I'll start out with what didn't -- it was by far the best organized and best instructed class on *anything* I have ever attended. The pedagogy, congruency, and intentionality of everything that Craig & Brian showed was at a whole different level than anything else I've experienced as far as pure instruction quality.
I'll also say that (because I've been cyberstalking Craig's curriculum for over a decade before taking the class), the core of the lessons of the limitations of sport jiu jitsu into a weapons based environment did not surprised me, *even though* they got me stabbed in the taint and shot in the leg in my first evolutions. I am too comfortable in guard, I ignore hands too much... I had those in mind, but that wasn't enough to save my ass vs years of muscle memory.
No, the things that surprised were weird differences that ended up being kind of huge in live action...
- Doing jiu jitsu in work boots *sucks*". Getting hooks in and controlling with them felt like playing piano in a cast.
- Hand control really modifies positions. I achieved back control, but in much too high of a position, which I would normally adjust half a dozen different ways -- and none of them were an option because both my arms were extended locking out my opponent's arm so he would stop stabbing me.
- A gun (at least carried strong side) introduces an extreme level of asymmetry that is not present in normal grappling. An arm drag on my right will result in an immediate weapon access. An arm drag on my left is no better or worse than it is in grappling. It seems a simple training change to try to make my "good" side for a move the side that lets me get to the gun.
- The fake guns, knives, and helmets didn't affect the years of conditioning for "this is a game." I was playing. I got fake shot/stabbed "aww, you got me." On the one hand... hurrah, stress inoculation! I was only breathing hard after some of the evolutions because of the damn helmets. On the other hand... maaaybe I need to find a way to pay more focussed attention to the fact that I'm losing and losing means BAD THINGS, not just a slap bump & try again. Not sure how to bring that mindset into my training more, but I think I need to find a way to.
I will admit, I have resisted integrating too much "self defense" stuff into my regular jiu jitsu training. *Primarily* because I didn't trust local instruction to be quality. I didn't want to "grab some fake knives and figure things out" because I was pretty sure that was whatever I was going to "figure out" was going to be magic bullshit that only worked because my opponent didn't know the simple counter. And the available instruction seemed even worse (and somehow... all taught by weirdos?)
This course changed my mind. The fundamental principles they showed make me feel like maybe I can "trust" some of the stuff we might figure out on the mat. I'm excited to pick up some blue guns & rubber knives and go to town with my jiu jitsu friends. It also made me really wish that it was reasonable to have regular courses where we continue beyond the basics. That is the biggest advantage, to me, that jiu jitsu has over gun training -- you don't save up and travel for a couple weekend classes, you show up every day and drill and spar. What does *that* look like in this context -- what does the advanced class look like?
I want ADCC for entangled gunfights and training camps for it is what I'm saying. Get FloGrappling on the phone and let's make this happen ;-)
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Originally Posted by eaglefrq
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