BJJ question

[TMA17]

 

[now disabled]

Sorry for the confusion... there is a reason I don't write for a living.
The point I was trying to make was that avoiding the take down may not always be possible.

You are correct. They are different situations. In a ring situation, you know who your opponent is, well ahead of time (usually). You can watch video of them and learn how good they are at taking people down and even how they take people down. You can spend the entire training camp just preparing to stop that opponents take down. Still, you end up being taken down. So, if you can't always stop the take down, with all the advantages of a ring fight: knowing who you are fighting, how they do their take downs and having time to train to specifically stop those take downs... Why should I think that I can always stop the take down of some guy I don't know anything about and could not train specifically for in a self defense situation? Since you can't stop the take down 100% of the time, in the easier (ring) situation, with all those advantages... I don't believe you can 100% stop the take down in a self defense situation. In fact, I believe it will be harder to stop a take down in a self defense situation.

This is why I think it is more important to learn to work on the ground, especially if you are training for self defense. In the ring, you can tap out and go home. That is not always available in the self defense situation.

I see where your going, I think.

There is nothing 100% in anything

 

[Hanzou]

If the Bjj gym you're attending is worth its salt (and I know it is), its going to teach you takedowns, throws, and striking defenses along with an extensive amount of ground fighting. In your case, the Bjj gym you're attending even has a striking class, so even that base is covered.

The general philosophy behind Bjj is relatively simple and practical: If you're in a physical confrontation with someone, it almost always leads to a clench situation. It's the clench, not the guard where Bjj is supposed to begin. Relson Gracie once said "If you don't have a good clench, then you don't have good Jiujitsu", and standard SD Bjj is supposed to teach you multiple ways of gaining the upper hand in a clench situation. From the clench you can choke, throw, or perform a takedown. However, if you happen to get taken down by your assailant, you'll have excellent tools available to quickly regain control.

However, let's talk about the (closed) guard: The guard is simply one of the greatest innovations in Martial Arts bar none. Anyone who tells you differently is lying to themselves. The guard teaches you how to gain control in one of the worst positions in a confrontation short of being under a mount, and makes it into a neutral to dominant position. From the guard, you can sweep, choke, break, pin, stand, etc. Any grappling system that doesn't teach the guard is lacking, period. It's so genius that other martial arts erroneously teaches defenses against it even though the guard itself is mainly a defensive position and you would never encounter it in a SD situation unless you're attacking and dominating someone who studies Bjj or MMA. Frankly, even if you don't go with the BJJ gym, I would at least try to attend enough classes where you learn the guard. It's vital for SD IMO.

In the end, I never want to be on the ground in a SD situation either, which is why I practiced the MA that allows me to control that range of fighting so if I ever end up on the ground I can control the situation and get into a dominant position as quickly as possible.

 

[pdg]

I took my first BJJ class at 41 years old.

I didn't know BJJ had been going that long

 

[Buka]

If the Bjj gym you're attending is worth its salt (and I know it is), its going to teach you takedowns, throws, and striking defenses along with an extensive amount of ground fighting. In your case, the Bjj gym you're attending even has a striking class, so even that base is covered.

The general philosophy behind Bjj is relatively simple and practical: If you're in a physical confrontation with someone, it almost always leads to a clench situation. It's the clench, not the guard where Bjj is supposed to begin. Relson Gracie once said "If you don't have a good clench, then you don't have good Jiujitsu", and standard SD Bjj is supposed to teach you multiple ways of gaining the upper hand in a clench situation. From the clench you can choke, throw, or perform a takedown. However, if you happen to get taken down by your assailant, you'll have excellent tools available to quickly regain control.

However, let's talk about the (closed) guard: The guard is simply one of the greatest innovations in Martial Arts bar none. Anyone who tells you differently is lying to themselves. The guard teaches you how to gain control in one of the worst positions in a confrontation short of being under a mount, and makes it into a neutral to dominant position. From the guard, you can sweep, choke, break, pin, stand, etc. Any grappling system that doesn't teach the guard is lacking, period. It's so genius that other martial arts erroneously teaches defenses against it even though the guard itself is mainly a defensive position and you would never encounter it in a SD situation unless you're attacking and dominating someone who studies Bjj or MMA. Frankly, even if you don't go with the BJJ gym, I would at least try to attend enough classes where you learn the guard. It's vital for SD IMO.

In the end, I never want to be on the ground in a SD situation either, which is why I practiced the MA that allows me to control that range of fighting so if I ever end up on the ground I can control the situation and get into a dominant position as quickly as possible.

I so loved closed guard. More than ice cream, even.

 

[TMA17]

The class was great. Warm up drills were great. Started off with some basic striking. Then we moved to takedown from a front bear hug. We then worked on 3 or 4 ground moves (I can't remember the names or positions. It's still all so new to me).

I really enjoyed it so I signed up. It's month to month so at any point I need to stop I can. Instructor was great and everyone there was really nice.

I've never done any grappling at all other than wrestling my younger brother when I was about 10 years old LOL. So this was very new and very different. I don't have much martial arts experience other than WC for a few months and a brief 3 month MMA gym where we worked on striking.

What I liked most about it, and this may make no sense but it's how I perceived it, is the actual resistance and close quarter aspect of it. Feeling what it's like to be taken down or having to fight out of a move. Hip movement and just being dynamic on the ground. That sense of realism seems very valuable. My .02.

 

[Buka]

The class was great. Warm up drills were great. Started off with some basic striking. Then we moved to takedown from a front bear hug. We then worked on 3 or 4 ground moves (I can't remember the names or positions. It's still all so new to me).

I really enjoyed it so I signed up. It's month to month so at any point I need to stop I can. Instructor was great and everyone there was really nice.

I've never done any grappling at all other than wrestling my younger brother when I was about 10 years old LOL. So this was very new and very different. I don't have much martial arts experience other than WC for a few months and a brief 3 month MMA gym where we worked on striking.

What I liked most about it, and this may make no sense but it's how I perceived it, is the actual resistance and close quarter aspect of it. Feeling what it's like to be taken down or having to fight out of a move. Hip movement and just being dynamic on the ground. That sense of realism seems very valuable. My .02.

You are going to have soooo much fun. Good for you, bro.

 

[hoshin1600]

It's so genius that other martial arts erroneously teaches defenses against it even though the guard itself is mainly a defensive position and you would never encounter it in a SD situation unless you're attacking and dominating someone who studies Bjj or MMA.

this is not really accurate. back in the 70"s as a kid we would wrestle all the time and the guard comes naturally (not as refined as it is now but still the same guard) its so natural in fact that men and women have been taking up that position for about 200 thousand years.

 

[Hanzou]

this is not really accurate. back in the 70"s as a kid we would wrestle all the time and the guard comes naturally (not as refined as it is now but still the same guard) its so natural in fact that men and women have been taking up that position for about 200 thousand years.

Yes, its been a basic grappling move that's been used for centuries in wrestling. However it was Bjj that revolutionized the move to what it is today.

 

[Buka]

Completed unrelated, but wanted to share this story because it's kind of funny. Under our uniform shirts we have to wear white, dark blue of black t-shirts. My clothes are packed as I'm heading out to vacation next week. I had to find an old white t-shirt from my closet.

Last night I was working the TSA checkpoint when a couple of TSA folks came up to me and told me there were two "really scary looking guy"s coming through. I asked, "and are these two really scary looking guys doing anything wrong?" They said no, but just wanted me to be aware.

I finally see them. They're big, in shape, and serious looking. And I know they're Brazilian, and I know they're Jits guys, I can just tell. As they approach I see their backpack with a Carlos Gracie logo. As they're about to walk by me, I open my uniform shirt and say, Ola, fellas.

Oh, we were like long lost brothers, high fiving, hugging, laughing, talking jits and what not. The same two TSA folks came up to me again a few minutes later. I told them the guys were my cousins Rafael and Enzo. And that they thought you guys were sort of cute.