Guys giving in to ladies??

[Ottman]

There's a green belt in BJJ?

There is at my school. Our program doesn't even really have belts. We use levels (1-9) but most of our students train in TKD or Karate or some other art too, and are so used to having belts that they kept asking us about them, so my instructor made up a belt system resembling our TKD belt system. Green belt is the start of level three.

[UseoForce]

From a guy's perspective, it's difficult to go hard with physically weaker or smaller people. Grabbing hard to practice a wrist grab is one thing, but real sparring is another thing all together.

I remember sparring with a female BJJ student. She was very good, much more experience than me, but much smaller. She could work me into armbars from the guard, but, contrary to popular belief, strength IS a factor in a real situation.

Should I:

A. Acknowledge her good technique and tap out out of respect.

B. Fight the submission, because she lacks the strength to tap me out, but stop with that.

C. Respond like I would with a guy: Do whatever it takes (slams, chokes, etc.) to break out with intensity in order to turn the tide.

I'm a nice guy and would never do C. But I'm not going to give her a false sense of security by tapping out either.

When you ask to spar hard with someone, regardless of gender, be careful what you wish for. That's why a lot of men don't like sparring hard with women. It's hard for them to find a happy medium between giving in and destroying their opponent.

I'm not saying men shouldn't spar with women. They should.

But please have some sympathy for the guys. Really, would you rather they just beat the tar out of women? Of course not.

[Spirit At Choice]

I guess my thoughts on this are to look at it less as a gender issue and more as a strength and skill issue. Just use what it takes to win. If your opponent is a 5 and you're a 10, just go 6 or 7 on the guy (or gal!). You don't have to annihilate someone to win; you just have to be yea-much better.

As a woman, I don't mind getting beaten by guys. (I don't spar yet, but we do grapple.) But I appreciate it if they let me work at it a bit before taking the pin.

[UseoForce]

I guess my thoughts on this are to look at it less as a gender issue and more as a strength and skill issue. Just use what it takes to win. If your opponent is a 5 and you're a 10, just go 6 or 7 on the guy (or gal!). You don't have to annihilate someone to win; you just have to be yea-much better.

As a woman, I don't mind getting beaten by guys. (I don't spar yet, but we do grapple.) But I appreciate it if they let me work at it a bit before taking the pin.

I guess that's the theorey, but in reality it doesn't always work so well.

[lowkicker]

I try to gauge my level of power and intensity according to the abilities of my sparring partner to defend and counter. The sex you happen to be is relative. As far as competing in a NHB scenario, I could not risk lowering my guard or my power just because I was facing a woman. That could potentially set up a behavior in myself that could get me hurt someday, and I cant let that happen.

[Whitefeather]

I think that the majority of the time, at least in my case, if I were sparring with a girl, I just would not go all out. Not as a concious act of "Oh, she is a lady, I am a gentleman, therefore I shall allow her to score," but as a subconcious act of "It would just be cold to use the steamroller tactic on her." On the other hand, if we are working on self defense/escape techniques, I will be just as hard on either gender, because I believe that you are doing someone a grave disservice if you fluff out when working on SD stuff, because, come the real thing, they will get butchered.

Just 2 cents from the male perspective,

David

[Kasumi27]

okay then.

however, most guys in my Dojo just don't do it the gentlemen way....

they grab me like as though i'm their wife...

so any suggestions??

[UseoForce]

okay then.

however, most guys in my Dojo just don't do it the gentlemen way....

they grab me like as though i'm their wife...

so any suggestions??

What do you mean?

[ebff]

I've only come across two girls in martial arts (excluding fencing where they range from the alright to the positively laughable, usually the second).

The first one was in my first couple of wing chun classes. I remember from practicing chi sao with her that she was really really weak, as in, my 10yo brother is actually stronger (she was about 25 and 5ft8). We all ended up not really punching through because her arms would just give way... maybe had she stayed she'd have gotten stronger but she left after these classes, probably because everyone else in the group was strong 6ft+ 180lb men in their thirties (and two slightly mad teenagers ).

The second one was at my school. She wanted to do judo, and would not let the fact that it was a guys only sport at school deter her. She joined, was the fastest to get her yellow belt that the club had ever seen (and I don't know much about judo, but I think our school club wasn't a McDojo... noone made it to black belt in the 5 years I was there, except of course for the sensei - the captain was brown belt after 4-5 years of judo and serious training). Apparently even though she was a total beginner she could beat most people through pure determination and aggressivity (and the fact that teenage guys are usually not too comfortable with female curves probably helped). She would also randomly attack people in locker rooms and it took 3 guys to hold her down then.

So.... I don't know what to think. Girls are probably treated differently. Doesn't mean they're not as strong.

[Nick_sam]

but it goes the other way round too.. i find that girls are a lot more aggressive and less forgiving than guys, not counting physical strength. having just started karate, one class i went to had a long free sparring section to it, where we had a few minutes with someone then changed. when i was sparring with a guy, they could see i didnt know what i was doing so they helped me along and suggested what i could do, how to hold my guard, etc. they didnt let me get a hit in edgways, tho, but they still took into account i was (and still am!) a complete begginner. when i sparred against the girls (everyone i was against was at least red belt) they didnt give me any help, and when they made a strike it was as if they had something to prove. so i think it works both ways really in terms of gender equality in martial arts.

as for myself getting a stike in.. well i cant really aim for the chest can i? especially if she hasnt got a chestguard on (and i cant really check can i!!) so that leaves me with fewer options too. and this little factor doesnt make the subject of grappling any easier too.

i'll have no problem admitting that some of these girls were stronger than me, but there is the subject of modern etiquette that we have been brought up with that has to be taken into account when commenting on guys going easy on girls. a hand on the chest, inner thigh, groin, etc, can be a bit of a delicate subject - of course depending on the person, but nonetheless this has to be taken into account.