Thank you to Rick for this amazing review…I am always humbled by things like this. Can’t wait to have Rick come back and train again – Matt
My review of my seminar weekend with Matt Powell and Pramek.
Please understand that I am a blunt man. I don’t mean to be, just please consider this when you read this review.
I really should start with thanking Matt Powell of Pramek for his hospitality. He treated me like a brother while I was down at his place. And we all know how brothers like to beat on each other. Also, keep in kind that Matt walks the talk. I saw him do stuff that I have only seen the top practitioners do. And he did it without fanfare or look at what I can do. He also did it within context of brutal application principles. Ok, moving on.
Matt started out by taking me through some mobility drills, to see how I moved. As someone who has suffered from sometimes disabling chronic joint pain for most of his adult life, the pramek drills are almost a Divine Inspiration. I learned that even though I had been taught certain breath techniques from other so called russian martial art sources, there was still much for me to learn in this area. He taught me more practical breathing for stressful combative situations, as opposed to breathing for relaxation or even some strenuous exercises. Trying to figure this breathing out made me feel like I had been suffering from chronic asthma. I won’t go into details of the mechanics of it. But I am still working on it. Lets just say that I thought I was mobile and could breathe. But I wasn’t Pramek mobile or Pramek prepared. I would continue to find out that this would be the theme of my time with Matt.
Matt went into much of the history behind both the original russian system of combatives, that of Kadochnikov System, and how he evolved it into Pramek with his own combative experiences. Wow! This was worth the whole trip itself. As someone who is a big advocate of pressure testing, this meant a lot for me to hear and see. We stayed up while he showed me footwork, weapons, sneak attacks, wedges versus inclined planes, and how all this worked in the field.
The next day, he tried to turn me into a perfect, rolling human ball. He was very patient. I have so much work to do here. Pramek ground mobility is unlike anything I have ever seen. It starts with efficiency. Efficiency allows the body to do more than I thought I was capable of. When the crap hits the fan, we all know that the ground is a place we don’t want to be. But you may find yourself there, for whatever reason. I learned the Pramek gives you the biomechanical advantage to get back to a more advantageous position, and in a hurry. I have to say though, that we learned on a hard concrete floor. I was learning Pramek falls, rolls, got thrown, taken down, all on concrete. Ouch.
Afterwards we got into the equilibrium, wedge, and the screw. Now, I have Matt’s videos, and I thought I had a good understanding of these subjects. Well, I didn’t. Again, he was patient with me, especially when I got frustrated and may have said a few bad words.
The whole time I felt I was taking an advanced doctorate course on martial science. Days later I am still taking notes. I can’t wait to get back down there. It was truly the most advanced training on biomechanics, and the science of the human machine as it relates to martial arts that I have had to date. And we are talking two decades of training and countless number of seminars. Everyone who wants to elevate their survival system to a higher level, needs to get to Pramek in Atlanta.
Thank you Matt,
Rick Lehman