A Woman's Experiences in BJJ

Discussion in 'Brazilian Jiu Jitsu' started by Rhea, Apr 6, 2008.

  1. Tactical Dragon

    Tactical Dragon New Member

    Training in preparation for the real deal

    How do you train in a controlled environment like a gym or dojo for the real event.
    Training for a real event begins with, among other things, picking a partner that will progressively increase the intensity of his attack as you progress in your training.
    Your training partner should be knowledgeable in real attack methods. This means no reverse punches, or karate kicks. Your attacker will go for the shock value, with a slap, push, or hair pull. Generally the attacker will not knock you to the ground because he doesn't want to roll around in the dirt any more then you do, he wants to drive you to a secluded location.
    Your partner shouldn't over pad. If he can't feel your strike his natural reactions to your response to his attack won't happen.
    If you are a woman your partner should be a man, with his ego under control. If you are a man your partner should be bigger then you are.
     
  2. SMMA

    SMMA Mind-Body-Sprit

    I think its great that your involved in martial arts, i have 3 female students and they are great to teach and to train, i don't know why there arn't more. As for sparing i understand that there are sometimes men who have to prove them selfs and act stupidly. But a much smaller guy aganist a larger guy is the same situation that you find yourself in. Unforuently it comes down to where you train and if there are any studnets that are roughly you size.

    Oh and as for feeling werid when starting a new style, don't worry thats a good thing :), i have learnt over 13 different styles and all of them were very strange to me when i first started.



    "Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it."
     
  3. SMMA

    SMMA Mind-Body-Sprit


    I agree 100%, any style of martial arts is suitable for women. :)


    Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it.
     
  4. fmma

    fmma New Member

    Hey Rhea, my feeling on this has been that the real male/female awkwardness is in the beginner stage when the intimidation factor of being totally new to the sport and the school and having to be walked through everything slowly is compounded by the gender issue. I've rolled with quite a few serious female jiujitsuka, a few of them competitors, and the gender issue disappears quickly within the pressing energy of the roll.

    But when I have to teach women or work with inexperienced women, there is definitely room for a little awkwardness to enter. I've always thought that tenderness of teaching confuses us men and we subconsciously relate it to the romantic overture genre of behavior and get nervous and confused. This might be the reason some men won't drop the macho thing.
     
  5. Tactical Dragon

    Tactical Dragon New Member

    Just a couple things about preparing for the real street situation in the Dojo. First and foremost DO NOT pad up your opponent. If you do then you will never learn the reactions created by your strikes. You can learn to punch hard on the bag. Second; DOn'r practice different moves, like for a wrist grab or arm twist without determining how your opponent got that close. Street thugs don't appear out of thin air. Develop situational awareness. For more on Situational Awareness go to blackdragonselfdefense.com Also do not engage in combat with your opponent, he will win, strike back to escape. You should be able to deliver three strikes to almost any attack to create a door to escape. And for crying out loud don't scream at your attacker or execute dozens of strikes to the same area. MMA does not train you in any way shpe or form for a street encounter.
     
  6. spidersfrommars

    spidersfrommars Valued Member

    "MMA does not train you in any way shpe or form for a street encounter"

    Well...aside from giving you athletlsum, determination, aggression and a set of skills that can allow one to incapacitate a larger stronger opponent, but hey we all know how useless all those things are in "real life" right?
     
  7. KatieS1984

    KatieS1984 Valued Member

    Looks like my earlier post in this thread got lost during the forum restoration. Alas.

    I think I lucked out overall in my choice of school - there's very much a "team" ethos which mimics my experiences in high school athletics, and it's more about helping others improve and sharpen their skills. Sure, there are the newer guys who have difficulty focusing on technique with me and just go fullbore with their strength and weight advantage, but I try not to roll with them too often* as I'd prefer not to get injured since their ego can't handle the notion that at the school, it's about training and not competition. In any case, it's highly amusing to watch the more experienced people crush the spazzy newbies. ;)

    There are other women training at my school, which is very encouraging for the most part. While we're a minority at the school, I don't recall any of them having ever told me to watch out for someone who gets a little "odd" during rolling, and I've never had any issues with any of my classmates making me feel uncomfortable above and beyond the standard BJJ discomforts (getting stacked, being trapped under knee on belly, and so on).

    *: I figure rolling against spazzy athletic newbies every once in a while to be a good thing, as - being realistic - this is the most likely self-defense situation in which I as a woman might find myself.
     
  8. DDale

    DDale Valued Member

    Good stuff. Are you still keeping it up? Had much success in competitions?
     
  9. KatieS1984

    KatieS1984 Valued Member

    Still doing it, doing OK in competition insofar as I'm concerned (took second in a tiny little tournament, where the gal who beat me got promoted to blue as she came off the podium by her coach). I figure if I compete once or twice a year, that will be more than enough.

    Given my work schedule, it's more about the fitness component than the competition, as I not infrequently end up having the occasional weekend sucked up by work and not play.
     
  10. Commander Nitro

    Commander Nitro Valued Member

    Nice point you have there. Maybe it's time to do penalties for groping
     
  11. Martial_Mathers

    Martial_Mathers Capoeirista

    I have a question for the men whose significant others train BJJ, and likewise, for the women who train BJJ. My g/f recently began training BJJ on a regular basis, and has some concerns about her breast augmentation affecting the application of certain movements (..she recently began experiencing some minor chest discomfort from applying pressure to her chest during movements; mount to armbar practice). Have any of the women here experienced this? If so, how did you circumvent the issue? Does some sort of padding/protection exist that a woman can utilize to offset the pressure to the breasts?

    Thanks in advance!
     
  12. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    There are chest protectors available, theres a few different types, and depending on 'augmentation level' there should be something suitable.

    Good Luck!


    thread here:

    http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=93066

    quick google examples here:

    http://www.amazon.com/TITLE-Super-C...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1274131561&sr=1-6

    http://www.amazon.com/Adidas-Female...=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1274131561&sr=1-21

    http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/all/c-sparringgear/sparringprotection-ladieschestprotection/f/
     
  13. Martial_Mathers

    Martial_Mathers Capoeirista


    Thanks for the suggestions.
     
  14. KatieS1984

    KatieS1984 Valued Member

    Chiming in late here, but a good sports bra is essential as well. (I'm partial to http://shockabsorber.co.uk/default.aspx but that's me.)

    Also, just to clarify - one of the problems is when the person in mount on top of her is applying too much pressure? Is this happening with everyone or just people who are significantly stronger/heavier than her? Sometimes you need to take your ego out of the equation and realize that you don't need to train/roll with people who weigh twice what you do all the time. Some of the time, sure, it's good training - but you don't have to do it each and every single class. There's a difference between pushing your limits and being unwise about things.
     
  15. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    I second the Shock Absorber recommendation.
     
  16. kg sensei

    kg sensei New Member

    As a grappling martial arts instructor I find teach Judo to females is very difficult. Most females don't like the rolling around you do when doing Judo, BJJ or Submission Wrestling. Great Article by Rhea and a real problem for females doing just about any Martial Art

    Kindergarten Sensei
    kindergartensensei@gmail.com
    www.kindergartensensei.com
     
  17. mfeijo

    mfeijo New Member

    Couldn't agree more. Untrained offenders would often leave hand somewhere for grabbers, or get easily on a triangle.
     
  18. mfeijo

    mfeijo New Member

    Poll

    This is a very important point to me and would like to ask for other's opinion on this. I may be completelymisunderstading what MMA is. Self defense is an intrinsic part of my Luta Livre training, which I believed, until now, to be same or very similar to MMA. Luta livre teaches submissions and torsions, which are all very useful to pacify opponents, or to hurt them if needed, but we also trained punches, multiple strikes, rotated and straight kicks, evasion techniques and other training specific to street fighting. I was fortunate enough to have to use this in Rio only twice in my entire life, and both times it worked well , on a thug beating a girl on the streets and 2 guys attempting to steal my car.


    So the question is: Do you agree that MMA will not train you to street events? If not, then I still have not found what to train in America.
     
  19. Wisdom_Heart

    Wisdom_Heart Siddhartha Gautama

    "I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, and the "macho newbie" I started with made things even worse. It was as if he had to prove something to everyone in the room by beating up someone half his size for at least 5 minutes."

    I know exactly what you are talking about, I am a 12 year female martial artist and I have been doing BJJ for 9 years now.

    I come in contact with many men that think they need to prove something to the rest of the class that he can not be over powered by a woman, it was very insulting.

    The good thing about women in martial arts is that we demand respect, and if we show that we will always get it.

    Wonderful article!
     
  20. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x


    Demand? Don't you mean earn?
     

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