BJJ for the Street. Does it work?

[Gerry Seymour]

I agree that when an art is more specialized it will inherently have bigger gaps than more general styles. However; wouldn't you want to have to start with a more general style and gradually shrink your gaps than vice versa?

I would, but I'm not sure my way is significantly better than starting with something with specific strengths and filling the gaps later.

For example, karate isn't only striking, it has sweeps and anti-grappling techniques as well. The average karate guy isn't going to win any grappling competitions, but he should be able to defend himself against grabs and takedowns on the street.

That's highly variable. I've had experienced Karateka and Taekwondo-ists come into my program and into classes where I was a student, and not be able to deal with fairly simple grip fighting (I tend to grab an extended guard arm to make room in sparring). I haven't tried taking them down early on, but I've yet to meet someone without grappling experience who wasn't relatively easy to get inside on and get to some sort of takedown, if I could get past their striking. In other words, if their striking failed to keep me away, they didn't have a good answer once I got attached.

I think Judo is a better art to start with than BJJ, given judokas do both stand up(throws, sweeps, takedowns) and groundwork. BJJ stemmed from Judo, but the founders wanted to focus on groundwork, thus making it a specialized system.

I agree with that.

I think it just comes down to your training approach. I prefer to start with a general style that covers more areas than a specialized style which only focuses on a few small areas of combat, or train both at the same time.

I tend to agree with that, too.

 

[drop bear]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=693030514205112

 

[Gerry Seymour]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=693030514205112

Love the reading material at the end. How considerate!

 

[Steve]

Judo, BJJ, sambo, catch wrestling. I’d say any of these are a great first art.

 

[drop bear]

Judo, BJJ, sambo, catch wrestling. I’d say any of these are a great first art.

Yeah before you can street. You really should be able to fight first.

 

[CoachRonald]

Hey guys! I Nancy is a BJJ Blue Belt, she's 5'0" and 102lbs. A couple of weeks ago, she found herself in a road rage incident where another larger female followed her in to the gym parking lot exited her car and "rushed" Nancy. Here she talks about using her training to subdue her attacker and some of what was running through her mind.
People often question the validity of BJJ for self defense for different reasons, the most common being the "multiple attacker" scenario. However, I think the scenario that Nancy found herself in is probably more likely for most people than being attacked by a gang of knife wielding thugs.
Anyway, hope this helps some people that maybe are on the fence about training BJJ. If it worked for Nancy, It can work for you!

FH

Strategic-tactical optimization in hand-to-hand combat: the mastery of grappling as a determining factor in encounters

Publishers Panel

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Strategic-tactical optimization in hand-to-hand combat: the mastery of grappling as a determining factor in encounters

Publishers Panel

Is there a point to that video? Most of it isn't in English, and the parts that were seemed to be headlines, rather than information.

 

[CoachRonald]

Is there a point to that video? Most of it isn't in English, and the parts that were seemed to be headlines, rather than information.

Hi Gpseymour,

Yes, there is a connection between the video and the article. The video shows some paradoxes and data that better explain the thesis of the article and its data. Indeed it's in Portuguese, but these statements are so short that quickly can be translated.

Regards

 

[FriedRice]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=693030514205112

A lot of people always complains why dudes in street fight vids like to take off their shirts.