Immovable Object, Unstoppable Force (IOUF) is arguably some of Scott Sonnon's best work.   By the end of the series, I suspect you will be as impressed as I was with the valuable principles it contains.  The subtitle on the cassette boxes reads, "Never be thrown.  Throw at will."  Those six words comprise the essence of IOUF and are not mere hyperbole.

Production Notes

RMAX produced this tape in 2000, and the difference in Scott's appearance is somewhat startling.  Dressed in a camouflage gi and sporting a beard and ponytail, Scott looks like a modern-day pirate.  His earnest nature and vast knowledge shine through regardless of wardrobe, but the gis worn by Scott and his training partners Ben Brackbill and Scott Fabel are a point of contention with me.  All three of them are constantly straightening the gis after demonstrations -- a natural reflex, but one that tends to be distracting on camera.

The lighting is good, and the tape was recorded in front of a gray background and a contrasting carpet that are perfect for demonstrations of this type.  The ROSS banner is a bit distracting in its placement, but its presence is understandable.

There is a persistent audio issue throughout IOUF that deserves comment.  Frequently, the remote microphone attached to Scott's clothing produces poor sound when he's grappling with someone or when the fabric of his uniform has bunched up over it.  The recurring problem is a minor irritant, not something that cripples the teaching -- but it does illustrate the need for a boom mike in situations like this.

One thing this tape series does contain that is not present on some other RMAX productions is an explanation of ROSS.  To quote the text block,

ROSS is the training system of Russian Martial Art researched and formulated by the RETAL (Russian Combat Skill, Consultant Scientific and Practical Training) Center endorsed and approved by the International and All Russian Federation of Russian Martial Art, which is sanctioned and authorized by the National Olympic Committee of Russia as the sole official representative of Russian Martial Art within Russia and Worldwide.

Each tape contains footage of a demonstration of ROSS to Vladimir Putin in 1994.  Putin even offers a brief testimonial of his own to ROSS.

TAPE 3: JOINT MASS CENTER™

"He who controls the middle," Scott announces, "controls the fight."  Just what is the middle is the topic of Volume 3.

Scott starts with an analysis of the pelvis.  Comparable to the shoulder in its function, the pelvis and an understanding of its rotation and tilt are key to a three-dimensional understanding of throws.  Conventional throws are, by contrast, two-dimensional.

To explain the difference between hyperfunction and dysfunction in the lower body, Scott demonstrates how the muscles of the body engage to counteract attempts to force the body's joints against their ranges of motion.  He then describes how to use hyperfunction to, for example, screw the opponent's leg outward in its natural range of motion.  This throws him.  He literally cannot stop you.  This discussion links to the previous description of the triangle point:  you either move the opponent's body to that point or its opposite (there are two triangle points to every stance).  Remove a joint and you collapse the opponent to that point.  Use your whole body and you can manipulate him to make the throw happen.

Discussing the ankle (which is remarkably vulnerable), Scott shows the viewer how to rotate the ankle to take down the rest of the body.  (Yet again we see the importance of the "screwing" motion that is so common in Scott's teaching.)  He goes on to explain how the legs are attached to the pelvic girdle.  Manipulating one leg affects the other leg.

Reviewing arm and spine "infinities," the figure-eight motion that is integral to so much of Scott's work, Scott demonstrates infinities with the legs.  This material predates the Leg Fencing series, but it is simply a condensed presentation of the expanded Leg Fencing curriculum.

Leg fencing tactics, Scott says, don't exist.  Do not compartmentalize the tactics, he explains -- they are tools, not techniques.  He breaks them down arbitrarily in order to present them to the viewer, but he urges that they not be taken dogmatically.  Using the basic figure-eight motion, the leg-fencer improvises techniques relevant to the situation.

Key to all the leg fencing drills and demonstrations are the infinities and that screwing motion I've mentioned frequently.  Scott explains that your goal is to screw your opponent's limbs (and thus his body) to the ground using hyperfunction to drive him to either of his triangle points.  Be mindful of your own position.  The less contact you have with the ground, the less control you have.

All of the leg fencing tactics are accompanied by numerous demonstrations.  They include the following:

• The trip.  Don't lead with your legs, Scott cautions.  The trip is not leg-driven.  Use your whole body.

• The post.  The post involves joining with the opponent's supporting leg.  It requires the articulation of your leg, because it is a movement of your whole appendage.  The post can be launched with the knee.

• The sweep.  The sweep requires rhythm and timing.  To sweep, you must move with your opponent's motion to capture him at the end of that motion.  You are not chopping -- you are rotating in the middle of the leg to take away his balance before he transfers to his supporting leg.

• The reap.  The reap takes the opponent's balance by moving yours.

• The hook.  The hook involves lacing one of the opponent's legs.

• The elevator.  The elevator has characteristics of the hook, reap, post, and even the sweep.  It is inserted (obviously) to elevate the opponent.

So where does leg fencing fit in the context of IOUF?  Combine it with a means of generating power -- your pelvis -- and you use your lower body to throw at will while keeping your own balance.  Pelvic mobility, Scott explains, determines inertia while two opponents are in the clinch (typically grasping each other's jackets).  Scott walks through a drill with his training partners, Ben Brackbill and Scott Fabel, in which the pelvis is used as the generator to release leg fencing tactics.  Locate the joint mass center, Scott says, referring to the volume title, and you find the perfect throw.  (Don't do less than optimal work, he reminds us.  The best you can hope to do in reality is the worst you've achieved in training.)

Before going into footwork, Scott explains that there is no such thing as being on balance while standing.  Standing is a balancing act in itself.  Using the leg infinity motion, Scott demonstrates placing the feet at 45° angles, leading from the pelvis, which alters the triangle point to conceal it from an attacker as one walks.

Footwork, Scott says, forms the relationship of balance between two people.  Footwork is biomotor, not tactical.  It's a chess game of hiding our triangle points from the opponent, a system of maneuvers with the lower body. 

• One of the ways this is done is through the box step, covered thoroughly in the Leg Fencing series. To be honest, I don't think I processed the actual application of the box step the first time I viewed Leg Fencing.  This is a great example of how Scott's tapes reinforce one another.  IOUF helped me to understand properly just why the box step is useful.

• The linear/lateral shuffle is a means of side stepping.  It is not truly "shuffling."  The pelvis is used as the generator for the movement (and if you play this sequence on fast-forward, Scott moves eerily like Elvis).

• The slingshot is a renovation of the traditional shoot.  It draws back, establishes rooting (an important concept in both the martial arts I study), and fires forward.

• Screwing knees are a means of stepping forward and changing direction without taking consciously defined steps.  Use the knee as a generator to turn around in a fluid motion.  Once again, the pelvis generates the power for the motion.

For me, Volume 3 was the tape during which I finally "got it."  I finally understood the full implications of the IOUF series as I watched the discussion and demonstrations on the joint mass center.  

A fight, Scott explains, is a "biomotor relationship" with another person.  The joint mass center is the point between those two people that is their single center of balance.  Control that center of balance, that joint mass center, and you control the fight. 

Defensiveness, Scott points out, limits your training potential.  Two people in the clinch who are defensive each have two supporting legs.  (Such a stance is hard to break.)  At some point, one of the two will become aggressive and move from two supporting legs to one or two driving legs.  That individual becomes vulnerable as a result.

The most important concept in IOUF, I believe, is what Scott describes as redefining this biomotor relationship.  By taking the joint mass center, sinking into your opponent and using him as support for your mass, you control the middle.  Leg fencing, jacket fencing, and pelvic inertia come together (and came together for me in my understanding of them) here.  When you use your opponent in this fashion and take control of the joint mass center, he has two supporting legs, while you have a third supporting leg -- and, most importantly, a left over mobile leg.  That mobile leg gives you the advantage.

Another important idea discussed here is that of coming in perpendicular to the line connecting the opponent's two supporting legs.  When you do this, swinging your pelvis in, your "third" supporting leg (for in the clinch the two of you form a creature with four arms, four legs, and one center of balance) is in the triangle point.  This is what makes you an immovable object.  Scott explains and demonstrates how to move and keep your supporting leg in the triangle point, which makes it virtually impossible for you to be thrown.

"You're not throwing him," Scott asserts.  "You're throwing 'us.'"  While you are off your individual balance in the clinch like this, the two of you are not, because you have a single point of balance (the joint mass center).  Use your mobile leg to remove one of the opponent's supporting legs and you throw him at will.  Don't try to keep your own balance.  Use the opponent and take the joint mass center.

Lengthy demonstrations follow, in which Scott and his training partners work through fluid drills concerning taking or reclaiming (through such techniques as leg threading and the "sprawl") the joint mass center, throwing the opponent, and keeping the supporting leg in the triangle point to prevent being thrown.  Of particular interest in these segments is the notion of using your structure, sinking in under the joint mass center, to facilitate lifting.  A much smaller individual can lift a larger opponent with ease when using structure and positioning rather than muscle power.  We see this in action several times.

There are a series of demonstrations involving grasping the opponent, or being grasped, around the waist.  The importance of using the spine as a lever is discussed, too.  I mention this specifically because... and I am not making this up... this is the first instructional martial arts tape I have viewed that includes a demonstration of the atomic wedgie.

Grabbing Scott Fabel's belt, Coach Sonnon tells us that we should shove along the vector of the opponent's spine.  He manages to comment on ripping the opponent's pants clean off with a mostly straight face, even as he appears to be ripping the waistband of Fabel's pants clear off the man's body.  I think I saw a piece of the fabric on the floor during the following demonstrations.

Taking or reclaiming the joint mass center is the difficult part of this, Scott tells us.  Everything that happens after that is easy by comparison.  Put these principles into practice -- hyperfunction, quantum gripping, an understanding of force vectors, and a focus on the joint mass center -- and you will throw your opponent easily while stopping him from throwing you.  As I've said a few times now, the explanations may seem complex, but the scientific principles used are actually very simple in their applications.

"I intend to make you all a wonderful blend of neurogeek and knuckledragger," Scott explains.  "Expand your training vision.  That is the key to performance enhancement."

Read my review of IOUF, Tape 1