Moving and Reacting

What if I am late to move and react in a confrontation?
By Vladimir Vasiliea


This is a common concern I hear from the experienced martial artist and the less experienced students. There could be a few reasons for the slow reaction. Reduced neuro-muscular, muscle stiffness, and/or psychological condition. They are all interconnected.

Here are a couple of simple drills you can practice.

1.       Mirror Drill

In “mirror your partner” drills, stand facing your partner and repeat his movements, exactly, trying to keep up. He raised his arm – you raise your arm, he tilts his head – you tilt your head, etc. If you find that simple movements are hard to mirror exactly, then at least react. For example, he raised his arm and if you are late raising yours, at least react by making a step. This gets much better with practice and gradually you will be able to detect the onset of the movements and work toward pre-emptive defense.

2.       Ball Catch

Throw and catch a tennis ball to your partner, throw from various positions and speeds. Get the ball to bounce off the wall and your partner catches it. Stand behind your partner and throw the ball over his head, from the side, from underneath. First look at the ball as you are catching it, then try not to look it but see it with peripheral vision. This improves reaction time, general agility and spatial awareness.

3.       Less Tension

The most important element of training is to reduce extra tension. Tension is like a very tight jacket, even on a fit and agile person, it limits all his movements. Or like dirt in a gun-even a perfect weapon will not shoot if it is not cleaned. Through breath-work and slow core exercises, in Systema we clean the body and the mind from tension and free them up to move and react.