BJJ

[James Bond]

I'm thinking about taking a BJJ class. Is it useful for self defence/shit hits the fan? Or would plain Ju Jitsu be better for that.

What should I look for in a school?

Right now I'm taking Krav Maga once a week and sparring Muay Thai/bag training once a week.

[stone]

I'm not well versed in any martial arts but if you put up what you're actually looking to take away from the experience I think that would help others point you in a better direction. Are you just looking for self defence/SHTF stuff or are you wanting something else?

[Cupid]

I recommend training at least twice a week until you have a strong base in that martial art.

If your doing it to just stay in shape, then nevermind.

Edit: And yes it is useful.

[Maestro]

BJJ > JJ

And like Cupid said, once a week isn't going to do much.

[James Bond]

Ok. Makes sense to train more often.

I found a place that has lunch time classes everyday, which fits my night owl work schedule.

http://graciewinnipeg.com/

I'm going to check this place out next week. What's your gut impression from the website?

[James Bond]

Thanks for the advise.

I went to a class today and tried out Gracie BJJ. Looks really cool. Brutal actually

But not really what I'm looking for. Seems like a really high injury rate for a sport, and learning how to defend myself. My elbow is sore now even after tapping out. Sure the locks work. But once you feel pain you're fucked. I'd rather be able to feel pain and then stop. Works too well in my opinion. I have no doubt that you can really fuck someone up with BJJ. But I feel like I'd get really fucked up learning how. Not willing to accept that risk.

The guys I trained with were really helpful and I left with a good impression of the place, but I don't think I'll be going back though for the reasons above.



Instead, I'm going to take KM more often to get better like you guys suggested. I feel like it's a lot more relevant to defending myself and others. I learned some grappling stuff in KM but couldn't really put it to use in BJJ cause the moves are illegal ( eye pokes and ear grappling, head and groin strikes....) In a real street fight though, they work great. This is more what I'm looking for.

[O'Malley]

Train in whatever MA, provided YOU feel it fits you the best. Every martial art/sport will help you when you have to defend yourself.
If you like Krav Maga, then do Krav Maga

[krept]

I have some thoughts on this but will try to keep it brief

First, injuries are possible when you train in simulated combat. The big difference in sparring while grappling from striking is that the pressure is much more controlled. With BJJ, a GOOD place will take a new person to the side and have a talk about what tapping is and when to tap. If you wait until you feel pain, naturally that will be hard on your joints. This is the reason that beginning mantra is, "tap early, tap often." Once you and your partner understand how much pressure it takes to make the technique effective, that pressure does not (and should not) need to be replicated each time. You tap before there is pain to preserve your SELF.

Many times people are injured because they spaz out. In a rush to not loose position during a scramble, people will compensate for a hole in their game (or complete lack of technique) in transitions by speeding up. Let's say two new people are rolling (new people really should not spar because of this) and one gets the mount. The person on the bottom freaks out because they feel helpless and tries to bench press the other guy off. The person on the top desperately tries to hang on because he spent so much energy trying to get mount he feels like he will die if he is reversed.

This scenario is exactly how people get hurt. Thankfully, it's grappling! Imagine striking and someone spazzing and getting hit with a liver shot. Now imagine doing this instead with "illegal" or "deadly" techniques!

We know that combat sports like muay thai, boxing, judo, wrestling, etc. eliminate illegal techniques because they cannot be safely practiced during sparring. Thus, there is a separation between "sportive" arts that spar full speed with a reduced arsenal and martial arts that have a full arsenal, but lack full speed sparring (or do so with a ton of PPE).

I think the Dog Brothers provide a good example of training with reality in mind. They are under Machado JJ, but do a lot of stickwork that also applies to knives. They also do a LOT of gun work and Crafty Dog ccws a G26 (in California, at that).

I guess what I am trying to say here is that I would bet that the "sport" guys would be a lot more successful because of their training style... a boxer jabbing "open handed" to flick the eye... a muay thai guy hitting a teep to the balls... a BJJ guy getting the mount and rebounding the thug's head off the cement than a "deadly" martial artist somehow rising to the occasion and being able to successfully execute an illegal move for the first time against a resisting opponent in the heat of the moment.

The other angle is that you can take BJJ and rely on it primarily for empty hand for now and still suppliment your training with knife and gun work as I do. I don't know how well Krav Maga relies on force on force with wax or simunitions and such, but there is damn good training (e.g. airsoft) and reputable teachers that can show you the skinny without a lot of not so useful stuff (IMO).

If you look at the model Bravo is advocating... at least what I understand... BJJ, Kali and force on force style gunwork, I think you will really cover a lot of your self-defense needs and BJJ becomes one of the best combative workouts. I think instinctually you can always bite/eye gouge/nut shot but to rely on it and not train full speed is a recipe for disaster. Just my opinion!

BTW, the Humaita' lineage is very legit.

[James Bond]

I think BJJ is an awesome SPORT with some self defence applications. Ex. takedowns and if you somehow end up on the ground with the other guy and aren't incapacitated already.

I worked in a homeless shelter for a while and my brother worked there a lot longer. From our collective assessment of the street fights we saw, were involved in, and heard about/saw in the form of injured people, most of the fights took place standing up. The only reasons they went to the ground was the loser was exhausted or injured and just kept taking a pounding on the ground. also restraints on the ground while waiting for the police to come. I don't have a need for the latter any more so I feel my time is best spent learning stand up fighting with a little ground work to get out of a bad spot. My goal is to protect myself and others and get out. Rolling around on the ground too long will get me kicked in the head. Krav teaches you to shell up on the ground and get out when you can. This works for me. I don't need to score awesome points.

The Krav I'm doing involved full force training for non lethal moves. We use pads like in Muay Thai, boxing etc. I'm read other places that not all Krav is like this. I think the fact my instructor is ex military and an ex undercover agent has influenced his training style. He makes things very realistic.