[quote]Robert A wrote:
Ranzo,
I don’t think I am in a position to push you in any certain direction, because my biases may not be yours.
As a disclaimer I am an unrepentant “gi fag”/pajama fighter who actually liked teaching open enrollment classes, so I would worry that I would push in a direction that may not apply for you.
Instead, maybe I can pose some questions?
First things first though. Get your mind right.
Recommendation is a Bloody Mary, I like a decent amount of horseradish and worcestershire sauce but others have different tastes, followed by a steak dinner.
Vegetables are good. Salad or Greens as one of the sides, turnip, collard, mustard, kale whatever is available. Get the steak at least medium rare. It is important to have a little blood. Either a baked potato or fries for the starch/carbs. No other choices are acceptable. The reason is you need ot be able to sop up some of the blood with the white potato and see it. This really is important.
Prime rib is an acceptable substitute for grilled steak if you have that preference. Chicken, fish, etc is not.
If you don’t have the money for a single steak dinner before making a “switch schools” level decision, you have a budget problem. If you don’t have the time, you have a time/availability problem.
Now, the questions:
1.) Do you enjoy teaching? That is part of what you do at your current school. If you dislike teaching can you split the desire to stop from any desire to switch to a different gym/format? Conversely, if you actually like teaching are you going to be happy just punching the clock as a student somewhere else?
As stated above my bias would keep you instructing, and learning to instruct. Also, I have a strong, almost evangelical, bias towards seeing qualified, skilled, and reasoned instruction in martial arts/combatives proliferate. You strike me as being one of the good ones, and your post about why you aren’t qualified backs that up. So my bias would be to keep you teaching. But I cannot make the choice for you, indeed it would not be moral for me to do so even if I could.
2.) How much time do you actually have to train/teach? Is this a decision about where to spend 4 hours a week? Or 8? If you simply cannot make the time to meet your current demands than things need to be altered. Would being free from teaching help you train more, or would it give you license to do other things? If the latter is that good or bad? No wrong answers save self delusion.
3.) Going off of the answers for 2; is your new schedule more conducive to working/training with “fighters” or would you actually now benefit from a program designed more for people with other goals/responsibilities. Plenty of folks learn and improve with 2-3 classes a week, but that is seriously shy for a competitive athlete. Would you be happy if you were the least “focussed” guy at the UFC gym? Basically, if you had more classes/workouts to attend would that help you, or aggravate you?
4.) What have you done in training wise in the last 6 months that you really liked? What did you hate?
Reading your log it appears that it was a combination of Judo/Gi-Faggetry and self defense/combatives that fired you up the most. If that is the case, than going to a dedicated MMA gym seems like a rugged choice. Of course my bias may be showing there.
5.) Can you pursue the additional training/skills you want with seminars or as an addition to your current training? If you really want to do something like muay thai, are there any specific muay thai gyms or classes? What is the kickboxing program like at the UFC gym?
Just some things I would want to answer if I was weighing the decision.
Finally, if you are not already, start watching Archer.
Regards,
Robert A
[/quote]
Firs things first. I am gonna take you up on the Steak idea for sure. Not too sure about the bloody mary though.
As far as liking to teach, Im on the fence but mostly leaning toward not liking it. I do like helping certain people with things that I am certain about their effectiveness. The thing is I have been teaching Krav Maga and the more time I spend with the style the more flaws I find with it and I see things being taught just for the sake of teaching possibly. That brings on a whole set of problems because there is much controversy about higher techniques especially weapons. There are also many contradictions from Krav to Jyu jitsu. I really want to just learn and do my own thing…I am a self centered American after all.
There is also the element of time. I used to have more of it and I was trying to get fights so I trained 4-5 days a week etc. Now I work more and I just don’t have the time I had before. When I do have time I don’t want to go up there and stand around or just hit a bag I can do that at home and save my gas.
I really thought we were going for a more MMA oriented school since we moved to a bigger place and installed the cage but for whatever reason people just keep quitting and if the weather is the least bit off they don’t show up. Hell I know the reason but I am not gonna put it out here on the interwebs…
So I guess what it comes down to is that I want to learn and I want to get better and stay in shape, I would like to compete from time to time on certain levels but I just don’t know if where I am at is going to give me what I want.
I really don’t mind teaching as long as I am learning something too.
for now I think I will just stay in this situation for a bit and when things smooth out with working and birthdays holidays whatever life has been throwing at me then I will look into taking some other classes at another gym.
I think it is different for me because I tend to do things on another level no matter what it is I do. I don’t want to train with people who just do this as a “hobby” if you know what I mean. Sure it is a hobby for me but I want to work with people who actually think about fighting and self defense at times when they are not on the mat. I also don’t want to be surrounded by people who think that jyu jitsu is the answer to all that ails the world. So maybe an MMA gym is best for me or some other RMA? Most MMA gym only let you train with them if you are going to fight and can meet their schedule. Im too old to be scheduling a fight every 2-3 months.
So not even sure if what I wrote is even coherent lol Thanks for the advice guys it gives me something to think about . I have not been to train in over a week and next week is off the table now too. Got a text last night, they were looking for me…hahah now that is how I feel all the time. Where are you fuckers at???
Oh and HPV aint so bad…or so I heard
