Mr Pockets

This is ridiculous! Of course you learn them slow at first- did you learn to run first, or walk? You learn the move slow, fast, then against increasing levels of resistance. This is true for JJJ, BJJ, MT, karate, Boxing, Judo, and anything else. Why would anyone say otherwise?

The UFC is comprised of fighters using martial arts that have been proven (in the cage.) Yes, there are some rules to protect the fighters, and make it sanctionable, and no, a UFC fight doesn't look or play out like a street fight (because there is a different strategy to winning a 3 round fight than a 30 second street fight); but that doesn't disprove the point that the martial arts UFC fighters fight with are the ones that really work. Why don't you see some Eagle Claw Kung Fu Master in the cage? It's not because his art is so deadly it can't be used in a sanctioned fight. You'll always hear the arguments in favor of those theoretical "I can chop your throat and finger strike your eye and blah blah blah" but the simple fact is you're better off knocking the guys head off than shooting your finger at his eye and missing. I'd bet good money that even if a "master" tried to do that to, say, Chuck Liddell, Chuck would knock him on the ground first. Adapting NHB competition to self defense street fighting is not that hard. With that said, like always, I recommend Muay Thai as a striking art, or just Boxing. It's not difficult to learn to punch with no gloves on, or to knee a groin rather than a stomache in a clinch, or kick a knee instead of a leg or torso. Not to say that a normal thai leg kick won't end a lot of confrontations.

What!? Diego's a chump! He did so many things wrong, or just didn't do so many things in his fight with (whoever that black guy with the blonde hair was) it was almost embarassing. Anyway, while a black belt in BJJ is very impressive (makes you one hell of a grappler) the whole dynamic is changed when you add strikes and become NHB.

Is that anything like stuffing a jab?

Reps in the 8-12 range, good cardio 5 or 6 days a week. I'm talking about something that gets your heartrate in the highest range healthy (180-200 if you're in your early twenties, 160-180 late twenties... you can look it up for fifteen to twentie minutes- much more and you ll start breaking down muscle mass), lowered calorie intake (some carbohydrates, try and avoid the simple ones, and instead of them all the time replace some with, say, a banana.) Approximately a gram of protein per lb you weight a day, and spread out your meals so that you're eating five or six times a day in smaller quantities.

Just knock a guy out or put him in a sleeper hold, you should have a minute or two before he wakes up. If you need more time, rinse and repeat!

Instead of big movements you can try multiple little hip pops, firing them off like a machine gun, to create enough space to turn into him and get guard, or turn on knees.

Yea everything Gumbi said.. good post. It's weird in how they end up being the same thing, almost, yet different.

Muay Thai is a modern martial art in that it evolves with time, and has changed recently, if not continuously. Traditional doesn't necessarily mean ancient, modern doesn't necessarily mean new.

Yea, Cross said it, throwing a knee like throwing a punch. If you have the slightest idea what you're doing, goliath isn't going to just fall on you.

Not to mention that when you spar a guy so much better than you he ought to end up teaching you. And teaching is really the finaly step in learning something, so a smart guy won't pass up the opportunity.

That's odd, we do clinch work and takedowns and all sorts of throws all the time. We focus mostly on the ground, but the standup definitely goes beyond basic Judo throws. A lot of the time a Judo throw, depending on how exactly you do it, gives you the option to go down with him (usually safer and more sure of getting the throw) or not (not as safe but you probably get to slam him harder.) Anyway, sorry Traz- we tend to get off topic in these forums it seems. I would say that there's a decent amount of clinch work in JJJ, but I doubt you'll learn much in the way of takedowns (wrestling style) or strikes like knees and elbows and headbutts.

There's no harm in asking him to not hit you as hard as he can for a while, you need to build yourself up- and he'll still get good practice without wailing on you. You should try and workout with more than one person anyway.

No, I'm not comparing EVERY formal class with the one I was in, I'm just using it as an example of what we informal guys are against.

Well, just because your shoulders are shrugged doesn't mean they'll be tense. They should be up, not pinched and flexed hard. As for your hands- I can garuntee you that unless you have unusually long arms they're not high enough, and the shoulders themselves are also supposed to help protect your head. It's just more protection. Also- yes hips and shoulders are where the power comes from, but the shoulders dont move independantly.

No, that's a bad idea.

KEEP YOUR HANDS UP! No, higher than that. Okay, that's sparring advice. You'll learn to wrap your hands soon enough. I'd say go 3-4 times a week for an hour or two, but if you can handle more, go for it. Just don't burn yourself out. Welcome to the wonderful world of real fighting!

No, not at all. I'm not trying to insult you, but you have been gravely misinformed. Back when I was young I had a kung fu instructor tell me the same thing, but it is entirely not true. Your power when you punch truly comes from your hips. That's why your leg muscles (which power your hips through the movement) are more important than any other muscle group when punching. (Next is the torso, then finally the chest and arms.) Boxers keep their hands up and shoulders shrugged for one main simple reason- defense. If you throw a quick punch or something and one is coming in, there are two scenerios: 1- your shoulders can be relaxed in which case your entire face and even neck is just hanging out there waiting to get punched; OR, 2- your shoulders are shrugged and half your face is covered by your shoulder, leaving about eye level up to get punched. Obviously, you're at a lot more risk with your shoulders down. And, again, to reiterate, you do NOT get more power with your shoulders down, in fact, if you know how to punch with your whole body, the opposite is probably true. It's not a matter of some styles punch one way and some punch another and they're all the same in the end... it's a matter of one way being more effective than the other. Take it from me, I've learned both ways. Leaving your shoulders relaxed when fighting is the equivalent of shooting a machine gun from your hip.

We feel it's extreme in that it creates such a separation between instructor and student. For instance, when I was younger I was in a bogus little kung fu school and there were all sorts of rules about not sparring (if you could call it that) the instructor unless your black belt and above, and all this yield space to a higher belt and blah blah blah... makes people like me roll my eyes in disgust. If my instructor in BJJ was supposed to be referred to as sir, or if we're all supposed to shout yes sir like were in the military, it just takes away from the quality of the training.

Firearms work pretty well.

You just get used to it.

I agree, that video didn't impress me much either. The guy has an idea of what hes doing, but look at how the other guys came at him. If a real fighter (say, boxer) came at him he'd have to change up his game plan a lot to survive.

I don't know... I bet if Tyson knew like many of us do how to punch with no gloves he'd probably not have hurt himself. That guy is ridiculously powerful though. Also- since we were talking about the headbutting punches thing- anyone ever just block with their elbow?

Creatine will make you approximately 20% stronger, enabling you to lift more and therefor grow more. If your muscles can handle it, go for it.

Going low can have one serious drawback if you're allowed to throw knees, or apply chokes and grappling stuff like that.