Systema For Life

Systema For Life


Episode 129: Realities of Combat, with Martin Wheeler

April 30, 2021

This week, a deep-dive into the myths, half-truths, and hard truths surrounding training for defence against edged weapons, with none other than Martin Wheeler - Senior Systema Instructor and Co-Founder of The Academy Beverly Hills.

Here, we seek to include a wide range of perspectives on knife defence, in order to dispel confusion, inform your practice, and make sense of the frequent (and predictable) objections that inevitably arise whenever anyone puts out a knife-defence video clip. The hope being that next time someone starts to argue about knife defence online, you can avoid the pointless back-and-forth, and steer them here for a full discussion.  

Included:



  • Primitive states and "inevitable" responses
  • Dangers of magical thinking and self-delusion
  • Levels of ability and understanding in knife fighting
  • Working with strength, skill, and power

Mentioned in this episode: 

4-day East Coast Masterclass NC (October 21-24)

Live and Online Training with Martin at The Academy