Everyone knows that shooting a moving target is much harder than a fixed one. It requires additional efforts and skill. Something similar happens in a fight. If a person utilizes continuous movement, the complexity of working against him is infinitely higher. It makes not only his single opponent helpless, but also a multiple attackers. Even a group of armed attackers looses the advantage when faced with a relaxed person who is always ready to react on a free and spontaneous level.
Working on the move provides a unique feeling of distance and almost chess-like combinations in a fight dynamics. Such a fighter is always confusing to the attackers, not letting them work as a team, but effectively using them against one another. Of course everyone tries to move in a fight, but usually it is just ‘transfers of positions’ with small stops, pauses and tension-caused jerky movements. These tension-filled shifts of positions are counterproductive because firstly they are visible to the opponents and secondly they are perceived as threatening.
Systema approach is different. It develops movements that are completely smooth, with no tension in the body or the psyche. This is achieved through specialized exercises to gain uninterrupted breathing, awareness breathing, combative breathing, internal control and unique movement and contact drills that are enjoyable yet challenging.
Keep in mind that a tense person does not even know what power is. It is an illusion to think that a tense person can be strong. We have to realize that there is a huge reserve of power, spontaneity, speed and precision in every individual. If we remove the tension and fear (along with other negative emotions), these powerful qualities unfold, expand and allow you to prevail in any confrontation.
Systema training addresses the core and smoothly flows through all the parameters of human abilities. I try to work on developing the skills of fighting on the move in every Systema class at my school in Toronto and explain, demonstrate and thoroughly practice this with the seminars I teach.
