I have heard that brazilian ju-jitzu is great. I am really interested in trying it and I was wondering what people’s opinions are of it
You heard correct!! It is excellent … we don’t learn much striking, but everything else is covered. Plus you really learn how to fight from your back which is so important. I would definetly go for it. It’s a great workout too! Try to find out if there’s a Gracie Academy in your area.
hey thanks for the feedback, I’ll check it out. do you know of any website for the gracie academies?
I just started BJJ at a Gracie Academy over in Pleasant Hill, CA over two weeks ago. It’s a little pricey but well worth it. My thoughts are 1 day is not enough. It takes a lot of mat time to get the technique down. I am probably going to try goin at least 2-3 times a week.
As for a workout it would have to be pretty damn tuff. I was really winded after rolling around for 3 minutes.
The stuff I’m learning right now I love and only wish I had more time to go more. If you really want to get into a martial arts then BJJ would have to the best.
Has anyone out there found any good 10x10 mats for under 500?
Ugh, I love f’n BJJ and I want to get back into it sometime soon. THere are few greater feelings in the world than a faint tapping on your forearm when choking out an opponent.
“MB Eric: Patient about feeling the rush since 15 B.C.”
-Eric
if you check out bjj.org you can get a lot of good information and links to training facilities there.
Watch some early UFC’s and then some recent ones. Now that people understand cross training martial arts I would say the priorities for becoming a good tournament or street fighter are (1) punches and kicks (2) wrestling (shooting/takedowns/groundwork) (3) sumbissions. BJJ falls into 3 and would be my last priority in terms of getting basic skills cause you are unlikely to use submission if you cant do 1 and 2 pretty well. You can really do alot and become pretty formiddable with boxing alone. In terms of grappling, I think wrestling is key because in the real world the last thing you want is to be on your back on the ground, guard or no guard. Contrast this with BJJ contests where guys deliberatley go to the guard ???
If you want to learn how to fight than the first thing you should learn is Brazilion Jiu Jitsu. If you can’t grapple you can’t fight. Kicks are almost useless in a real fight. Punches are useless if you are scared of getting taken down. Striking would be the second thing you should learn. DRE: you obviously have never trained in BJJ if you think it is about nothing but pulling guard and submissions. It is also about positioning and escapes/reversals. Everyone who fights in the ufc trains in BJJ. A pure wreslter would lose to a pure BJJ practitoner at the same weight most of the time. What is the point of being an excellent boxer/puncher or kicker if you are on your back with a guy in the mount position smashing you in the face with elbows?
Steve, not sure if the URL will go through … my instructor’s site is armlock.com and I’m sure he’s got links on there to all the main sites. Good luck. You’re going to love it!
MM - I train a little in submissions and spar with them as my wrestling school is connected to a shooto class and a BJJ class, gives freedom when sparring, and alot of guys compete NHB. BJJ looked No 1 once when people werent properly crosstrained, now submissions arent as much of a factor, especially at the top levels, because guys are much less likely to just give up an arm, leg or choke. There are a lot of stoppages by punches and kicks and alot more inroads gained with them (ie for a takedown or a submission). Not to mention that a novice will fare better on the street (ie bar, concert, alley, 7-11) with punches and leg kicks. As far as grappling goes, my priority is to be on top, congnicent of submissions with a good defence, and mobile enough to pound. But Im happiest slugging it out watching for the shoot and would trade some grappling skill for even better striking skill. In such a fight a BJJ guy with inferior strikes and takedowns can look very one dimensional and is often happiest on his back hoping for a gift submission that never comes. Thats not to say submissions arent important as up to 60% of NHB fights end in submission, but they are now almost always the result of an accumulation of alot of strikes and grappling dominance. If you are BJJ only, its unlikely we will see eye to eye on this one. On another topic, for me, in terms of physicality and risk of injury in sparring, IMHO nothing comes close to sparring with wrestlers.
Just because you feel that you are more likely to get injured while sparring in wreslting doesn’t mean anything. The reason there is much more striking in the UFC is because everyone is so good at grappling that they cancel each other out. BJJ is just like wreslting except for the submissions and more of a focus on the ground than takedowns. Do you think BJ Penn is one dimensional? He is probably the best MMA in the world pound for pound. I would not give up grappling ability for more striking ability. It is not unusual to see BJJ white belts taking out black belts in striking arts with little problem. Every body can punch to some degree, not everyone can grapple. Now everyone is crosstraining in BJJ (you would be stupid if you didn’t). In MMA crosstraining is the key. Against the untrained person on the street BJJ is king.
How can you say that submissions are not much of a factor if 60% of fights end with a submission? A BJJ guy is going to use strikes to help them get the submission in MMA, it is only natural. Just because you strike to set up a submission doesn’t mean you are not using BJJ. Striking and BJJ complement each other well but I would put more emphasis on BJJ. No one on the street expects you to take them down and a choke is a good way to take a person out without hurting them. There are BJJ who have great takedowns. Of course if you don’t crosstrain you will lose in NHB and MMA but against people on the street BJJ will be fine.
i would agree that bjj is the best place to start.bjj is definatlely not just jumping to guard anymore. but we can fight from our backs better that anyone, we need this just incase ther is a big size difference. ive been training for a few years and its what all things should be based around. i also do muay thai and some wrestling to round it out but bjj is the glue.with kimono, vale tudo or submision wrestling, i love it all. the best pure bjj site is www.intheguard.com
DRE: Also the shooto class you are talking about could be suspect. I have a friend who is a green belt in japenes jiu jitsu. He went to a shooto place because where he went to school did not have jiu jitsu. He went in there and beat everyone including the instructor with submissions.
Go some place where you can get personal attention (probably not a Gracie school). Train minimum 5x a week if you’re serious about learning.
-Tony
We could debate this forever - but actions speak louder than words so how about an ACTION THREAD - for the purposes of the thread lets assume you are advanced BJJ, intermediate wrestling and beginner strikes and I am advanced striking, intermediate wrestling and beginner submissions. As they say in UFC “lets get it on”. Dre resists the temptation to use come flying out of the blocks and use a thrusting front kick to take MM down, instead using a boxers stance with front leg bent. Dre starts to deliver balanced leg kicks to MM’s front leg to off balance MM for a takedown and choke or to set up a right cross or a nice left or right hook, watching for a BJJ/intermediate wrestler’s less penetrating shoot which it will match level and push back from or, worse still, guilotine. Being sensible (ie no supposed flying arm bar ripping my arm of and bludgeoning me with it) what you gonna do now :)??
Call me Mr. Humble. I’ll preface this by saying that all arts have their benefits and downsides. If a grappling goes in for a double leg and get a fat punch in the face and they go down, that’s bad. If a puncher/kicker gets in a clinch and has loss use of his weapons, that’s bad too. A mix of both is good. Watch the UFCs. Where it is true that most of the time grapplers win, watch some of the strikers get a good punch or kick in. Hell, the first one the Savate guy (striker) got all the way to Gracie at the end. I love the martial arts. They are my life. To summarize what could take me all night. I have been training in stand up fighting for about 12 years. My groundfighting is still in its infancy, maybe about 3 years. To summarize why I tell you this. If I were to take my 12 years stand up experience versus and BJJ stylist that has say 2 years experience, I would be scared. That’s why I’m learning BJJ now. As far as the workout benefits goes, not to sound like a mother but you get out of it what you put into it. I would also recommend www.mixedmartialarts.com
I would have to agree w/dre on this one.
MM missed a keyword in his statement 'everyone crosstrains in BJJ. Sure they do. But, they also crosstrain Muay Thai, wrestling ect. I have met many BJJ only stylist when hit panic and flounder. There are zero Bjj ‘purest’ dominating the NHB world. In fact I don’t know any Black belts who don’t cross train. That’s why the game has changed.ie Not just the guaRD.
Hi, everyone…
I have read this tread with great interest, but I was wondering; What about Judo? I have been practicing Judo for 12 years, and like it a lot. But living in Denmark, I haven’t heard much about BJJ. What’s the difference, and is BJJ any better than Judo?
There are no pure styles dominating MMA or NHB anymore. Dre leg kicks are easy to block and good luck catching a advanced BJJ guy in a guilotine. A clinch is not difficult to get even the fastest strikers in the world get clinched by nobodies.