jnp from Bullshido says hi

Hi, my name is John Palmer. I am a moderator on Bullshido.

I have trained BJJ for twelve years in Austin, TX. As a consequence, I have become somewhat adept at hugging other people in pajamas. I started training BJJ at 32 years of age. I am now 44 and somewhat rickety. In high school and, to a very limited extent in college, I was a wrestler.

I do my best to take neither the internet, or myself, too seriously.

Ok, I think that's enough autobiographical stuff for now. If anyone has any questions for me, or about BS, I will do my best to answer them.

 

Welcome John!

I am 45 and can identify with being somewhat rickety. In your opinion, is BJJ something that gets harder to do as you age a bit? All the guys I personally know that are around my age that have done it are always on break from it due to some injury - but they are pretty much "dabblers".

BTW - I would add that I have found BS to be a useful resource, and occasionally entertaining.

 

Hey, JNP. You'll find a few Bullies here, including myself.

 

In my opinion, it is the lowest contact "combat sport" out there. Compare it to Judo, an art where you get thrown to the mat on a constant basis, or Muay Thai and kickboxing, where you get hit regularly.

However, there are several mitigating factors. The two most prominent being how you approach training and how your training partners approach it. When people first start grappling, they typically feel like they are "drowning in it". In other words, they don't know what to do or how to react. Most people try to compensate for this by exerting maximum physical effort. It is very easy to get hurt when "going full speed"

Additionally, if your training partner is more concerned with winning than learning, they will also have a tendency to go all out. However, the longer you train, the more relaxed you tend to become when sparring.

I say all this as a former meathead wrestler who was definitely guilty of both of the above. I also suffered what seemed to be an endless litany of injuries, although some of that is because I always went back to training before I was fully healed.

Now I very seldom train at more than 50% effort. I sometimes get out hustled by the younger practitioners, but I rarely get hurt anymore. So bottom line, it depends on you and your training partners.

The instructor also sets the tone for the gym obviously. If you are at a school that places heavy emphasis on competing, chances are that most members will be going hard. If you're at a school that has a sizable number of hobbyists, or older people, you can probably find more laid back training partners.

Does that answer your question?

 

Yeah it does, thanks! I appreciate it. I did high school wrestling too, so I have a little bit of an idea what you mean.

 

S'up JNP

Hanniballistic here - I stress that because we all know the "other Hannibal" on bullshido has a less than stellar rep.....well actually I do too but for completely different reasons

This cross-forum love is awesome!!!

 

Hey Hanniballistic! Nice to "see" you again.

 

Welcome Jnp

 

Thank you. As I'm not familiar with forum etiquette here, is it acceptable just to hit the "Thanks" button, or should I reply to these posts?

I ask because I'm a third generation Marine which means I'm also a recovering jerk. I try to be polite these days.

 

Either one . Welcome to the MAP house .....

Smurf

 

JNP have you ever trained in Houston, TX? I think we may have rolled a few times and you kicked my butt.

 

Welcomesauce! I'm too scared to post on Bushido for fear of having everything I say triple checked by moderators then cast into doubt by random internet trolls posing as white knights.

I get away with stuff here, provided I don't swear.

 

Welcome to MAP John.

What do you do over there? I might hafta go give that site an actual proper chance sometime and see if I can stir up some Hannibal-BS-fury. If people with your resume' aren't sufficient to have a good reputation there, I guess they all must have advanced hand-to-hand combat training from Star Fleet command.

 

Hi philosoraptor. Yes, I have trained in Houston, although it's been 7 years now. At the time I rolled at the Gracie Barra in the Woodlands. These days, when I'm there, I train where my brother trains in Conroe, TX. The gym is called Rivas BJJ.

I'm currently a brown belt who trains at Paragon Austin. I trained at Vandry BJJ for 12 years, having just recently switched gyms.

I don't do much kicking of the posterior any more. I'm more of the geriatric jiu-jitsu type. Although I occasionally overwhelm people with the smell of Ben Gay.

 

Must have been a different JNP. Glad to have you aboard, hope you share your expertise in the BJJ forum.

 

Hannibal was a respected member at BS. I certainly respected him. I believe he got tired of some of the more narrow minded members there. There was a group that took to calling themselves the Ninja Death Squid, or NDS, and they took a lot of flak from what we called the BJJihad.

This BJJihad was a group of insufferable idiots that firmly believed that BJJ was the be-all end-all of martial arts. I personally could not stand them. They truly personified the Tapout meathead stereotype except they all actually trained.

There is only one of those guys left over there now, and he hardly ever posts.

 

I feel like I should explain my position in one area. Concerning BJJ, the art teaches one-third of what you need to know to be a complete martial artist in an unarmed altercation. It covers groundfighting, and that is typically all.

It is my opinion that there are three ranges in unarmed fights. The standing range, the throwing and clinch range and finally the ground. Quite a few beginners in BJJ are under the mistaken notion that BJJ will make them a street fighting machine. This is simply not true. In my opinion, Judo and wrestling are more effective in this area because they both cover two out of three ranges.

I type all this because I find those who blindly believe that BJJ is the ultimate martial art to be offensive. SOMBO and Judo are both underappreciated by the majority of jiu-jitsuka out there.

Sorry for the rant, but I do not want to be mistaken for an intolerant grappler. I have worked hard to make the grappling forums on BS a welcome place for all grapplers.