Alex Kostic Interview, October 2007

Firstly, welcome to Australia, this being your first trip ‘down under’. When did you begin training in
Russian Martial Art and what styles have you trained?
AK. As a kid I trained in Tae Kwon Do and Shotokan Karate in Serbia, when I relocated to
Canada greater opportunities were offered. I continued in Karate, received my Black Belt and
began to investigate other Martial Arts, Hapkido and Kung Fu until 12 years ago I met Vladimir
Vasiliev and have studied with him since.
What do you see the main differences between other martial arts and the Russian Martial Art?
AK. For me it was complete freedom of movement and the improvisation in situations. As a young
man I danced and dreamed of being a Kung Fu hero, so the seeds were planted and when I
began Systema I knew I had found something that I could connect myself to.
What kind of a change did you experience?
AK. Well a total transformation really. I was always looking for something that could help me find
myself through my body. With Vladimir’s personality, knowledge and skill I was able to discover the
importance of the body’s physical maturation, in a sense liberation and much improved health.
How easy was it to learn Systema?
AK. I burnt with desire to master it but Systema is like water, you can’t capture it. Three times I
quit in frustration. Once I realized it wasn’t Systema but my psyche trying to control things out of
security, my doubt disappeared and I stopped posing the questions, am I getting better, is it
working, I just enjoyed it and all is falling into place.
You mentioned about your health earlier can we go back and speak a little more about that?
AK. Yes through the unique bio-mechanical exercises, joint mobility, understanding the
importance of relaxation and appropriate breathing, I not only noticed that my ability to move
more efficiently and smoothly but my overall health and demeanor has improved.
Have you had the opportunity to train with other Russian Martial Art people in Russia?
AK. Yes I traveled to Russia on 3 occasions and trained at 5 different schools.
What differences if any did you observe?
AK. Quite a vast difference actually. It seems to me that Russian martial Art except Sambo
wrestling which is mostly a sport seems to be strongly influenced by the progress and insights of
a particular teacher and because of this freedom will vary considerably, some more on combative
aspects, some more for health and exercise others more on psychology etc.
I know you have now taught in many countries and your teaching style is very popular, is there a
modest way you can explain why?
AK. Well I am very opinionated and direct in the manner in which I teach Systema. I do not like to
mystify things, in fact I like to demystify training methods and present them in a way people can
understand, practice and enjoy them.
You have a certain language you use to explain principles of Systema that is very interesting.
AK. Well I studied philosophy so am very interested in this subject and it seems many others are
too. I use terminology to describe phenomenon without putting it into a certain framework. For
example, I can simply say “the man is walking” not “the man is walking because he is feeling bad
about the argument he had with his girlfriend”, that is too much information. Another is “moving
around the tension” this is simply reminding people to move around instead of confronting tension
with more tension. I like to ‘deconstruct’ the technique, explaining it in a progressive way so
people understand why they are doing what they are doing. In my way of teaching Systema, this
logical progression involves 3 stages – method (what to do), application (how to do, and under
what circumstances), and free play (spontaneous use in fluid situations).
This concept of free play is very unique. Can you elaborate on this aspect of Systema training?
AK. Yes. Free play is the final stage in the progressive development of Systema. The closest
thing is can be related to in other martial arts is sparring, but it is different from that. In sparring,
the concept is akin to fighting, where 2 participants ‘compete’ against each other, generally
resulting in a winner and loser. Based on human nature and psychology, this invariably leads to
the ego being involved, which creates distortions and results in people ‘forcing’ techniques and
situations that might otherwise not have been applicable, and of course, injuries often occur as a
result of this.
Free play is different. The very idea of ‘play’ is to relax and have fun, no ego or competition, just
moving naturally and exploring possibilities or ‘ideas’ as situations unfold. In free play there is no
right or wrong. It encourages people to express their natural movement and desires, to be playful
like children. Quite often during free play you will hear participants laughing as they explore with
creativity and naturalness, and this is very important for development in Systema. When
practicing free play, 80% of the time it should be done at medium pace. The other 20% of the
time it is useful to practice it at full speed with control, as we are training a practical combative
system, after all.
Tell us a little about the strikes of Systema.
AK. Yes I am working on this a lot at this time. A key concept in Systema is to ‘weaponise’ the
body. This starts through practicing the basic exercises designed to free the body from its
limitations, or rather, the limitations we impose on it and ourselves. These include exercises for
limbering the body’s muscles and joints in conjunction with breathing, so that the body becomes
free and ‘alive’ and responsive to influences internally and externally. This way the practitioner
develops ‘kinesthetic fluidity’ and naturalness of movement. By freeing the body to move in a
natural, relaxed manner we are able to use biomechanical efficiency.
All of this is relevant when delivering strikes in Systema. Through relaxed movement and
biomechanical efficiency, the body can move naturally and we are able to generate enormous
power in our strikes, that penetrate deep into the body, not just on the surface. Additionally, any
part of the body can be used and strikes can be delivered in almost any situation from a variety of
angles and methods. This is useful not only in self defence against a single attacker, but also in
defence against multiple attacks. In Systema we call this type of training ‘mass attack’.
The concept of accepting and delivering attacks to the body, both with limbs and weapons seems
to be a core component of Systema training.
AK. Accepting strikes in Systema does several important things. Firstly, it helps free the body of
it’s’ limitations in movement. The initial stage of accepting strikes is to gently push the other
person, so they learn intuitively with their body how the incoming force moves their body. This
becomes important later on when defending against attacks. Secondly, it assists in eliminating
the fear of being hit, which often causes people to tense up and respond inappropriately. In
Systema, an important principle is to always move forward after being hit, to overcome that fear
aspect. It is important to clarify here that we do not just ‘punch’ each other randomly. It is learnt in
a progressive way, like everything else. We practice specific massage techniques that train you to
understand how your fist/foot aligns to a body, so that when you strike you will be using
biomechanical efficiency once again.
Delivering strikes in Systema is also interesting, as the process is the opposite of what most
people are taught. In many ‘traditional’ martial arts, the flow of striking starts from the feet in
contact with the ground, then moves up the legs to the center, which then adds power to the
limbs that then deliver the strike to the target. In Systema, the idea is to strike naturally with the
whole body, with the process starting at the fist (or foot) and work backwards to the body. This
way, you are applying force in response to how much resistance you feel at the target.