Youtube Fighting Systema Review
Recently, I was talking with Sasa I. on Facebook’s “Intrepid” group. He wanted my analysis of the following video. Today, I’d like to comment on what I saw in the first two-and-a-half minutes. Take a look and then read my shoot-from-the-hip review. For some of you, this might be too advanced. If so, be sure to ask questions:
Sasa …
Thank you very much for posting that clip; it was very interesting, even though I have only had time to watch the first two and a half minutes.
I assume you want my “honest” and “frank” opinions, right?
I can find good in many martial sequences, but I can also find areas in need of some improvement.
First, a few of the good points:
1. A lot of his locks and manipulations really do force the competitor to move, because of the joint pressure. Nice. (As the author of “Wrist Locks,” I often look for control clues.)
2. There are lots of good hits going to vital areas. Some of those strikes really could be “fight enders.”
3. He uses stop kicks and stop hits to interrupt an attack. Jeet Kune Do is based on interception, and you definitely get a mid-motion counter-offensive. Nice.
4. I like, and often use, the strategy of hitting until you can control the situation. I saw worthwhile examples of this on the video.
Now, a few areas that could use a touch of improvement:
1. While a majority of his punches find the centerline, which is good, rarely does this guy (is it you?) move “on” and through the center. In other words, his punches always come from the shoulder area at an angle across and in, rather than straight in through the center on the inside. (There’s an open line there.)
2. I liked his use of elbows, but one of his elbow techniques (the one coming down from above) has a horrible telegraph to it. He cocks his arm back and winds up for the hit. His other elbow strikes are more efficient, because they lack this warning. (You don’t need any “extra power” from a wind up, here.)
3. On his PIAs (Progressive Indirect Attacks) there is too much time between the first technique and the second. For example, look where he interrupts the timing with a stop kick: the next shot should and could be coming in a lot earlier. He doesn’t have to wait a full beat for the secondary shot. This would make him a lot more efficient.
After all, in a PIA, it’s that second punch, elbow, or kick that does the real devastation.
Well, I have to get back to book writing. Thanks for the opportunity to do a little analysis. I hope you found something useful, there.
Good training,
Keith
