ps1

Here's a blog I wrote about my first day of BJJ. It seems to be pretty popular so I thought I'd share: http://wbbjj.com/first-day-of-bjj/ I hope you enjoy!

It's hard to call a scandal. The big complaint is that the IBJJF is a FOR PROFIT company that is considering itself the authority for BJJ ranking. Then it requires you to purchase membership in IBJJF to compete in IBJJF tournaments. They're a company that is trying to make money. But they're not selling rank or anything. So I have no real problem with them. To me, if people have a problem with them, they should create their own tournament system that competes and is better run. The IBJJF runs extremely organized tournaments that even tell you what time and day you will compete. No one else is able to do that. So they must be doing something right.

Agreed, Brian. I don't think it would have much benefit to roll the opponent up. I still feel the force of the strikes will cause you to break your own grip, however. There are better positions for performing this type of technique.

I was pretty curious about some of it. I can see doing it with kata/forms without much issue. Even with many striking techniques. But I am at a loss with how you would do a jump kick before learning a front kick. I'm guessing those modifications are made on the fly, however. My academy is BJJ and MMA. The rotating curriculum works great with MMA due to the relatively low number of techniques used and their simplicity. However, for BJJ, it's a bit trickier. I've had to modify it and have overlap in the techniques. I can't, for example, see someone going an entire year before learning a simple cross choke. Overall, it has made the classes at my academy far more organized and allowed me to put much more focus on the quality of the technique the students perform. In a 45 min class, having to go from group to group to group, correcting and teaching all of them highly technical movements was becoming almost impossible. Now, I can teach the whole group a single move, focus on all the details and circulate to make minor corrections as needed.

Yes, it's rare that knee strikes to the ribs are going to end a fight. They suck, for sure. But the primary reason for doing them is to get the opponent to lower his defenses so you can transition to a more dominant position (knee mount, mount, or a more controlling side control)

Has anyone here used a rotating curriculum for their class structure? Did you feel it was successful?

How so?? Well why do you need to be a nidan? Or a sandan? Or a kudan? Why not just a Blackbelt? It is a tool to distinguish you from him or from her. That you are Bill's senior but Bob's junior. Early on rank is an identifier so your instructor and others can gauge your progress on a curriculum but when you are training for training's sake why do you need to be promoted further. IMHO it's to maintain that hierarchy so that both the rank holder and their peers know where within that hierarchy they fall. I think there's no doubt that this is true.

Oh. Sorry for the confusion. Didn't realize you meant knee strikes. Yes. You can do that. I've seen it done a lot. The issue you'll run into, however is that the force of your knee strikes will make it difficult to keep a tight grip for more than 2 or 3 hits (assuming you're hitting hard). After that, your grip may break, leaving you in a poor controlling position and allowing for escape.

It works ok, if you can get the position. But to what end? If all you want to do is pin the opponent for a few moments, you will. If you want to finish the fight, you need to adjust the angle and attack the spine (if allowed in your academy or division). Otherwise you are using your entire body to control his entire body. Good jiu-jitsu has you using only a small part of your body to control your opponent's entire body. This leaves your arms to attack for the finish.

Regarding the comments, there's alot of armchair martial artists out there these days. Even people in my own art of BJJ don't seem to understand the point of a demonstration and the need of a compliant uke for such a purpose. In jiu-jitsu we have many of the same techniques. The problem is that most people don't know how they should be trained. I did a private lesson with a higher level BJJ student a few months ago. I covered some things very similar to this. Then I taught him how to put it together and make it "actually work against a resisting opponent." He actually looked at me and said, "Mind blown!" What I don't like here is how poorly and how much pain he puts on the uke. It's not necessary, especially for a demonstration for his peers. This is a bad habit that many instructors have. It's a good way to lose a student and training partner.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is exactly why I always suggest against this type of thing. I don't even let my students hold on to an armbar or triangle when the opponent starts to pick them up. Too likely to get messed up that way.

This statement bothers me due to the fact that I hear it alot in the TMA as well as in the boxing circle almost all the time. Traditional martial art has itself to blame to be honest! (as does boxing) Its not mma's fault that tma circles began to manufacture rainbow color belt Its not mma's fault that every 8 year old and their grandmother is a blackbelt Its not mma's fault that we have a mcdojo culture that was a result of many instructors in the tma community abusing their position for profit These bad behaviours that occured in the tma world surfaced before the rise of the mma culture. Blaming mma is alot like the rap genre blaming rock and roll for its lack of popularity. Also on a last note, to the poster who was insulted by a kickboxer, I have been involved with the boxing/tma world and I will say that every martial arts/combat culture has its bad apples as well as its unsung heros. I agree with all of your points. To be more exact about my statement: The introduction of MMA into society allowed people to see there was something better out there. It exposed the multitude of schools that falsely claim to teach self defense when all they really were was a glorified daycare. That's what I mean when I say, "It's MMAs fault." So all the things you mentioned, and some, are included in my statement. It opened people's eyes to being more skeptical of what their doing.

I agree with your assessment. Regarding the bars...I disagree. I think it's a tradition that will emerge soon. It wasn't really used much in the past. There just aren't that many black belts that aren't instructors in most places. Once there are schools with many black belts, I believe you'll see it come into larger useage.

Safroot. Just show up. No one goes into martial arts fulfilling the requirements for anything. As a beginner, expect it to be difficult. You will learn and attain all knowledge and skills you need during your practice. Good luck.

There is only one requirement. Walk through the door.

One more day. Ask me tomorrow and I'll tell you the same.

Solid post!! I agree with this. If all you really want to do is fight, Karate-do, isn't really for you anyway. It's not all about fighting...it's also about fighting. That's a huge distinction to make.

Personally, I don't get it. In BJJ, it's literally impossible. If memory serves, 9th degree (our highest rank) requires you to be 67years old. Black Belt requires you to be at least 19 and the first 5 degrees have 3 years between each. So you could be 5th degree at 34. In Karate you had to wait the same time as the degree you were approaching. Plus, you had to be 20 to get second degree. That made you 32 at minimum for 5th, I believe. In my opinion, it doesn't make sense to have someone so young ranked so highly. But, to each their own.

I agree with your assessment of blue belt. For example, we promote a little faster to blue belt, but you will probably be one for 3 to 4 years. While others may make a person wait an extra year or so and promote in 2 years. Just depends on what the instructor/association feels is required for that rank. Some, like my own, just look to ensure you're solving problems using jiu-jitsu answers, have solid self defense mind set, and are able to demonstrate the entire curriculum. The only think I would add....black belt has a ton of discrepancy too. For some reason, there are people that expect everyone to be as skilled as Cyborg or Andre Galvao. That's simply not the case any more than all JKD practitioners being as skilled as Bruce Lee or all Judo black belts having the skill of Rousey or Jimmy Pedro.

I think you can blame that on MMA. Despite the fact that many many many MMA experts spent years in a traditional dojo, people only see what is going on in the ring. So they think they must go to an MMA gym to get skilled in actual combat. They feel things like kata are antiquated and useless.

I'm not a BJJ practitioner, and what I've noticed is that the "standards" are pretty much up to the governing bodies rules/regulations surrounding the said "standards". What's standard with one, isn't for the other. "Standards" for promotion do vary somewhat from one association to another. But that's true of most associations for most martial arts these days. The belt system, however, is very well standardized. With only a few exceptions (some have a green belt between white and blue), they are the same in all schools. The curriculum in each school, whether it's officially written down or not, tends to be the same. For example, it would be nye on impossible to find a BJJ school that promotes someone from white to blue without them knowing moves like the elbow escape, upa, guillotine choke, triangle, armbar ect... as well as understanding how to apply them against a resisting opponent.

Do you have any links to videos of it? I'd love to see what it looks like.

All martial arts are limited by the scope of their purpose. All man is limited by the scope of his ingenuity.

My instructor (Pedro Sauer) got to roll Chuck during his first visit to the academy. He said Chuck was a great guy and signed his work visa when he migrated to the states. It's a frickin awesome story too.

my pleasure