online bjj

[bradtash]

hi everyone,
now i know that everyone hates the idea behind online bjj, i hate the idea of learning online as well. but i have just been relocated to a remote place and am literally 6-8 hours away from any bjj school (as far as i am aware any martial art). i am wanting to start out learning some techniques from the internet.
i have looked at two online programs and am wanting to hear from others that may have used them.
draculinobjjtraining.com
and gracie university.
i have heard great things about the top one, especially as i have heard that it is a better beginers program.
please note that i do not expect to get great or grade or anything like that. just get an introduction and practice until i can move closer to a school to teach me.
thanks,
brad.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Brad if you can travel to a school to learn even if it is just once in awhile, please do so.
That way you have someone who can show you where you are making mistakes.
Online training is fraut with issues because if that is the only way you train you are bound to make lots of mistakes and
then it takes so much to correct them. Every person I know who tried learning online has regretted it and I have seen evidence of people coming into my Training Hall where they thought they knew some thing only to have someone with little experience counter and easily control them. So if you do decide to go this route you need to have someone giving you
feedback. Even if you can only travel a few times a month to a school it is better than nothing!

 

[Steve]

Timing is a big part of BJJ and the only way to get timing is to roll with guys who are better than you. A lot. This goes for any martial art, really.

I think you can get a pretty decent foundation from online resources and rolling with a few committed friends, but to progress to even a solid blue belt level, you're going to need to train regularly in a good school.

Where do you live? There might be a bjj school closer that you're not aware of and I'd be happy to take a look.

Also, while I'm partial to BJJ myself, you can also look for Sambo or even Judo. While Judo will likely focus on throws more than BJJ would, you'll learn some ground skills as well.

 

[Tez3]

I think if Bradtash is in the Outback he's going to have a problem getting to any martial arts class, they even have their schooling by radio though I'm guessing it's probably online now (?) plus a Flying Doctor Service.

 

[mook jong man]

He'll be right , he can watch his online lesson and then go out and try his double leg take downs on a "Big Red" Kangaroo.

 

[SensibleManiac]

If you want to go the online training route, Draculinho's course should b good, BUT, I would take the advice given and definitely get to some actual training with an instructor even if you can only do this every 2-3 months.
One possibility is attending seminars where you can work on your stuff and get feedback and corrections, another is private lessons once every 2-3 months for a couple of hours.
You definitely need someone to train and roll with at least 1-2 times a week.

Other than that a great suggestion is to try and find some Judo closer.

Either way without a training partner you won't get far, as well without any occasional feedback from an instructor you'll do more harm than good, so make sure you have some access to these even if only occasionally.

 

[Tez3]

He'll be right , he can watch his online lesson and then go out and try his double leg take downs on a "Big Red" Kangaroo.

I was thinking that but didn't like to say it!

 

[Andrew Green]

hi everyone,
now i know that everyone hates the idea behind online bjj, i hate the idea of learning online as well. but i have just been relocated to a remote place and am literally 6-8 hours away from any bjj school (as far as i am aware any martial art). i am wanting to start out learning some techniques from the internet.
i have looked at two online programs and am wanting to hear from others that may have used them.
draculinobjjtraining.com
and gracie university.
i have heard great things about the top one, especially as i have heard that it is a better beginers program.
please note that i do not expect to get great or grade or anything like that. just get an introduction and practice until i can move closer to a school to teach me.
thanks,
brad.

Online training isn't the problem.

What most people object to is using it as a sole source of training, you need guys to work against, preferably people better then you. You can't learn it by yourself, training partners are a must, and a good instructor will get you where you want to go a lot faster then guys learning along with you.

And of course the big objection is to the online / video ranking.

That said, both are good resources, for a beginner the Gracie course might work better as it is structured for someone just starting out. Draculino's site is really good, but you could easily get lost in the massive amount of things there and completely skip over core ideas without realizing it.

 

[bradtash]

thanks for the advice everyone,
i am actually embarrassed to say that i had never thought of going and training once every now and then. what a great idea, i will actually comeback from time to time and do exactly that.
lol a big red kangaroo lol. i actually have my brother in law out there so i am able to train with him, unfortunately he is a complete newbie to bjj as well but seems just as keen as i am to try and learn a few tecniques.
steve i am moving to Tharomindah, QLD. I did have another search for any martial art at all and i still cant come up with anything a "flight" away.
once again thanks for the help guys, i will have a bit more of a look around as to which online way i will go as i have heard good and bad things on both.
thanks,
brad.

 

[MJS]

Brad if you can travel to a school to learn even if it is just once in awhile, please do so.
That way you have someone who can show you where you are making mistakes.
Online training is fraut with issues because if that is the only way you train you are bound to make lots of mistakes and
then it takes so much to correct them. Every person I know who tried learning online has regretted it and I have seen evidence of people coming into my Training Hall where they thought they knew some thing only to have someone with little experience counter and easily control them. So if you do decide to go this route you need to have someone giving you
feedback. Even if you can only travel a few times a month to a school it is better than nothing!

What Brian said!! IMO, tapes are a good reference tool, but anything more than that....nope, they just dont work.

 

[MJS]

thanks for the advice everyone,
i am actually embarrassed to say that i had never thought of going and training once every now and then. what a great idea, i will actually comeback from time to time and do exactly that.
lol a big red kangaroo lol. i actually have my brother in law out there so i am able to train with him, unfortunately he is a complete newbie to bjj as well but seems just as keen as i am to try and learn a few tecniques.
steve i am moving to Tharomindah, QLD. I did have another search for any martial art at all and i still cant come up with anything a "flight" away.
once again thanks for the help guys, i will have a bit more of a look around as to which online way i will go as i have heard good and bad things on both.
thanks,
brad.

You may also want to look into taking a private lesson as well. For example...you make the trip say, once a month, and take a class. After the class, see if you could work in a private with the inst. or one of the upper belts. Take some good notes, and see if perhaps you could video tape your lesson. That way, you'd have something to refer back to at a later time.

 

[Andrew Green]

You may also want to look into taking a private lesson as well. For example...you make the trip say, once a month, and take a class. After the class, see if you could work in a private with the inst. or one of the upper belts. Take some good notes, and see if perhaps you could video tape your lesson. That way, you'd have something to refer back to at a later time.

Given that he's going to need training partners, semi-private lessons might be a good idea.

Drive out with your little group and split the cost for a 90min or 2 hr once a month semi-private.

 

[FatGorilla]

i see nothing wrong with learning techniques online or via instructional dvds

when i was doing group BJJ classes 80% of the moves i learned and applied came from instructionals. However my skill and timing for those techniques came from the group of guys i rolled with.

I have a good friend who learnt all his bjj from instructionals and he only rolled with beginers as that was all he had access to, after 3 years of training we'd have long battles but he could always get the better of me in the end, and at the time i was doing group classes and and tons of privates not to mention i had 40lbs on him however even though he mainly only rolled with beginners he did put in his time 8hrs a week of pure rolling against live resisting opponents.

so as long as you got a little group of guys or gals and techniques coming in from any source you should be fine.

 

[MJS]

i see nothing wrong with learning techniques online or via instructional dvds

when i was doing group BJJ classes 80% of the moves i learned and applied came from instructionals. However my skill and timing for those techniques came from the group of guys i rolled with.

I have a good friend who learnt all his bjj from instructionals and he only rolled with beginers as that was all he had access to, after 3 years of training we'd have long battles but he could always get the better of me in the end, and at the time i was doing group classes and and tons of privates not to mention i had 40lbs on him however even though he mainly only rolled with beginners he did put in his time 8hrs a week of pure rolling against live resisting opponents.

so as long as you got a little group of guys or gals and techniques coming in from any source you should be fine.

And thats fine, as long as he's cool with the fact that he could and possibly is, making mistakes that wont be corrected because there is no live teacher, and the fact that what he's doing, could seriously injure someone, due to the first reason I gave.

 

[FatGorilla]

having access to an great BJJ instructor, and dozen brown and black belts to roll with would be an ideal situation but if you don't have access to that then BJJ instructionals and a small group of friends will still work. Just not as quickly

 

[Wild Bill]

If there are no other options the Gracie Combatives DVDS are very good. I don't like the video rank thing but the DVDs are the best martial arts DVDs I own. It is good to have a step by step methodology with online support. For a brief time I used the program with a buddy and I did OK. Of course he was a brown belt in Judo and simillar rank in Silat so I don't know how well it will work with those with little experiance.

 

[ArmorOfGod]

http://bjjcoach.com/

I have never used any of the online courses, but there is another one I found a while back. I don't know if it is any good though.

AoG

 

[MJS]

having access to an great BJJ instructor, and dozen brown and black belts to roll with would be an ideal situation but if you don't have access to that then BJJ instructionals and a small group of friends will still work. Just not as quickly

I agree, however, there will still be the issue of not having someone to correct mistakes. I came very close, a couple years ago, to tearing my ACL, because of someone, who wanted to try something that he thought he knew, when in reality he didn't. This was during a class, no less.

Lets just say that afterwards, I made it very clear to him that he needed to exercise some control.

OTOH, given the popularity of BJJ today, I find it very hard to believe, that there wouldn't be any teachers around within a 1-2hr. driving time.

 

[mook jong man]

I agree, however, there will still be the issue of not having someone to correct mistakes. I came very close, a couple years ago, to tearing my ACL, because of someone, who wanted to try something that he thought he knew, when in reality he didn't. This was during a class, no less.

Lets just say that afterwards, I made it very clear to him that he needed to exercise some control.

OTOH, given the popularity of BJJ today, I find it very hard to believe, that there wouldn't be any teachers around within a 1-2hr. driving time.

Australia's a big place mate , some parts of it you'd be lucky to just find another human being within 1-2 hr driving time let alone a BJJ Instructor.

 

[Chris Parker]

In talking with many members from beyond our nation (girt by sea as it is....), it seems that many have the idea that it's relatively small, being an island after all with a relatively low population (around 21 million these days, I think). It's tended to surprise most when I tell them that the country is roughly the size of the continental United States: http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/aus-size-compared.jsp

When it comes to where Bradtash is moving to, here's a little look at the township: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thargomindah,_Queensland (note the population, 203.... not 203 thousand, just 203.... not too hard to imagine that there isn't a BJJ instructor nearby). The vast majority of Australia's population is on the Eastern Coast, the further inland you go, the sparcer the population gets.

Bradtash, I wish you the best, and if you can get a number of other people to join you on the journey, that can help. That said, online methods are fraught with issues, it would be best to contact an instructor somewhere you can get to, even infrequently, to get any problems corrected.