AngryMatt

For all you UFC marks, yes I do think that its a good promotion... but go watch a PRIDE event. Just once.

Well here's an important thing to bring up... do you spar with no protective gear? And I mean full out spar with live punches and kicks. No, of course you don't. That's completely unnecessary. You either put on gear or restrict the strikes to kicks and "slaps" instead of full punches. It's the same for throws, especially submission throws. You don't just learn it and then step in there for live goes. The guy taking the throw has to learn how to take it properly without getting his arm broken and that's not your standard ukemi.

Shamrock got so worked that it smelled a little like a setup.

In a real fighting situation you are going to have that adrenaline flowing and you're not going to hit that throw perfectly. In training, it's best to get the feel of the move and to learn how to perfect that form. Yes it is important to work against a resisting opponent once in awhile. But that's only because it helps you truly perfect that form. When they resist, you have to hit it correctly in order for the throw to work. So yes you should work with resistance but you're never going to duplicate a real fighting environment and doing a throw at 100% live is damn dangerous if you're doing a throw that includes a lock for a break.

How is bowing or calling someone sensei an extreme formality? I address my professors as "Professor Sigel" or "Professor Fischer" and address them as "sir" even though we're all s in the room. Anyone I know that is above me in terms of being my boss or simply having more experience in life as an older man or woman gets the "sir/ma'am" "Mr./Mrs." treatment until they tell me to address them differently. I suppose that's a byproduct of having manners and being from the South...

My orthopedic surgeon cleared me to exercise without the brace, but I was always hesitant because every once in awhile my ankle would twinge from the stress. But most of that was from lifting weights... so I leave the brace on when running or weight training, but take it off for training in the dojo as it doesn't take as much stress, just more shots from the outside which doesn't affect it.

See this is exactly what I was talking about... it was a bone and not soft tissue. My left leg was broken in five places a few years ago... it's fine. But the ankle is still pretty messed up. That aside, I decided to say "screw it" and started training without the brace because I have my tabi shoes now. And while it gives out once in awhile, it appears to be ok. The strength issue is because a few tendons in that ankle just aren't connected anymore; that injury was a HUGE mess. Long surgery to clean out a ton of torn soft tissue, absolutely ridiculous. But good to see you got back on the horse and I will continue to do so even with my shins being completely black and blue. I swear it looks I was victim of a Rodney King type beating by billy clubs. But you know what? Screw it.

Taijutsu will help you tremendously in the clinch, especially if you also have a wrestling background... like me! But clinches in the real world are somewhat different than in wrestling. Wrestling helps you get that good base and maybe work in a takedown, but you don't want to try to break that clinch to work a single leg or something in a streetfight. You want to use the clinch to bust into a fight ending throw of some kind. But yes, if you train in JJJ, you will do plenty of clinch stuff. Why? Because nearly all streetfights turn into a situation where someone is about to take it to the ground. You want to be in the superior position when it goes down there... don't want to rely on your ground work... who knows if you'll even be conscious at that point if this fight on concrete! So JJJ will teach you a plethora of throws, takedowns and strikes from the clinch. Plus, if you are in true danger, there are plenty of techniques to break that clinch so you can get away.

I've just started really getting into it now. Meaning, once you do your green belt test and pass, and so do a handful of other guys at your dojo... business picks up. Hell, I even had a 14 oz black gi get ripped down the seam. It was an easy fix, took all of 15 seconds with a sewing machine, but I mean damn I took a hard throw. We've started training on the sand and on the grass on occassion. My shins are completely black and blue with nice sized welts and the underside of my arms are pretty bruised. My right knee doesn't extend fully most of the time, but that's not a serious situation, I just strained a ligament. No tear no sprain, so I keep going. I FEEL pretty good though, except right after training. Then I am totally exhausted. I'm sure you are further along in training, and frankly I can't wait for that. But since I'm a bigger guy (6'2" 230) it's tougher to launch me across the room. But to the smaller guys, they are going flying these days.

If you can't find a judo school, definitely hit up the jujitsu dojos. You won't work as many throws, but you will work plenty of solid self-defense stuff. I don't know if you are in it for sport or for self-defense, but getting your basic grappling stuff is essential and then after awhile you can mix in a striking art in case you find yourself in a position where you are against someone who has a solid base (ex: a former high school or college wrestler)

Derived from the samurai and, yes, ninja arts. If you want to train in the combat side of ninjitsu, go seek out a Bujinkan dojo... they are good at teaching many of the aspects of Budo Taijutsu. Hard to find a true ninjitsu school outside of Japan. Anyhow, a ton of things derived from those nine aspects of the art of Budo Taijutsu, including judo, kenpo, akido, jujitsu, etc. Frankly, I think getting a good combination of judo, bjj and a striking art is what you want to do if you can't find a Bujinkan dojo or, like me, just some guy who happens to be 3rd Dan in Taijutsu and lets you train for free. It will get intense, it will get pretty brutal. You'll be bruised up like no other and you'll be drawing in spars after a few months, but it's 100% worth it if you want to be a good all around fighter. Plus, every once in awhile you get to do live bjj style goes with limited striking. For a guy who loves submissions, that's up your alley.

Oh I know. I just did a series of live goes today, with strikes "kept to a minimum" but it was intense. I'm so busted up but it was fantastic training.

We usually train in our black canvas-style gis and tabi shoes... but that comes with the territory in Budo Taijutsu. When the plan is for more ground work, we switch to white judo style gis that you'd see being worn in BJJ dojos. Every once in awhile it's good to use street clothes so you can get a feel. But when you are doing throws over and over again or other grabs, you have a tendency to tear things. Who wants to buy a billion shirts because they keep getting torn up from training? The gi is not just about tradition; it's good because it doesn't tear easily. In a real fighting situation the guy is probably going to have a jacket (if you live in a northern city) or a shirt. And most of the time that shirt is not going to tear if you execute technique on him ONCE. But in the dojo, that shirt is going down after one or two sessions. I know from experience. But moreso than training with street clothes is training in a REAL ENVIRONMENT. Sand and grass is a good start. Eventually I'm sure we'll train on gravel and such, but I'm certainly not prepared enough for that.

Good street fighters don't get into fights.

Resisting a technique is a sure way to get yourself hurt badly if it's executed properly. Hence the relevance of those techniques on the street.