Russian army hand to hand combat

Vincentsky

Vincentsky

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Backstory - I was doing some bag work on the bag at my gym when a guy who was doing his own workout next to me asked if I wanted to do some body sparring, we proceeded to spar and this guy had some really unorthodox technique but had really fast punches and good defence.

He told me he trains army hand to hand combat with some Russian guy and invited to come train there, first I thought it was nonsense cuz I never heard of it but he was pretty good and I found this online https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARB_(martial_art)
Seems like a pretty complete style that includes some throws from judo/ Sambo along striking. Also seems like a sport with competitions unlike other forms of army hand to hand combat.
Has anyone heard of this ? And do you recommend this over joining a boxing / Muay Thai gym ?
 
Never, NEVER, choose something else over Muay Thai...
 
Quick look of the wiki says that its basically kickboxing with headgear, one 3 minute round.

You can call "Stop" if you're about to be kicked in the head, which is a weird rule. Also you fight on a section of carpet.

Seems like some weird kyukushin offshoot from the vague wikipedia page. It's worth checking out if its something you would enjoy. Much more realistic than other russian martial arts ( systema. )
 
The wiki page seems like a poor translation done by someone who don't really speak English. It is hard to draw conclusions from it.
 
Update:
So I went to my first class this morning and it was a very interesting experience. Basically it’s some older Russian guy that was a member of spetznaz who runs classes for like 10 dudes (usually it’s more)aged 16-40 in a small industrial unit haha. Everybody was wearing A Gi and The atmosphere is very intense and Soviet, the coach only speaks Russian and luckily I know Russian as I can’t see anyone joining this group if they don’t.

At first this place screamed McDojo, when I asked the coach what is his background he basically named like 7 martial arts ( boxing, kickboxing, karate, Sambo, judo, Jiu-Jitsu ). But after spending about 3 hours there I realized it may be a bit different from what I’m used to ( Muay Thai 3 years + 3 months in Thailand ) but it’s not a walk in the park and can definitely learn how to defend your self and some decent technique. Apparently Russian hand to hand combat is a legit competitive sport in Russia and the former Soviet block and there are many famous practitioners of it including Khabib Nurmagomedov who is an International Master of Sport in ARB.

The class ran about 2 hours with the first hour dedicated to super intense conditioning.
About 10 minutes skipping, carrying another guy on your back, kettle bell swings, burpees, jumping squats with a barbell, pull ups, tire flips, medicine ball slams etc etc etc - I was destroyed after this

The technical part of class involved bag work and partner drills with the coach occasionally pulling you off the the side to do some one on one padwork. The combinations were a mix of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. But the kicks seemed more karate style with a whip then traditional Muay Thai. Also guys were using mma gloves on the bag nobody had boxing gloves. There was no specific combo just basically freestyle bag work.

The partner drills were basically 3-4 punch and kick combos to close the distance grab a hold of the guy and take him down. One take down that was shown was like a judo style hip toss using the gi for grip and the other was a suplex.

After half an hour of drills and bag work we proceeded to spar which is apparently something they do in each and every class (4 times a week)
Sparring was intense and seemed to be at about 80%. I got kicked in the head, low kicked, and punched at almost full force for an entire half an hour, these guys were intense as fk. They spar with little to no rules as some guys were wrestling and grappling on the ground, we were also instructed to wear elbow pads which I didn’t have but apparently these guys throw elbows in sparring lol

After the class everyone went into the sauna ( naked ) which was extremely hot and humid and they beat each other with oak leafs and take freezing cold showers afterwards.

This was definitely an interesting experience, I don’t know if it’s for me as I can’t take these kind of beatings 3-4 times a week at my age. But I would have to say although it wasn’t as technically sound as Muay Thai or boxing it was certainly affective ( I got the bruises to prove it ) and it was like taking a trip back in time to Soviet Russia and training with red army.
 
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funny every russian guy i met was in Spetznaz...it must be the biggest regiment in the world
 
Vincentsky said:
Update:
So I went to my first class this morning and it was a very interesting experience. Basically it’s some older Russian guy that was a member of spetznaz who runs classes for like 10 dudes (usually it’s more)aged 16-40 in a small industrial unit haha. Everybody was wearing A Gi and The atmosphere is very intense and Soviet, the coach only speaks Russian and luckily I know Russian as I can’t see anyone joining this group if they don’t.

At first this place screamed McDojo, when I asked the coach what is his background he basically named like 7 martial arts ( boxing, kickboxing, karate, Sambo, judo, Jiu-Jitsu ). But after spending about 3 hours there I realized it may be a bit different from what I’m used to ( Muay Thai 3 years + 3 months in Thailand ) but it’s not a walk in the park and can definitely learn how to defend your self and some decent technique. Apparently Russian hand to hand combat is a legit competitive sport in Russia and the former Soviet block and there are many famous practitioners of it including Khabib Nurmagomedov who is an International Master of Sport in ARB.

The class ran about 2 hours with the first hour dedicated to super intense conditioning.
About 10 minutes skipping, carrying another guy on your back, kettle bell swings, burpees, jumping squats with a barbell, pull ups, tire flips, medicine ball slams etc etc etc - I was destroyed after this

The technical part of class involved bag work and partner drills with the coach occasionally pulling you off the the side to do some one on one padwork. The combinations were a mix of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. But the kicks seemed more karate style with a whip then traditional Muay Thai. Also guys were using mma gloves on the bag nobody had boxing gloves. There was no specific combo just basically freestyle bag work.

The partner drills were basically 3-4 punch and kick combos to close the distance grab a hold of the guy and take him down. One take down that was shown was like a judo style hip toss using the gi for grip and the other was a suplex.

After half an hour of drills and bag work we proceeded to spar which is apparently something they do in each and every class (4 times a week)
Sparring was intense and seemed to be at about 80%. I got kicked in the head, low kicked, and punched at almost full force for an entire half an hour, these guys were intense as fk. They spar with little to no rules as some guys were wrestling and grappling on the ground, we were also instructed to wear elbow pads which I didn’t have but apparently these guys throw elbows in sparring lol

After the class everyone went into the sauna ( naked ) which was extremely hot and humid and they beat each other with oak leafs and take freezing cold showers afterwards.

This was definitely an interesting experience, I don’t know if it’s for me as I can’t take these kind of beatings 3-4 times a week at my age. But I would have to say although it wasn’t as technically sound as Muay Thai or boxing it was certainly affective ( I got the bruises to prove it ) and it was like taking a trip back in time to Soviet Russia and training with red army.
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Damn dude. Thats intense. I always knew russians train hard, it was kind of what i expected from a gym run by a spetznaz. Thats why i always have second thoughts about traveling to russia like my old instructor did. But i think "man i ain't no bitch" lol.
 
ironkhan57 said:
Damn dude. Thats intense. I always knew russians train hard, it was kind of what i expected from a gym run by a spetznaz. Thats why i always have second thoughts about traveling to russia like my old instructor did. But i think "man i ain't no bitch" lol.
Click to expand...
Very intense bunch of guys. This was no your typical mma BJJ or Muay Thai gym. Not one person cracked a smile for the entire time I was there ( about 3 hours ), sparring was almost full force with guys trying to kill each other, and the coach would hit you if you didn’t do something right and got up in your face to do demonstrations.. not everyone can take this. Luckily I’ve been to Thailand where getting kicked by the coach is pretty common but most people would probably run and possibly press charges hahaha
 
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Vincentsky said:
Very intense bunch of guys. This was no your typical mma BJJ or Muay Thai gym. Not one person cracked a smile for the entire time I was there ( about 3 hours ), sparring was almost full force with guys trying to kill each other, and the coach would hit you if you didn’t do something right and got up in your face to do demonstrations.. not everyone can take this. Luckily I’ve been in Thailand where getting kicked by the coach is pretty common but most people would probably run and possibly press charges hahaha
Click to expand...

Lol very true especially in america.
 
Vincentsky said:
Has anyone heard of this ? And do you recommend this over joining a boxing / Muay Thai gym ?
Click to expand...

Never heard of it.

There is a lot to consider if you should choose that over muay thai or boxing.

I think it is important to realize first of all it is your time and resources and is that how you want to spend them?

Do you want to spar really hard on a regular basis?

Is that the group of people you want to spend a significant amount of time with and bond to?
 
Vincentsky said:
Very intense bunch of guys. This was no your typical mma BJJ or Muay Thai gym. Not one person cracked a smile for the entire time I was there ( about 3 hours ), sparring was almost full force with guys trying to kill each other, and the coach would hit you if you didn’t do something right and got up in your face to do demonstrations.. not everyone can take this. Luckily I’ve been to Thailand where getting kicked by the coach is pretty common but most people would probably run and possibly press charges hahaha
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Yeah its taught in the army there,its literally called "hand to hand" combat in russian or older people might call it "army karate"

Its basically mma with punches to the nuts or throat etc
 
You will see this on the resume of most Russian/Caucasus fighters in MMA today. It seems like most of the military unarmed combat programs (Russian Hand to Hand, US Army Combatives, MCMAP, etc) today are pretty good. At least a solid addition to a MMA base.
 
Vincentsky said:
Backstory - I was doing some bag work on the bag at my gym when a guy who was doing his own workout next to me asked if I wanted to do some body sparring, we proceeded to spar and this guy had some really unorthodox technique but had really fast punches and good defence.

He told me he trains army hand to hand combat with some Russian guy and invited to come train there, first I thought it was nonsense cuz I never heard of it but he was pretty good and I found this online https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARB_(martial_art)
Seems like a pretty complete style that includes some throws from judo/ Sambo along striking. Also seems like a sport with competitions unlike other forms of army hand to hand combat.
Has anyone heard of this ? And do you recommend this over joining a boxing / Muay Thai gym ?
Click to expand...

You should stick with it. Maybe just train as often as your body can handle so 2-3 x a week.
Sounds like they are quite complete in their practice. The intensity is what you need for real fighting, and is level up from the usual type of mma sport sparring but not for everyone.
 
TheMaster said:
You should stick with it. Maybe just train as often as your body can handle so 2-3 x a week.
Sounds like they are quite complete in their practice. The intensity is what you need for real fighting, and is level up from the usual type of mma sport sparring but not for everyone.
Click to expand...
Tbh I’ve been out of training consistently for about 3-4 years now. I used to do Muay Thai at least 4 times a week, but even that got a little bit too much especially the sparring. I used to get constant headaches and have had broken ribs and a broken nose. It’s not the reason I stopped but it’s part of it for sure.

This ARB experience was definitely unique and I think these guys shouldn’t be overlooked but I’m pretty sure outside this little “gym” it’s practically non existent outside of the Soviet block.

With that said there is absolutely no frickin chance I’ll be joining, it takes a very specific type of person to want to spar this hard 4 times a week without training for a specific competition lol
 
Vincentsky said:
Tbh I’ve been out of training consistently for about 3-4 years now. I used to do Muay Thai at least 4 times a week, but even that got a little bit too much especially the sparring. I used to get constant headaches and have had broken ribs and a broken nose. It’s not the reason I stopped but it’s part of it for sure.

This ARB experience was definitely unique and I think these guys shouldn’t be overlooked but I’m pretty sure outside this little “gym” it’s practically non existent outside of the Soviet block.

With that said there is absolutely no frickin chance I’ll be joining, it takes a very specific type of person to want to spar this hard 4 times a week without training for a specific competition lol
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Yes you should of course gauge how your body holds out. But what I'm saying is you should keep in touch with those guys. Even if you can only train with them once a week the reality based training is gold.

Otherwise just do your regular MA training and drop in to train with those guys when you want to up the intensity from time to time. You can try whatever else your learning in the freeform environment wirh that level of commitment to the attacks. It is different but worth it. A place where training the 'fighting spirit' is emphasized is great, which is a large part of what real combat is about.
 
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While it does sound very interesting, it also sounds like something that will destroy your body and brain. 3 hour classes, beginning with tough conditioning and then ending with sparring at 80% with guys trying to kill each other? 3-4 times a week? I don't think you could design something on purpose that's more likely to injury and concuss you.
 
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