# Why do you study systema?



## GouRonin (Nov 5, 2002)

Just curious as to what lead people to study systema?


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## KenpoGirl (Nov 5, 2002)

In your case mental imbalance and a sick desire to be beat up.


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## Jay Bell (Nov 5, 2002)

About a year and a half or so ago, a guy [wish i could remember his name] made a post on E-budo about Systema.  He was a long-time Bujinkan person who was now studying Systema.

Curiousity got me...this was right around the time that the 'Master of Fighting' vid was released.  So I looking up information everywhere I could find it.  The downside to all of this was the fact that the claims sounded too good to be true.  With all of the "Spec Ops" garbage around like SCARS and the like...I just couldn't get my brain around what I was reading.

I ordered the MoF vid that week.  I sat down and watched it when it came in...and I kept thinking to myself, "Wow...I feel really good".  It was an odd feeling.  The feeling I'd personally been seeking out in training...I was feeling...just by watching this stuff.  A few friends came over to also watch it...and they would make comments like, "That stuff looks fake."...I'd chuckle, agree with them, then tell them to pay close attention to the bodies of the people being worked on.  "HOLY *****...THAT'S NOT FAKE" was typically their response after that.  You could tell by how the body was being manipulated, jerked and spun into the ground that there was nothing fake about it.

Time went on, money got low...so the ability to travel to train wasn't an option.  Eventually, a school opened up half a mile from my place here in Mesa and I was there.  

Systema was not at all what I expected.  I never expected it to be so much.  Within a few months of training, everything else just seemed trivial and silly.  Whether it be politics, gross-overranking, egos or just shallow understanding of body mechanics...I just never looked back.

I can honestly say that my previous training in other arts helped me tremendously in life.  They all got me to a point...internally as well as externally.  Systema picked me up at that point and opened doors to allow me to grow and learn in ways that I felt stuck in.

I still get a lot of flack from my old buddies that I used to train with D)  Telling me I'm out studying Russian....or they call me comrad or the like.  It's all in good fun....but if they had any idea...


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## Klondike93 (Nov 5, 2002)

For me I went to the school to learn Kenpo and after about a month, the instructor said I should be doing the "cool" stuff too that I would like it. 

So I started doing Systema with the kenpo and have been at for about 6 months now. I also catch some flak from my friends about learning that "Russian stuff", but most think it's so cool.

Off to work out now too  

:asian:


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