He deserted the Soviet Army after feeling the crushing weight of Russia's innate nature and its total destruction of freedom and dignity. Placed on the all-Union wanted list - "wanted" posters up in train stations - he turned himself in after a couple of months, out of pity for his mother, under pressure from the system, and served his time in a military prison, in solitary confinement. He was then exiled to an island - a Soviet Alcatraz, aptly named Russky ("Russian") - under the official prisoner category "prone to escape." In truth, that just meant a living man inclined toward freedom, unwilling to become a dead one.
He served his two years and returned to a country that had just broken apart, into the chaos now remembered as the "wild '90s": a total redistribution of territory and lawlessness, with a brief real attempt at national freedom. But the old Russian habit of installing a warden over oneself pulled everything back into the barracks - better fed, but barracks all the same - raising generations on a Stockholm syndrome of pride, patriotic blindness and hatred of the unfamiliar, really just an unhealed fear of freedom itself.
So he fled again. A childhood dream, finally realized: the author made it to Europe. For 25 years since, Sensei Max has taught people to defend themselves - street, gym, real situations where you either take the hit or you don't. Degree in combat sports coaching (MGAFK); postgraduate studies (RGUFK), dissertation on self-defense as a sociocultural phenomenon. Black belt, karate championship medalist, founder of the "Self-Defense 100%" club network.
Author of three traditionally published books (2005-2007). Hosted "Self-Defense" on Channel One, 100+ TV appearances. On YouTube since 2007, 80, 000+ subscribers. The real fight isn't on the street - it's inside: noise, anxiety, other people's goals passed off as your own. No lotus position, no sunrise-postcard wisdom - only what's tested on the body: discipline, breath, a direct look at fear. First you defend the body, then attention - in the end there's no one left to defend.
Since 2019 he lives in Bratislava, Slovakia, teaching meditation and attention online. Book "Vanishing Point" is a transcript-based edition of a live 21-day course taught to real students.
He served his two years and returned to a country that had just broken apart, into the chaos now remembered as the "wild '90s": a total redistribution of territory and lawlessness, with a brief real attempt at national freedom. But the old Russian habit of installing a warden over oneself pulled everything back into the barracks - better fed, but barracks all the same - raising generations on a Stockholm syndrome of pride, patriotic blindness and hatred of the unfamiliar, really just an unhealed fear of freedom itself.
So he fled again. A childhood dream, finally realized: the author made it to Europe. For 25 years since, Sensei Max has taught people to defend themselves - street, gym, real situations where you either take the hit or you don't. Degree in combat sports coaching (MGAFK); postgraduate studies (RGUFK), dissertation on self-defense as a sociocultural phenomenon. Black belt, karate championship medalist, founder of the "Self-Defense 100%" club network.
Author of three traditionally published books (2005-2007). Hosted "Self-Defense" on Channel One, 100+ TV appearances. On YouTube since 2007, 80, 000+ subscribers. The real fight isn't on the street - it's inside: noise, anxiety, other people's goals passed off as your own. No lotus position, no sunrise-postcard wisdom - only what's tested on the body: discipline, breath, a direct look at fear. First you defend the body, then attention - in the end there's no one left to defend.
Since 2019 he lives in Bratislava, Slovakia, teaching meditation and attention online. Book "Vanishing Point" is a transcript-based edition of a live 21-day course taught to real students.
