've done these with stronger partners, and whether they also found it to be pointless...but even among the men, no two people have exactly the same strength, and surely it's not a one-sided exercise.

When I described this to one of my classmates at a later point, he said, "That guy does not belong with us." Yes, perhaps not yet, he has not accepted Systema, but let's not forget where we all started. Systema is so natural, it can be hard to remember that many of us also started out tense and competitive and ego-driven. Even if someone has not accepted Systema, I hope that Systema, and its practitioners, can accept him and his potential.

I have described only the first half-hour or so of the Wednesday class; yet it was typical of the psychological challenges presented by the training. Most of the class was spent on variations of grab and escape. Jim reminded us to keep moving, a simple thing, but how often we forget!

There was one point when one of the demonstrators took Jim down real close to the wall so we couldn't really see what was happening, it seemed the other guy had the advantage, but we saw Jim's fist fly up and pop the other guy in the face, after which Jim escaped easily. We all laughed, the way it appeared to us was almost like a cartoon fight where you see a mass of bodies and a fist fly out. I know this was hotly contested on another thread, but a punch to the face can be surprising when the other person is distracted by doing something else. Jim said when a person is grabbing you, they can become so focused on grabbing that the punch is unexpected. This is NOT to say a punch is the closer (if such a think even exists in Systema), only that when the other person is so focused on doing one thing, like grabbing, or thrusting with a knife, or any of the other actions where our consciousness tends to be focused in one area, a strike can be unexpected.

Jim also reminded us to be careful about that ourselves, and not to target the face with the punch, because then it's easy to be locked into the mindset of too focused on one target. He said, "let the punches land where they may," then, if you miss, it's no big deal because your mind wasn't locked into a particular target. Jim made it clear that this it's important not to do the predictable, the kind of fights you see in Hollywood movies, and that in some cases, a strike to the face can be the very thing the other guy is expecting and therefore will be aware of it. Letting the strikes fall where they may is more unexpected to the opponent, and even sometimes, to yourself, so it's a bit of a leap of faith. I see Systema as a faith-based system and I don't mean in the religious sense. You have to have faith in the System, because the System is composed of the physical laws of the universe, as James Williams described so succinctly in his essay. It's just movement and biomechanics. Edgar often talks about physics when he is teaching us, sometime he surprises me with his knowledge of physics. And if you reject the physical laws of the universe, basic stuff like gravity and kinetic energy and even the biomechanical structure of the human body, the results can be painful. Then there's another level, the acceptance of things that you cannot see with the naked eye, most people accept the existence of molecules and atoms, although we cannot see them, but when we see an advantaged practitioner do a little of the no-contact or other highly subtle work that seems a bit mysterious to the eye, it seems more magical to us. But just because the eye cannot follow everything that is happening does not mean it is not real.

We spent a few minutes of "wrestling," i.e. "in a clinch." We grabbed each other and starting wrestling in that sort of old-fashioned way which reminds me of old black-and-white stills of professional wrestlers before it became all phony and staged. Jim had us try this with one partner very tense and the other relaxed, with both tense, and finally with both relaxed. Of course it was much easier when I was relaxed, so much so that when it was my turn to tense up, I kept relaxing as soon as my partner began to lock me or otherwise work against me. I guess I've learned that it's easier to escape when the body is not rigid. I had to keep reminding myself to stay tense and even then, I had to resist the almost automatic reaction to relax. Since I started training, I've gone from being tense and thinking that tension is my natural state of being, to being relaxed and almost unable to bring myself to the tense state in which I started. Systema certainly has a way of reversing what we consider to be "natural"!

With Jim, we learned to play around with tension, and not just avoid it altogether. A lot of people have wondered if we should attack each other like Systema-ists or like unschooled thugs. And I think Jim demonstrated that it's good to play around with both at times, to try working with rigidity as well as softness. This simple wrestling exercise demonstrated why we aim to be relaxed, not floppy like a rag doll, but the proper ratio of tension and relaxation, without which we'd not even be able to walk down the street (Edgar later told us that being 100% relaxed was equivalent to being dead, and that we would not even be able to stand up if we were 100% relaxed.).

We also did a 20-count slow pushup; those are always a challenge for me. My upper arms have gotten so much stronger since I started Systema training, from all the pushups. Unfortunately, the pushups have not developed my pectoral muscles; for that, I guess I'd have to do targeted training. So when I do a pushup, my arms are supporting my entire body weight and I think this is why many women find pushups more difficult than men do. The funny thing is that Edgar always counts to 30, not 20, and it has become such a "habit" that I was still going down when Jim reached 20, and not yet all the way up when he reached 20 on the up.

After that, more grab and escape. This time, the person being grabbed struck or kicked at the grabber to escape...this is what I had been doing with the first exercise. Of course, it made escaping much easier. Looking around, I saw some people getting a bit competitive. I'm sure I was guilty of the same. I think, with more time, it might have benefited us to become more exhausted, but with an hour and a half, it was understandable that we couldn't spend too much time on controlled fatigue drills. After class, Jim told us not to be aggressive or competitive with each other, because "one day you'll prevail, the next day, the other guy." And actually, it's more fun that way. If it was always easy to prevail over my partners, why would I continue training? And as Jim frequently reminded us, "we're all on the same team."

Jim taught us well beyond the time we were supposed to stop and then, most generously, stuck around to answer questions. Afterwards, I asked Jim why I felt strikes level the playing field for me, and that when I couldn't strike, I felt at more of a disadvantage against the stronger men. Striking really changes the dynamics for me. My partners, no matter how big and strong, are much more wary of approaching me.And I also feel more relaxed since getting hit is painful otherwise. He said I shouldn't feel that way, and asked me to grab him. I grabbed him around the neck and he demonstrated hitting me with an elbow. I said, Oh, I guess my definition of a strike is rather broad, I would put not only punches with closed fist, but also elbow and forearm strikes, as well as slaps and other kinds of hits, all into the same category. I think Jim was encouraging me to look beyond the "closed fist punch" into more options, the ones that happen naturally, as you avoid an attack, limbs ending up in the most convenient places. This is another reason I believe the universe will give me a chance to survive, if only I can see it. When I'm training well, my arms and legs just naturally end up in the right places without thinking about it, which leads me to believe that the ability to defend myself is something to be discovered, rather than acquired.