After a short break (and an extended, three-week road trip across the USA), we return this week with Menamy Mitanes - Systema and BJJ Instructor at The Academy Beverly Hills and Systema Los Angeles. In this, Menamy's second appearance on the podcast, we delve beyond his personal story and get into the core training philosophies of the martial arts - about which Menamy is more than qualified to speak. With a pedigree that includes JKD and FMA (under Dan Inosanto), BJJ (under Rigan Machado), and Systema (under Martin Wheeler and Vladimir Vasiliev), Menamy is a truly prolific student and teacher of the martial arts.
For context, this interview followed a weekend seminar Menamy taught in Greenville, South Carolina, attended by Glenn and several of the NC Systema Crew.
Here, we get into:
- core similarities (and differences) in approach: FMA, BJJ, and Systema
- training for self defence versus training for competition
- the dangers of "faith in tradition" and of "go hard or go home" approaches
- why high-level external skill must (and can only) emerge from internal understanding
Find out more about training with Menamy at www.systemalosangeles.com and www.theacademybeverlyhills.com, and follow Menamy on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SystemaLA
Mentioned in this episode:
Interview with George Saint-Pierre on the Lex Fridman podcast
4-day East Coast Masterclass NC, with Martin Wheeler (Oct 21-24, 2021)