Contrast the previous with the following characteristics of street grappling:
You are in an environment which is unknown, unpredictable and possibly uncomfortable.
You have no choice as to the time of day the fight occurs.
You did not choose to go to the ground.
You have no idea who your attacker is in most cases, and you are unaware of his strengths and weaknesses.
You don’t know how long the fight will last.
You’re grappling on a hard, “contaminated” surface such as asphalt, concrete, dirt or sand-and it may not be level.
You have no protective gear.
Your attacker can strike, bite and eye gouge.
Your attacker is attempting to injure or kill you.
You may have sustained a serious injury.
You may face a weapon.
You may face multiple attackers.
You may face an attacker who is under the influence if a mind-altering substance…
You are wearing clothing that inhibits your movement (jacket, torn shirt, ballistic vest, wet clothes, etc).
You have little or no opportunity to rest, and you are losing fluids fast.
You are starting to lose emotional control as panic and pain set in.
You have friends or loved ones whom you must protect.
You absolutely cannot tap out.
The article goes on to describe how to incorporate realism into your training. All in all, this mag is a good read for those who want to be "badass". It highlights systems like Krav Maga, Defendo, SCARS, etc.
The only way to be a badass street fighter is to get in street fights. The toughest guy I know has never once set foot in a dojo. He came from a family where he got shit from his father if he ever backed down from a fight. So from about 6th grade on, any time he was challenged, he fought. I’d say he’s been in 200-300 street/bar fights by now. I can’t remember the last time he lost a fight one-on -one.
Of course, he’s got a court record as long as your arm for fighting and he’s done time for assault. He’s also been sued before by a guy who picked a fight with him and got his ass kicked. So, that’s how you get to be a badass. Fight. Just understand that you face the possibility of jail time and lawsuits. Or, worse, some little bitch who’s ass you kicked and is now back with a weapon.
coyote,
I believe it was Tinman who was trying to find out how to become a badass. I am not striving at this time to become what most would consider to be a badaas. I feel a badass would be someone who could meet any challenge and also have a reputation with others of one who should not be challenged. I have a great opportunity to learn many styles at my current gym: jkd, muy thai, brazillan jujitsu, and savate. I have only been taking classes for a week and this is too early to choose my favorite style but I am definetely putting more focus into jkd and bjj. I will keep everyone posted on which styles are of most benefit.
I can’t believe a dumb ol’ pro rassler like me is the first one to suggest it but if you want to be in great shape for martial arts its essential that you pick up “Combat COnditioning” by Matt Furey. He is a former NCAA and NAIA amatuer wrestling champion AND the only AMerican to ever win a gold medal in the Martial Arts in CHina. he practices some kung fu variation. He also has 3 or 4 books on submission manuevers.
If you have an independent bookstore in your town, they may have or can order for you another book called “Kill as catch can: wrestling skills for street fighting” by Ned Beaumont and put out by Breakout Publications. Pretty cool book.
JJ, welcome to the forum. I am assuming you are relatively new here, because the forum has had quite a few posts about CC and Furey. We’ve had entire threads going from the likes of Nate Dogg, Mike Mahler (who even did an article for t-mag), myself and others. The book has gotten mixed reviews but it seems that most everyone who has tried the exercises has gotten good results.
PS - Just some questions for JJ. What kind of “pro wrasslin’” do you do? Regional circuit type stuff, larger federations (ECW, WWF, etc)? Have you gone to wrestling school? I have the greatest respect for wrasslers, for their athleticism and for their ability to withstand so much physical abuse, yet continue to entertain. I’d love to do it, but I think my 5’10", 200lbs @ 12% bf, puny body couldn’t take it. That’s okay, I’m practicing submission grappling now. But who knows…I only live a couple of hours away from Afa (the wild samoan)'s wrestling school…
Hey Warrior. Yeah, I have noticed some posts where they mention Furey, but since I only visit about 1x a week, I must have missed some of the big ones you mentioned. I really should come here more often, this is the best board around.
As far as rasslin, I strted out training at Killer Kowalski’s in Boston. The school was a huge letdown. I don’t want to get into it here but I posted 2 MASSIVE posts about all the problems associated with at wrestleline.com’s forum and thesmarks.com forum. They are entitled “KOwalski’s school-Stay away 1 and 2”.
I trained for over a year, felt like I was wasting time. In 2 weeks however, i am moving to CIncinnati, OH to continue training at Les Thatcher’s HWA school. This was the school featured on MTV’s special “So you wanna be a pro wrestler” and on 20/20 as well. Great school, Les is a great guy. So, right now I’m at the indy level and just trying to get better and to look better.
As far as Afa’s school, the downside is nobody has come out of there except for Billy Kidman, as far as I know. There’s not really much of a buzz about it. The upside is if you’re in Penn., that’s a great state for wrestling. If you’re any good, there are a lot of shows to be on. NJ is great as well, that may not be too far from you. There are other schools in PA btw.
As far as your size and stuff: well, the game is changing. If you can put on 30 lbs of muscle and halve your bodyfat, you’d pretty much be Chris Benoit or CHris Jericho. they’re in the 5’10, 225 lb range. I don’t know if you can do it naturally, but that’s another question entirely. I think Jericho’s natural, if that counts for anything.
My advice is if you’re curious, go take a look at a shool, but only get into it if you’re going to stick with it. So many friggin people join a school, find out it ain’t easy, and quit. You have to have a passion for it.
You need to get your hands on Chris Clugston’s videos. His first set is called “Combat JKD” and I can’t remember the follow-up series. Bottom line…They’re the best. Clugston also has a training school.
I started learning “JKD” from guro Dan Inosanto in 1982. I have been actively learning and teaching since then. JKD is a philosophy not a physical art. Jun Fan is a physical art which evolves. The main tenant of JKD is research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and make everything uniquely your own. There are only two original certified instructors in JKD: Dan Inosanto (CA)and Taki Kamura (WA). So technically, your learning Jun Fan which is a mix of western boxing, grappling, Jun Fan wing chun, and various kicking styles. Once you get bogged down by the dogma of a “style” you learn to fight within the parameters of that style; so while jiu jitsu is a great grappling style, it has problems in the trapping, kicking, and punching range. In competition it has been very effective but as fighters from other styles learn to deal with grappling the tables start to even out. Jun Fan strives to be effective in all ranges of combat “Having no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.” Read everything you can get your hands on from every combat system out there. No one has the total answer. It’s the individual, not the system.
I know this has gotten way off topic, but I just wanted to shout out to JJ and say thanks for the info. Hey anyone watch the WWF pay-per-view last night? They showed Chris Benoit warming up for his triple threat title match, and he was doing hindu squats. I just thought that was cool.