Post: #1

Experts discover new gait pattern among top Russian officials





Experts have discovered a new gait pattern among several well-known top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The authors term this "gunslinger's gait" because it may be triggered by KGB or other forms of weaponry training.

The gait features a consistently reduced right-sided arm swing, highlighted in rich and compelling video material that accompanies the paper (see links below).
Writing in the Christmas issue of The BMJ, they say this distinct walk could be mistaken for early Parkinson's disease and they advise doctors to keep this in mind when assessing patients.

Movement disorders enthusiasts Professor Bas Bloem and colleagues often scrutinize the way people walk - and were struck to find several YouTube videos of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, showing a clearly reduced right-sided arm swing on a series of different occasions.
Reduced arm swing can be a sign of early Parkinson's disease, raising the question whether Putin - and the other Russian top officials - might all be in an early phase of this disease too.

Searching for other possible explanations, the team encountered a training manual of the former Russian KGB, giving the following instruction on how operatives should move in the field: "When moving, it is absolutely necessary to keep your weapon against the chest or in the right hand. Moving forward should be done with one side, usually the left, turned somewhat in the direction of movement."

The researchers wondered whether this could explain President Putin's gait, since he had received KGB training earlier in life.
If this were true, then it would be reasonable to expect a similar gait "abnormality" in other Russian officials who might have received similar instructions during weaponry training by the KGB or by other military or intelligence agencies.

They therefore performed a YouTube search for videos of other Russian officials, with surprising results.

An asymmetrically reduced arm swing was identified in several highly ranked Russian officials, including not only President Putin, but also current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, two former Ministers of Defence (Anatoly Serdyukov, and Sergei Ivanov) and Anatoly Sidorov, a highly ranked military commander.
Rather than interpreting this gait pattern as being pathological, "we feel that there is another - and perhaps more plausible - explanation, namely a behavioural adaptation resulting from military or intelligence training," write the authors.

Indeed, they found other examples of a reduced arm swing related to weaponry training. For example, cowboys of the Wild West, depicted in movies, also frequently have a reduced arm swing.

"We propose that this new gait pattern, which we term "gunslinger's gait", may result from a behavioural adaptation, possibly triggered by KGB or other forms of weaponry training where trainees are taught to keep their right hand close to the chest while walking, allowing them to quickly draw a gun when faced with a foe," they explain.
"This should be included in the differential diagnosis of a unilaterally reduced arm swing," they conclude.

More information: Paper: "Gunslinger's gait": a new cause of unilaterally reduced arm swing, http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.h6141
Video links to top Russian officials walking:

(for me the videos did not work in Chrome, only in IE)

Video 1: bcove.me/6dnnnqzp
Video 2: bcove.me/k8xj9xvy
Video 3: bcove.me/mtskr9uu
Video 4: bcove.me/mpgxlem7
Video 5: bcove.me/76icm8mq

Post: #2

Clint Eastwood's character was called "Manco" in "A Few Dollars More" because he always kept his right hand on his gun, and did everything, including lighting a match and his cigar, with his left hand only.

Post: #3

Post: #4

What that tells me is that it can be pretty easy to identify someone who's either

1) carrying a concealed weapon, or
2) had military-level firearms training.

That could be useful or dangerous information, depending on who's using it.

Post: #5

When I carry, I don't like to keep my hand or forearm too far away from my weapon, especially when moving through crowds. Nudging someone with a hard piece of metal or plastic in your waistband is going to draw attention. You can also drop your forearm to pinch it there if you an unknown is behind you.

These are habits that the vast majority of people do not pick up on because they are completely oblivious in their everyday lives, with zero situational awareness. They won't notice a thread until it's too late.

I highly encourage anyone that is going to carry a piece to find a group of knowledgeable men, preferably in a competitive environment, to learn more. There are several different national (in the US) groups that do such things.

Post: #6

(12-14-2015 11:00 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  When I carry, I don't like to keep my hand or forearm too far away from my weapon, especially when moving through crowds. Nudging someone with a hard piece of metal or plastic in your waistband is going to draw attention. You can also drop your forearm to pinch it there if you an unknown is behind you.

These are habits that the vast majority of people do not pick up on because they are completely oblivious in their everyday lives, with zero situational awareness. They won't notice a thread until it's too late.

I highly encourage anyone that is going to carry a piece to find a group of knowledgeable men, preferably in a competitive environment, to learn more. There are several different national (in the US) groups that do such things.

I know what you're talking about. When I carry (gear pictured below), I'm sure to make it doesn't end up in the wrong hands. That would be pretty embarrassing.

This means that my right hand is usually on my right side carefully protecting the little friend I keep concealed on my belt.



You can't put a price on protecting valuable lifestyle carry items from undesirable sorts who would probably post your journal entries online.

Post: #7

Putin is a highly trained martial artist in Judo/Sambo and Russian Systema. Swinging arms is a waste of energy. Not only that but your arms may be in the wrong position in the split second you need to block or disarm a weapon or strike. Real warriors watch all exits and trust no one.

Post: #8

(12-14-2015 11:43 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(12-14-2015 11:00 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  When I carry, I don't like to keep my hand or forearm too far away from my weapon, especially when moving through crowds. Nudging someone with a hard piece of metal or plastic in your waistband is going to draw attention. You can also drop your forearm to pinch it there if you an unknown is behind you.

These are habits that the vast majority of people do not pick up on because they are completely oblivious in their everyday lives, with zero situational awareness. They won't notice a thread until it's too late.

I highly encourage anyone that is going to carry a piece to find a group of knowledgeable men, preferably in a competitive environment, to learn more. There are several different national (in the US) groups that do such things.

I know what you're talking about. When I carry (gear pictured below), I'm sure to make it doesn't end up in the wrong hands. That would be pretty embarrassing.

This means that my right hand is usually on my right side carefully protecting the little friend I keep concealed on my belt.



You can't put a price on protecting valuable lifestyle carry items from undesirable sorts who would probably post your journal entries online.

Post: #9

As if Putin wasn't already cool enough. All of the Russian officials are probably concealed carrying at all times anyway.

Post: #10

(12-15-2015 04:57 PM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:  As if Putin wasn't already cool enough. All of the Russian officials are probably concealed carrying at all times anyway.

Do you mean that they have Trapper Keepers too?

Post: #11

(12-15-2015 10:51 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(12-15-2015 04:57 PM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:  As if Putin wasn't already cool enough. All of the Russian officials are probably concealed carrying at all times anyway.

Do you mean that they have Trapper Keepers too?

Something like this one.

Post: #12

Meanwhile: Scientists discover a new gait endemic to USA Congressmen and Senators, name it "anally raped man's gait".

Post: #13

It's gonna be awkward in WW3 when the USA millennials mature and are all "Fuck this technological materialistic cancer that robbed me of living. I want to live in bumfuck Russia with a not slut wife. We'll have a garden and I'll take my kids to school in a unimog.

Post: #14

I walk like that sometimes. Better than walking with a hunchback, headphones in eyes on ground idiot any day.

Post: #15

(12-16-2015 04:27 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Meanwhile: Scientists discover a new gait endemic to USA Congressmen and Senators, name it "anally raped man's gait".

Meanwhile in japan...