RFI: Finding a Jiu Jitsu gym

[GuanoLoco]

Russkis wear mukluks and they can't get out of them easily. On the mat there are some interesting clothing grabs you can pass over the oppo's neck for a choke or an arm bind, assuming you can do the passing to your bare toes. Wear sandals that you can strip off and maybe you can duplicate it on da streetz?

I have to admit Samba is a great method, but it's a young man's method - requires a lot of raw strength.

Some wrestling-style sport techniques in particular use a lot of strength, but otherwise it looks a lot like Judo/Jujitsu/etc. Technique is king. There are lots of flavors of Sombo/Sambo too - military/combat, self-defense, police, sport.

[Will_H]

Huh, are the wrestling ear protector headgear taboo in some BJJ places? I see people wearing them, but I haven’t seen wrestling shoes on the mat since my early 90’s JKD Concepts cotton t shirts and sweatpants days. Apologies for the thread drift.

I have worn them from time to time while I was draining cauliflower ear, so I could train more while the ear healed. in my limited experience, it is kinda looked at by a few BJJ people as kinda silly or wussy, but those tend to be the people that wear cauliflower ear as a proud badge of honor. Several people I trained with did so to keep from getting cauliflower ear out of an abundance of caution. I never worried too much about it and just tried to keep it adjusted properly when I did wear it. I don't think it's that big of a deal.

[RyanM]

Just to post a follow up, got back from vacation and took my first jiu jistu class last night. A few observations: I felt like a fish out of water (to be expected), the conditioning stuff at the beginning was a good workout, and learning techniques was a lot of fun. We didn't do any rolling which, from what I understand, isn't that uncommon for beginner level class. All in all, had a great time and I think I've found a new hobby. Thanks again for all of the info, everybody.