Martial Arts

[Alex_225]

I just wondered who else does martial arts on PH and if so what and where etc?

I know there's a bit of a stigma towards martial arts from some but in my personal opinion it's far from (or shouldn't be anyway) about being tougher than anyone else but something that's disciplined, beneficial to heath and confidence. I guess like any form of exercise and/or passion.

I actually got back to Ju Jitsu last night after a 9 month 'break'. Basically work got in the way and I got out of the habit after 4 years going solidly. Forget how much i enjoy it as it's really the only form of exercise that motivates me. Hurting today but it's a good feeling.

I'm sure there's plenty of others on here who do these too so interested to hear about it.

[Autopilot]

I've recently stopped

Started Karate at the age of 4, did my blackbelt when I was 8 and competed in tournaments all over the UK when I was a kid (Kata and peewee kumite).

Moved in to Thai / Kickboxing in my teens - Again, completed all over the UK in various tournaments in most 'disciplines' (light contact / semi contact / Full Contact) and various K1 bouts.

Started amateur boxing in my late teens (to help with the Kickboxing) - Although I was a decent kicker, I always had heavy hands and probably my most useful weapon in sparring so always referred to as a decent puncher. Started boxing at a local boxing gym to sharpen my skills and soon found I was in fact no good at boxing! That was a long painful learning curve and had new found respect for how fast and agile a decent boxer really is!

MMA in my thirties and competed at Amateur and Semi-Pro.

I turned 40 last year and tired of the aches, pains and various injuries so called it a day. If I could turn back time and do it all again, I think I'd get involved with Jiu Jitsu earlier! I loved doing that so much and as far as self defence goes, probably the most useful!

[Pete102]

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu here , around a year or so now

[Alex_225]

Thanks for the replies by the way. I was hesitant in putting up a post on here as I've seen people get a little flayed for referencing them. I just find it all quite interesting.

I did Kung-Fu when I was younger and did a got of competitive Sanshou (essentially kick boxing) but nothing overly serious and stopped when I was 21. Took up Jui Jitsu at 29.

Autopilot said:

I've recently stopped .....

I'm not surprised you're having a break, sounds like you've done a lot of training, fighting etc. Some of the guys who teach us have competed at different levels and have to take it fairly easy now. Various injuries and wear and tear seems to be the main cause. That said we have one instructor who I believe is nearly 70, is about 5ft tall and has her 2nd dan black belt, which she got in her mid-60s. Not physically that strong but amazing technique.

Pete102 said:

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu here , around a year or so now

How do you find it? Enjoying it?

[Pete102]

Cant get enough really Alex. Generally try for 3 sessions a week, 2.5 hours a time so my progress has been quick enough to keep me interested but not so much I get burnt out from it.

I competed in two competitions last year, losing my first by Americana (readily admit I forgot how to Jiu Jitsu lol) and the second by a single advantage point (which I felt was questionable at best! but hey ho).

Looking to ramp it up in the coming months, enter another 5 or so comps and fingers crossed look towards blue belt promotion towards the back end of the year.

I've been fortunate enough with work to travel and always make the effort to find the nearest BJJ gym and train while I'm away, so far this has been Switzerland and China.

[BRR]

I still regularly do Martial Arts and after a nightmare couple of years with injuries which has really hindered my ability to compete I'm hoping to get back into regular competition this year.

Started off with boxing as a teenager, though never took it seriously then when I was 24 I got into Muay Thai & No-Gi grappling, then picked up wrestling & MMA. started competing in MMA in 2009 and had my last fight at the end of 2014 though I've managed to compete in grappling competitions over the last few years as I suffered quite serious injuries in the few week's prior to two scheduled MMA fights.

towards the end of last year I also started training BJJ, I quite enjoy certain elements of it but also find a lot of the technique is very sport focussed and doesn't cross over to MMA / Self defence, though it is good fun and i'll probably stick with it as i can see myself being able to participate in that for a lot longer than i can in MMA

i love about martial arts is that it can both boost your confidence but also make you very aware of how vulnerable you are, when i was younger i thought i was indestructible, a few sparring sessions soon showed me I'm not

[Pete102]

BRR said:

i love about martial arts is that it can both boost your confidence but also make you very aware of how vulnerable you are, when i was younger i thought i was indestructible, a few sparring sessions soon showed me I'm not

Lol Yep!

There's a heavy self-defense focus at the club I train with (although I do compete in sport). I'll never forget my first session and the feeling of being dominated despite being fairly big and strong (I tried muscling out of an arm bar, it didn't end well).

[BRR]

Pete102 said:

Lol Yep!

There's a heavy self-defense focus at the club I train with (although I do compete in sport). I'll never forget my first session and the feeling of being dominated despite being fairly big and strong (I tried muscling out of an arm bar, it didn't end well).

Thankfully the BJJ coach I've now found prefers a more traditional style of BJJ game where looking for top/dominant position is more important than weird spinning upside down guards. i intend to compete in some BJJ comps this year but as i currently have a white belt but have won brown/black belt level no-gi competitions I'm not sure i feel right to compete as a white belt but also don't want to "self promote" myself to the more advanced competition categories

[Alex_225]

Out of interest, how is your progress marked in the various martial arts mentioned in here? Gradings etc.

The club I belong to allow you to grade, assuming you're ready every 6 months so it can be steady but you're not able to rush through it.

I am sometimes surprised by other places where hear of people getting through belts every couple of months. Without wishing to put them down, that seems a bit quick.

BRR said:

i love about martial arts is that it can both boost your confidence but also make you very aware of how vulnerable you are, when i was younger i thought i was indestructible, a few sparring sessions soon showed me I'm not

I couldn't agree more. I'm not a petite guy so I'm not fearful of people as such but when you do martial arts you realise how much you shouldn't underestimate people and how strength/size can be pretty irrelevant.

Also, in terms of the Ju Jitsu I'm doing there is a lot to the syllabus and some of it is not as relevant to real life as other parts. It's generally the far less fancy stuff that would be more effective if you needed it.

[BRR]

I haven't graded in any of the martial arts i do, i guess in MMA your progress is measured by how well you do in sparring/competition

for No-Gi grappling we don't grade but when competing you usually do it on time served which typically lines up with BJJ gradings i.e. under 2 years = white, 2-4 = blue, 4-6 = purple, 6-8 = brown, 8+ = black

I intend to grade at BJJ but am keen to ensure my progress through the ranks is based on what i learn in BJJ rather than the advantages i carry over from MMA/Wrestling/No-Gi

[Alex_225]

BRR said:

I haven't graded in any of the martial arts i do, i guess in MMA your progress is measured by how well you do in sparring/competition

for No-Gi grappling we don't grade but when competing you usually do it on time served which typically lines up with BJJ gradings i.e. under 2 years = white, 2-4 = blue, 4-6 = purple, 6-8 = brown, 8+ = black

I intend to grade at BJJ but am keen to ensure my progress through the ranks is based on what i learn in BJJ rather than the advantages i carry over from MMA/Wrestling/No-Gi

The No-Gi grappling sounds very much like the Kung-Fu that I used to do. Essentially graded with coloured sashes but only a red, blue and black sash. Sounds similarly graded to the grappling you're going.

Sounds like you're intent on progressing with BJJ in the most thorough way possible, best way by the sounds of it.

I've actually taken a little longer to complete my last couple of belts prior to black. Mainly as the fitness takes a step up, as you'd expect and the syllabus and Kata is more complex.

[ben5575]

Alex_225 said:

I was hesitant in putting up a post on here as I've seen people get a little flayed for referencing them.

They're just jealous .

Kickboxing for me with a smattering of 10th Planet BJJ (but I'm talking the absolute basics - I tend to be used as the big lad who tries to hold on to/test the proper guys unsuccessfully!), with occasional Thai Boxing and Boxing to mix it up now and again/when I fancy a change.

Main driver is that it's an interesting way of doing some hard cardio, as you learn and get better at something at the same time.

Plus I love sparring which for me is the perfect balance of thinking/learning/cardio/violence/fear to make it interesting - bit like rugby really, only warm and indoors . Will happily train and spar with the 'proper fighters', but I know my limits and that is as far as it will ever go. I'd like to say it's a healthy fear of brain damage, but in reality it's because I'm a pussy.

That said I do enjoy travelling to other places across the UK for 'a good spar', which inevitably turns out to be a little harder. Maybe it's the walk in music I'm scared of? Utter respect for the guys who do compete though.

[Autopilot]

BRR said:

Thankfully the BJJ coach I've now found prefers a more traditional style of BJJ game where looking for top/dominant position is more important than weird spinning upside down guards. i intend to compete in some BJJ comps this year

If you're planning on competing in BJJ this year, I'd question your coaches philosophy of top/dominant position being more important! If one of you is top/dominant, then that means one of you isn't so you have a 50/50 chance of being either! They're both important.

You don't choose where your opponent puts you and will regularly find yourself on your back and you need to guard yourself or it's fight over. When you're learning the ropes, it's easier to put somebody in a triangle or arm bar from your back when they're in your guard.

[Fozziebear]

Judo for me, just got in from training. I've been away from it for some years, nice to get back into it at 45!

[Alex_225]

ben5575 said:

I'd like to say it's a healthy fear of brain damage, but in reality it's because I'm a pussy.

I'd say it's probably more likely a sensible decision than being a bit of a girl pants!! haha Seriously though it's something you don't think about when you're younger but I'm 34 now and have a daughter, job and all that grown up stuff. I train for personal gain now but when i first started out as a teenager I didn't give injuries a though.

Fozziebear said:

Judo for me, just got in from training. I've been away from it for some years, nice to get back into it at 45!

Judo is one of those martial arts that I totally underestimated I will admit. I did it when I was about 13 and did my first belt then stopped. Having started Ju Jitsu at a club that teaches Judo and Karate, I've seen how Ju Jitsu crosses over with Judo. I've also seen some of the highly experienced Judo guys train and it's awesome.

One of our instructors in Ju Jitsu started out in Judo and has something like 20+ years under his belt. His ground fighting is awesome and he's probably around your age. Age is less relevant when technique is s**t hot!

[Fozziebear]

Alex_225 said:

Judo is one of those martial arts that I totally underestimated I will admit. I did it when I was about 13 and did my first belt then stopped. Having started Ju Jitsu at a club that teaches Judo and Karate, I've seen how Ju Jitsu crosses over with Judo. I've also seen some of the highly experienced Judo guys train and it's awesome.

One of our instructors in Ju Jitsu started out in Judo and has something like 20+ years under his belt. His ground fighting is awesome and he's probably around your age. Age is less relevant when technique is s**t hot!

One of my coaches won a medal in Japan at 60! He's only 63kg and strong as an ox. My dad taught me from 5, I stopped at 15, big mistake. I got hammered last night at training, great feeling

[BRR]

Autopilot said:

If you're planning on competing in BJJ this year, I'd question your coaches philosophy of top/dominant position being more important! If one of you is top/dominant, then that means one of you isn't so you have a 50/50 chance of being either! They're both important.

You don't choose where your opponent puts you and will regularly find yourself on your back and you need to guard yourself or it's fight over. When you're learning the ropes, it's easier to put somebody in a triangle or arm bar from your back when they're in your guard.

I've competed in over 70 No-Gi grappling matches and 18 MMA so am reasonably clued up on where is a preferable position to be in. when I started grappling 10 years ago there was a lot of emphasis on working from the guard for triangles etc (a lot of my No-Gi and MMA wins are by this method) but as I progressed up and started competing in advanced level no-gi against brown and black belts I found my guard game was shut down by their superior posture etc and it became much more effective to learn to get top position or be able to sweep and retrieve top position and then be able to maintain it

I do agree though that you need to be able to have a game from all positions, I personally have just developed a game over the years that puts emphasis on me getting and keeping top position and have found it to be more successful for me, however when I've trained with people like Paul Sass they've shown how effective a good guard game is, unfortunately though mine would never be at the level of his

[Pete102]

BRR said:

I've competed in over 70 No-Gi grappling matches and 18 MMA so am reasonably clued up on where is a preferable position to be in. when I started grappling 10 years ago there was a lot of emphasis on working from the guard for triangles etc (a lot of my No-Gi and MMA wins are by this method) but as I progressed up and started competing in advanced level no-gi against brown and black belts I found my guard game was shut down by their superior posture etc and it became much more effective to learn to get top position or be able to sweep and retrieve top position and then be able to maintain it

I do agree though that you need to be able to have a game from all positions, I personally have just developed a game over the years that puts emphasis on me getting and keeping top position and have found it to be more successful for me, however when I've trained with people like Paul Sass they've shown how effective a good guard game is, unfortunately though mine would never be at the level of his

I'm always impressed by good guard players when they are seemingly able to pluck an arm bar/triangle/Kimura from nothing in guard. I'm still a white belt and being honest my preference is to scissor/pendulum/elevator/whatever sweep into mount and start looking for subs from there. We tend to roll ALOT and I've never found an arm bar from guard and triangles are less than common on the regular guys (although I did catch a blue belt a few months back).

[BRR]

Pete102 said:

I'm always impressed by good guard players when they are seemingly able to pluck an arm bar/triangle/Kimura from nothing in guard. I'm still a white belt and being honest my preference is to scissor/pendulum/elevator/whatever sweep into mount and start looking for subs from there. We tend to roll ALOT and I've never found an arm bar from guard and triangles are less than common on the regular guys (although I did catch a blue belt a few months back).

Guard players that are able to submit high level guys from their back are few and far between and as such are highly impressive, what makes it work is their ability to control and manipulate posture,I think this is a little easier in BJJ due to the grips available but in MMA and no-gi it's pretty tough which is why you rarely see subs from guard in the ufc etc

Since doing BJJ I've found most of the guys are happy to go to their back and will often pull guard and the better guys even then if they struggle to submit their opponent their guard is difficult to pass and obviously there's next to no subs available to the guy on top in their opponents guard

[crashley]

Fozziebear said:

Judo for me, just got in from training. I've been away from it for some years, nice to get back into it at 45!

How long were you out for? I did it from 6-16 and now at 33 i'm considering again for fitness more than anything.