I have learned a great deal about managing distance with an attacker, whether armed or not. I found Krav hand to hand techniques and Paul Sharp's seminar at Rangemaster taught me a lot about weapons disarm and weapon retention. To me these are a necessary part of self defense. Having the training to know how to react given on the distance from the attacker or attackers is also critical.
Cody
That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state;
I am going to try to be careful here because I can easily find myself proselytizing about BJJ, but LL makes excellent points.Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
BJJ not only addresses a particular realm of fighting, it is really good at getting you into true fighting shape. While doing cardio separately is good (I do it myself), nothing is better at getting you into fighting shape like fighting. And the physical demands of entangled fighting are different than fighting at longer range. There is an amazingly long list of people who I have seen come to train Jiu-jitsu and are in good cardio shape who gas out within two minutes when they start. We just had in a guy who runs a Crossfit gym and runs all their classes who threw up during his first class at our place.
Another feature about BJJ that is rarely discussed is that it also helps with the standing clinch. I would argue that being able to fight functionally in the vertical entanglement may be the most important part of the fight. The best place to train that is a wrestling gym. And in a perfect world, that would be somewhat easy. Unfortunately, it is not. The chance of being able to find a wrestling gym that would be willing to train a non-competition seeking adult is about as good a chance as finding a pistol instructor who can teach DA/SA trigger manipulation well. You might be blessed to have one close by, but most likely not. With the popularity of BJJ, it is far more easy to find a good BJJ school.
So you can train groundwork and get into fighting shape AND get better at clinch, because there are a number of places in that area where the movements and techniques and strategies transfer directly to the standing attachment. Working butterfly guard, half-guard, or closed guard has aspects where you could turn 90 degrees and the actions are identical to regular clinch work. Plus if you are lucky enough to find a BJJ school that focuses on throws and takedowns, it is even more a direct help.
You do need a decent coach who can point those things out because it is not always obvious. But just as a knowledgable coach can help you apply BJJ specifically to the weapons based environment, they can also help bring out those aspects that can aid clinch work.
Sorry if I went on a ramble. I try to watch it, but I can go overboard with jiu-jitsu. My wife usually just tells me to shut up.....
Thank you Cecil, great post!
There are 7 guys in our Dojo/gym.
In terms of serious injuries we have had a cracked rib on the one guy and damaged knee ligaments on the other guy.
I personally have had cracked ribs, but generally its heavily bruised ribs that take two to three weeks to come right, but the worst has been my wrist injury... after three years its still not 100% right.
Unfortunately it's more than one person contributing to the problems.
But I'm not sure if I am over reacting?
We do a lot of groundwork, at least once a week, so we do train in that aspect, it's specifically Judo groundwork, which if i'm not mistaken BJJ is based on.
One of the reasons I have continued to train there is because I am getting all three aspects covered, striking, clinch and groundwork.
Thanks for all the advice everyone.
Hmm, small group and is it safe to surmise not a lot of leadership? Sounds like either testosterone poisoning or, if you are the new guy or something, the low guys on the totem pole gets used as an ambulatory heavy bag. I think rather than stop training you should be looking for a place that can tell the difference between sore and injured.
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Lets start with typewriters."
Frank Lloyd Wright
You should post more about jiu-jitsu. And everything else on your mind.
#RESIST
I think Hatchetman is on to something. If your school is really small, then a couple of things could be happening in my experience:
1) "the leader" started a school so he could have training partners, not because he really is passionate about teaching.
2) "the leader" is a 'school of hard knocks' guy who believes certain methods of modern training that minimize injury are for hipsters.
3) you have a great training group that just has too few people in it and therefore the law of averages just aren't in your favor.
I've heard somewhere that something like 90% of pro athletes play with some injury and that makes sense. You can't push the envelope that hard and often without accumulating some damage. This is why, as Cecil said, a good teacher will minimize these issues.
Fairness leads to extinction much faster than harsh parameters.
Concur. Based on seeing CB teach, I think he's exactly the sort of H2H/bJJ teacher most would be lucky to have, if they could.
Thanks dude. I try to engage where I can (hopefully) add something to the conversation. I will try to step up a bit more.
Also a strong possibility that the leader might not be as experienced or knowledgeable as he should be perhaps. There are a lot of these type of small training groups around, which is generally positive. A group like this might be started because there is no place around to do the desired type of training, and you have to take matters into your own hands. One drawback to this though is that sometimes the members of the group or even the head of the group does not have the training and background to adequately run the training.
Again, if there is a constant occurrence of serious injuries and it is not the result of the same person's actions, then I would look to the gym head. I myself would most likely not be training with that group.
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