What kind of Grappler are you?
In my academy there are a lot of students getting close to attaining their blue belts. As I was ponding the meaning of the world, I realized a major difference with this group of blue belts and the group I was promoted with. Now, as I say this, keep in mind I am not saying one type of training is better or worse than another, it all has to do with goals and what reasons we train and study jiu-jitsu. My Academy is in the linage of Carlson Gracie, my instructor trained with him, and having that influenced his jiu-jitsu was geared towards fighting and non sport jiu-jitsu. As you may or may not know, Carlson Gracie was regarded as one of the best Vale Tudo trainers of all time, and rightfully so, he was a champion fighter and teacher. My instructor really took a lot of the vale tudo style with him, and although he is very good at sport jiu-jitsu his heart and really expertise is with no-gi and NBH fighting.
Having an instructor like that has really helped develop my growth as a fighter, back when my academy was younger there used to be two locations. One specifically for fighters who were training a fully rounded curriculum and those who were just grappling. Where I trained we did gi and no-gi jiu jitsu we trained vale tudo drills at least three times a week, drills such as your opponent in your guard had boxing gloves and can punch and pass, establish position, and submit. The person holding guard, could only grapple, sweeps, turnovers and submissions. You learn a lot about your grappling when you are getting hit in the face. Even with boxing gloves not many people enjoy the feeling and because of that, your points of control change, your explosiveness changes, and your goals are more focused. It's a different world when you add striking into things. We did similar drills where one opponent was again in gloves and standing up, he could box and kick, the other had to shoot and take him down, and establish positional dominance. Again, traditional judo and jiu-jitsu stand up is a very different thing if you are trying to shoot under someones jabs and hooks, watching for uppercuts and executing a take down. This was the foundation of my training. My goals in training were self defense and being a well rounded fighter, some people are drawn to this kind of realism, others are not, some people love the grace of a jiu-jitsu competition, the flow, the smooth transitions, I have to admit I love that aspect of it also, but I want to have both side of the story so to speak.
Back when I tested for blue belt, the test was two hours of GI jiu-jitsu, rolling, going over moves, demonstration proficiency in the curriculum my instructor had laid out for us. After that two hours we all went no gi and put on grappling gloves, the next hour was about vale tudo. My instructor and his assistant would single us out and attack us. Come at us with punches, take downs and kicks, we had to defend and counter attack. It was absolutely draining. We were promoted to blue belts in the well rounded curriculum of a fighters, we had the sport base but additionally we had our skills tested in another light of a full contact fight, I literally fought to earn my blue belt.
The current group of upcoming blue belts have never had this type of training. They have a very good sport base, but they have almost never done no gi, they have never had to worry about striking while they are rolling. I am not saying they are bad at jiu-jitsu, not at all, in fact there are a few standouts that really will deserve their blue belt very soon and I would back them and have full confidence they would do just fine in the blue belt division of most tournaments. The difference is they just grapple for sport, and hopefully they understand this.
This post is really meant to stop you, tell you to look at your training honestly, evaluate your style and reasons for training. Are you doing it for sport jiu-jitsu competitions? If so that's awesome, I I want to see you do well. Are you doing it for self defense? If you are are you really training realistically? When was the last time you put on the gloves against an experiences striker and rolled with them? How ever you train, and what ever reasons you train for, you need to do it properly. There is nothing wrong in my opinion with people who don't want to worry about striking, who just love rolling competitively and non competitively. The problem comes when people believe they are learning self defense and how to fight if they really need too in the street and have never dealt with a striking opponent. Jiujitsu is an amazing spring board for a fighter, in my opinion its the best place to start if you are looking for a realistic self defense training program, but grappling alone just is not enough. Again just be honest with yourself, what kind of training do you do, and what is it preparing you for? If you ask yourself that and you are training toward your goals, excellent if not, it is never too late to make some changes and approach things a bit different.
Either way, get yourself out on the mat, and train hard. Thanks for reading,
-Sean
Having an instructor like that has really helped develop my growth as a fighter, back when my academy was younger there used to be two locations. One specifically for fighters who were training a fully rounded curriculum and those who were just grappling. Where I trained we did gi and no-gi jiu jitsu we trained vale tudo drills at least three times a week, drills such as your opponent in your guard had boxing gloves and can punch and pass, establish position, and submit. The person holding guard, could only grapple, sweeps, turnovers and submissions. You learn a lot about your grappling when you are getting hit in the face. Even with boxing gloves not many people enjoy the feeling and because of that, your points of control change, your explosiveness changes, and your goals are more focused. It's a different world when you add striking into things. We did similar drills where one opponent was again in gloves and standing up, he could box and kick, the other had to shoot and take him down, and establish positional dominance. Again, traditional judo and jiu-jitsu stand up is a very different thing if you are trying to shoot under someones jabs and hooks, watching for uppercuts and executing a take down. This was the foundation of my training. My goals in training were self defense and being a well rounded fighter, some people are drawn to this kind of realism, others are not, some people love the grace of a jiu-jitsu competition, the flow, the smooth transitions, I have to admit I love that aspect of it also, but I want to have both side of the story so to speak.
Back when I tested for blue belt, the test was two hours of GI jiu-jitsu, rolling, going over moves, demonstration proficiency in the curriculum my instructor had laid out for us. After that two hours we all went no gi and put on grappling gloves, the next hour was about vale tudo. My instructor and his assistant would single us out and attack us. Come at us with punches, take downs and kicks, we had to defend and counter attack. It was absolutely draining. We were promoted to blue belts in the well rounded curriculum of a fighters, we had the sport base but additionally we had our skills tested in another light of a full contact fight, I literally fought to earn my blue belt.
The current group of upcoming blue belts have never had this type of training. They have a very good sport base, but they have almost never done no gi, they have never had to worry about striking while they are rolling. I am not saying they are bad at jiu-jitsu, not at all, in fact there are a few standouts that really will deserve their blue belt very soon and I would back them and have full confidence they would do just fine in the blue belt division of most tournaments. The difference is they just grapple for sport, and hopefully they understand this.
This post is really meant to stop you, tell you to look at your training honestly, evaluate your style and reasons for training. Are you doing it for sport jiu-jitsu competitions? If so that's awesome, I I want to see you do well. Are you doing it for self defense? If you are are you really training realistically? When was the last time you put on the gloves against an experiences striker and rolled with them? How ever you train, and what ever reasons you train for, you need to do it properly. There is nothing wrong in my opinion with people who don't want to worry about striking, who just love rolling competitively and non competitively. The problem comes when people believe they are learning self defense and how to fight if they really need too in the street and have never dealt with a striking opponent. Jiujitsu is an amazing spring board for a fighter, in my opinion its the best place to start if you are looking for a realistic self defense training program, but grappling alone just is not enough. Again just be honest with yourself, what kind of training do you do, and what is it preparing you for? If you ask yourself that and you are training toward your goals, excellent if not, it is never too late to make some changes and approach things a bit different.
Either way, get yourself out on the mat, and train hard. Thanks for reading,
-Sean
posted by Sean at
7:48 AM
1 Comments:
I would have to agree about the no gi thing. Personally I like mixxing it up a bit, because there is so much that I can do with Gi, that I can't do no gi. When you training with no gi on a semi regular basis, it makes sure you game is about maintaining the pressure, less about just holding onto a gi, which can be quite a crutch imo.
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