Hm, I don't know what a downspiral press on a head is, but it sounds
painful. Our training isn't rough, just tough. The hardest part for
me is all those conditioning exercises, especially the push-ups and
sit-ups. When we just do them in the beginning of class, it's not too
bad, but lately we've been stopping our sparring every few minutes to
do a bunch more pushups, 40-count squats, etc. The actual drills
aren't too rough, though, at least not for me, my mom, and the two
other women in the class. There is no shortage of volunteers when our
instructor wants to demo a drill, even though they get knocked about
quite a bit. I think the guys enjoy it. But if Edgar demos on one of
the women, or the few guys who just started, he's quite a bit gentler
because we are relatively new to Systema. Actually Edgar and our
senior student are my favorite training partners because they are so
gentle; I think the more experienced the Systema-ist, the less likely
they are to be rough. But there is one drill where Edgar is not at
all gentle, though I wouldn't go so far as to say he's rough. That's
the pain-compliance, limb-twisting drill where two people grab your
wrists and twist as hard as they can while you try to escape. Somehow
I always wind up partnered with Edgar for this drill, and he shows no
mercy. It's quite painful; Edgar told me "a little pain is healthy."
I think this kind of stoicism is part of the Russian concept of
physical fitness. But other than a little soreness around the wrists,
or some mild soreness from the conditioning exercises, I'm never in
pain the next day. If I start class a little bit sore or stiff, I
always feel better after class. The only exception is one time I was
trying to do a backwards roll and my neck was sore for a few days. I
can't seem to get the hang of rolling backwards. But Edgar does not
insist that anyone do any drill or exercise if they don't feel
comfortable doing it. Sometimes, no-one in the whole class can do the
exercises he demonstrates (like 'walking' on the shoulders with legs
straight up in the air). However, I have some videotapes of training
at the Toronto School and it looks to me as if Edgar is a bit more
gentle than Mr. Vasiliev and his instructors. Of course the guys on
those tapes are volunteering as well, but I for one, would not line
up to have Mr. Vasiliev hit me with a huge stick, punch my internal
organs, or twist all my limbs like a pretzel. All of those are
thought to be beneficial and even healing to the victims, er,
volunteers.
I hope your trainer does not insist on these rough drills; after all,
you are civilians and paying for instruction which presumably is
going to make you feel healthier, stronger, and more confident rather
than causing pain. Might be a good idea to avoid training two days in
a row. Systema training should enhance rather than limit your other
physical activities. I would not hesitate to tell your instructor not
to hurt you; a good teacher should not insist on that sort of
training.
Good luck and *vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
Rachel


--- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "mikezcnc" <eemikez@c...> wrote:
> Very interesting stuff, Rachel except for the fact that one writes
> CusteMa as in Russian lower 'u' means our 'i' (for lower case
> letters), for upper case leteter it is mirrored letter 'N'...
>
> PS I wrote capital M as lower case m would mean our 't'...
> But like you said it all means 'System'.
>
> Gosh I am hurting now. The trainer did a downspiral press on a head
> on me and it was already after previous hurts that way... Do your
> trainers act like if you were a 16 old recruit with expandable life
> span of maximum 1 year and then they get the next one? I cannot go
> to the training for the second day... how rough is your training?
>
> Mike
>
>
> --- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "rkxyz" <rkxyz@y...> wrote:
> > I think the CNCTEMA with "n" reversed is Cyrillic for "System"
> > (Systema is sometimes referred to as "The System). It looks a
> little
> > different than other Cyrillic I've seen, which has much less
> > resemblance to the English alphabet. The bat thing is a Russian
> > Special Forces (Spetsnaz) insignia. I think it is also used to
> > indicate military intelligence units. I don't know why they chose
> the
> > bat as their logo. Some people are afraid of bats, but without
much
> > reason, as well as the Spetz, but with reason--they have a
fearsome
> > reputation. I've seen the one that looks nearly identical to
> > Batman's logo as well as another logo with bats silhouettes
flying
> > over a moon. Kind of Halloweenish with superhero overtones, but I
> > think the bats might have something to do with the covertness and
> > secrecy which characterizes spec-ops. You can see all the logos
> here:
> > http://www.spetsnaz.com.br/insignia.htm but they don't explain
much
> > about the bat and what it symbolizes. Some Systema tee-shirts
have
> > the Spets logo on the sleeve but mostly it is used only by
Systema-
> > ists who were or are actual Spetsnaz.
> > The other logo that is on the front of Systema tee shirts is the
> > figure of a medieval knight with some Cyrillic words that I
believe
> > mean "Russian Martial Art" The knight alludes to Systema's
ancient
> > Slavic heritage as the fighting system of Cossacks and other
> medieval
> > Russian warriors. Because Russian knights did not have plate
mail,
> > they became adept at fluid movements that allowed their chain
mail
> to
> > protect them. Apparently chain mail can be cut by a sword if it's
> > stretched tightly enough, whereas if it's in a state of constant
> > fluid motion, it's harder to slice through it. If you've ever
tried
> > to cut ordinary fabric, you might understand this principle, as
> > fabric is much easier to cut when stretched tightly. My
instructor
> > always tells us that if we relax our muscles, a punch or knife
> thrust
> > will be less damaging than if our muscles are tensed up.
> > Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent. I wish I knew more about who
> > designed the knight logo or does it have a history that goes back
> > farther than the creation of the standard Systema tee-shirt you
see
> > in every school. Also I am curious about the symbolism of the
bats.
> > There is a Russian ethnic group called the Bats, I wonder if
> there's
> > any connection? (http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/bats.shtml) Of
> > course the word for "bat" is quite different in Russian.
> > *Vsego nailuchshego* (best wishes),
> > Rachel