Vladimir Vasiliev Knife Seminar - Sunday, June 4th, 2005

Vlad had told us that we'd be focussing on disarms on Sunday. I thought this was an excellent progression. Some instructors might have reversed the order: disarms first, then using the knife. But learning to use the knife is the best background for learning effective disarms.

We started with the breathing/tensing exercises. First, Vlad had us just rolling around and stretching freely on the ground, but while holding the tension, then releasing. Then the inhale/exhale exercises as on Saturday, followed by feeling the pulse in different parts of the body. Then some difficult variation of the pushup, with arms spread wide.

We did leg raises with partners providing resistance. They are supposed to provide gradual resistance, not merely hold the legs down. This exercise must be done with sensitivity to your partner's ability. It's not a test of strength. Too many guys interpret it that way, and if the person providing resistance is stronger, it does not benefit the person doing the leg raises very much.

We did a stretch where you sit on the floor, lean back with arms back behind your head, palms flat on the floor, and gradually move your arms and legs farther apart to make yourself flat to the floor. But most people won't be able to touch the back of their head to the floor. However, Vlad demonstrated this with someone who was so flexible, he was almost flat on the floor! Continuing this same kind of stretch, your partner puts your arms behind head, squeezes the shoulder blades together, and you go down, then stand up again.

Vlad started us off by showing some very basic, straightforward knife disarms. He also demonstrated disarms using a jacket, using it against the person wearing the jacket, and wearing the jacket himself and catching the knife in it and wrapping around, or taking off the jacket altogether and wrapping around the blade. He said it doesn't work so well with a tee shirt. He demonstrated that grabbing the knife arm is not so good, instead, wrap your arm around the wrist and then find a grab. The blade itself can be used as a lever to apply pressure to the hand and wrist. I was glad to see Vlad show how grabbing the knife arm recklessly was not prudent, because I see this a lot with the harmless practice blades, and no-one would try this with a live blade.

So Vlad asked us to work on just straightforward disarms, nothing fancy, just a warmup. I saw a guy without a partner, tried to catch his eye but he didn't seem too willing. I asked him if he wanted to work, I think, in retrospect, I should have been more mindful of his hesitation. I tried to introduce myself but he wouldn't give me his name. As we worked, he pointed out what I was doing wrong. Sometimes this is helpful, other times, not so much. Gradually I began to accept that everything I was doing, even the smallest movement, was completely wrong, was wrong. I gave up. Fortunately Vlad asked us to switch again not too long afterwards. But that sort of set the tone for me for the rest of the day. It wasn't this guy's fault. It was just the state of mind I was in. I had very little confidence and couldn't bring myself to switch partners too readily. I spent a lot of time just watching so I could avoid asking anyone to work with me.

We did the familiar yielding exercise where one person pushes the knife tip into the other, who had to yield, but to stay in the same place. Also moving the knife around to keep the tip in contact, while other person had to rotate to make the blade flat against himself.

Vlad showed a really cool way to disarm by "clapping" the knife out of the hand. You hit the knife arm near the wrist with the backs of your hands, sort of rolling them inward. If it's done precisely, the knife goes flying. Vlad also showed hitting the knuckles to disarm, which takes a lot of precision to be effective, and striking the arm to loosen the knife and begin the disarm.

Vlad set us up with a scenario where one partner turned his back, the other assumed a frozen attack position with the knife, and when Vlad clapped, the disarming partner had to turn around and disarm and takedown the frozen person. This is not necessarily easier than disarming a moving person. But it allows a more slow and thoughtful consideration of the position of the attacking person.

As an introduction to striking, Vlad had us just pushing fists into each other while standing still to affect a take down. Then we did the clapping exercise with frozen attack position, but adding strikes. I preferred this version, as striking usually makes it easier to take down my partners, particularly when they are standing still. But it does make people sort of amped up. I told my partner not to rush. I was standing still and frozen, there was no way he could miss, and rushing wasn't necessary. He hit me rather hard across the temple and upper jaw. Vlad saw this, laughed a little, rubbed my face and told my partner to take it easy.

Vlad showed some disarming techniques after the takedown, for when the attacking person was on the ground. Manipulating the small fingers is one of my favorites, but sometimes the person has too tight a grip on the knife. Vlad showed hitting the ear twice, and he said the first hit tenses the person, the second relaxes. He also showed a very cool way to flip the person over to their stomach, where it can be easier to immobilize and gain control. You basically spin the person around with their arm and flip them over. But this has to be done just as the person is hitting the ground. If you wait too long, they will be too heavy to turn over.

Vlad mentioned a couple of philosophical observations about knife attacks. He said that fear can either turn inward and freeze you up, or explode out of you, he said it was better to let it explode than to close in on you. He also mentioned that when faced with a knife attack, you have to decide that it is not time to die and that time will come a little bit later. And he disputed the popular notion that anytime a knife is involved, there will be a blood drawn. He said that's not necessarily true, but on Saturday, he demonstrated many ways to deal with blood loss for physical and psychological health. At the same time, it is frightening and demoralizing to bleed heavily, so on Saturday he had showed us how to open up small cuts on the face to frighten the attacker into giving up.

We practiced "invisible" use of the knife. One partner walked towards the other, who was to draw the knife and stab or cut from the front or back, invisibly. At the end of the seminar, we spent a few minutes working more or less freely. I found a very large BJJ guy to partner with. The BJJ guys tend to look for the submission. He took me down, but instead of knocking the knife out of my hand, he twisted my arm quite painfully. I told him there's no submission in Systema, if he wanted to break my arm, just go ahead and do it but don't wait for me to tap out. I didn't mean literally, just that a submission hold is not necessarily a disarm, as painful as it was, I still had the knife because he wasn't applying pressure in the right direction to make me drop it. He admitted that he had trouble letting go of his BJJ training.

Vlad then wrapped it up and asked if anyone had questions. One student asked what to do about a knife attacker who wanted to fence with the knife, jabbing and retreating out of the way and keeping at a distance. Vlad said just turn and walk away. Everyone laughed, but he was quite serious. He said that if the person didn't want to use the knife and was feinting and retreating, it meant they weren't serious about hurting you and this was a good thing. It was a good question because I did see several people fencing with the knives and this is not necessarily how a serious knife attack will happen. An attacker who retreats is not as committed to hurting the opponent. Sometimes I work with a partner who adopts a can't-catch-me approach. But if my partner runs away from me, that can hardly be described as prevailing over me. I always assume that if running away were an option, I would have already done so, and the self-defense training is for those situations where you cannot run away.

No-one else had any questions. I wanted to ask Vlad how proficient one should be before carrying a knife for self-defense, but I wasn't feeling bold enough. The seminar was a little marred by my low self-confidence. Several times Vlad and Denis had to match me up with training partners because I wouldn't do it myself, preferring to just watch. Afterwards, as I shook Vlad's hand, he told me I must not be so timid about finding partners. I promised I wouldn't, but then regretted saying so. Was I making a promise I could not keep? I gave him my word but wasn't sure I was good for it. So I was a little upset as I walked away, feeling that the social aspect of Systema was one of the hardest things about it.

But sometimes things are darkest just before the dawn. Since then I have reached a turning point in my training. I am not so apologetic about my skills. Many people are deluded about their skills, I guess it's hard for any of us to see ourselves the way we truly are. But I believe I've actually underestimated myself for a long time. A lot of guys do not want to admit that I can prevail over them, no matter how little training they have. But it's a fact that most beginners are no match for me. And it's not my problem if other people feel humiliated because I'm better than them. I don't have to apologize because I've worked hard at my Systema. And I don't feel so bad when I hurt the guys to prevent them from hurting me. If one of us is going to get hurt, I'd just as soon it's the other guy.

My decision to start a study group is part of my recognition of my hard-won skills. Everyone talks about lessening the ego but not everyone has this problem of overconfidence. It's more common, but lack of confidence can also be a problem for some. I am gaining confidence, and I think Edgar also expects more from me. He asks me to be more precise even when my takedowns are effective, but he expects that my partner will be on the floor and in a position of vulnerability at my feet, not flung halfway across the room. And he wants to see me do fewer movements to achieve the same result, one thing, rather than five or ten. I've spent these last few years learning to do Systema, but now I find I also need to learn to do it well.