Martial Arts School Help

[JMusic]

I will say again. Learn to fight with your hands, learn sidekiks front kicks,round house, front and thrust kicks do not kick high. Arm bars even applied correctly can be overcome don't use them to control just to get them down. I am with the minority you do need to practice correctly but anything is better than nothing. Endurance is the fight. learn to fight with non leathal weapons. Canes, pool sticks, umbrelas, beer bottles salt shakers etc. Learn to realize when the talking is over waste no time crack them. If your a novice knock them down and run. I usually like to choke them some usualy till them get limp and pee there pants makes them and there boyfriends
they think twice about there inapropriate behavior.



Jim

 

[herkyguy]

Good choice with the BJJ. The limitation for BJJ is that you can only take on one opponent and if they are armed, many submissions will get you hurt. I say this because I've been training BJJ for 4 years and I love it. Most BJJ schools now also teach striking and wrestling, both of which will help tremendously. Things, in my opinion you should look for:

1. A school that's been around for a while. New 'MMA' schools are popping up everywhere now because it is rather trendy thanks to UFC. A school that's been around for a while should be a safer bet.

2. Good learning environment. Clean mats, plenty of space, friendly people.

3. Sparring will get you hurt. period. But you need to do it to understand your limitations.

4. Generally speaking, when it's a bunch of dudes in ill-fitting skin tight black t-shirts with skulls and wings printed all over them, you will not learn much from these folks.

It takes years, but it will teach you much more than just self defense. I highly recommend sticking with it. you will come out as a better person.

 

[roo_ster]

Lotsa good data above from folks with much more experience than I.

I have trained in a few different styles: Okinawan karate, Japanese Jui-Jitsu, old-school Army combatives, Brazilian JJ, and some kickboxing.

I learned a few things from that training and, well, getting older and more break-able my own self that don't seem to have been covered, yet.

1. Where are you in your life?

What is appropriate to train as an adolescent may not be something you can or want to do later in life. Some styles are more appropriate for the young, who can recover more quickly and who have the time on their hands.

2. How much are you willing to put into your training?

I liked the kickboxing training, but when two out of the three trainers I was working with had a speech impediment it dawned on me that I might be the one with the speech impediment in 10 years. I was not THAT into kickboxing to sacrifice the brain cells required to get very good at it. Sweat, pain, time...I am willing to shell that out. I'm not willing to get my head pounded that regularly. (OTOH, you really have to know how to take a strike and operate through it. Just don't make a habit of it, IMO.)

3. What are your goals?

Suggested above, but worth repeating.

4. How much baloney are you willing to put up with?

Most traditional MA have some cultural component: use of foreign counting systems, titles, names, etc. That is no big deal. But, some just go ga-ga and way overboard, IMO.

Non-traditional MA have their baloney components, too, that can get tiresome.

5. Enjoying your training can make up for other shortcomings in the particular style/circumstances.

Yes, you will have to put out effort, suck up pain, and all that. But, truly enjoying an art/style is worth a whole lot. Most importantly, if you enjoy it, you are likely to train more often. To run with some of the discussion above, if you enjoy boxing, but hate kickboxing, stick with plain ol' boxing for a good while. A skilled boxer is no chump, despite his lack of leg strike technique.