TJ-Jitsu

The reality is that not all styles are created equal. That said one of the reasons aikido doesn't work very is because its application is flawed. The problem with any of its wrist locks is that it's just too easy to pull your arm away. This raises the question when one wouldn't want to pull their arm away. In the context of weapons that's when it applies the most. Given the combative nature of samurai fighting techniques we start to understand just how aikido has potential to be applied. If one can evade a sword swipe or any other armed attack and grab the wrists, the attacker has reason to not let go and pull away, less he leave his weapon behind. This creates a win win situation for aikido. As far catching someone's punch and wrapping it up? Not against anyone competent

My perceptions of positions changed numerous times. I find that most people make statements in what's good or bad based on how they are in this circumstances. For example everyone's heard the statement: "you never want to go to the ground in a fight." Well the guy saying this to typically doesn't know how to fight on the ground- so it makes sense. Then there is "guard is not a good position to be in during a fight." Says the guy that doesn't know how to fight from guard... Likewise with half guard. Watch rani yhahya fight half guard against chase Bebe and you'll see a clinic of how to sweep a wrestler with great base in 3 seconds. The point is I've come to find that most of these statements are relative- depends on who's doing the position and who they're doing it against. My own personal discovery? Butterfly guard. That's the missing link in most people's game in modern day mma. I used to think it wasnt practical, but that's the most effective guard for modern day mma.... Provided you know how to use it. Most guys stay on their back and take a beating because of bad habits in jiujitsu tournies, or because they have t worked that game in particular enough

Key word: if. They are not. A gold medal doesn't measure up to a nba or nhl championship nor does it measure up to a championship belt. In regards to these e ends, olympics are for amateurs. Professionals would have way too much experience, money, and resources at their disposal.

I don't like it- Olympics has been and should continue to be the proving ground for amateurs. Professionals already have something to fight for in terms of money and belts. Keep something for the amateurs.

Meh, I'll jump in on this one... The straight punch really isn't much of a threat from inside the guard and I'll explain why. Typical straight punches (from the feet) have their power generated well.... from the feet. The push off the ground, the drive of the hips, and the twist of the body allows for a very powerful straight punch attack. Part of this theoretically could still work from the guard, but you'd be pushing off of your knee rather than your foot at best and suffer from having enough space to deliver the punch which brings us to our next point.... Breaking posture Really the primary defense to blocking (or in this case preventing) punching is breaking posture. A jiu jitsu fighter is always trying to pull the person on top closer and minimize space (usually). Straight punches work best from a distance. Both parties are locked in a particular range that stays relatively constant- this means that you're too close for something like a straight cross or anything of that nature. Stand elbows length in front of a heavy bag and try to throw a straight cross- it doesn't work because you're too close. The bend in the elbow as seen in haymakers, uppercuts, and hooks allows a puncher to create more space for the arm to travel to unwind so that the strike reaches potential. Now does this mean that a straight punch cant be done? I wouldn't go that far, but I would go far to say that it doesn't matter. Whats going to allow the person on top to throw effective punches is going to be their grappling skill and their ability to get and maintain posture. As the person on top you really don't have to worry about the person on bottom punching you back, nor do you have to worry about where your opponent will be. So I could work and develop a straight punch to use from inside the guard, but I think it'd be over engineered for the job and not needed at all.

Hot stuff! I'm not a big footlock guy. They have their time and their place, though.

Looks like a typical aikido demo- the over emphasis on flash is a deterrent rather than a strong point. Here's the biggest problem I have with krav- the whole "we aren't ring fighters- were street fighters!" Krav really is nothing more than bjj, boxing, wrestling, and associated styles. The problem here is that I've yet to see a Krav practitioner that was ever anything but at a beginner understanding of any of those styles. So how is one a novice at bjj, a novice at wrestling, and a novice at boxing, yet an EXPERT on Krav? Either Krav is not a style or its a poor quality one. The mindset of overwhelming your opponent is also an extreme flaw- it's easy to overwhelm someone that you're stronger and faster than- hence the reason for it being military combatives. This is why it's not a good fighting system. So practice less groin grabs eye gouges and dear god did I see a throat rip in that video? These things don't work as well as the people selling them to you claim they do Before upset Krav practitioners respond let me merely state this: I don't care what you call your style provided that you actively train against resisting opponents. so just because you do Krav it doesn't mean you suck, and just because you do mma doesn't mean that you're good....

I prefer judo, mostly because everyone in the us and in mma in general focuses on wrestling and judo is the answer to wrestling. In a twist of irony, wrestling is also the answer to judo. It's also easier to throw people in the cage and in a fight than it is to set up a shot but that depends on your boxing ability. Sprawls come quite naturally to athletes and many fighters are persistent with their sprawls. From a judo perspective a sprawl is the worst thing you can do, so many end up making it easier to throw them rather than difficult. I also don't like the idea of shooting. Hurt my shoulders many a time and I don't like putting my neck low.

I don't disagree on the fear of arm bar and triangles, or the fact you can't "avoid" the guard, but you can't deny the mobility one gains by moving to a standing position. We always talk about it in light of a trade off. Knees equal stability, standing equals mobility. There are great games to be played in each. But again, I don't feel you can limit your jiu jitsu to one thing that is "your game." The entirety of the art is important. I'm a kneeling passer. I like pressure passes, but I have several students who by body structure, or mindset, like standing passes better. I think one has to be able to teach across the board regardless of specialty. In short.... Yes it's not "wrong" to stand up or kneel when passing, if I were to be as general as possible. Standing was done in response to spider guards in the earlier days of bjj. Makes sense, and there wasn't much of a reason *not* to stand. With the advent now of de la riva, worm, 50/50 and all these other types of guard, standing may not be the greatest option anymore. These games and the leglocks that ensue are a direct response and answer to someone standing- that's why they work so well. In the sense of old school guard players- standing is a fast and easy response but the concept of standing also becomes severely limited when the person your fighting *doesnt* want to stay on their back and doesn't want to fight Jiu jitsu- say a mma fight for example, or even a no gi tourney where you're fighting a skilled wrestler that doesn't want to fight from his back. So standing gives you more mobility, but it also gives your opponent more mobility. In a strict sense you want just enough space to pass and then you want to fill it up- so that your opponent can't. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing- standing like people do to pass in tournament leaves a simple option to stand up to the person on bottom. So then there's the passing on your knees for pressure and power- that's the good stuff, but sometimes people become wary of those savy guard players and want to stand up. These are the two extremes of strategies for how people pass. As ones career progresses (and hopefully your passing skill) you find that your feet are on the ground but you're not standing- but neither are you kneeling. It becomes a hybrid of the two- a way where you create *just enough* space for you and no more and smash your opponent. There no longer becomes "standing" passes and "smashing" passes but rather just passes where you have both mobility and pressure. When you cut all the fat you find that all these different passes are just the same thing taken to opposite extremes

A right hook is not an overhand, and an overhand is not a right hook.... An overhand is an option when your target is too close for a straight cross. You cant tuck your elbow in tight as you would in a cross, because your punch will be jammed. As such you open your elbow up so that you create space between your hand and shoulder (since its not between your hand and target...) The rest of the punch mechanics stay the same. The side attacking goes forward and the side not is pulled back. The shoulder and hip movements for all punches are the same. This doesn't mean that other methods are "wrong" it simply means they're less efficient in terms of generating power and speed and minimizing the cost of energy. So practice your shadow boxing by merely moving your hips and shoudlers (in sync) forward and backwards. Once you start to get the gist, then you can slowly start to include punches into the mix. Your hips and shoulders always do the same motion and always attack the same way (for reasons mentioned above). What changes is how your direct this power with your elbows. To the outside observer there becomes several types of punches, parries and attacks. Watch the fighters body on the other hand, and you'll see the gross motor movements stay exactly the same. That's where your money is. The rest is mere details.

Going with what sensei was saying, "style" give you a good indication of what the majority of practitioners will be doing if you fought 100 of them. Its hard to gauge this guys (or your) skill level without seeing anything, but I'll give some vague and general tips. In short, thai boxing practices everything and it does so at full power (on the whole, anyways... once again I cant say your sparring partner does or does not do this by the simple merit of training in something called muay thai). You've got boxing, kicking, and clinching. That's as solid a standup style as you're going to get. Lets start with the cut kicks. Most karate styles (and kickboxing for that matter) teach you to have a wide and low stance so as to get more power and base. The problem here is that this is the equivalent of a christmas gift against any thai fighter. You cannot lift your leg to check a kick from this posture, and lifting your leg is the only way to properly block a cut kick. That roundhouse is the strongest attack one can throw- it covers a wide area, so its guaranteed to hit something- uses the strongest muscles in your body, and attacks the very base of your opponent (their legs). This is bar none what has to be beaten first. If you know how to and are able to put into practice the concept of checking a kick- you're halfway home. Then we can talk about combos, hands, and all that other jazz. If you can not, you will never have success against any thai fighter regardless of the skill level of your hands. Former boxing champions have jumped into kickboxing tournaments and have gotten handled in seconds because they didn't know how to check a simple kick. This doesn't mean you need to learn how to kick (or kick like them, even although I cant see why you wouldn't want to learn...). It merely means you need to narrow your stance so as to be able to check the kicks.

This too.... Don't find a whole lot about this Jim Rosenthal guy. I'm always immediately skeptical of any BJJ instructor that titles themselves "sensei." But... that doesn't mean hes a phony either. At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, so show up and take a few classes. If you've been at a legit BJJ school in the past, you'll quickly figure out what the deal is with this guy.

I think you find out when you cross train that not all styles are created equal, but there is no shortage of those that willingly insist on ignorance once they find this out...

Bear with me- been away for a while..... So it works like this- the power from your punches is generated from pushing off the ground. Rotating your foot ensures that you rotate your hips.... but this is all offense we're talking about... Problem here is that boxers are, well- fighting someone that's hitting them back! That might be an obvious "duh" moment but a few things to consider when fighting a live opponent: -you don't know which strikes will land and which ones wont -you don't know which punches your opponent may decide to throw, nor how many -you don't know how hard your opponent will be hitting back. So with these three things in mind, lets clarify.... Every fight has (or should have) their weight favoring the balls of their feet. This allows for mobility, speed- what you described. The problem is that with very little surface area on that part of your feet, its going to be difficult to take a hard shot and said shot stands a greater chance of knocking you off balance. It really matters not whether a punch "hurts" you or not- if it simply takes your balance that's enough to temporarily halt you as a threat, since youre too off balance (albeit for a second) to return anything with any promise (power). So now theres a little trade off between sinking low to prep for a hit (at the risk of mobility) or staying a little higher for greater mobility (as the expense of less of a base....). Fighters trade one for the other often enough. At the top tiers, fighters understand they can engage their quads to get really low while also staying on the balls of their feet to get the best of both worlds. Lastly, we have the issue of whether or not your punch will land, be blocked, parried, or outright dodged. What this means is that said boxer isn't putting 100% into an individual punch (thing some bum throwing a haymaker) because if it misses hes not off balance, vulnerable, and unable to attack. Usually you'll see fighters commit to these types of shots when they have an opponent on the ropes where they know their shot will connect (blocked or not) but one has to be more cautious in the middle of the ring....

Meh, not exactly... Not all styles are created equal, just like not all people are created equal (on the genetic level). Some styles are simply better than others with mounds of supporting evidence.... So the dreaded "street fight" is the last vestige of hope for the common fraudulent martial artist. Disclaimer- I'm not saying that YOU are fraudulent, merely stating that the whole "street fighting" thing is the most overused, overhyped selling point for those people.... The most important thing really-is the quality of sparring one style does. Leaning how to fight against a fully resisting opponent is perhaps the single most effective thing anyone could do. For example, I can take someone who's boxed for years- give me 5 or 6- but never really sparred. Never mind that they did "boxing" they're not going to know how to move effectively in a fighting situation compared with someone who HAS sparred against fully resisting opponents. The same could be said for a BJJ student who practices for years but never actually trains.... In short, I don't care what name you wish to call whatever it is that you do- as long as its being kept "real" and on the level. Now why do styles have the reputations they do? In short, your competitive styles have a rep for actually doing full resistance training, therefore they tend to produce very effective fighters. Those that aren't competitive (because they train "for the street") have a habit of NOT training with a fully resisting opponent ("too dangerous") and therefore produce very poor quality fighters. I've trained with, sparred, and fought against many of these people. Street fights and self defense for any competitive fighter are nothing short of a joke, because fighting against a resisting opponent that knows what hes doing is significant more difficult that fighting against a resisting opponent that has absolutely no clue what hes doing.... I mean I've never sweat more in my worst street fight than I did in my lightest warmup

Short answer-we will assume you're not doing the move to its fullest potential. So yeah, more bridge, more I on, and all that.... Long term answer-a bump and roll attempts to move your opponent too much. The more you try to move your opponent, or should I say the more your move requires that you move your opponent, the weaker it becomes against skilled opponents.... Then you need to learn how to hip escape

Just roll the shirt up when you go for the collar. It actually makes the choke even more effective than gi, as you now (quite literally) have wrapped a rope around your opponents neck

Are you grabbing your own lapel?

Hey gents, bored at work so I stumbled back here-anyways... Lots of music so it's hard for me to hear what you're saying so I'll share my insight on the position: Simply put- people stand in bjj because they're afraid of classic guard positions, namely armbars and triangles. De la riva guard now results. Perhaps the simplest way to deal with the position is to not stand up, or to return to your knees when your opponent does set up the guard and now the guard can't be played anymore. The obvious reason why most people don't do this is because they never learn how to defend and fight from guard, from lowly white belt up to world champion black belts.... Avoiding the guard is a good short term objective but s bad long term objective

They really can be 2 different facets. Muay Thai and TKD are kind of extremes- one focusing on points and speed and the other for brute strength and fighting. Not too many lead leg kicks in mt (other than a push kick) and when they are theres not much power on them. The rear cut kick would take too long to load up to be of use in TKD. Likewise the snapping motion of the kicks doesn't lend itself well to power and its not advised when you don't have protection over your feet. One thing that does work surprisingly well though- is Axe kicks. Coupled with a good push kick, often your opponent wont know which you're throwing and when your opponent is anticipating a push kick and you drop an axe kick- that can be an effective fight ender

Its not a plausible system for modern day fighting. Most of the wrist locking techniques were designed to be used when your opponent is holding on to something (say a sword). This way its easier for you to determine where their wrist will be and they also wont pull away (leaving their weapon behind). Since no one is attacking anyone else with swords, the effectiveness of it is severely limited. It doesnt have application for MMA and about the only thing it shares with the brazilian variant is its name.

What you are experiencing is what every single person in the world also goes through- getting hit isnt pleasant when you're not used to it. Even a "tough guy" who isnt afraid of getting hit will be once someone that knows how to hit tags him. So you're completely normal. Now what to do about it.... Realize that in order for your opponent and you to hit each other, you both must be in the pocket. If you can reach out and hit him, more often than not he can do the same to you. This is why keeping your hands up and learing solid defensive skills are great. When I first started I adopted the following mentality - DO NOT BACK UP. So when I'd spar, I'd keep my hands up and I'd try to hit just as they'd hit me. Now most people get timid and back up after (or before) an exchange occurs, but this doesnt help your training (learning how to hit in the pocket). When you refuse to back up, you make the situation very very simple. You either block/counter/evade an attack correctly or you dont. If your hands are up and you block, BINGO! Positive reinforcement is your buddy and it'll help those skills grow. If you have a habit of carrying your hands a little low WHAM! You're getting punched in the face...hard. Negative reinforcement now reminds you that you've got to keep your hands up for this reason as you definately did not like the feel of that shot. As a result, for a thin guy I typically chase and stalk most of the people I train with and getting hit doesnt bother me anymore (aside from that good one that bothers everyone that is....). Its a tough practice, but I feel it was the quickest teacher.

What if we added another reason to going to knee in belly: "This guy is too fat to mount...."

One option is to open your legs up so as to take a technical mount. The other is to stop trying to hold your opponent on his back. Jiu Jitsu isn't wrestling. It doesn't matter if your opponent turns his back- you take rear mount. If he defends his back you take full mount. Often when trying so hard to hold an opponent down (especially if they're bigger) you hold yourself to him sweeping yourself in the process. Open your legs a little and let him move where he wants. If he stays flat, attack with a choke, on his side is an armbar, on his stomach is the back mount. Point being is wherever your opponent goes you always have an option to attack/submit. Don't think so much like hes escaping the mount as much as you're taking the back.

While I cant comment on your issue of switching styles, I can on the issue of knee pain. Have you considered that you're overtraining and overworking your knees? You can do a workout that both improves your condition but damages your body- I know many a soldier who have severe knee problems at your age because they were so accustomed to 10 mile runs with 60lbs of equipment on their back. Your body cannot withstand such treatment over the years. You also don't heal quite as fast at 31 as you did when you were 21.... As an alternative, if hypothetically the kicks are bothering your knees, focus on hand techniques for a bit and give your legs some rest. Karate isn't just kicks, eh? Hope this helps...