April 21, 2009

Systema Blog
Eastside Systema NW School

KAIZEN TAKI - Instructor Kaizen (at) SystemaNW (dot) com

13410 SE 32nd St.

Bellevue, WA 98005

(At Aikido Eastside)




April 21, 2009


Partner up (in pairs of two?) with one fake knife, toss back and forth. (Not imperative to catch by butt of knife, exercise more to familiarize self with knife). Start to walk around while still tossing. Lie down and stand back up while still tossing knife.

Groups of 3. One person stands still with other two on either side of her. People on sides place hands on middle person's head and do push up (using each others force and weight to ballence on another). Side people continue doing push ups down middle person's body (head, neck, shoulder, ribs, hip, thigh, shin, ankle and back up body). This should be done on both front/back and sides of middle person's body. Rotate so that every person in group has chance to be middle person.

With a partner get in push up position side by side. Lift your inside arm to meet your partner's (one person makes fist and other has open palm) so that your weight is being balanced between hand on ground and hand pushing into partner's. Complete 3 full push ups synchronized with partner. Switch sides.

Stand face to face with partner. Place both partners' left or right hands on forehead of partner, step back from one another and lean in, supporting eachother's weight through the forehead/hand contact. One person, with their free hand, uses knife to stab partner. Defending partner moves body to avoid knife, while maintaining contact with partner's forehead and the balance of weight between both people. Switch who wields knife.

Stand face to face with partner. Bow so that the tops of both your heads meet. Step back and lean into partner, so that weight is being pushed into partners head. One person stabs at partner with knife. Defender disarms partner once knife contacts body, while moving his body to also avoid receiving stab in first place. As defender, disarm keeping knife close to your body and correcting stance from any contortion made in order to avoid stabbing. Maintain contact between heads and weight balance (avoid moving feet). Repeat exercise with bodies facing in all directions (bowing towards ground, facing left, facing towards sky, facing right).

Stand face to face with partner. Make one hand fist and other open palm - partner does also, with same hands. Place your fist in partners palm, palm in partner's fist, out in front of you. Step back from eachother, maintain contact and lean in. Both people begin to rotate bodies together (facing eachother, facing side, facing sky, facing side, facing eachother again), while maintaining contact and weight balanced between you. Rotate in other direction and switch palm/fist hand. Complete same exercise, but with both peoples' hands in two fists, instead of palm/fist.

Groups of 3 people. Hold one knife in middle of group. Each person takes right or left hand (works better if everyone is using same arm) and holds part of knife with 3 or 4 fingers. Everyone leans back and lets their weight balance out the two other peoples'. Arms in contact with knife are bent at right angle, with body still leaning back. Other inactive arm is relaxed and limp. On a 5 count, whole group squats together and back up on another 5 count. Repeat with 10 and 15 counts, while using inactive arm to punch at others in group. Avoid punched by moving body but maintaining contact with knife and balanced weight with rest of group. Repeat whole exercise switching hand in contact with knife.

One partner stabs other partner with knife anywhere on body. Defender receives stab until body cannot bear pressure and must move in direction knife requires it to. Let your body respond fluidly to the pressure of the knife, repeat stabbing areas as to build your body's instinctual response.

With partner, stab defender with knife. Defender responds to stabbing moving body accordingly, takes opponents hand with knife and locks her hand in an L shape in relation to the forearm (bending with the wrist - finger tips pointing down). Defender returns to neutral position, disarming partner and repeating the exercise on him. Continue exercise while moving around room. Add another person + knife (two stabbers on one defender).

Stand with partner directly behind you. Person in back slowly stabs with knife at anywhere on the body of the person in front of them. Defender (person in front) responds to slowly building pressure of knife by moving body accordingly. Stabber hastens pace of stabbings. Defender must respond more attentively to pressure building quicker, but also must remember to move body fluidly, rather than jerking away abruptly. Continue exercise while both partners are walking around room. Switch person who wields knife.

One person lies down with back on ground. Four other people grab each limb of person on ground. Each person with limb pulls up together, raising and lowering prostrate person. Once enough momentum is gained, raise the person and let go, tossing them into the air (one two three count?). Tossed person attempts to land on feet. Excercise is repeated tossing person lying down to both sides (left and right), head first and feet first. Rotate so that everyone has chanced to be thrown.