A Leaner Pack

Posted on 09/04/201708/08/2024 by Matt Hill

A Leaner Pack

Anyone who has had to carry a pack over any distance will know the value of making that pack as light and lean as possible. Imagine this scenario:

You park up at the car park and check off the kit list: tarp, sleeping bag, bivvi bag, roll mat, hammock, stove, food, warm kit, map and compass, knife, dry kit etc… check. As you are closing it you see a trusty top and an extra wooly jumper better throw them in just in case, it may get chilly you think. You also throw in an umbrella and small folding chair, just in case of a shower; an extra pair of wooly socks, a couple of extra snack bars and a light rain jacket for those occasional downpours.

Okay pack ready and I am now set for any eventuality.

You go to lift the pack out of the car boot and rather than it coming to you, you go to it. Its that heavy. You eventually get the pack on and almost buckle under the weight. You brace yourself and set off on the trail with the pack digging into your shoulders. Its okay you say to yourself, I will get used to it. Its good training.

The road less travelled…
However, ten miles in and the pack is really starting to weigh you down. The straps are digging in, your back is covered in sweat and your feet have ‘hot spots’. All that extra stuff that you put in is taking its toll and what’s worse? You haven’t used any of it.

You come to a fork in the path. You have heard about a glorious spot about 8 miles further up the trail to the left. People have waxed lyrical about how stunning it is and how good they felt when returning from the spot. It is a small secluded glade by a pool at the bottom of a waterfall that almost no one goes to. It is quite a steep path with some loose rock and all uphill. Any other time you would do it but after walking so long with such a heavy pack you are thinking of taking the more traveled route down to the riverbank. Not as spectacular, quiet or secluded but still nice and rewarding with good spots to pitch camp.

You catch yourself mid thought. When am I next going to be taking this trail? The last time was over a year ago. Carpe Diem. I am going to do it. You make the commitment, move into the bushes and take out everything except what you will need for the trip. Out come the rain jacket, wooly jumper, socks, umbrella, seat and extra snack bars and you hide them under a bush. You put the pack on and it feels so much lighter, almost half the weight. You almost float up the hill, its not just the reduced weight, its knowing that you are lean and clean of clutter.

The principle of minimalism
I know that this resonates with many of my experiences. In the Army we would go to huge lengths to lessen the weight of the pack. Cutting the bottom half off toothbrushes, cutting a roll mat in half, squeezing half the toothpaste out so that you only had what you needed. Cutting towels in half, trimming the edges of the map. It sounds crazy I know, but all of these things added up to a significant lessening of weight. We were ruthless with it. Take care of the ounces and the pounds will look after themselves. It was also mentally important to know that you were as lean as you could be. When you know you have extra clutter it is not just the physical weight. Mentally every step reinforced in your mind that you were carrying more than you should be.

A lighter pack for martial artists
Lightening our pack is vital as a martial artist. It is possibly the most important aspect. Correct training works to create an environment where the training pushes our buttons. It triggers our fears, tensions, anxieties, pride, ego, frustrations and other unwanted ‘heavy’ emotions. It gives us the tools to be aware of these emotions and simple reliable methods of removing them. In battle, be that a combat situation, self defence situation or a high pressure negotiation, we need to be free of these inhibiting emotions. We need to be relaxed, fluid, loose and creative both physically and mentally. We are often blissfully unaware of the fears and anxieties that are running constantly through our bodies and minds. Our body and our movements are the physical barometer for them. Unchecked, these fears and tensions inhibit spontaneous, natural, creative movement and a response that is ‘just enough’ and appropriate to the threat.

Lightening your emotional pack
Then there is the mental fatigue of carrying anxiety, stress, worry, and tension. These mental things very quickly become physical. Worries and fears quickly become physical tension. Usually in the back, neck and shoulders. These sap your energy levels, drive, motivation and enthusiasm. They cause poor posture, knotted muscles, headaches and worse, and they rob you of your vital energy. Spend just 10 minutes sat on a bench or at an airport watching people as they walk. The majority won’t be walking naturally and at ease. Most will be hunched in the shoulders, back, legs or hips. Most of the time this will be worry or anxiety related tension rather than an actual physical injury.

Lightening your pack in life.
The worries of everyday life can be seen in the same light. Worrying about meeting the costs of ever increasing outgoings for things that we know that we don’t really need. Meeting the demands of commitments to friends, family or co-workers that we couldn’t say no to even though you know that you should have. Wading through a life cluttered with stuff that we haven’t used in years. Items from old hobbies, an office and drawers overflowing with manuals for things we don’t even own anymore. Go through them and ruthlessly de-clutter. It will feel great afterwards.

Daily Ablutions
As well as normal cleaning, the warrior would need to ‘wash’ themselves daily of these unwanted emotions. The tightness, headaches and knots are the roadmap of the fears and thoughts of the mind. Daily training, floor rolling and breathing exercises help you to firstly notice and then release these tensions. The amazing thing is that once you notice and remove the physical tensions, the mental ones go too. Think of the body as your alarm clock. Once you start to do this you will find yourself much more aware of the daily tensions and be able to drop them, leaving you with more energy, feeling more relaxed, moving more smoothly, being more creative and much, much healthier.

I have 3 trips organised this year where you can put some of this to the test:

UK 4 Day Systema Summer Camp – 29 June – 02 July – Wiltshire with Matt Hill. Click here for more information and to book.

River Wye Canoeing and Camping Trip – 22-23 July – 4 spaces left Click here for more information

Sweden Total Immersion Systema Camp with the Systema Twins – 28 Aug – 02 Sept – 2 spaces left. Click here for more information

Respect and best wishes,

Matt.

Hidden in plain sight

Posted on 15/02/201715/02/2017 by Matt Hill

39557972 – dirty lioness hiding in the bush, serengeti, tanzania, africa

The beauty, power and surprise of natural movement.

Martial arts in demonstration, teaching and on the big screen look amazing. But much of it is show. It doesn’t look like that for real, it is too obvious. A fighter outside a ticketed show does not want to draw attention to themselves. Think of a soldier. The last thing they want is for people to notice them. They want to do thier job and get home safely to their family or mates.

I remember an SAS instructor on my jungle warfare course. He looked ordinary, but his approach to everyday movement and skills was anything but ordinary. There was an attention to detail and an understanding of the ordinary that was extraordinary. The surface was similar, but there was a deep well beneath. One small example: Most soldiers carry the weapon across the body – look at any newsreel footage of soldiers. The weapon is most likely on a sling and diagonal across the chest. The SAS instructor made us carry the weapon at the hip facing the same way as you. So whether we were walking uphill, down or turning, the weapon was immediately to bear. A simple thing, a small detail that made all the difference. It brought to mind the phrase: ‘Still waters run deep’.

I see the same with the Systema masters Vladimir and Mikhail. They can have you working for hours on the simplest of movements. Walking, breathing, lowering to the ground, turning. I had a eureka moment when I realised that everything was reversed. These movements seemed so mundane, unmartial, just a warm up, until something clicked. I realised that these movements were the real ones ones and that the martial techniques that I had spent so long learning suddenly became unmartial, unnatural. They weren’t mine. Things are actually the reverse of what I had thought.

They say that a great martial artist doesn’t show thier skills. I always thought that this meant that they shouldn’t demonstrate because others may steal thier secrets. While this may be true I also think that there is another angle. Their skills are hidden in everyday movement. Just like a magician uses misdirection. The misdirection here is normal, natural movement. Nothing about it signals danger to you. There is no change in speed, no wind up of power, no change of breath, no shouting, no tension, no technique, just natural execution of a movement. It is virtually undetectable.

I remember the first time I really felt Vladimir Vasiliev as I attacked him. I was smiling in bewilderment. After doing martial arts for a while you can feel when someone begins to build to something. It is a common language. With most people you can feel something about to happen even if you can’t do anything about it. With Vladimir it is different. There is no build up. He just moves in an ordinary way, like the SAS instructor showing military skills. Nothing flash, nothing to draw attention, but a deep well of understanding and appreciation of what lies beneath normal movement. Nothing wasted, a conscious understanding of movement. So much so that I seemed to be fighting myself. There was nothing to catch. things just unfolded before my eyes, we moved and then out of nowhere I would get hit or felled. Only now do I start to little by little understand it. With Mikhail it is possibly more baffling. He doesn’t even seem to do anything to produce the same and greater effects.

Natural movement is healthy. It is smooth and relaxed, absent of tension, doesnt put any strain on the system and goes with not against the joints.

My journey into Systema has been a period of unlearning bad habits. Habits like holding my breath under physical, mental or emotional stress, moving in rigid, unnatural ways, thinking that the secrets lay outside in techniques, rather than inside myself.

Natural movement is fast, smooth, hidden, powerfully absent of tension, healthy and almost impossible to intercept.

My call to action to you would be this: Whatever your martial arts practice, even if you don’t do a martial art, study breathing. Learn to relax and be normal. in every breath, moment and movement. So many of us walk around constantly tense, a toxic knot of anxious stress. The good news is that it is not binary: i.e relaxed or not relaxed. It is a continuum of progressively feeling freer as you become more relaxed. As soon as you begin the journey to conscious relaxation you will start to feel better.

Relaxation is the hardest skill I have ever had to try to master. Moving along the continuum will make you better, healthier, happier and more effective. At whatever you do. Paradoxically you will then be anything but normal in todays society, but you will be what you were born to be.

River Wye Canoeing and Camping Trip – 22-23 July 2017

Posted on 31/01/201720/06/2017 by Matt Hill

River Wye Canoeing and Camping Trip 22-23 July 2017

Canoe down the River Wye, one of this Islands most beautiful and spectacular river sceneries, camp overnight on Saturday (tent and roaring campfire) and then back home for lunch on Sunday.

This started out as a trip for the Systema Family Class but has since opened out to all. It is mainly a family trip but of course all are welcome.
Start time – 10am Saturday 23rd July in Symonds Yat.
Finish time – 10am Sunday 24th July in Symonds Yat.

Basic camping kit will be needed (tent, sleeping bags and mats, cooking equipment, food etc. full list will be given on booking).

This is a fantastic trip down the River Wye. A timeless trip of high adventure and the the kind of trip that childhood memories are made of!
Numbers will be limited. Please let me know ASAP.

Costs.

£45 per child and £55 per adult.
To pay via paypal click below (£2 added to cover paypal fee):
Please email me matt@matthill.co.uk for BACS details
Adult
Child (16 and below)
Children must be accompanied by an adult.

I look forward to welcoming you on the adventure!

Best wishes,

Matt.

Is your training pushing the right buttons?

Posted on 20/01/201720/01/2017 by Matt Hill

I have written in recent articles about the wrong reasons to train such as obtaining superhero muscles, because you have eaten too much, to fit into certain beachwear etc. All pretty superficial reasons and sadly all too familiar in our culture.

So what about the right reasons to train? Which buttons should you be pressing? Below are the key areas that if neglected, will have a detrimental effect on your short and long term health?

Good training or lifestyle should address:

Endurance. Your overall systems ability to endure. Not just cardio vascularly and muscularly but energetically and will power. This doesn’t mean running marathons or even running daily or weekly. But if you need to do it, you should be able to, without physically or mentally giving in. Conscious and competent breathing is a huge help here.
Strength. I wrote a recent article on this. You should have basic 1:1 strength. A pull up, push up, deep squat (bum on heels, feet flat), sit up and leg raise should be smoothly doable. If you can’t you are either too heavy, too weak or both. 🙁
Resistance to injury. If your training leaves you regularly damaged you need to take a closer look. This will take its toll. Outside of competitive sport your training needs to be sustainable for life. Good training should build your resilience.
Relaxation. You should feel better, refreshed and rejuvenated after training. Not depleted, anxious or stressed. There is no need to push it to the max every time.
Movement variety. Your training should have lots of variety in its movement: forwards, backwards, pushing, pulling, twisting, turning, compressing, extending, jumping, landing, throwing, catching. All natural movements. I will enlarge on this in a coming blog.
Adaptability, body intelligence. It should make you more ready for the real and potential rigours of life. Your body move naturally, smoothly and intuitively. It should flow smoothly over and around obstacles. If you can bench press your body weight but pull a muscle during a sharp unexpected movement, there is something wrong.
Cardio function. The heart rate should get used to going up and down. Not constantly low, but not constantly up high either. In a session try to have regular periods of raising it and then regular periods of consciously recovering it. Your heart rate variability is important.
Mobility. You should look to maintain and even improve your levels of mobility and fluidity as you age. Don’t settle for decline. This is largely a matter of relaxation.
Balance. Critical to almost every endeavour, in every sense.
Stimulation and fun. Why do it otherwise? Your whole body should smile during exercise, from the heart to the mouth and thank you for it. Training is not punishment for your body or spirit it is an enabler.

I am sure there are others, you may agree or disagree, let me know your thoughts.

So what types of training incorporate all these I hear you ask? Tough one.
Here are some good ones that hit most of the points:

Dance – most types.
Systema
Many other Martial Arts
Contact sports e.g. Rugby
Many adventure pursuits e.g. climbing, hiking and scrambling, bushcraft,
and the number one:

Play. with children or grandchildren. Outdoors preferably. Run, hide and seek, tag, off ground tag, play fighting, ‘rassling’ anything goes!

There are of course others, thats just off the top of my head.

With respect and best wishes,

Matt.

P.S There are still a couple of spaces left on the Breathing Masterclass on 21-22 Jan. Click here for more information or to book.

Breathing Masterclass, Melksham 21-22 Jan. Matt Hill.

Posted on 09/01/201708/08/2024 by Matt Hill

Date: 21-22 Jan
Time 11.00-16.00 Sat 10.00-15.00 Sun
Location: Unit S3, Avonside Enterprise Park, New Broughton Road, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 8BT.
Cost: £100 advance payment. £120 on the day.
Click here to pay via Paypal

This is a 2 day seminar that will give you the breathing tools to improve many areas of your life. It will give you a no-nonsense functional understanding of breathing applicable for use in everyday life situations. For yoga, mindfulness and meditation practitioners is will give innovative practical exercises to challenge and apply to everyday life activities.

The World Health Authority (WHO) states that by 2020 states that depression and anxiety will be the worlds number 1 disability. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) already puts sleep deprivation at an epidemic level. Six out of every 10 women are on medication for mental illness, men are not far behind. Why is this relevant as an introduction to a breathing masterclass? Because poor breathing is the cause and improved breathing is the cure.

In the US the Dept of Defence now teach breathing to PTSD sufferers because after studies with counselling, medication, and numerous other activities is the the thing that has had the biggest and longest lasting effect.

Yes you can use drugs, but who wants the side effects? Nosebleeds, impotence, reliance.

The seminar will help you if you struggle with or want to improve in any of these areas:

Stress
Anxiety and panic attacks
Performance anxiety
Athletic performance
Stiffness and immobility
Phobias
Inability to relax and switch off
Struggling to sleep at night
Chronic pain or fatigue
Struggling with endurance or fitness

Breath is the link that connects your mind, body and emotions.

Improved breathing can help you focus yourself on the situation at hand, calm your mind and clear it of noise and fear, your body of pain and tension and your emotions of anxiety and stress, leaving you free to thrive in daily life.

The 2 day session will cover the following aspects:

Confirmation of static breathing techniques to:
- calm and focus the mind
- connect the mind and body
- clear out your emotions
- manage pain, fear and anxiety
- achieve deep levels of relaxation in the body
- open up and release tight, stiff muscles
- develop a stronger connection with your environment

Taking it out of a training environment.
It is important that you have confident that the techniques you learn will work in real life situations. For that we have to test them to give you confidence. You will go onto learn:

Dynamic Functional breathing techniques to:
- make it applicable to everyday situations and life
- Improve fullness and speed of recovery from physical and emotional stress
- Manage pain
- Manage fear
- Manage stiffness and tension
- Manage anxiety and imagined fears
- Innovative exercises to get more out of walking and exercise
- Improve running technique

When I teach breathing I don’t have to wait for results. I have found that I don’t have to say do this and you will feel better in a few weeks or months. I can say do this and you will feel better in a few minutes. So few people do even the simplest breathing well. We breathe well enough to survive moment to moment. But it can be so much more than that.

Mikhail Ryabko, the founder of Systema sums it up best:

‘Breathing is the essence of life. The greater the appreciation and the more control you have of it, the better and longer will be the life you have no matter what situation you encounter.’

The seminar is inclusive and well paced. There will be active participation, but it is at your own pace. You can of course chose to watch activities if you wish.

Places will be limited.
Click here to pay via Paypal or email me at matt@matthill.co.uk for bank details.

If you have any questions you are of course free to contact me at matt@matthill.co.uk or directly on 07584025206.

My very best wishes for a great 2017.

Mental Health Day – Just Breathe…

Posted on 13/10/201613/10/2016 by Matt Hill

just-breathe These days we seem to prize all the wrong things. Does any of this sound familiar:

Good session last night?
Yeah, I beasted myself, could hardly walk out of the gym!
Wow, good job.

Is it really a good job? In my opinion, if there is one thing that most people do not need to add to their life it would be overly stressing their system during a workout.

or a more general scenario
How are you?
Great, manic! You?
Yes, same. Ah well, better than the alternative!

Really? I know that we all need enough to keep the lights on and food on the table but do we really need to prize being manic?

Late nights, massive workloads, exercising and overtraining ourselves to a frazzle, being manicly busy and stressed are the new chic, and we are paying the price.

1 in 3 young people today suffer from a mental health issue. It takes the average person 10 years to seek help for it. Some don’t make it the 10 years.

In the UK 6 out of every 10 women are on medication for anxiety, depression or stress. Men are not far behind.

The WHO says that by 2020 depression and anxiety will be the worlds number 1 disability.

The Centre for Disease Control states that sleep dysfunction is already at an epidemic level.

I bet none of this surprises you.

Some people of course need medical intervention. But self help is also paramount. Breathing and moving correctly are the oldest, simplest, cheapest, most ‘side effect’ free option available to us.

The main aim of a workout, even (or especially), a walk, for me should be to relax your muscles, mind and spirit. I know that it doesn’t sound sexy, but it doesn’t have to be music, mats and soft lighting either. You can work hard, at a high tempo and even high adrenaline, but what counts is where you put your focus.

When you focus on managing your breathing properly, applying natural correct movements, releasing muscle tension and doing a conscious recovery, even intense workouts can be relaxing and beneficial to your overall health.

Oh, and its not enough that breathing and moving properly are a once or twice a week thing. You need to be doing them daily, every moment and movement is a chance to remove stress. Life is putting stress into us all day long. We need to rediscover what children and the animal kingdom do naturally. We need to learn to let go.

If you are interested to learn more the Systema Health book below outlines breathing and movement exercises that can be done solo and incorporated into daily life to have a big impact on your health, fitness and wellbeing.

Finally, inspired by my friend Dan Furlong, I would say this: if you know someone that you think is suffering, ask them about it. Even better go our for a walk and talk. It may just make the difference.

Systema 4 Day Intensive – Wiltshire 16-19 Nov

Posted on 10/10/201611/09/2017 by Matt Hill

The 4 day Intensive is running on the 16-19 Nov in Melksham.

The aim is to cover the range of systema work, including some outdoor and environmental training (weather dependant).

We will also cover elements from the Systema Twins recent Sweden Immersion Camp and Vladimir Vasiliev’s upcoming UK Camp.

Systema Progression:
The course will progress over the four days covering, ground, standing, stick, knife, multiple attacker, environmental, and testing phases leading to an optional video recording of the final testing phase for you to keep and if desired send to Vladimir Vasiliev for feedback and instructor validation/renewal.

Health and Conditioning:
We will also cover the Systema approach to mobility, stretching, massage, deep and functional relaxation and conditioning work.

It will be intense but a lot of fun, with time for relaxation and use of the studio for your own free training. There is already a lot of interest and limited spaces.

Please let me know by return ASAP as to your interest.

The cost is £199.

It will be a small group with lots of opportunity for questions, discussion and peer learning. The aim is to make big leaps in your understanding, teaching and execution of Systema.

To pay by paypal click here: (Cost is £207 to account for paypal fee)
To pay by BACS please email me for details.

Best wishes for your training and health,

Matt.

P.S To help keep costs down there is also the opportunity to sleep on the mat at my gym for a nominal nightly fee. First come first served.

Systema books available on Amazon:

Click on the image above to order your copy of Systema Health from Amazon

Click on the image above to order your copy of Systema Combat from Amazon

Training Tools – Systema Combat

Posted on 12/09/201612/09/2016 by Matt Hill

The short extract below is from one of two books being released shortly. This extract is from Systema Combat. It highlights some useful tools that can enhance your training and be applied to any martial art.

Begin with pushes not strikes. In many of the drills you push or strike. As your skill develops this will naturally progress to faster and stronger pushes and/or strikes over time. Try to spend a lot of time with just pushes. Your reward for this patience is a strong, deep strike that is readily deployable when needed.

You are both working, all of the time. With all drills in Systema whether you are feeding attacks or receiving attacks you are both working, so make sure that no part of the work is done mindlessly. In many ways you learn Systema by having it done to you. The skill is transmitted body to body. So when you feed attacks in to your partner, be completely aware and conscious and do it with every fibre of your being.

Adjust the volume. First work at a slow walking pace to build the skill, then at a fast walk, then at a run. If you find yourself continually making mistakes slow it down, find and fix the problem and then gradually speed up again.

Variety is the spice of life – and Systema: Don’t always stand straight on. Vary it. Stand side on, with your back to the partner, oblique. Work all of the angles. Remember that Systema is not training for a ring or mat where you are ready, it is for outside where you could be in any position at any time and in any state of readiness.

Play, experiment and explore. Systema does not teach through a set series of kata or techniques. It is important to note that the pictures shown are intended as a guide only and show just one way of doing things. There are in fact an infinite number of ways to respond in almost every case. Play with the principles, experiment and explore infinite variety. Try it with your eyes closed, in a corner, in a tight space, with hands tied etc. Have fun but stay safe. My deep desire is that through the logical progressions in these drills, you will begin freely creating your own drills, to the extent where you are training in Systema in every moment. By all means use my progressions as a guide, but you then have to just move randomly and naturally. Try not to form patterns in your movements.

It all boils down to movement. Really Systema is the study of movement. We study body movement, relaxation, breathing and footwork so as not to rely on strength or speed. There will always be a time when you lose those. In Systema, we train to survive and prevail through superior movement.

Work from contact. An inevitability of combat is that you will get hit. In Systema we do a lot of work from contact, for practical and psychological purposes. There will be times when you haven’t had chance to block, redirect or move. Contact drills teach the body and psyche to deal with hits and to look after themselves. You learn body intelligence.

Finally, it begins and ends with the breath. Systema begins and ends here. Try to notice every time you hold your breath. Every time you hold your breath and move, tension and fear will come into your body. To be truly free in your movements, you have to be free in your breath. Always look to make your breath the engine or driver of your movement, not a ‘byproduct’ of it.

You can read more about Systema Combat in Matt’s new book, Systema Combat, available through Amazon and all good bookshops.

Best wishes with your training and and for your continued good health,

Matt.