Which Martial Arts?

Training Powerlifting
61

[quote]AznMscls wrote:

JH wrote:

First of all, I’ve trained BJJ for almost 2 years so I’m familiar with it.

Secondly, this statement is what I was mainly addressing:

“BJJ does not teach you how to keep a fight standing.”

That is just plain wrong. In BJJ you learn how to defend against takedowns, and thus you learn to keep the fight standing. BJJ is much more than just groundfighting.

I do agree with you that the ground is not the best place to be in a street fight.

BJJ doesn’t teach you how to keep the fight standing. Yes, you can defend against take downs but it still ultimately teaches you to bring the fight to the ground. And BJJ is pretty much just ground fighting… thus why its BJJ and not Judo or Jujutsu.

And the to Chefboy Cop/RA, we’re debating an issue, get over it. Posting an irrelevant post about it doesn’t really solve anything. And I don’t constitute this as “shitting on eachother”[/quote]

While I understand where you’re coming from, the same could be said of wrestling (greco or freestyle). Yet, former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell used his former wrestling experience to keep his fights on his feet.

The same can be said of Cro Cop (to a lesser extent). He used his wrestling/grappling training primarily to keep his fights (or at least attempt to) on his feet, where he is most comfortable.

There is no art out there that will teach you how to defend against takedowns better than grappling arts (wrestling probably being the best, but BJJ and Judo are also quite effective). Why? Because you are constantly having to deal with people trying to take you to the ground.

The same could be said of boxing/kickboxing/MT. They teach you how to defend against strikes the best, because you constantly have to deal with people trying to strike you.

How you use those skills is up to you, and their situational appropriateness. Honestly, think about it, if you are constantly having to deal with other skilled, well conditioned, technical opponents trying to take you down, what do you think are the chances of someone who is not an accomplished grappler taking you down?

Sure, it could still happen if they are physically superior to you (say for instance a pissed off division 1 line backer or Defensive end), or the terrain makes it difficult to keep the fight standing. But your chances are still going to be much better than if you trained in an art that didn’t include having to defend against takedowns (MT, boxing, kickboxing, etc…).

In the end it’s probably better to try to be as well rounded as possible. I’d honestly suggest to the OP to choose one of the grappling arts (Judo or BJJ) and MT. Like others have said, there are Kung FU schools out there that actually teach their students how to fight, but sadly they are few and far between.

Good luck and good training,

Sentoguy

62

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:

While I understand where you’re coming from, the same could be said of wrestling (greco or freestyle). Yet, former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell used his former wrestling experience to keep his fights on his feet.

The same can be said of Cro Cop (to a lesser extent). He used his wrestling/grappling training primarily to keep his fights (or at least attempt to) on his feet, where he is most comfortable.

There is no art out there that will teach you how to defend against takedowns better than grappling arts (wrestling probably being the best, but BJJ and Judo are also quite effective). Why? Because you are constantly having to deal with people trying to take you to the ground.

The same could be said of boxing/kickboxing/MT. They teach you how to defend against strikes the best, because you constantly have to deal with people trying to strike you.

How you use those skills is up to you, and their situational appropriateness. Honestly, think about it, if you are constantly having to deal with other skilled, well conditioned, technical opponents trying to take you down, what do you think are the chances of someone who is not an accomplished grappler taking you down?

Sure, it could still happen if they are physically superior to you (say for instance a pissed off division 1 line backer or Defensive end), or the terrain makes it difficult to keep the fight standing. But your chances are still going to be much better than if you trained in an art that didn’t include having to defend against takedowns (MT, boxing, kickboxing, etc…).

In the end it’s probably better to try to be as well rounded as possible. I’d honestly suggest to the OP to choose one of the grappling arts (Judo or BJJ) and MT. Like others have said, there are Kung FU schools out there that actually teach their students how to fight, but sadly they are few and far between.

Good luck and good training,

Sentoguy[/quote]

No one understands me. I’m sure we all want the OP to be well rounded, I even suggested he take BJJ later but the fact of the matter is that he only has time for one.

Thus, if he takes BJJ, he’ll remember his training and will want to take the fight to the ground. Not a place you want to be in college.

On the other hand, taking BJJ just for ground defense and having no superior striking skills won’t do him much either. Thats why he should just focus on striking for now.

63

[quote]harryhoudini wrote:
titopuente wrote:
I would probably recommend brazilian jiu jitsu. Either that or muay thai or judo. You are probably not going to be able to kick everyones ass by the end of the summer unless you are like 250 pounds of muscle. Brazilian jiu jitsu is fun.

You can probably spar a lot harder with judo or jiu jitsu than in muay thai or kung fu. I don’t imagine that you would throw elbows or knees at your opponent at full force in your university.

I don’t know, I went to this one Kung Fu school to see a friend. And they were sparring pretty damn hard. But then again, they did say that their school was more “traditional”, and I would think so considering that the Sifu there had only a basic grasp on English.

And it didn’t look very flowery at all, I mean, you could tell it was Kung Fu, but MAN did it’s applications look BRUTAL, simple, and extremely effective and easily carried out. And the physical conditioning looked like hell.

But then again, again, you probably couldn’t find any schools like that commonly around any area. I’d say look at them first.
[/quote]

From what I have read that is what traditional kung fu should be like, with a focus on sparring, ultimately making it full contact and fluid.

Apparantly there has been a move towards show martial arts or Wushu, that has watered down some kung fu as a fighting system.

64

[quote]AznMscls wrote:
Sentoguy wrote:

While I understand where you’re coming from, the same could be said of wrestling (greco or freestyle). Yet, former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell used his former wrestling experience to keep his fights on his feet.

The same can be said of Cro Cop (to a lesser extent). He used his wrestling/grappling training primarily to keep his fights (or at least attempt to) on his feet, where he is most comfortable.

There is no art out there that will teach you how to defend against takedowns better than grappling arts (wrestling probably being the best, but BJJ and Judo are also quite effective). Why? Because you are constantly having to deal with people trying to take you to the ground.

The same could be said of boxing/kickboxing/MT. They teach you how to defend against strikes the best, because you constantly have to deal with people trying to strike you.

How you use those skills is up to you, and their situational appropriateness. Honestly, think about it, if you are constantly having to deal with other skilled, well conditioned, technical opponents trying to take you down, what do you think are the chances of someone who is not an accomplished grappler taking you down?

Sure, it could still happen if they are physically superior to you (say for instance a pissed off division 1 line backer or Defensive end), or the terrain makes it difficult to keep the fight standing. But your chances are still going to be much better than if you trained in an art that didn’t include having to defend against takedowns (MT, boxing, kickboxing, etc…).

In the end it’s probably better to try to be as well rounded as possible. I’d honestly suggest to the OP to choose one of the grappling arts (Judo or BJJ) and MT. Like others have said, there are Kung FU schools out there that actually teach their students how to fight, but sadly they are few and far between.

Good luck and good training,

Sentoguy

No one understands me. I’m sure we all want the OP to be well rounded, I even suggested he take BJJ later but the fact of the matter is that he only has time for one.

Thus, if he takes BJJ, he’ll remember his training and will want to take the fight to the ground. Not a place you want to be in college.

On the other hand, taking BJJ just for ground defense and having no superior striking skills won’t do him much either. Thats why he should just focus on striking for now.[/quote]

Well, first I said for him to choose 1 of the grappling arts, Judo or BJJ. Judo teaches you to throw your opponent while remaining on your feet (or at least many of their throws are designed to do so).

Also keep in mind that very few people know how to break fall properly. Combine this with the fact that some judo throws create a tremendous impact with the ground and that fights aren’t often fought on soft cushy matted floors and you’ve got some potentially devastating effectiveness.

A throw that might cause discomfort in the dojo could be potentially fatal on pavement, or at least cause a ko.

Of course I also agree with you that striking is important. While 80% of fights may end up on the ground, quite a few of them start from standing.

Since the OP only has time for one, I think he should try them all out and see which one he likes best. Really, he isn’t going to become a proficient fighter in a short period of time, regardless of which art he chooses.

Also, which ever school he chooses should also teach him ways to avoid fights, thus making it less likely that he’ll have to use what he’s learned anyways.

If he gets fairly good at his chosen art and decides that he wants to try to round out his game later on down the road, then he can certainly do so.

Good training,

Sentoguy

65

I say “Jailhouse Rock”. Perfect fighting style. Who Agrees?

Sentoguy?

WolBarret