BJJ ? Is it for me?

[brucelee]

Hey guys,

Not sure which forum to put this in but i noticed that tapout and some other Bjjers post here so here goes.

I found a school right around me that teaches BJJ!

Ive trained in striking martial arts in my teens and 20s,like tae kwon do, kempo, and traditional wing chun but i now im approaching 30 and i wanna hit the mat!

Here's my dilemna though. At a whopping 5'8 150 pounds (hopefully more after this cycle im contemplating) will BJJ be an effective style for me?

In my rowdy early 20s i was in some interesting scuffles with guys bigger than me and have done well with basic striking but i realized my deficiencies when i couldn't fight when there was snow on the ground, etc. if anyone had thrown me down to the ground and wrestled me, i woulda been mince meat.

However, it seems after reading this forum that most BJJers are huge MONSTERS compared to me. Is this an art for the MASSIVE? Would i be wasting my time training to fight on the ground at my stature? Can my size be overcome against a larger, stronger untrained opponent with technique on the ground?

I have found that my best shot at coming out alive is to strike fast and hard and end it quick. Is BJJ for me?

If so, how should i condition for this? ( i plan on doing a small cycle very soon).

Eddie

[Full Intensity]

Bro, are you prone to fighting? What i've learned is that no matter how good you are there is always someone who can kick your ass. If you are taking it just incase something happens then i'd say do it cause i've said many times on this board it is better to be safe then sorry. But if you are taking it to go around and look for fights then you will be sorry.

[brucelee]

Actually, i have not gotten into a fight in 7 years even though ive been pushed around like bastige ( happens when you're a small china man) . Most of my fights happened in college being at college frat parties/bars with lots of testosterone and alcohol. Also, another thing that happened was that after getting better at martial arts, i didn't feel the need to fight. So , my intentions are good. I do not think i am badass whatsover even though i feel my MA skills are "ok".

[chicamahomico]

bruce,

BJJ or any other grappling art would be a great addition to your toolbox. With regards to the proliferation of "monsters" in BJJ, I think it is like any other sport. People take performance enhancing drugs to aid their game. In this post UFC( ultimate fighting champiionship ) time people seem too eager to forget that technique is king.

great fighter + anabolics = greater fighter
anabolics + crappy fighter = big crappy fighter

My advice to you would be to find a school with a good reputation in your town and spend some time learning grappling technique. If you are not competitive athlete( I am not ), I would worry less about what art to choose. BJJ, Judo, or Wrestling should all fit the bill nicely.

Now go roll...

[King Samson]

bro, BJJ is absolutely not for only the massive. I train BJJ with Tapout and JJ. We are all good size, but size and strength will only get you so far. Someone with better skills will always win. The only time strength can help you win is when both opponents are of equal skill level and you are stronger. Look at Hoyce Gracie, he is 6' tall and only 170-180lbs. and he schooled all the huge freaks in the UFCs. Why, because he had better technique. The best student in our class is about 5'7" 150lbs. and he schools us every time because he has been training longer and is of better skill level. So yes, size has its advantages, but who has the better skills is what is all comes down to. My advice to you would be to get into that class and start learning.

[Tapout]

yea bro do it
people who are smaller,leaner and more flexable are usually better in bjj than the big guys.
i weigh 242 and am strong but sometimes it goes against me while most times it does help me. how it helps is for me to get a good position on somebody and be able to hold them there and push them through the floor and have the ability to force a technique when finese wont work. but the times it hurts is when you use strength you run out of gas quicker and there are some moves that i'm just to big and not flexable enough to do.
for the most part though the bigger and stronger you can be will help you but the times i get tapped out are by the people in are class who are150lbs -180lbs who are very tecniqual,flexable and just darn good

[brucelee]

hey guys, thanks for the replies and info. it was exactly what i was looking for. Just wondering, you're guys instructors know that you guys juice every now and then or is that something that is a no no?

[bronzebeefcake]

I to train and hate when the little guys tap me out....Im not the biggest guy @225 but these 185 pdrs usually give me trouble.....Speed/flexibility kills...Give it a try....

As for the prone to fighting comments....I think alot of people now train for the wrong reasons....I personaly like the fact that you can compete in a controlled enviroment and not have to resort to pure violence....Remember be humble........

[ironfist]

Being too big is a disadvanatge if you aren't very flexible. guys don't have to bend me as far to make me tap out (especially true with shoulder locks) whcih is why I've been trying to lose some weight and stretch everyday. don't worry about being small, our main huy is 5'9" and 165lbs. he still beats all of use everytime and there are about 5 of use in there that are 210+. I'm a blue belt and I've never beat the guy and I can bench 315 for 18 reps, so I'm not a little boy. It's all about technique. Check and see who your guy is certified under or who he trained under before you join. The gracies or machado and goods ones to be under. We have a brown belt who is certified under Ceasar Gracie and a purple belt who is certified under Riggan Machado. Both are awesome...

[brucelee]

I gotta question for you BJJers. If you were to forced to fight would you start with punches and kicks or would you feel better bringing a guy down and taking him out there.

Me, personally, i would not WANT to end up on the ground if i could end the fight with strikes. However, the reason i want to learn groundfighting is a "just in case" kind of thing.

Also, in the confronttaions that i have been in, i've always been very conservative to avoid getting clinched. This has hurt my technique and effectiveness i believe. I think that if i developed ground skill, id be a better "stand up" fighter. Make any sense? What do you guys think? If you're primarily a grappler, does that make you WANT to goto the ground immediatley?

Eddie

[ironfist]

Originally posted by brucelee
I gotta question for you BJJers. If you were to forced to fight would you start with punches and kicks or would you feel better bringing a guy down and taking him out there.

Me, personally, i would not WANT to end up on the ground if i could end the fight with strikes. However, the reason i want to learn groundfighting is a "just in case" kind of thing.

Also, in the confronttaions that i have been in, i've always been very conservative to avoid getting clinched. This has hurt my technique and effectiveness i believe. I think that if i developed ground skill, id be a better "stand up" fighter. Make any sense? What do you guys think? If you're primarily a grappler, does that make you WANT to goto the ground immediatley?

Eddie

i prefer to stay on my feet. that way if he has any friends i have a good shot at them instead of leaving myself wideopen to get kicked. I like Ken Shamrocks motto "get off first", alot of street fights are ended with one good punch. If I know I'm going to get in a fight, I make sure to throw the first punch and put him down with it. Thai kicks and elbows have worked well for me in bars. probably be wise to throw a quick combo and put his ass out...

[Tapout]

ironfist i didnt know you trained bjj cool
bruce yes our instructor knows-- i'm 242 and lean at 5-10 so its obvious and juice junkie is also big and very lean. king samson has gained 50lbs of muscle in a year so its also obvious.
as far as ground or standup i was a brown belt in tae kwon do before starting bjj and now a brown belt there also(will i ever get a black belt in anything) so i know how to stand up fight
the problem is i'm big and strong and the ground is my home(been doing ju jitsiu since may of 97) and after 1 or 2 shots standing up i'd rather take them down
in my job i have to fight sometimes. i have gotten in 12 fights since i started bjj and i have schooled each person and have been hit only 1 time with a sucker punch(i bent arm locked him and tore his shoulder). i by far am not the baddest person around and as bronze beefcake said try to be humble and walk away-i dont want to fight i do enough of it in class i dont want to pay peoples hospital bill when i leg lock them but if i do fight i feel if i take you down your mine its my world and i am going to win. what i like instead of throwing fists i can take a person down and lock them up and talk to them. i tell them they are about to get hurt and if they keep fighting pop something gets hurt and if they want to be cool and give up then i torque it enough to let them hurt and know i was there but i dont break. i have arm bared people 4 times(1 elbow i took out because he tried to stab me),leg locked 2 and chocked out 6(not completely out just silly). so it works and i love bjj---dont get the wrong idea about me i'm not a bully the last fight i got in not at work was 6 and 1/2 years ago. i won by punches and we went to ground and i head locked him boy he was lucky i didnt know bjj then

[ironfist]

Originally posted by Tapout
ironfist i didnt know you trained bjj cool
bruce yes our instructor knows-- i'm 242 and lean at 5-10 so its obvious and juice junkie is also big and very lean. king samson has gained 50lbs of muscle in a year so its also obvious.
as far as ground or standup i was a brown belt in tae kwon do before starting bjj and now a brown belt there also(will i ever get a black belt in anything) so i know how to stand up fight
the problem is i'm big and strong and the ground is my home(been doing ju jitsiu since may of 97) and after 1 or 2 shots standing up i'd rather take them down
in my job i have to fight sometimes. i have gotten in 12 fights since i started bjj and i have schooled each person and have been hit only 1 time with a sucker punch(i bent arm locked him and tore his shoulder). i by far am not the baddest person around and as bronze beefcake said try to be humble and walk away-i dont want to fight i do enough of it in class i dont want to pay peoples hospital bill when i leg lock them but if i do fight i feel if i take you down your mine its my world and i am going to win. what i like instead of throwing fists i can take a person down and lock them up and talk to them. i tell them they are about to get hurt and if they keep fighting pop something gets hurt and if they want to be cool and give up then i torque it enough to let them hurt and know i was there but i dont break. i have arm bared people 4 times(1 elbow i took out because he tried to stab me),leg locked 2 and chocked out 6(not completely out just silly). so it works and i love bjj---dont get the wrong idea about me i'm not a bully the last fight i got in not at work was 6 and 1/2 years ago. i won by punches and we went to ground and i head locked him boy he was lucky i didnt know bjj then

Damn bro, a brown belt in bjj is very impressive. I'm a blue belt right now and I've only been training for about 9 months. (i caught on quick and i've got a wrestling background) Who are you guys certified under? We get our belts from Riggin machado, i think he's ranked #2 in the world. The bjj really took to me, i try to train as much as possible but i still like to stay on my feet but then again, I was 18-1 in amatuer boxing and did a little bit of kickboxing. I'm hoping to be in NHB fights in about 6 months, probably be the king of the cage. 2 of my trainers fight in the gladiator challenge/king of the cage (they're sister events) and we've got one guy fighting in the UFC, he was supposed to have a title fight last week in London but the doctors said he was dehydrated and would not allow him to fight. I guess they made him weigh in on Sat. morning so he didn't have time to re-hydrate from the duiretics...

[silverfox]

BJJ works well for small guys at 230, i never beat my instructor who is 150ish and beat everyone else at one point or another in the class, so size isn't going to matter if you have good tech.

[Tapout]

ironfist thats cool bro and very impressive to get a blue belt in 9 months good luck and keep it up
our instructor is going to fight in the king of the cage in i think 2 months and was supposed to fight 2 weeks ago in king of the cage in california but it was short notice and something fell through
i started with the two owners of our school in 97(two guys co own and teach and both have numerous blackbelts in different styles) in bushido and amaturi ju jitsiu and got my brown belt then went to brazilian jui jitsu. the first ones i was in was a wrestling style concentrating on neck cranks,roughness,and little finese. we did a lot of leg locks as our co-owner of the school trains in swa ju(chinese jui jitsu) and taught us something the brazilians dont train too much now we train bjj and i have had to reprogram and learn finese.
over a year ago a friend of the owners moved here from brazil and he trained under marcello clemente in brazil. he was given full reign over the ju jitsu class and started teaching brazialian jui jitsu while the 1 owner decided to concentrate on the business aspect and the other owner still teaches the fight classes(vale tudo training for cage matches).our instructor is marcus and hes brazialian(i need to check before i give out names-they might not want them out)and hes about 185 and unflippenreal.i think we are considered under marcello clemente but i've been a brown belt for 2 years so i dont know if we get them under marcus,marcello or still under our origional school since it was changed to bjj a little over a year ago- i still have my brown belt even though it was given(opps earned-3 hrs of testing and fighting)before we started bjj but i'm considered brown still and train like a brown belt learning the advanced techniques. i was told if i train hard and get really back into it i can test for black within the year which i may do-if i can get my big ass on the stepper--to bad i cant inject wind.

[daren]

100% of fights start standing up 98% end up on the ground. your hands were designed to grab and hold. jiujitsu capitalizes on this. in jiujitsu you can finish the fight while standing, wrist locks and takedowns have worked for me in the past

[daren]

hey tapout
my sensei has as trained in japanese jiujitsu along with bjj. it has really helped us and given us an edge in tournments. do you compete?

[kaiman1]

LOL,,,,,,"too bad you can't inject wind"! .......Im with ya bro

[rmlock]

I am a brown Belt in BJJ under the gracies. I have been doing it for almost 8yrs and can say with ABSOLUTE certainty that it is VERY suitable for someone who is smaller. it is all about technique my friend

[rmlock]

how has AS improved you jiu jitsu game is a question I would like to know(starting my first cycle)

[ironfist]

Originally posted by rmlock
I am a brown Belt in BJJ under the gracies. I have been doing it for almost 8yrs and can say with ABSOLUTE certainty that it is VERY suitable for someone who is smaller. it is all about technique my friend

Which Gracie...

[rmlock]

I have trained with Renzo, Rodrigo, Royce,Rorion, Helio, Relson and Rolker. I have also taken privates with saulo Ribiero and Mario Sperry. I was promoted to Brown by both Royce and Relson Gracie

[kaiman1]

Not bad bro, i understand the skill level it takes to recieve a brown belt in BJJ! I have a good friend who was reciently promoted to brown under Chris Saunders, and Rickson Gracie Black Belt and he definately had to work very hard! He and I started training in Bjj about 10 years ago while he went deep into sport BJJ(gi), i chose to venture into submission grappling and NHB. I do know that all BJJ students do train no gi as well as NHB if they come from a good club but I really wanted to get into the MMA scene. I love to watch and still compete every now and then with the gi but my love is without. Anyway, Im glad to see there are fellow grappling bro's on the forum! peace

[rangerdudeleads]

Is their any schools like this in GA.? I would really like to get into it and try it out to see if i like it but i think I would really enjoy it.

[kaiman1]

I believe Jacare has a club in Atlanta.

[UltimateFighter]

I am a BJJ blue belt and a MMA fighter. Yes, Jacare does have a school in Atlanta. ALso- LA Boxing has a good BJJ/MMA program under Steve Headen, a brown belt. If you don't know much about BJJ- a brown belt is damn damn good.

[rangerdudeleads]

Is there any schools below Atlanta?

[rmlock]

thanks guys......BJJ is my passion, I love to train but anybody who does NHB has my respect, that is a whole other level of dedication. I have thought about it many times but the commitment and preparation needed is too much for me with my job and my family. BJJ is a 4-5 day a week at 1.5-2 hrs and even that is rough to keep. you got Guts Kaimen and Ultimatefighter for stepping in that ring. I also boxed in the amatuers growing up and that was stressful, NHB is again another level...so much MORE to worry about and prepare for. and its not like 1994 anymore YOU BETTER KNOW STANDUP AND GRAPPLING AND TAKE DOWNS NOW OR watch out, right.....pleasure to meet u guys

[UltimateFighter]

I have had 3 NHB fights and yes,training is a bitch. we train 5 days a week 2 hours a day minimum. This is on top of my job and family life. Below Atlanta there is the Academy of Fighting Arts in Griffin, GA and there is Valdosta Martial Arts center way down in Valdosta. If you are close to Atl its worth the drive to go to LA boxing in my opinion. rmlock I am not sure where you are but I wanted to let you guys know about the Dale Earnhardt Jr. BJJ tournament coming up next month. Should be huge. Tito and Ricco will be there. Kid rock is performing also. Its been labeled the biggest grappling tournament in the country. its in Concord, NC Jan 25 (or maybe 24th- whatever day is a Sat.)

www.dalejrgrapplingclassic.com

[rangerdudeleads]

Is the one by Valdosta pretty good?

[UltimateFighter]

yeah. Valdosta Martial Arts Center. they have several popular MMA fighters right now. however, its not as good for BJJ as the other schools. Also- there is a school in Augusta, GA called Augusta MArtial Arts Academy. go to www.theiscf.com. That is the GA fighting web page.

[rangerdudeleads]

thanx UF.

[MDMA]

BJJ is the way to go. Train your standup with some kind of long range striking, ie Muay Thai Kickboxing. Train your clinch (which comes with the BJJ) and you'll be an awesome well rounded fighter.

Just training on the mat puts you ahead of about 90% of all TRAINED fighters in the world. That's right, 90% of all trained fighters, boxers etc., have no idea how to handle a fight once it goes to the ground. All they want to do is get up.

Ive done BJJ for about 3 years now and the confidence I feel from it alone is worth every minute spent on the mat. Good luck~

..oh ya, and I was a about 180 when I started, not massive at all.

[katton]

I've been interested in BJJ also. What happens if you spar someone that doesn't know when to let go and ends up breaking your arm or a leg and it never heals right and you're walking with a limp for the rest of your life. I've been reading a couple BJJ boards and some people boast about breaking someones bones in a competition. I'd hate to not know anything about bjj and take a class and leave with a few broken bones. How many of you have gotten seriously wounded in bjj?

katton

[fullback40]

I wouldnt worry too much about getting hurt in class. A good instructor will keep the egos out of training and show techniques the proper way so injuries are at a minimum. Now competition is different, sometimes people refuse to tap, get their elbow broken or pass out. It works both ways.

Damn I havent seen this thread in awhile