Hello I have been training in martial arts off and on for the last 20 years. I started with 4 years in Taekwondo/Hapkido, did some training in Wing Chung Kung Fu, kick boxing and western boxing. I am now training in what I believe to be my last martial art, self defense orientated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I'm loving it, and for those who say BJJ is not a complete system of self defense must not train or know about authentic Gracie style JJ. I train at River City Jiu Jitsu in Louisville, Ky, it's a small school, but with a great instructor. Link removed.Nice to meet you all! You joined nearly 3 years ago, so this is hardly an introduction. You should by now know the rules regarding pimping a personal site.
I have been involved in Martial Arts since I was 12 years old with Tai Chi, and some Aikido when I went to reform school. When I was no longer at Highland Heights and back home with my father he put me in Tae Kwon Do from 14 to 16 yrs old. I stopped going because I found it useless in real fights that I use to get into and my cousin taught me some basic wrestling moves such as double leg take down to mount to GNP. He also use to hold back yard brawls to hoan our fighting skills because he wanted us to be tough. Then when I was in the USMC we learned line training which wasn't much but in the barracks we always use to wrestle and box or trade martial arts techniques. I learned about the RNC back in 1997 in boot camp from another recruit. Fun times. There were grapplers then too who showed me some stuff but didn't know what it was called then.... on my 32nd birthday I decided to learn BJJ because I was in a Motorcycle club and really needed to learn how to take care of my self. Here we are 2013 and still training BJJ now a Blue Belt and I also cross train some Judo but I feel that I still have alot to learn and have another 10+ years to go. Anyways thats my short history with Martial Arts.
You joined nearly 3 years ago, so this is hardly an introduction. You should by now know the rules regarding pimping a personal site. [/QUOTE] Simon, I have been off this site for along time now, so I wanted to reintroduce myself again. And how was that a "pimping a personal site" when it was a link to an accredited martial arts school that I don't run?
I'm new to BJJ, just had my first class this week and loved it. I'm in Blackpool area of the UK. Started as typical: few months taekwondo as a kid. My school held some on and off seminars for judo once in a while. I wanted to learn something, but I didn't always know what I wanted, till I tried out at the Bujinkan Mushin Dojo in Blackpool. It helped me a lot with personal growth more than anything, but even as I got to second kyu (which was only in january) I still felt that as a martial artist, I was lacking thoroughly, and not just because I had trouble deciphering japanese terms in copies of the dencho I owned or that I was progressing slowly. I wanted to be able to test what I was learning against higher resistance and cultivate my mind further towards a fighter mentality. Since my Bujinkan classes stopped after five years , I went to focus on my studies, but since it's easter break now I decided to see what other martial arts are local and see if I wanted a different perspective on my training. Something with what I felt in my gut, was a move in a new direction. I came across FirstDojo and decided to try out. I ended up thoroughly enjoying it (though it is vastly more taxing on my stamina than my ninjutsu) I still enjoy my old style, it's just gone on the 'train in my own time' list.
Started bjj on my 37th birthday 2 months ago. Started at one school that seemed more geared toward mma. People seemed very nice but only trained gi twice a week. I chose the Rilion Gracie Academy 30 minutes further from my house. I wanted traditional Gracie jiu jitsu all gi. So far loving it. Instructor is a 4 stripe brown belt directly under Rilion a Gracie. Very knowledgable guy, overall pretty nice. He does seem to slightly favor several students over others. All his students are white belts and 3 blue belts. Overall, I'm hooked. At 37 years old I can see doing this for the rest of my years.
I experimented with various martial arts from childhood until my early 20s, with a max of 9 months in Kung fu but the expense meant I was never able to commit for an extended period of time or to a single one- always looking for a deal when money was available. Now in my early 30s, I'm finally settled enough to commit and it's been great. I initially signed up to this forum looking for a Kung Fu school to train at, but after failing in finding the style I was looking for and then a few years of being preoccupied with work, stress and letting myself go because of it, I finally got myself back into shape last year and searched for a martial art to start training in. I stumbled upon a BJJ school very near to me and decided to give it a go. I'm now in my second month of training. With the school being small and needing to find a new location they only offer classes twice a week, but through other students & the instructor, I've found a second place to train nearby. It's great because the instructors have two different styles and one is small and more technical (great for me as a woman who is just 157cm) which is a great compliment to my other training sessions, plus a lot more sparring. I'm looking forward to progressing and hoping to enter my first comp in Nov.
Hi all! I'm Scottish but currently living in Metepec, México. I've trained in Japanese Jujitsu for a few years, capoeira for one or two and Tai Chi for a year or so all in the past. I'm moving to Montevideo, Uruguay next week and I have a wee question about Gracie BJJ. If this isn't the right place please let me know where is. How consistent is the syllabus from one Gracie school to another? I don't know how long I'll be in Montevideo, might be a year or maybe more so I'm thinking that if I progress in a school in Montey I'd like to be able to continue with a school wherever I end up afterwards. Thanks in advance
I've transferred to a lot of different schools and it all kind of builds on itself. You wind up getting cool bits and pieces of different people's game and learning to integrate sometimes disparate elements. My first coach was very conservative and emphasized basics all the time, my second was a weirdo who loved leg locks and always sought submissions, my third was a self defense guy, my fourth had guys into UFC and Strikeforce and emphasized takedowns and guard recovery, my fifth was a sport jits guy and introduced all kinds of weird berimbolo and x guard variations and I kinda picked up a bit of everything. You're always able to learn something and BJJ is enough of a laboratory that you can adjust it to your style.
You're right, and I've found that in my experiences learning various things over the years. Gradings and so on are actually arbitrary and don't count for much in the real world but I do like the feeling of progression which is where my question came from. Were your different schools all BJJ?
Yes, although one of the guys only taught no-gi, so I guess you could call that submission grappling? I dunno.
As has been stated, the fundamentals are the same in pretty much most BJJ schools. That said, if it is the Gracie JJ school in Uruguay that is associated with the Gracie Academy in Torrance, they will have a very specific and detailed curriculum that can easily be seen online.
If you think of BJJ as a large pyramid, the majority of schools cover the base of the pyramid with their fundamental classes, the middle is partially covered by the individual games of the people you roll with, and the advanced classes taught by the coaches. The rest is up to your own study. So really just find schools that cover the basics well, allow the students to experiment on the mat, and run safe sparring.
Introduction - New to the Forum I'm new to the forum so I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to the community. I started training back in 2004 after I graduated from college and I was looking for something constructive to do. I had never wrestled or done any other martial arts before but I had always been interested in BJJ ever since seeing Royce in the early UFC's when I was a teen. So when I found a classes being offered about 45 minutes away gave it a shot. That was almost 12 years ago and I've been enjoying training ever since. After a lot of hard work I received my black belt back in 2013. As I get a bit older and busier I don't have quite as much time to train as I'd like. I still make it on the mat 2-3 times a week but I started a small business a couple of years ago which takes up a lot of time. With less time to train I've been looking for different ways to stay involved with BJJ and I'm currently working on a community-driven BJJ site with that includes a lineage tree anyone can add themselves to, gym database, tournament listings etc. Basically all things BJJ. That's about it in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to a new chapter in my bjj career and being part of the online bjj community. Happy training everyone
Any Australians? Hi, Im in Orange New South Wales - about a 3 hour drive from Sydney. Im learning karate and kempo jujitsu although when I compete in jujitsu the competitions are Brazilian. Recently graded to black in Go-ju karate. Took a long time. The biggest thing I have learnt recently is thea as a new black belt, Im really a beginner.
