Scott Sonnon – Tactical Gymnastics
Hello my friend,
Iʼd like to speak candidly, without any hypeorstatistics.
Just you and I – for a moment – before you come inside and check out what Iʼve created for you.
If youʼre a first-timer, and you donʼt know who I am, allow me to introduce myself as one of the worldʼs leading researchers (and guinea pigs) on the nature of flow.
By “flow” I donʼt mean the kind of ethereal, nebulous kind of energy that people inthe healing disciplines discuss. Iʼm not disrespecting them, or you if youʼre from them; just stating that Iʼm not going to be sharing with you anything about any unseen forces. By flow, Iʼm referring to the concrete, quantifiable science of pain-free, effortless quality of movement.
My job is serving those who serve us and protecting those who protect us. Itʼs my honor to do this job. And in the process of doing this work, Iʼve had the privilege of studying with great masters around the world.
Iʼve spent the past 30 years exploring different movement modalities, the past 20 years studying them exhaustively, and the past 10 years refining my coaching skills to share the library of movement Iʼve learned from around the world.
Iʼve tested this out on myself first. Iʼve put it under the most difficult trials possible, placing myself in one combat sport after another – at an international championship level – to debug all the problems and plug all the gaps. And the data that Iʼve received from my personal application, as well as the ongoing feedback I receive from the agencies I consult, has forced me to evolve my coaching to the point of publishing Tactical Gymnastics.
Tactical Gymnastics can appear to have elements of Russian Systema, Chinese Bagua, Indonesian Silat, French Parkour, Persian Zurkhaneh, Brazilian Gymnastica Natural, and Indian Vyayam. However, after all these years of synthesis, I cannot remember where I first learned any one movement, which held primary influence or even how to differentiate movements any longer. And in many cases, I had to graft components
together to form new movements to meet the fighting needs of my students.
Itʼs easiest for me to refer to it as “our gymnastics” but since it appears too ambiguous a title, I adopted tactical gymnastics in honor of the martial heritage of my coaches. For me, thereʼs only incremental progression, biomechanical efficiency and specific preparedness: baby steps, flow and purpose. These three concentrations united all of the broad shoulders I stand upon.”
Tactical Gymnastics, I can say without reservation, is the pinnacle of my career in consolidating the principles and concepts of the science of flow into concrete, easy to follow, simple to progress building blocks of movement. I cannot promise you that youʼll become an overnight snake eater, or Musashi in a month. I cannot guarantee you that youʼll be able to levitate, throw fireballs, or teleport either.
