Comparison of Learning

[CrazyAZNRocker]

I just want some thoughts about people's thoughts on learning curves for

Grappling and Striking.

What's easier, what's difficult, transitions from one to the other.

Just some opinions on the learning aspects of grappling and striking and comparing them.

[SubGrappler]

Im just currently learning some Muay Thai, so I'll fill you in on that once I get a little more experienced.

As far as transitioning, grappling and striking have completely different philosophies- now I know why you'll never teach a pure grappler to be as good as someone who started out with striking, and a pure striker will never achieve the level of someone who started out grappling.

As far as grappling is concerned, one of the "easy" things I think is the high learning curve in the beginning- you start off learning the moment you start getting submitted and start to build up a submission defense very fast.

The difficult part in grappling is the better you get, the harder it is to get better- for example, your skill level may improve 10 fold in your first year, but the longer you train, the more time required to get to the next level, and that leads to a bunch of impatient purple belt grapplers that want to go ahead and fight MMA (in my opinion).

[UseoForce]

Yeah, when you first start grappling, you learn tons of the positions and submissions within the first year. After that, it's more about learning to have your hands, your body, your weight in the perfect place, every time.

[UseoForce]

What's hard in striking for me is reading my opponent and slipping or countering his attacks. When grappling, I can feel his energy. Its hard for me at this point to read my opponent without having a hold of him.

[TheAnimal]

For me grappling was harder, because everyone can throw a punch, even if it is a terrible one, and then has something to go on. But what the hell is an armbar??? Maybe it's just because I never wrestled around with people as a kid, having no brothers, and all of that, but I had a much steeper curve with grappling. (The nice thing though, is not getting hit when going live to learn!)