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“I first began training with Val Riazanov in 2004 after watching him take a number of Systema classes in London. I had come from a background of two years at kickboxing, which I thought was useful at a basic level of fitness but had doubts about the value of choreographed sequences of movements which I suspected would prove ineffective in in a sudden street encounter.

I can say now that Val’s is the most effective tuition I have ever seen.

Everything you learn is completely tailored for a street situation where you will not pick the time, place or the kind of person you run into. As Val points out, street attacks tend to be fast, random and chaotic. His lessons cover topics like effective striking, moving to avoid attackers, knife defense and deflecting knife strikes. Realistic scenarios are deployed in which you consider how to react if assaulted on a bus or train, sitting down, and how you can begin to defend yourself if you go to the floor”.

~ Fergus Sheppard

I was lucky enough to meet Val Raizanov as a consultant working to help with the production of Ballistic Striking. Having served as both a U.S. Army Airborne and Air Assault Solider I really thought I knew something about how to defend myself and how to strike a person when I needed to. What I learned from Val was not only how to strike harder then I though possible with almost no real effort. I also learned how to be sure I was going to land the blow in the first place, how to look so non threatening even when in the act of being attacked that an aggressor would not even know they needed to defend themselves.

The real thing I gained though was more philosophical! Val changed the way I think, how I think about the world I grew up in the 70s and 80s when the Russians were “the bad guys”. He changed how I see business and negotiations and taught me the psychology of confrontation belongs not just on the streets for defense, it belongs in board rooms or in any place that intimidation arrives.

Val has a way of disarming people with out aggression whenever that is possible. Whether you are in a street fight or a negotiation Val teaches you to use “sufficient force” to handle an issue not maximum force. I have learned that the most subtle moves both physically and intellectually can at times be far more powerful then a “devastating tactic”.

~ Jack Spirko