Greetings

[elkniodaps]

I am new to this forum and would like to introduce myself. My name is Joshua Lewis and I am a 23 year old college student from Reno, Nevada. I have had an interest in the R.O.S.S. system quite some time. It has only been very recently that my interest has peaked and I feel that I am ready to seriously begin training in Russian Martal Art and in particular the R.O.S.S. system. I've recently purchased the yellow book as well as the intro video and I am very impressed with what I have read and watched. Now instead of just reading and watching, I want to do.

To my knowledge I do not know if there are any other R.O.S.S. practitioners here in Reno so I'm guessing that I would have to start training on my own. So I'm stuck as to where to begin in my training and aquiring knowleges of this system. There are so many videos and other materials offered that its pretty overwhelming. My overall goal is to be able to become apart of the IDP and someday be able to share R.O.S.S. with others. So long story short (too late) I'm looking for a starting point :lol: .

Thanks in advance to anybody who can help point me in the right direction. I look forward to exchanging thoughts with everybody and I would like to wish you all the very best.

Joshua Lewis

[Scott Sonnon]

Joshua,

Welcome to the Tribe. Let me know if you have any specific questions. I look forward to reading your discoveries and progress.

[elkniodaps]

Mr. Sonnen,

Thank you for the welcome! I will do my best to keep you up to date on my journey into the R.O.S.S system.

And since you are THE MAN around here, where would be the best place for me to start my journey? I'm sure there is not set way to begin but I'm just curious as to how others have gotten started. Again any help is much appreciated :D .

Joshua Lewis

[Scott Sonnon]

Joshua,

What are your interests and goals?

[Chuck Kechter]

Joshua,

I'm not Coach (I seem to start off like this a lot. . . :roll: ),

But if I were, I think I'd ask. . . What are you interested in?

Since you posted on the MA forum, I'll bite and assume you're into MA's. What in particular?

Jacket Wrestling? Submission? MMA? Boxing (Fisticuffs)? Give us a framework first and hopefully someone can steer you in the right direction.

Also what about Health & Wellness? Fitness? Conditioning for MAs? Lots to pick from. . .

V/R,

Chuck

OOPS Coach beat me to it. . . Oh well. . . :shock: :? :)

[elkniodaps]

Well I guess the short answer would be... everything!! :lol:

As for a starting point, I would like to get started in the martial side of R.O.S.S. with the hand to hand combat and jacket wrestling. A goal of mine would like to one day become apart of the IDP and be able to teach others.

I'm interested in learning as much as I humanly can about the entire spectrum of the system. But if I had to choose an area to begin in it would have to be the martial side. Then once I gain more experience and knowledge I would like to branch out into the other areas that are offered. I know it seems pretty eager for myself to say that I want to learn it all (which would be impossible because no matter what there is always something new to learn) but its a nice goal to have 8) .

Thank you both for your imput. It is greatly appreciated.

Joshua Lewis

[jimmy23]

Welcome!

The best place to start, in my opinion, is with the Warrior Wellness series. It teaches movement patterns that are seen throughout the material, and develops balance and coordination.

If you are unable to find ROSS practitioners near you, no big deal. There are plenty martial arts schools that you can become involved in , and use ROSS material to deepen your study. Also, once youve begun to meet martial artists in your area, you can find training partners who share similar interests and form your own study group.


Check out your area, and let us know what you come across in terms of training. IF you need any input, thats what we are here for.

[dave_rusin]

Welcome Joshua,

I agree with the posts above that it depends on what you are interested in because you have to start somewhere.

I also agree with Jimmy. Warrior Wellness is foundational.

For grappling mobility/agility in general the Grapplers Toolbox series is great. That was the first instructional ROSS video I started with and it helped lay a nice foundation.

Also for H2H and jacket wrestling, you will find great value in Fisticuffs and Shockability for H2H and IOUF and Leg Fencing for wrestling.

I can sympathize with not having training partners in the immediate area. Look for open-minded MA practitioners that are willing to explore the material with you.

As Scott once said, "you are always and only self-taught". Coaches and instructors can guide but you will be doing the learning.

Best of luck on your journey!

[Ryan Murdock]

Hi Joshua,

My background is Bujinkan, not ROSS, but my group and I have been using RMax resources for a few years now and they have revolutionized our training.

I would second the opinions above, that Warrior Wellness would be the best way to begin. You will prepare your body for martial training, recover your health, and 'get in touch' with your body and your movement. It doesn't feel like you're really doing martial arts, but this base will accelerate your performance. It's all just movement, right?

We sometimes discuss how (in theory) we would train a new person, based on our experience and background. My training partner and I concluded that it would be optimum to start a totally new person on Warrior Wellness for a few months (depending on their progress of course), moving into more intensive Body Flow/ Grappler's Toolbox type work. Only after that solid movement foundation has been laid would we get them on the mats with a partner.

In the past we always trained hardcore, regardless of injury, pushing through bullheadedly no matter the cost. Obviously this is not a sustainable way to train. Much to our embarrassment, Scott taught us that our martial arts practice should IMPROVE our health, not be something that we engaged in at the expense of our health. That small change of perspective changed so much for us.

One other point that I think is very important. After you lay down the movement base, you should think about what 'angle' you want to take in your martial arts studies. I'm like you in that I want to learn it all, but this can result in becoming good at nothing. If you choose an area to study intensively and master that you'll be able to pick up other flavours easily (as Coach Sonnon says, the ability to mimic any style or system instantly). In our background of Bujinkan we focused on self-defence rather than sport, with a base of combative-type effectiveness, so we chose to sophisticate that. This is not to say that we don't employ sportive type drills (Competition), of course we do. But the focus is different. Assymetrical Engagements rather than Symmetrical, ambush scenarios where you must suddenly implement your recovery strategy and then turn the tide and shift back into flow,... Until we realized this distinction between these approaches we dabbled in lots of fun drills, but didn't really move towards a specific goal. Once we figured it out we could productively apply the drill EXAMPLES in such series as Fisticuffs and Leg Fencing to our training goal of sophisticating our self-defece/combative base. Now every training session is an epiphany. I mean that literally, some amazing insight comes out of every single session! So deciding upon some direction for your training would probably make it more prodctive.

I better put a sock in it, this has become more long-winded than I intended :oops: Hope it is helpful. Welcome to the Forum!

[Ryan Murdock]

Joshua,

Sorry, I meant to add to the above, that in our ideal plan, after movement exploration via WW and Body Flow/GT, we would start a new student's martial exploration with Shockability. The stuff on there is revolutionary, and should be the foundation for all martial arts training. Imagine if you could get used to impact first, instead of filling a student full of fear-reactivity by just tossing them into the mix and letting them get pounded senseless. Their rate of progress would be so much faster. After that base, in my opinion, would be the most productive time to start exploring your chosen venue.

Keep in mind that this is just based on our garage MA experience, I'm not a ROSS trainer. No doubt the IDP has a well-researched way to do all this.

Cheers,
Ryan.

[Coach Billew]

Joshua,

I agree with all that has come before, and just thought I would add my own experience.

I get very excited about things and want to do them all at once. So when I first encountered ROSS I bought all of the tapes I could and immediately tried to integrate everything into my training.

Unfortunately that led me to only looking at the surface of a a lot of information, and just trying to do what Coach does on the videos.

What I had to realize is that Coach's style is his and that I have to find mine. So for me I had to go back and look at what my style is. For a variety of reasons I am most comfortable striking so I started focusing on that. What I discovered was that the principles of ROSS are constant through all venues of combat/sport. Therefore the better I got at striking, the more the other aspects of the system made sense to me and the more I begin to be able to work on and understand them. Because I already had a good understanding of striking I was able to see the principles at work, more clearly whereas with the other venues I was too overwhelmed by the wealth of new information.

So my recommendation: start with the Warrior Wellness and Grappler's Toolbox, then take a deep breath, think back through your experience, and let us know what venue of combat/sport you are most drawn too or have the most experience in. Then we can get you started with the materials that apply to that. From there you will see the principles better, and be better able to apply them in different venues as you get deeper into the system.

Hope this helps,

[elkniodaps]

I want to thank you all for your words of wisdom and kindness. You all have given me great advice and a great foundation to start from. I wanted to let you all know that I just purchased the "Warrior Wellness (TM)" videos set as well as Coach's "Body Flow (TM)" book. As per everybodys advice I shall start from there and build a solid foundation in which my studies can grow and florish.

Once again, thank you all!

Joshua Lewis

[Ryan Murdock]

Good luck Joshua!

Be sure to report back with your results and observations. It all adds to the collective pool of knowledge. And never hesitate to ask questions, that's what the Forum is for. There's a wealth of experience here from a wide range of backgrounds. I've learned so much from the people on the Forum, I can't tell you how helpful it's been.