Maryland Systema Offers Specialized Training for Law-Enforcement Professionals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Takoma Park, MD — March 25, 2023 — Maryland Systema announced the availability of specialized training for law-enforcement officers and other public-safety professionals interested in improving movement, situational awareness, breathing, balance, and control during physical encounters.

The training is intended to supplement—not replace—department-approved defensive-tactics instruction, legal training, firearms training, or established agency policies. Programs can be adjusted to reflect the responsibilities, equipment, working environment, and experience of the participating group.

Training for Uncertain and Changing Conditions

Law-enforcement officers frequently work in environments where distance closes quickly, emotions are elevated, movement is restricted, and several people may be present.

Maryland Systema training examines how posture, breathing, awareness, movement, and decision-making affect performance when physical pressure increases.

Training subjects may include:

• Recognizing changes in posture, distance, movement, and behavior
• Maintaining awareness of hands, exits, obstacles, and nearby people
• Managing breathing during effort, fatigue, and physical contact
• Protecting balance while being pushed, pulled, grabbed, or restrained
• Moving effectively in confined or crowded areas
• Maintaining mobility while wearing duty equipment
• Responding to close physical pressure
• Ground movement and returning to the feet
• Awareness involving weapons and multiple people
• Protecting a colleague, member of the public, or person in custody
• Applying measured force and stopping when the need ends

Exercises begin with a clearly defined problem and an agreed level of contact. Resistance, speed, uncertainty, and environmental complications may be increased as participants demonstrate greater awareness and control.

“Officers often have to make important decisions while working at close range and under considerable physical pressure,” said Jim Eglin, founder and Chief Instructor of Maryland Systema. “Our training gives participants another way to examine breathing, balance, movement, and positioning when conditions do not follow a planned sequence.”

Situational Awareness and Positioning

Physical action is only one part of a law-enforcement encounter. Positioning can affect what an officer sees, the amount of time available to respond, and whether other people can safely move through the area.

Participants may examine how to maintain awareness of:

• Another person’s hands and body position
• Possible weapons or improvised objects
• Bystanders and additional involved individuals
• Walls, vehicles, furniture, stairs, and other obstacles
• Available exits and routes of movement
• The position of a partner or responding officer
• Changes in tone, behavior, and level of cooperation

The purpose is not to prescribe one response for every encounter. It is to help participants recognize changing conditions and adjust their position before their movement becomes restricted.

Breathing and Control During Physical Effort

People commonly hold their breath, raise their shoulders, narrow their attention, or become rigid when physical pressure increases. These reactions can interfere with movement and make fatigue more difficult to manage.

Systema uses breathing as a practical way to monitor effort and recognize unnecessary tension. Participants may practice maintaining their breathing while moving, working from the ground, carrying weight, receiving controlled pressure, or completing partner exercises.

Breathing does not eliminate stress or guarantee calm decision-making. It provides feedback about the body’s reaction and may help participants recover more efficiently after demanding physical work.

Controlled Partner Training

Solo exercises cannot reproduce another person’s timing, weight, resistance, and changing direction. For that reason, Maryland Systema uses supervised partner work and progressive pressure.

Participants may work against pushing, pulling, grabbing, crowding, restraint, and other forms of close physical contact. The goal is not to defeat a training partner. Each participant provides an honest problem while maintaining control and protecting the learning process.

Exercises can reveal habits such as:

• Holding the breath
• Leaning too far
• Locking the knees or elbows
• Reaching without moving the feet
• Focusing on one hand or one person
• Using maximum force before understanding the direction of pressure
• Stopping movement after the first contact

Once these habits become visible, participants can work on restoring breathing, improving position, and using the amount of effort the immediate task requires.

De-Escalation and Responsible Use of Force

Maryland Systema training emphasizes that physical ability must remain connected to judgment and responsibility.

Depending on the circumstances, an appropriate response may involve communication, repositioning, creating distance, waiting for assistance, protecting another person, controlling movement, or using physical force.

Training does not provide legal advice or attempt to replace an agency’s policies and procedures. Officers must act according to applicable law, departmental policy, and their authorized training.

The purpose of Maryland Systema’s supplemental instruction is to help participants examine how awareness, movement, breathing, balance, and control remain connected during rapidly changing encounters.

Customized Workshops and Private Instruction

Training may be provided as:

• Introductory workshops
• Focused defensive-movement classes
• Multi-part training programs
• Small-group instruction
• Private lessons for individual professionals
• Scenario-based movement and awareness training

Programs can be adjusted according to group size, available space, equipment, time constraints, desired contact level, and the responsibilities of the participating organization.

Maryland Systema is available to speak with law-enforcement agencies, training coordinators, public-safety organizations, and individual officers interested in supplemental instruction.

About Maryland Systema

Maryland Systema provides practical adult self-defense training based on awareness, breathing, movement, balance, controlled contact, and responsible decision-making.

Founder and Chief Instructor Jim Eglin began training in Systema in 2013 and earned his Full Systema Instructor Certification in 2019 under Vladimir Vasiliev. He renewed his certification in 2022 and 2024.

His broader training includes more than five years of Krav Maga through Krav Maga Worldwide, Krav Maga Global, and Krav OZ. He has also trained in Judo, Knight Jiu-Jitsu®, and Boxing.

Maryland Systema offers regular adult group classes in Rockville and Takoma Park, Maryland. Private lessons, workshops, and specialized training are available throughout the Washington, DC area.

For information about specialized training for law-enforcement professionals, visit marylandsystema.com or contact:

Press Contact

Jim Eglin
Founder and Chief Instructor
Maryland Systema
301-326-9146
jim@marylandsystema.com