The Complete Book of Combat Systema Paperback – February 1, 2016

To set the contextual background from which this reviewer emerges, I was born of a father who fought the Germans in Europe, and was influenced by Uncles who fought the Japanese in the Pacific. In addition, I grew up indoctrinated that the Soviet Union WAS THE evil empire, of which Josef Stalin purged his lands of 35 million intellectuals. Much of Soviet history from its inception in November 1917 to its collapse in December 1991, remain shrouded and mystical hearsay.I personally volunteered to fight encroaching ‘Red Communism’ in Southeast Asia, so when the opportunity arose to study a unique brand of former Soviet “martial arts” from a former “Spetsnaz” operator in the West, my curiosity had me jumping. From 1995 to 1998, I worked directly with Vladimir Vasiliev in his Toronto facility, along with a senior student, one-on-one, named “James.” The movements and applications we practiced, at that time, were consistent with what is found in a true combative context, but were not unique to the "Russian Systema." These same movements are found in this manual. My own experience in the "Russian Systema" was a unifying experience, embracing the consistencies found in combat. I was, however, left with far more unanswered questions regarding the alleged “Spetsnaz” connections and the real source of the Systema's origination (Braithwaite, 2012; Suvorov, 1987; Tarasov 1941; Welham & Quarrie, 1989).When I received Kevin Secours’ book: The Complete Book of Combat Systema, I entertained a great deal of skepticism as to how Secours would address this delicate subject of the "systema" and its alleged Spetsnaz connections. It is a topic immersed in a very vague and obscure history, with few reliable and valid documents supporting many of the commercial claims about the source and creation of the Russian Martial Art: The Systema. I was pleasantly surprised with Secours’ approach and presentation.What Secours does with his book is avoid making allegations born of a cloudy history, refraining from quoting and siting undocumented “science” and “facts” so often released within commercial martial arts, and their “Systema” aficionados. He simply provides what is already known in the West about pre-Soviet Russian history, and addresses sound human kinesiology and psychology driving it to combative conclusions. He leaves what may-have-been developed during the Soviet Union to those who adhere to unsubstantiated conjecture.The movements Secours does demonstrate and favor are genuine and authentic human movements, many of which are consistent to movements required to off-set aggressive actions from an assailant(s) under the duress of physical violence (Ericsson, 2009; Sharps, 2010).All humans possess genetic abilities which limit and favor specifically learned motor skills within an operational context. Motor skills are learned; motor abilities are what we are born with and determine what motor skills we are able to fully master. The combative motor skills presented within Secours book provide us with a visual and textual format that may or may not assist someone in surviving a lethal force encounter. The manual will offer a movement curricula capable of being learned and assimilated, when combined with the correct, hands-on instruction. The book shows and explicates movement consistencies, pertinent to the motor skills needed to counter aggressive, physical assaults (Schmidt & Lee, 2011; Sharps, 2010; Starkes & Ericsson, 2003)The one weakness of any book, is the difficulty of understanding and comprehending the essence of movement through static photography and text. The photos and text are clear but fail to demonstrate the dynamic, four-dimensional (frontal, sagittal, transverse planes, with the element of time) aspect of all the movements conveyed, especially that which is consistent within a combative context. The strength of the book is that we now hold a reliable and valid document of movements consistently found within the combative context.The text is a sound academic attempt to codify this dynamic flow of unstoppable, yet intimately connected movements, from beginning to end. Secours attempts to articulate how to execute these combat consistent movements in a relaxed fashion (easier said than done under duress), all united, to shut down and counter assailants actions.Books, as great as they are, simply cannot fully capture the abrupt and brutal nature of combat psycho-kinesiology. However, we can at least gain a workable intellectualization of combat's psycho-kinesiology. This manual provides such materials that are transferable to students with the proper instruction.To actually, visually see the essence of these combat movements in real time, which are needed to trigger our mirror neurons in order to correctly emulate these actions, demands a masterful instructor to show and explain the goals of these combat consistent movements, therein (Iacoboni, 2008).Overall, the book is a solid academic account of basic combat motor skills, with their subsequent details, making up what is known in the West as the “Russian Martial Art,” called the “Systema.” Whatever one wishes to call what is found in the book, and no matter what its source, the movements remain distinctly human, on all accounts, which cannot be refuted. No system of movement owns how humans move in combat. That is consistent to combat. Some systems capture and convey the consistencies of combat movement and their essence better than others, as we discover in Secours’ manual.ReferencesBraithwaite, R. (2012). Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979–89. London: Profile Books.Ericsson, K.A. (2009). Development of professional expertise: Toward measurement of expert performance and design of optimal learning environments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Iacoboni, M. (2008). Mirroring people: The new science of how we connect with others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Schmidt, R.A. & Lee, T.D. (2011). Motor control and learning: A behavioral emphasis. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Sharps, M.J. (2010). Processing under pressure: Stress, memory and decision-making in law enforcement. Flushing, NY: Looseleaf Law Publications.Starkes, J.L. & Ericsson, K.A. (2003). Expert performance in sports: Advances in research on sport expertise. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Suvorov, V. (1987). Spetsnaz: The inside story of Soviet Special Forces. New York: W.W. Norton.Tarasov, A.A. (1941). Destroy the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Moscow: USSR People’s Comissariat for Defense Military Press.Welham, M.G. & Quarrie, B. (1989). Operation Spetsnaz: The aims, tactics and techniques of Soviet Special Forces. Wellingborough,Northhamptonshire, England: Patrick Stephens.See photos for two additional texts used for this review (original Russian).

I truly feel that this book did exceed my expectations as a combatives book and as a good supplement for grappling. I feel that the principles/guidelines/exercises were very clear and concise. There are too many Systema videos and books where terms, principles, or guidelines are vague or they get lost in translation.

This is a great book! I honestly wasn't expecting much after I read some of the reviews.However Mr. Secours Book can help fill in some of the missing links of this often misunderstood art. this book has some of the best illustration and depth out there. It has nearly 300 pages of valuable information , In a word "buy it"

Systema gets a really bad rap because its benefits aren't apparent, and the training doesn't look impressive. Kevin's approach is so very well articulated that you'll just "get it". If you're on the fence about Systema, check out Kevin's work.

This is the best beginners guild to Systema on the market. A must have for students and teachers.

Not real familiar with Systema, but book is well written and photos are clear.Would've gave it a 5 star rating, but upon opening it to read, the last chunk of pages in the book broke free of the glue holding to the cover. It is an issue with the construction of the book, not the content.

This is truly outstanding. A must read.

Not very practical IMO

The book is a great source of information for any martial arts style.Kevin writes in a straightforward easy to understand manner and has a world of real life experience which is invaluable.Well worth purchasing.

I,ve been practising several martial arts over the years and read many books about it, some boring, some not teaching anything and some that were great. This book comes into this last cathegory. It's a great book, with a lot of instructions and pictures depicting the techniques. I even found several similarities in the principles depicted in this book and what I was told in my wing chun and aikibudo trainings. All in all it's a great book, showing several techniques with several pictures that are very clear.A book will NEVER replace a good martial arts teacher/sensei/shifu. But this book will let you explore the principles of Systema and you will be able to experiment these techniques in your next training. Of course, it's better to know a thing or two about martial arts before starting to try and learn martial arts with books (books in general, not especially this one). But this one will be a good help while you learn.

I really like this book, which is actually the first one I got about Systema.I discovered Kevin SECOURS thanks to Lee MORRISON (Urban Combatives) who credited his work in a Youtube video.Since then, I also got some of SECOURS’ videos... I really love his work which is a nice blend of breathing/mobility work (important both for health/long term practice and for the study of proper body mechanics) and a realistic self-protection approach (on this aspect, in a YouTube video, SECOURS credits Richard DIMITRI/Senshido as a big influence for him).Now that Paladin Press has unfortunately gone out of business, the odds are that it's going to be hard to find a printed copy at a reasonable price, be it for a new or second-hand copy.So for those who are on a budget and cannot find a printed copy at a reasonable price, be advised that a PDF downloadable version is now available on Kevin SECOURS' website.

Awesome book, detailed explanations of Secours Systema, great excercises, easy to readOnly thing thats missing for me is a detailed "fall break school", as the book starts with fundamentals and in my opinion fall breaks are a fundemental that was forgotten

good read