FunSPE

Run and do a lot of pad work. Repeat as much as possible! Your endurance will then be insance Robert Soliz

I read posts about this and to be honest it makes me sad. There are good and bad apples in every art and I belive you ran into one of the bad ones. I think some of the bad attitude comes from an extreme level of confidence. Personally I really dont like the bad attitude or sometimes "thugish" nature of MMA. I believe that martial arts should give you the ability to fight and also make a positive difference in your life. MMA is no exception. At our school, we always preach being "one of the good guys". We are always nice and polite and we always show respect. Whenever I travel, I often stop by martial arts schools just to watch. I can't tell you how many times that a head instructor has asked me what I train in. As soon as I say "bjj, muay thai, fma and mma" I can almost hear their inner voice go "oh no, not one of these guys". Funny thing is, after we are done talking they have totally changed their initial opinon of me. About a year ago I was at a resort in Colorado. There was one martial arts school there so I stopped by just to take a peak. It was a kung fu school and though I didnt have any intention to train I just wanted to watch. After class, I introduced myself to the instructor and we had a plesant chat. He even commented that he was impressed that I didnt have that "typical mma/bjj'er" attitude. I guess he too got that same attitude from others. There are plenty of great MMA schools out there that foster good attitudes as well. Hell, when you meet these guys who fight, about 99% of them are world class human beings. Ive met scores of fighters and they have always been class acts. Just keep looking around. Robert Soliz

Where do you live? Perhaps I can help you find a school. Robert Soliz

Plenty of people here have contributed good advice so sorry if there is some repeat. Allow me to just give my two cents. If you are crushing your groin then first of all, you are not staying tight on your set up. As someone said, keep your butt really close to them. This will allow the elbow joint to be centered around your pelvis and not your groin. Also, when controlling their arm, keep their thumb pointed to the ceiling, this will further expose the elbow joint. Some people like to grab the wrist with both of their hands. This is ok, it works fine, but lately I have been pinning the blade of my wrist to their wrist (as I keep that elbow tight). This keeps their wrist pinned to my chest and its difficult for them to escape. They key to keeping everything tight is to have everything tight from the initial set up. This is absolutely paramount. Now if they clasp their hands together, there are a TON of counters. Some people have mentioned the Bicep Lock. That is a great counter. One word of advice, when they are clasping their hands together, dont pull straight back. This will only work if you are stronger than your opponent. Instead, keep one arm treaded under the bend of their elbow. I like to grab my own gi lapel (or my own shoulder if no gi) to make it tighter. Then, I slide down to their wrist and I lay back in a circle. This makes it harder for them to hold on. Another option is to kick their far bicep away. Another great counter is to slide across their belt to the opposite side and take the arm bar on their other arm. Another one I used is to slide my legs into the triangle position and finish with either the choke or the arm lock. Im leaving out other details but maybe this will give you some more ideas. If I ever decide to abandon the armbar, my first strategy is to get back to Mount and set it up again. As a secondary tactic, I will sometimes go back to cross body so that I can set up my knee ride or Mount again. Hope this helps Robert Soliz

Hello everyone. I just thought I would introduce myself. I found this group by chance and I thought I would sign up to chat and discuss with other martial artists. A little about me....Im 27 years old and Ive been training for nearly 19 years. I started in TKD and I did that for a number of years before I quit. Since then, I have focused my training on the Filipino Martial Arts, Muay Thai and Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA. Ive been fortunate to train under a variety of renowned martial artists! Its been a wild ride so far. I currently hold an instructor rank in Filipino Martial arts and a black belt in brazilian jiu jitsu under Carlos Machado and Alvis Solis. I hope to contribute in a meaningful way to this group! Robert Soliz