IKnowCrazy

Just a comment from personal experience. Whenever my instructor would praise me, I would almost immediately screw up. It did feel really good to hear it, but it also gave me almost an instant feeling of over confidence and broke my "concentration" so to speak My instructor also tells us that frustration is a good thing. It keeps you pushing yourself more and more, and when you lose that frustration you become over confident and stop learning more. So, if anything praise should be rare or after class, but you should be still having fun and getting frustrated at the same time IMO. Learn to laugh about your frustration and look forward to it. On the other hand, it's important that the instructor is paying attention and helping you to learn. If classes are too big, you might want to think about private lessons or moving to a different school. Hope that helps.

Oh no, NAJVBJJ(VS)T (Not another Judo Vs. BJJ (Vs. Sambo) thread)! If you do some google searches, there is a lot of very heated discussion on this subject. I believe there is also a contraversial list of well-known Judoka who beat well known GJJ/BJJ practictioners. Most of the time the BJJ guys have some excuse for every loss, such as the winner didn't use a Judo specific move... That said, GJJ/BJJ has it's own reputation from UFC. It's obviously a great sytem. From what I have observed, Judo guys seem to be better at staying up. They seem to have better balance and takedowns, and when it goes to the ground they usually take the top. BJJ guys on the other hand, almost seem to want to go to the ground, even if it means taking the bottom position. They seem to be very accomplished in this position; however I think in modern MMA it's a disadvantage because everyone has some ground skills now and it's not the most ideal place to be. On the street, it's not great either. You can end up getting stabbed or kicked to death by the attackers buddy. Also, try doing an armbar on the street and you might end up getting your leg bit a la Bolo Vs. Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. There is also other options, like Sambo for example. I would think that BJJ would be great in combination with a striking style, while if you could only afford one Judo might be better for the street. However, it depends on the Judo school. If it is very sport based then you can end up learning a lot of restrictive techniques. It also might be a good idea to see if they train Gi only. Some of the stuff with the Gi might work on winter jackets, but try grabbing soemone with a beater on and it will just rip off in your hands. If you can find a school that does Combat Sambo, that might be even better as it is ment for combat situations and self-defense. There is also an "aiki" version called Samoz which is meant for more defensive situations. Either way, anything is going to be better than nothing, and the quality of the instruction plus your comfort at the school (do you get along with the students? Does the instructor pay attention? Is he/she nice or do they make you uncomfortable? etc.) plus what you can accomplish could be more important than the style itself. Good luck!