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How long have you been involved in Russian Martial Arts?
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I’ve been training in the ROSS system since 1999. |
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How many different arts did you train in?
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I received a formal training in wrestling, karate, aikido, BJJ and
MMA; and informally I trained with good boxing, SAMBO, and self-defense
instructors and practitioners.
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When did you first encounter RMA?
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Since I grew up in the times of the USSR when / where the concepts of MA
marketing were totally absent I encountered it many times on the streets,
and in the army without realizing it was an “art”. It was obvious
that some folks did receive a different type of fighting instruction –
either from their relatives, or older friends, or some army instructors. It
certainly encompassed what nowadays is formalized and marketed as different
styles of Russian Martial Art. At that time though we just knew “this guy
knows how to fight, stay away from him.”
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How did your experiences up to that point let you view RMA?
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While any style reflects national traditions, character, war history,
criminal and law enforcement history, body types, genetics, and even climate
and geography – there is an essential generic core based on fundamental laws
of physics, biomechanics, human psychology and anatomy.
Most of the RMA schools do a great job of clarifying and rationalizing the
science of hand-to-hand combat.
Of course, there are always zealots trying to bring in “ornamental”,
non-essential national folklore, but a smart person can easily filter out
the marketing gimmicks or “noise” produced by confused minds.
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So there was a difference in the training received by your unit and
the officers in the Army?
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Here is the real picture of my involvement with the military. (I want to
prevent myself from becoming another “spetsnaz” legend one day.)
My military training consisted of 4 years of one day per week at a special
military department which most of the Universities provided in the former
USSR. I spent, at various times, 4 months total in actual army units (in
motorized infantry attached to tank divisions as scouts). While most of it
was very formal and boring (I ended up with a formal rank of a senior
lieutenant / platoon commander) – if you were seeking hand-to-hand combat
instruction you would eventually find really interesting opportunities. I
was lucky enough to get in touch with a few officers and sergeants who
represented the best of RMA traditions. Though what I got from them was
rather an overview than detailed training, I got a firm concept of the
“different type of training”, which was not in the regular army manuals, and
it was not to be found in dojos.
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How do you define ROSS? |
ROSS is a system of health, combat, athletic, and survival skills
improvement.
It consistently trains people in a reproducible manner to demonstrate
improvement in health, mobility, and dexterity, and often allows students to
achieve better results in a number of sports and other physical activities.
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What makes ROSS different from other RMA and Asian MA? |
When you have access to top level instructors and the materials they use,
you see that ROSS does integrate the results of decades of government
sponsored Olympic level sport medicine and human performance research,
actual experiences of top level combat discipline instructors, soldiers, and
officers from recent and past wars, law enforcement acting in the époque of
extreme social tension and criminal activity.
It appeals to one’s rational mind instead of almost religious loyalty to a
“school”, and irrational belief in esoteric concepts, rank promotions based
on time and money spent, and pyramidal hierarchies. In ROSS I can speak to
the founder of the system, Alexander Retuinskih, or top level instructors as
freely as to my students. With respect of course, but can ask “inconvenient”
questions, suggest various “what if” scenarios and count on direct and
honest answers, positive or negative.
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How does ROSS compare to MMA?
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In ROSS you concentrate on growing your physical attributes, of which I’d
accentuate dexterity and plasticity first of all. Very often a competitive
training leads in a different direction – “toughness” which reflects in
machine-like movement and mind set, inflated ego on one hand, and a fear
that one day (and that will happen, surely) somebody younger and faster will
beat you. Nevertheless, to within a certain age (I’d say between 14 to 24)
if one has a chance, I’d strongly suggest to cross train. If you do ROSS,
collect your spirits and do a few years of competitive MMA training /
sparring / competing. If you do MMA – mix in ROSS training and you’ll see
how you start moving better, recover faster, and out-calculate your
opponents. I did MMA training when I was close to 40 and felt quite
comfortable against 20+ years sparring partners which trained 5 times a week
3 hours a day. Especially during subsequent rounds, it was actually easier
for me to fight than in the beginning because of better recovery techniques,
and more rational energy usage.
Another aspect – since ROSS is also a military and self-defense system – it
cultivates asymmetrical thinking; you are trained to respond not by formal
rules but in a manner which is the most inconvenient, unpleasant, and
uncomfortable for your opponent. And you have an arsenal of tools which are
just totally out of scope for MMA training.
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You mentioned street fights in your youth, looking back how does
ROSS’s approach prepare you for those experiences? How is it different from
other arts you learned?
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Hhhm, I’ll not get into too many details of that since it was long ago, at
different age, and in a different country and time. Folks “Google” each
other these days so here I’ll limit my answer to the following:
Growing in the middle of an industrial Soviet city in 80’s one would be
involved in such altercations whether he wanted it or not. I shared that
aspect of life with most of my compatriots. Somehow my memory is built so
that I remember second by second any fight I was in. And I can assure you
from this point of view – when I fought well – it was very ROSS-full, and
when I failed – it was because I violated one or more of its easily
explainable principles I know now.
These days I teach my students exclusively with a goal of DECREASING their
chances of being involved in physical confrontation. It is a matter for a
separate serious conversation.
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You train with Kettlebells regularly; how do they fit in with the
ROSS training system? (You had a great quote in an email about RMA
people being strong when it calls for it! “Apply as much force as
needed (it may be actually a lot - if there are no other options, nobody
says a ROSS practitioner supposed to be a weakling avoiding serious
strength training”)
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I wrote about Kettlebell training a decade ago when Pavel Tsatsuline was
just introducing them to the American public. I got my 16 kg when I was 12
years old and by 16, I had progressed to the 32 kg. When in the army, there
was always a pair of 24 kg kettelebells hanging around, no exceptions. It
was a matter of self-respect for most of the guys to be really good with the
kettlebell, as well as on horizontal bars, climbing a rope and the obstacle
course.
Kettlebells are a must have implement for a MA practitioner. They give you
explosive power, ability to manage ballistic forces, recruit optimal groups
of muscles, and give you iron forearms.
Also they have always been the most “democratic”, and truly “people’s”
training tool. Trust me; they are intended to be explored by oneself, or
very informally, between training partners, almost as a game.
I understand the business drive behind all those certifications but the very
idea of getting a piece of paper from a guy (or girl) who had learned about
Kettlebells 3-5 years ago to prove I can lift them seems really funny to me. |
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What other fitness equipment do you use?
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Clubbells, introduced by Scott Sonnon, are solid training tools too.
Horizontal bar, gymnastic rings, paralettes, cables, jungle gym are among my
favorites too, they all are very applicable to MA training.
I experiment a lot with various forearm and grip strengthening tools since I
consider this type of strength a weapon by itself. To this end, for more
than a year now, I’ve been training with an innovative device called “Bison”
invented in my home country which I’m currently promoting in the US too.
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How do you view the re-emergence of ROSS in the United States?
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I am very optimistic with ROSS’ re-entry in the US. I haven’t stopped
training for a week in spite of the fact that the organization as it used to
be in 1999-2004 disappeared (because of circumstances which many of us well
know).
The same is true for a number of people who kept training using ROSS
principles for the last 10 years.
When Alexander Retuinskih had a chance to see us “in action” after more than
5 years, he was sincerely pleased. Of course, the artificial isolation from
training in Russia and with Russian instructors affected us, and I had a
long and sincere conversation about it with Alexander while participating in
his recent seminar at the TapOut MMA training center in Las-Vegas (end of
June, 2009). There are many methodological gaps, as well as many
interesting findings, by ROSS US instructor cadre of 1999-2004 and we are
eager to progress and work with Alexander and his staff.
We saw how thrilled the young MMA fighters in Vegas were during Alexander’s
7 hours seminar, they kept going and wanted more!
And the respect from MA celebrities like Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Gene La
Bell and Stan Witz expressed during Alexander’s participation in the huge
IMAC’s tournament was really inspiring.
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What's next for ROSS in the US?
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The best thing we can do is to send a group of people to Russia for
training. They have a 24-day long (very affordable by the way) camp on the
Black sea and other excellent training opportunities. Saturate the Web site
with new training materials. Restore the Instructor Development Program.
There are many great people, people with integrity, loyalty, and true
warrior spirit wishing to join ranks of ROSS instructors and students, and
their re-connection I believe is a matter of a very short time.
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You have an attitude about life that seems uniquely Russian.
Basically that whatever happens, happens and that’s it. Whereas Americans
seem to worry and plan and fret. Have you noticed that difference and can
you comment on it? |
I have many American friends who are role models for me. And many of them I
have known, thanks to ROSS, for more than a decade. Sometimes I think “these
guys are more Russian than they know”. And I learn from the Americans a lot
– enthusiasm, energy, inventiveness and many other great qualities.
It is probably one of the best sides of our training community – the
exchange of thoughts, features of characters and mutual understanding with
all the bruises and sweat during our trainings.
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