Kadochnikov | Kadochnikov System

PRAMEK vs. RMA

This is a long post…and worthy of so many words and thoughts.It’s been a long hard road…and never an easy one.Often times, the road didn’t rise up to meet my feet, and the wind was a gale force to my face and not to my back.

And we still made it…but I have a lot of people ask me, ‘Matt, what’s the difference between Pramek and _insert style name_’.  Most often the _insert styles name_ is _insert Russian style name_. It’s simple – application.  First, we have to come to an understanding that the attempt at science doesn’t make science.

Beyond a few RMA’s, namely Kadochnikov System, or Shvets MARS, Retuinskih’s ROSS, etc., most RMA’s are not scientifically based, nor should they be if they wish to build upon cultural legacy.  My main challenge over time has always been to ask someone to find a Russian style master over the age of 65 – it’s nearly impossible except for Mr. Kadochnikov.  That’s why he is called grandpa, or the mechanic.  The vast majority of instructors who are scientific in nature in Russia have taken their science from him and utilized it as his system dictates one should.

We are no different.  My four years under Kadochnikov system and studying in Krasnodar at the school taught me that Mr. Kadochnikov‘s work is amazing but not an end in itself – it is what his student do with it that is the defining achievement of his system…that is the end.  His system is sound, but the legacy that it has left, from ROSS, to MARS, to PRAMEK…that is the true testament to his work.  People often forget that PRAMEK was named in his system’s honor, from an article written long ago that named his system PRAMEK before it was Kadochnikov System.  We named it in honor of what he did in applying science to the study of survival…in PRAMEK terms, we named in honor of his goal.

The vast majority of Russian styles are not scientific.  One can not look at buza and see an indepth study of kinematics.  One can not look at the styles like lubki and find a deep scholastic scientific study.  Even contemporary Ryabko Systema was not founded in science, it was founded in Russian cultural legacy.

But, we in the West, or Asia, we are not Russian.  One of my teacher’s once told me, ‘You will never understand the nagaika, because you are not Cossack – but you do understand a cowboy’s whip, so you should make your study the whip, as it is easily accessible and of your culture.’  Science is universal, whip or nagaika, and we took what we learned and did what Mr. Kadochnikov expected – we were separated by an ocean, and eventually went on our own path with the science we were taught….and we expanded it.

You can see it today, in the Combative Striking video series, as we take the science and make it our own…or The Lever, where we teach the lever, but not as some Russian concept, but something universal beyond Russian or America.  It is applicable anywhere.

What separates PRAMEK from other methods, styles, and system is simple…we have a methodology, as science is the language of a system, and those styles methods are the words making up the paragraphs that are the books and volume of a system’s work.We have a teaching method…the CLM, Conceptual Learning Method, and all classes are taught along it’s lines.

We have an application methodology within theory + movement = application.  We show that everything is taught physically – as we take sound science and combine it with out movement, and then generate an application from this.  We deeply study biomechanics, physics, mechanics, psychology, neurology, strategy, etc.  We have our own views of these sciences, our own way of utilizing them.  We apply these through movement that is sound by developing it through biomechanically efficient training methods for movement.

We have styles of applications built off of the teaching methodology and application methodology…we have expanded beyond simple fist fighting into movement science, healthy living  concepts, firearms, real world combatives, functional fitness, etc.

Lastly – we evolve.  We have a hypothesis, and we test it, prove it out or disprove it.  Our system is designed so that we are ever changing – but one thing we don’t change is our teaching methodology and our application methodology.  A soldier in one theater may face threats another theater does not offer…a police officer faces physical tests a firefighter does not…a yoga practitioner faces challenges a kettlebell lifter does not.

But, a teaching methodology and application methodology transcends these differences and is able to cope with each, and evolve with the needs of each.We are living anthropology as we take the science of yesterday and today and create the applications that suite us and our students tomorrow.

I often think back on my time in Krasnodar, the lessons learned there, but one that will always stick in my mind is, ‘There is no right, there is no wrong – there is simply efficient and inefficient.’ PRAMEK seeks to find the efficient in time of duress, in times of challenge, in time of advancement, in times of learning from failure, and in times of meeting those who have something to offer us that will expand use.

PRAMEK is not about an individual, or it would be MattsCoolMethodOfPunchingPeopleAndRollingAroundWhileTeachingDifferently…and that’s a long name to figure out.

No…no my friends, PRAMEK is about a system of applying science to application, be it fighting, lifting, shooting, or yoga…and in the end, that is what separates us from _insert style name_.

We do not see ourselves as right – we see ourselves as efficient and carrying that efficiency to whatever challenge we face.