Russian Martial Arts

For thousands of years Russia has had to endure invasions and attack. Many of the Russian martial arts developed to equip villagers and farmers with some level of personal protection.

In the Communist era many of those self defence systems were suppressed while some were adopted and developed by the Soviet military.

In Russian self defence, students place greater importance on fighting principles rather than focussing on technique.

SYSTEMA

Systema is based upon natural body movements and responses in realistic combat scenarios. The art itself is probably as old as many of the more established eastern martial arts and may be traced back to the Cossacks.

On the surface it resembles many other similar self defence arts however with strong links to the orthodox Christian church, Systema (meaning the system) promotes the value of humility and other profound personal qualities.

Emphasis is given to freedom of physical expression and response, breathing and movement. There are no specific techniques to learn but the core principles compliment any sporting activity and can improve general health and well being.

Sysetema students explore, amongst other things, defence against multiple attackers, interpretation of body language, use of improvised weapons and the psychology of confrontation.

There is no structured grading process or sport elements. Students wear trainers, t-shirts and comfortable trousers.

R.O.S.S.

R.O.S.S is an acronym for 'Rossiyskaya Otechestvennaya Sistema Samozashchity' which translates as the 'Russian Native System of Self Defence.'

ROSS training is a creative combat programme developed by its founder Alexander Ivanovich Retuinskih. It incorporates close quarter hand to hand fighting, grappling, strikes and counter strikes.

The training scenarios are practically based and the overall programme is designed to protect the person from an armed or unarmed attacker.

There are other Russian martial arts, e.g. Combat Sambo and Buza, but their development and promotion seem to be inextricably linked to ROSS and Systema.

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