ps1

Congratulations Heidi!! Thanks for helping keep the community a good one!

<----- You can see my other styles in my signature. That said, BJJ has a ton of standing techniques a well. Punches, elbow strikes, and kicks. So, when taught properly, it's as complete as any other single system. To that end, I don't feel a BJJ practitioner needs alot of extra arts. Of course it's a different story if we're talking about a sport MMA match. Certainly you need to be well versed in several modes of combat for that. But for general self defense, BJJ is plenty broad and deep when properly taught. The problem is, due to how fun it is, people usually only focus on the ground grappling GAME. That alone is certainly not enough.

I think you just don't like having reached the top. A rank that, throughout most of your career, you probably felt you'd never see.

Why's it matter? In BJJ, these promotions are mainly based on time. This is because, in the time between black belt degrees, it's impossible not to improve, if you're teaching regularly and training regularly. Since 1995, I'm sure you've learned alot. That's almost 20 years, afterall!

Students who desire to achieve Dan ranking in our JJ system ARE required to obtain a concealed weapon permit which entails an extensive background checks. No permit no advanced training. Even then discretion is of the Professor. What does a concealed carry permit have to do with jujitsu? It's not like getting such a permit requires any level of morality. It's not like knowing any martial art makes you any more deadly than anyone else out there. And background checks???? By whom? I call shenanigans!

A black belt is a white belt who never quit. All that really matters is that you show up as often as possible, train to your fullest potential, and be the best you possibly can. If you do that, you'll earn a black belt. Whether it's one day, one year, ten years or 100 years from now is quite insignificant

Mine are the same. I like the Kimura...no...I love the Kimura. I seem to hit it from anywhere. The armbar is a beautiful flow from the kimura gripset, so I love that too. Close second, however, is the cross choke.

Sounds like disrespect and lots of ego from both parties involved. 1. Disrespect on the part of the guy wanting you not to wear your belt. 2. Ego on your part thinking it really matters.

1) If your style has recently lost its founder, what's the immediate plans for its continuation? There is no structure in place. I'm sure someone would try to take over and continue the group, but it would be unsuccessful in bringing in alot of people. 2) In your honest opinion, will your style be fine when your founder passes away? The style will be fine. All the head instructors are very well trained and know how to teach the art well. But the association would no longer exist 3) Will your style, in your honest opinion, splinter slightly or splinter a lot? Alot. We are the largest BJJ association in the world. We have schools from Virginia to Brazil to Japan and China. Other than the head of our association, very few other instructors travel to teach anywhere else. Everyone is too isolated from everyone else. 4) Will you want to continue in your style if the splintering isn't kept to its minimal OR will you seek training in another style that's more grounded across the board? I will likely joint the IBJJF. They aren't a style, but a certifying body. This will keep my certifications up to date. For the rest, I will bring in instructors for seminars. That's how much of BJJ is learned anyway. The biggest problem is our association is named after the person who's in charge of it. Let's call it Bob's BJJ association. So everyone in the association wants to train with Bob. Every gets their rank from Bob. When Bob dies...Everyone will go their separate ways. There's no structure beyond Bob. There were plans for Bob to join with another group of people to create an actual association with a hierarchy. But it never happened. So Bob's the man for now. When he's gone, the entire BJJ community will mourn, but his association will likely fall apart. There's no one under him who has even half the amount of experience he does. Obviously names have been changed here.

Same here.

Nice, what form of Kung Fu uses black belt as ranking? Technically they are sashes. It's just easier to use the language everyone else uses. The art is Indonesian Poekoelan Tjimindie Teii Chuan Fa. It is actually the combination of two arts. The story goes that a Southern Kung Fu stylist and an Indonesiasn Tjimindie master met up and began training together...Our art was born. Animals practiced in the system are: Crane, Cobra, Mantis, Tiger, Monkey, Bear, Dragon, Bat, Scorpion. White Sash- Crane Green Sash- Cobra and Mantis Brown Sash- Tiger, Monkey, Bear 1st Degree Black Sash- Dragon 2nd Degree -Bat 3rd Degree- Scorpion

Sounds like you psyched yourself out. If you're normally good at the technique, the only reason to mess it up is that you thought too much. My advice... Stop it! This video could help also:

I think the thread is speaking more toward sweeps from the ground. None the less, kosoto is a great takedown.

Flower Sweep and Scissor Sweep are my favorites.

All the thanks for this goes to you Patrick. You run a fair and proper site. I appreciate and enjoy being a part of this community!

Are you kidding??? It's one of the funniest things on the internet today! They just had a fund raiser to shoot season 3!!!!!!!! Favorite episode so far... Thrust of Freedom!!!

Absolutely not. More athletically inclined, yes. But, in the end, all that matters is you're willing to learn, work hard, give 100%, and be a generally good person.

I just received the last black belt I'll ever own today in the mail. It has my name on one side. Pedro Sauer's signature embroidered on the other (in the red bar). It's awesome. I'll post a pic soon.

In Shotokan, the "average" person reached black belt in 3 years. It took me 1. But I also had alot of other experience. Took 3.5 years in Kung Fu Took 3 years in Aiki Jujitsu Took 9 years in BJJ

No. Shadow boxing and technique drills can only do so much. If you want to get better, you need to spar. All the other stuff can improve technique and footwork, which is important. But the timing required to spar well can only be learned on a resisting opponent.

Why do you need to call it one style. What's wrong with saying what you just said? The problem with calling it JKD is that you haven't actually trained JKD. Also, Tao of Jeet Kune Do was not written by Lee. It was compiled by his wife after his death. According to Dan Inosanto, almost 70% of what is written in the book was not Lee's work or theories. They were notes put in the corners and margins of many other books. So that's not a really good method of determining you do JKD. It would be like if I decided, because I'm good at kicks, I do TKD. I don't. So I can't say that. If you feel overly compelled to give what you do a name, just call it something generic. Like Martial Arts or Self Defense. But why not just call it TKD and BJJ, then point out that you've taken some things you like from other systems?

Here's a link to the explination for the kids rank changes: http://www.ibjjf.org/docs/kidsbeltsystem.pdf It's in PDF format, so you'll need a reader of some sort.

It doesn't really bother me. The "kids belts" they added are just striped belts, rather than one solid belt putting stripes on it. So the color system there hasn't really had much change. The time frames have always been there. So that's not new. The biggest change is the addition of the Red/white belt for 8th degree. It used to be a red/black belt for 7th and 8th. Now it's just for 7th. I don't mind the changes too much.

Are these all taught as seperate classes or just as one class that does pieces of all of them? Also, "Judo/jujitsu/aikido" should be written as Judo, Jujitsu, aikido as they are all separate arts just like goju, kenpo, and shotokan are seperate arts. As a grappling expert, I find it a bit insulting when people lump all grappling based systems together. It would be like if I lumped Shotokan/TKD/Western Boxing. They're not the same. Just an FYI really. I know you didn't mean any harm by it.

Like Patrick Swayze in Road House: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_msb7eQA-RFY/SrP5WXHXiLI/AAAAAAAABhw/jQ8igT1TKqA/s640/road-house-weird-looking-wraparound-gi-shirt.jpg