Nitrous Oxide For Your Martial Arts

On Tuesday I had a conversation with Jason Kierstein about Systema and previous martial arts training/other martial arts.  I got to talking about various martial artists I know, including myself, that came to Systema after years of practicing other arts.  What all of us noticed was that after training in Systema then going back to practice our previous arts, we were leaps and bounds ahead of the people we had been training with who didn't train in Systema.  This has proven itself again and again.

I have seen knife-fighters blow past their peers, Judo players easily countering throws while knocking their partners down almost at will, grapplers suddenly not being tapped out by anyone except the highest-level fighters, boxers moving, slipping and hitting harder than ever--all after training in Systema.  The movie The Matrix illustrated this dynamic when Neo began fighting Agents with one hand whereas previously he could barely hold his own.  That knowledge and skill he gained is akin to what happens when people train in Systema.

What Systema does to your previous training is like adding nitrous oxide to a race car; it turbo-charges your skill level.  Apparently when NOS is heated it splits into oxygen and nitrogen.  Your engine can inject more gasoline because of the increased oxygen levels yielding more power and speed.  I like that fact that it adds more oxygen because this simple analogy extends to Systema's emphasis on proper breathing to increase your skill level.

I believe that top-level martial artists all figure out--through their own exploration and practice--how to control their breathing, how to relax, how to move with the attacker instead of against him and how to be sensitive to every movement.  They also surpass their peers, who are just memorizing techniques, because they just somehow stumbled across these principles or they actually applied the written martial arts philosophy.  Jiu-Jitsu Master Rickson Gracie is a prime example of this.  These are the principles that Systema teaches from the first class. Because these applying these principles gets students to the highest levels of performance I half-jokingly tell my students that Systema really is a PhD art.

Back to the nitrous analogy.  How could being more relaxed, keeping control of your body, not struggling and being able to read a situation before it becomes too dangerous NOT super-charge your martial arts?