Review: Russian Martial Art Instructionals by Paul Genge

Paul Genge’s Combat Lab organization is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting things to happen in the world of Russian Martial Art in the past couple of years. Through his excellent blog, his seminars and instructional resources, Paul has made available a steady flow of coherent information on the cutting-edge martial methods that were developed in the former Soviet Union around the late 60’s through the work of A.A. Kadochnikov and later became popular in the Western world under the umbrella-term Systema, through the work of instructors such as A.I. Retuinskih (ROSS), Mikhail Ryabko and Vladimir Vasiliev (Systema Ryabko-Vasiliev).
 
In this blog post I would like to review some of the training resources Paul has produced and are available for purchase through the Combat Lab website, namely the books Systema Structure Breaking Manual, Encyclopedia of Systema Drills and the video The Principles of Disrupting Balance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Genge is the founder of ‘Combat Lab’ and Russian Martial Arts Northwest. He was one of the leading Systema Ryabko-Vasiliev instructors in the UK from 2000 until 2010. He currently studies the military system of A.A. Kadochnikov under Alexandr Maksimtsov, head of the Ukrainian branch of the school, and is a member of the Federation of Russian Martial Art. He has also trained extensively in Systema Homo Ludens with the founder of the system, Alex Kostic.
 
Paul trains in Brazilian JuJitsu and competes for the Factory BJJ gym in Reddish, Stockport, UK. He holds a 5th dan grading in Bujinkan Taijutsu, and an instructor certification in kettlebells training.  

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTIONALS
 

Systema Structure Breaking Manual:To the degree that there is no resource written in English detailing the principles of Kadochnikov's system (there was one written by Matt Powell during his K-Sys days, but I believe it is no longer available), this book is quite important to begin with. About one third of the manual is devoted to explaining Newtonian laws of motion, levers, the axes and planes of human movement, types of joints in the human body and the concepts used in Systema Kadochnikova in order to manipulate another human body, disrupt its balance and achieve a throw (pendulum movement, coupling of forces, triangulation, the question mark, etc). The remaining sixty pages or so contain a great number of throwing techniques that are used as case studies of how the a fore mentioned concepts and principles work in action, with lots of pictures enhanced with diagrams showing the vectors of forces applied. This part of the book could also be described as 'find out why your Systema throws are not working when your training partners resist'! There has been a lot of debate in the world of RMA during the past few years on whether the knowledge of biomechanical principles that apply during a throwing technique actually helps a student learn how to perform a throw, since as some claim 'your body will find out the right thing to do eventually'. In my opinion, this view is... well, rubbish, both in theory and in practice: in theory, because when teaching physical skills, even when using an ecological perspective, it is of crucial importance to define the task the trainee needs to perform in as clear terms as possible, and 'take your opponent down any way your body wants' is not in any way a clearly defined task. In practice, because I know people out there practicing RMA for years who still cannot perform a takedown against a partner who is not compliant. So, to sum this up, this manual will be a very useful addition to the library of people practicing any martial art that includes takedowns and throws. 

The Principles of Disrupting Balance video, filmed during the first Combat Lab residential training camp is a very useful companion to the structure breaking manual, to the degree that it contains video demonstrations of most of the throws explained in text and photos in the book.

Encyclopedia of Systema Drills: The way I see it, this encyclopaedia is essentially Paul's training log after twelve years of studying Russian Martial Art, and I bet Paul suffers from some kind of OCD, because he must have kept an incredibly detailed log. I'm just joking, of course, but I bet Paul has kept notes for each one of the drills practiced during his sessions and seminars with Ryabko, Vasiliev, Maksomtsov, Kostic and the other RMA instructors he's trained under. The good thing about this manual is that we get to read a very well structured and somehow shortened version of Paul's notes, which otherwise might have proved frighteningly extensive. All drills presented in the book are classified in chapters according to the attributes or skills developed, so we get chapters with drills on punching, 'leg fencing', defense from grabs, throwing and tripping, defense from knife attacks, low acrobatics, escaping joint locks and quite a few more. I admit there was a number of useful drills from my Systema Ryabko-Vasiliev days that I had totally forgotten about and I found in here (since, unlike Paul, I'm not big on keeping notes), but the stuff I found most interesting were the chapters on teaching people new to Systema and solo training. All in all, I'd say this is a most useful resource for people who want to start their own RMA training groups and do not have access to a certified instructor, but also for instructors who want to have a resource presenting some kind of a structured 'curriculum'. Finally, I want to point out that I really appreciated the fact that Paul is always referencing his sources and giving credit where it is due.

ABOUT THE LAYOUT AND PRINTING QUALITY
The layout is quite simple and easy to read. What I did notice though is that the quality of pictures looks better on screen than on printings (I did print the manuals, since I cannot read anything longer than an article from a computer screen). The quality of the video was more than adequate.

HOW TO GET THE BOOKS AND VIDEO
These are downloadable products, instantly available through the Combat Lab website.