Recent content by Sy Ali

I've done 15+ minutes of a cold-only shower, with the window open.. in winter. =p Nobody has mentioned one of the oldest cures: Massage.

Wow, I looked at that video and said to myself "that couldn't work". I can't be right.. I think I need to get my ass handed to me more often. =)

If you've got the ability to, it would be very valuable to tape yourself with partners in order to sit back and analyze yourself. It's a far cry from having an instructor, but it's a useful tool.

Good points shamrock11. Silly me.

Reduce vision towards one circumstance and overall you're survival goes down.. think in terms of multiple (skilled) opponents. The motion to block and cover also breeds a lot of tension. Frankly, when you block and take a hit badly with the block it hurts a heck of a lot more than taking the...

So how did things go? The unfortunate thing is that this was an example of escalation as opposed to showing "toughness". I would have recommended various other courses of action, but it appears that the first attack was done because of some sort of (opportunist) perception of weakness.. which...

Please be more specific.

I once saw this video clip somewhere on the internet, I don't remember where so you have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll be vague and say it had a title something like so and so but it featured some stuff with this one guy and this other guy where this one guy really kicked the crap out...

No. That's my first reaction. It's not totally correct through, so I'll elaborate on my position. Unless you have a good background in other martial arts, you have little to build on. You would be making lots of mistakes because of innocent assumptions, and these mistakes may well be avoided...

There's lots of margin for error. Don't get into the fight (don't have ego/pride), diminish anger before things get bad (bow to their ego/pride, use psychological tricks), get out of the way of strikes (move, use psychology, whatever), deflect attacks and keep moving, deflect attacks and stay...

Recently started "The Russian Martial Art" (Systema) through one of the senior students of Vladimir Vasiliev (via Mikhail Ryabko). Got to go to summer camp last year, learned some interesting stuff from Vladimir, a Spetsnaz veteran, and Konstantin Komarov, an active GRU major and high-risk...

Aah, I understand. Well.. maybe if you understand the immediate material well, you can begin to perceive the more subtle things.. balance, footwork, tension and such. You can pay attention to the lesson at its face, and once you understand it and it's repeated a little later, you can try to...

Although it's important to find a style that's right for you as an individual, be careful to not sell yourself short. In particular, "speed" as a concept is trainable and is something you'll develop as your fears diminish, as you learn to relax and as your timing improves. You may not actually...

Careful.. Sport Sambo and Combat Sambo are very different. Think along the lines of the differences between Sport Judo and traditional Judo. Or maybe even the differences between Jujitsu and Aikido. Sport Sambo and Combat Sambo are different, and so would the training environments, teachers...

The Spetsnaz train/trained in all kinds of things, and from I've been told yes some of them do/did Sambo, others include/included Karate, and others had influences from Systema. I guess the Soviet's were experimenting with what was effective in what circumstances, or different people oversaw...