Which Martial Arts to pick for short guy?

I've had newbs do really dangerous stuff like that, it's genuinely scary.

Yeah, I mean, no worries, when you're starting BJJ out you're actually more dangerous to yourself and others and people don't know if they can trust you to keep them and yourself safe. You're still too new to know what a dangerous situation is. Best way is to just go in with nothing to prove (not even that you can be a good student!) and just relax and flow. If you get stuck, tell them you're stuck and ask them if there's a way out of this. Chances are, most people will say something like "roll forward over your shoulder, because I haven't locked up the omoplata yet" or "Nah bro, tap or snap, OSSSSSS!"

Also, yo, why don't we have a 'hang ten' emoticon yet?

 

When I started BJJ I tapped because someone was mounted on me. No lie. Got annoyed and frustrated and tapped just so I could ask him what the hell I should be doing to get him off.

 

Thank you all for your advices. One of the comments mentioned that traditional martial arts isn't that great "if you venture outside these and go for "traditional" style arts be prepared for the fact that most are lots of hype and little substances combatively, but can be fun nonetheless" is this true?

 

BJJ school in Athens, what do you think? A little bit out of my way but doable

https://www.facebook.com/graciebarragreece/?ref=page_internal

 

Yes

The problem is that - regardless of the origins - the arts have strayed from the methods that made them work; it isn't that "non traditional arts" are better, so much as they practice against people actively trying to resist and in many cases fight back....that gives you a much more consistent metric

 

It depends on many factors.

One of the worst things to happen to traditional martial arts is that they made their way into a culture where we wrap everyone in cotton wool and deny the existence of failure. The result is the mcdojo.

Some instructors like to boast about how many black belts they've created. If i heard any of my instructors boasting about their black belt count, I'd leave immediately. Other instructors like to threaten to demote students for failing to perform to the standards required for the belt they wear. My instructors do that.

Or to put it another way. Some want to uphold the standards of the school and the style. Some want to tell their peers how many black belt students they have. The former is good and you should bow to those instructors. The latter should be pointed at and laughed at.

 

If the school spars, doesn't boast on how many black belts they've made and are strict it's a good sign of it being worthy traditional martial arts school? I found a school that trains JKD and want to make my decision if I go learn there or not. They also have training for MMA, Muay Thai and knifes wielding.

 

"How many roads must a man walk down, before you can hmm, hmm, Nobel Priiiiiiieyiiiieeeeyeeezzzzeeeeeezuh?"

Depends on relatively semantic distinctions. I think the best way to go about things is figure out what your goals are and if the school in question has a history of fulfilling those goals.

So is JKD even a traditional martial art? It sounds like they know how to fight, so if that's your goal, it sounds like they're going to be able to meet it. If your goal is to learn the traditions associated with the Naginata, they probably won't.

 

Sparring is important but so is the format of sparring. I don't think it matters either way what they say about their black belts as the quality of the training should speak for itself. Although chances are if they are highlighting the amount of black belts they have produced in their promotional material it might point to them being a belt factory, you will find far more telling indicators of that in the actual training.

If you are very mindful of it having to be a tma school then Id check the lineage online.

As philosoraptor said, get your aims delineated and allow that to inform your direction. What do you really want from training in terms of both the result and the journey?

My experience is that a large portion of martial arts is a fantasy and a self-delusion. Best to go in with your head on straight, your eyes open and your priorities and expectations clear.

 

I'm going to assume JKD in this case means jeet kun do, and not Japanese karate do or jolly kind dolls.

Unless I'm mistaken, jeet kun do is Bruce Lee's creation. Having identified certain strengths in his opponents and some perceived weaknesses in the wing chun he trained, he developed what he considered to be a superior system.

Is it traditional when Bruce Lee is as recent history as he is? Why not? Any art that is not constantly evolving is dead. I know a fair few master level instructors that play with different styles and pinch bits and tell us 'your know that version of this technique.? Well we think it works berth like this'. Is it not longer traditional? Well, the tradition is to keep pushing the art, so I guess it is.

 

JKD should not be traditional, but may within the group seek to crystallize it so it effectively DOES become so...this is wrong, but a separate discussion

However I would equally point out that age of an art has zero bearing on it being traditional, since most arts labelled as such are not even a 100 years old, whereas so called "sport" systems have roots that go back centuries if not millenia

 

Why should it not be traditional?

 

Because that is the antithesis of what Bruce was seeking - even a casual glance at his writings illustrates this

 

That's a good explanation. Thanks.

Though I can't help but wonder how many masters if bygone times said similar of their art, and got ignored by their followers who then tried to pin the style down, yet that style still went on to become 'traditional'.

 

That was actually one of Bruce's observations....he felt JKD was a search for an answer to a problem that shouldn't exist