Damn!!! Congrats!

It's just like crack- first one is free!!

The journey is fun, full of injuries, hard work but fun.

Be proud of your colors!



There is a good section in the training forum here on "unarmed" where jitz comes up a lot.

Pic is about a year old, it looks worse now :)

A lot of stuff you learn in jitz is applicable also to weapons work. You can practice stand in base get ups with a pistol in your hand, work backwards and forward rolls with a handgun, even a rifle though it changes your balance point a bit.

A lot of the "hand fighting" (grips, etc.) arm drags, etc. can be used to assist you accessing a weapon, as knee shield and open guard type work also relates to making space to access weapons during a fight, etc.

Best part of combatives IMO is the "chess game" approach wherein you have to keep calm, think ahead, lay out your attacks 2-3 or 7 moves ahead, keep the initiative and also improvise on the spot.

Lots of fun, that's for sure!

<--------------Hopkido    Had to get a Green belt in TKD before I could even start Hopkido.  Took first in SE Regional in breaking.  Did a five board progression break that included a nobody holding the board break.

Not bad for an old guy 48 at the time.

Yeah, I was a karate dad.

Tj

I'll ask around.

I can tell you that before I had sinus surgery I regularly went to class and rolled with sinus infections (4-8 of them a year) and that didn't affect me that much .

Honestly, once people learn to calm down their rolling you can do a LOT with a current injury and still roll. Early on, new people tend to be spastic as hell and that's not an option. I've came into class on crutches, did most of the warmup, worked the technique and just rolled playing defensive most of the time working around the injured leg.

Your training partners have a lot to do with this also. I tend to avoid the  20 something new spastic guy when I'm injured cause they can't calm TF down enough. The sad reality is white belts cause the most injuries and it's rarely intentional, it's usually just from them being spastic.

All that being said, grappling in it's nature is very aggression oriented, which tends to bring a lot of tension in the body. A lot of tension in the body means injuries happen easier. Pride is a major factor in all this also, people by their very nature don't want to "lose." But "losing" plays a large part in how you learn combatives. Better to "learn" by losing NOW when all that's bruised is your ego, than on the street where it really matters.

So if you choose your training partners wisely- seek an older calm upper belt to start with and then don't piss them off by trying to get some advantage if they are rolling slow working with you (read: don't mistake kindness for weakness). Always show respect to your training partner, ask about injuries if your not familiar with them, and take time to help them also. This will help YOU become a better fighter and help you learn to put pride and ego aside.

LMAO.

People also think Systema is bullshit based on watching Rybako's (SP) videos of no touch striking. Yet when you train with someone like Vlad, Constantin, Martin Wheeler, Frank Arias, Mark Jacabsin or Sonny P. you come away with a clear impression that the system works.

Jitz is clearly lacking in work against multiples and weapon defense. You have to look elsewhere for these components.

Systema is probably the most well rounded of the combatives for overall aspects.

I assume most styles will vary from school to school. I know BJJ does.

We have had guys come in from other schools that have had zero, I mean zero self defense part of the puzzle. Fancy delahiva (SP) guard stuff, crazy leg locks, etc. but zero self defense, basics of the clinch, punch defense on the ground etc. zero.

And while you should do some "competitions" for the experience of it, a place that focuses solely on that could be (read: could be) lacking in the self defense aspect of the game.

Leg lock me on the street I'm stabbing the f$%@ out of you while your hands are occupied. I can walk with a torn cruciate ligament, you ain't going far with 10 stab wounds in your abd...

And it's sometimes hard to get "true believers" to realize that. Same with multiples. I used to teach an additional optional night of training focusing just on self defense and the "missing pieces"- working against multiples, against gun and knife, etc. Had a student that is pretty bad ass on the mats, trained everywhere any time the doors were open, drove hours to places to get other takes on stuff, competed and did well, etc. At first seemed interested in the newer concepts- you have to integrate some new things if your going to work against multiple people. Then we did an exercise with one student on the ground and two attackers coming in on them. Blue screen, complete vapor lock.... student sat there the rest of class and never came back to that edition of class.

So changing the realities of the work often blows the mind of some students.

The fight will be what the fight will be... and for true "self defense" you have to look at the possibility of multiple attackers, guns and knives, etc.

Have heard that exact sentiment used numerous times before. I know a mid level purple that had black belts in numerous "hi-ya!" types of arts, etc. and his words were essentially "I wasted my time with those."

I disagree with almost any training being "time wasted" as their is always something that can cross over as well as just getting the HABIT of continuous training going which alone is worth it.

The alternative is the "I just need 15 minutes" guy I mentioned in the other thread  To surmise that, some weird guy came by the gym, caught me outside, yelled across the parking lot "You teach hand to hand combat?"   Oh boy.... this one's gonna be a doo'zey can just feel it... Anyways, invite him to class multiple times in trying to get rid of him. He tells me repeatedly "all I need is 15 minutes."

Evidently some people don't need to train regularly for years, decades, etc. they evidently just need 15 minutes. I guess just like the internet has "one simple trick" for everything, he must have found the "15 minutes to badass" trick online or something! :)

I think you missed the point- if you in a self defense situation ON THE STREET started to leg lock someone, the most obvious response from them would be to draw a knife (in case you aren't watching everyone carries knives now a day. OK maybe if you live in some shithole with crazy laws (NYC, etc.) but other than that, you see knives EVERYWHERE if your paying a modicum of attention. What is the bad guy going to do on the street when you heel hook him? He's going to frickin stab you if he can. He isn't going to give a crap about if something is lawful.

Far fetched? Really?

How many knife based training applications show a knife draw to reverse grip and stab to the legs as their response to a RNC?

Totally agree with you 100%!!!

I agree. Thinking of that scene from Step Brothers here LOL....

Once again I think your missing the point- if the A. Good guy gets in a street confrontation, does it behoove A. The Good guy to throw a leg lock on B. The Bad guy? Considering B. THE BAD GUY most likely has a weapon on him?   Does that make sense at all?

One more time- my point was FOR THE GOOD GUY, it doesn't behoove me to throw a heel hook on someone in the street with the preponderance of weapons (guns, knives, etc.) out there.

Also, not sure how many times you've been leg locked, but it's not exactly an immediate fight ender. Very first time I sparred I rolled with a guy that leg locked me. I did not feel it immediately and continued to fight. The instructor yelled from across the room for the guy to release it. Why, cause the instructor understand a new person doesn't realize the damage these can do. I was still fighting. I limped for a few days afterwards, but that was it. In 10 plus years I've been heel hooked, knee bared, etc. dozens of times, I've had ACL and MCL tears (not directly from these) and other leg and knee injuries. Not one of them kept me from doing at least SOME fighting. Hell recently I've been nursing a knee issue wherein I could barely touch my knee to the mat without pain, yet I'm still in class sparring. I submit unto you, a leg lock is not the fight ender you may think it is. And please don't quote some UFC fight- those are professional athletes would cannot risk being out of training for a few months or miss their next fight due to cruciate ligament damage- it's a career/profession for them.

Finishing that paragraph I'm reminded of this young black guy that walked into our gym about 10 years ago. Came in during the middle of class. Literally just said "I want to spar" and takes off jewelry, etc. Balls to the walls crazy, might have even been amped up on something. He didn't tap to an armlock, the student fighting him released it out of courtesy, guy took advantage of his generosity. Not long after arm locked again and stayed with it. Dude's arm broke, everyone heard it. Guy kept fighting till the bell, got up and walked out of the gym. I was newer then so I asked "who was that guy, did he used to train here?" Nope, no one ever saw him, just some random dude that walked in off the street.

Hell a year back a guy walks in to our gym carrying a big wooden crate of sweet corn (you couldn't make this shit up). He's very friendly, comes from some MMA gym in Florida and is just working up in our area right now. Does class, then wants to roll. Takes his shirt off.... The other instructor is injured, I got to take one for the team. I'm old, like to roll slow, etc. This guy is early 20's, great shape, full aggression. OK let's do this. Caught him in a couple of arm locks, doesn't tap. Courtesy release. He ramps it up even more. OK now I'm started to get pissed. Get a D'arce (SP) choke on him, lock it up with a little pressure, he doesn't tap. By now half the gym is watching, why cause the old guy that rolls slow and is the nicest guy in the damn gym has to turn it up on this dude. Fudge it I think, he can nap.... I finish the choke. I feel him start to go limp and he taps finally. Repeat that process another time with a guillotine.

A choke is a fight ender not matter their mental condition, drug usage, etc. I don't care how much adrenaline is running thru them, they can't breathe or get o2 to the brain stem, the fight is going to end.

As to the differences between the RNC and a leg lock as far as the after the fact legal issues you seem to be pushing, consider this-

Your in court defending yourself against someone who attacked you on the street.

You put him in a RNC. You articulate to the judge- "your honor I warned this guy twice, he attacked me, I made space, warned him away again. When he attacked me again I  got a hold of him, but him in a rear naked choke and once I felt his body got limp I safely laid him on the ground, supporting his head. I searched him for weapons because I didn't want to get stabbed or shot after he woke up. I watched and stayed with him and called 911. He woke up not long after and I kept my space from him until the police arrived. No permanent damage was done to him as you can clearly see from him walking in the court room today.

OR-

I slung a heel hook on this guy, he never gave up, I continued to apply it while he beat my face in, until I finally released it when I got knocked out.

Other guy's lawyer-  "You caused permanent damage to the cruciate ligaments, causing my client $50,000. of medical bills. My client was an up and coming basketball star who was going to get signed with The Thuglife All Star team. We are suing for $500,000. to cover lost income and medical bills. "

Why do you think police even learn the RNC as a "non lethal" response option. Or do you not realize people don't just DIE immediately when they are choked correctly? Sorry this isn't a Chuck Norris movie from the 80's, people don't just DIE when a choke is applied....

Finally- when you have a choke in you USUALLY have some degree of control over the person and even if you don't, 99% of the time their main focus is on the neck not on their escape, therefore- to a degree- you control his movement/what he will do. With a leg lock the person in general can still do some kind of movement AND USUALLY DOES. It's often times in the "wrong" movement that people actually get hurt to leg locks. So this compounds the possibility of injury.

A spoon or straw could kill someone and a lawyer would argue that.

It's kind of like these guys that CCW every day of their lives and then under the small stress of FOF they won't shoot someone or intentionally shoot over them, etc.

I don't have an answer for that other than listen less to the "every lawyer has a bullet attached" drivel that is 90% of every CCW class- basically mind F'ing you ahead of time to NOT defend yourself.

Maybe listen to/read Colonel Grossman's On Combat a bit, train more, get beat up, choked, etc. a little more in training.

Training is usually what's lacking. I don't mean a "all I need is 15 minutes" mindset or the "I took that class once" type of deal, I mean regular training and practice that pushes you.

I don't have an answer for the "every bullet (or arm lock or choke) has a lawyer attached"  non sense. Be able to articulate that you used as little force as necessary, train your witnesses, etc. Remember Zimmerman? After Travon knocked him down he mounted him and started hitting him more. If Zimmerman had known a simple mount escape- something we teach our KIDS classes on Day 1- he could have escaped and possibly not have to have shot the aggressor. But once Travon felt the gun on Zimmerman's waist it became a gunfight, and lacking the skills to keep it from that, Zimmerman had to shoot him. If you carry a weapon or are a serious student of violence, good H2H skills applicable to real fights should be part of your regular, continuing training.

And finally- understand that their is few things a good lawyer can't get you out of- EXCEPT DEATH.

A little bit different. The Gracies kind of took the concepts and adapted them to a less strength based concept "alavanca" type stuff. I tell students "if you find yourself having to muscle something, your probably not doing it."