the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

by **CaliG** on Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:04 pm

Before anyone PMs me, the title's a joke.

I'm just trying to snatch the attention of the BJJ heads on here.

Solid ground fighting vids.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9663208456

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2628984441

by **Butterball** on Tue Sep 30, 2008 7:25 pm

These have been around for a while, but it's always nice to see them again. There's some pretty sweet stuff on there and I always like to see people from older generations doing stuff that's "rough on the body". I hope I can do the same when I'm their age.

by **CaliG** on Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:19 pm

That's a good point and to think people say bjj is a young man's sport.

by **Butterball** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:46 am

True. I think most people do Bjj in a way that makes it purely a young mans sport. I went to a Relson (Gracie) seminar a while ago and he spent some time talking about how he is getting older and has to go to his father to learn how to do Bjj as a 40 year old, 50 year old, etc....It got me thinking from a broader perspective than I previously had. There are a fair amount of older guys that I have trained with of a variety of experience levels who could benefit from some kind of instruction in this area. I'm only 29, so I can't say that I directly understand the needs of older people than me, but it seems to me like it would make sense as time goes on to change ones mentality from doing "football" style Bjj to "chess" style Bjj.

by **CaliG** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:00 pm

I agree when I first started years ago in 2000 it seemed that most schools were doing football style bjj.

I suppose because the UFC was still kind of an underground thing people rolled everytime as if it were life and death.

The school I first trained at is known as one of the toughest in the West coast but at the time I just thought that how bjj was. As a result I took a long break and focussed on CMAs, I have no regrets but I wish I would have found a school like the one I'm at now. My coach makes sure we stay technical, I think by basically setting up a non-competitive vibe. A lot of times we focus on fighting for position or a pin over submission. For example we do the guard pass drill a lot more than just rolling. Although I understand the need for both, I find that it's easier for me to see what my mistakes are in a non-competitive environment because instead of focussing on winning I'm more focussed on what I'm doing.

Cesar's school is close by and they've gone the other way. I walked in there to check out the school and there was just one guy at the desk surfing the net and I told him I wanted to find out about classes and he said, "What do you want to know? Do you want to roll?" I was surprised to hear that from a white belt. Needless to say that place is young man's gym. But they do really well in MMA so I can't really criticize them.

by **fuga** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:07 pm

I guess I am in the camp of starting BJJ as an old man (41). -oldman-

My school definitely falls on the technical side (from what I have seen) with major emphasis on drills and relaxing and going slowly. It's like taiji on the ground, except for the part about getting your head squeezed between someone's legs.

Okay, maybe it's not really like taiji on the ground...

But I am just a week into it and I am sure my impressions will change as time goes by. It's always fun to go back to square one in one's training.

-pete

by **kreese** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:27 pm

I don't like it when MMA fights stall on the ground...I ask myself just what is it that I am watching.

by **CaliG** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:27 pm

kreese wrote:I don't like it when MMA fights stall on the ground...I ask myself just what is it that I am watching.

Yeah the UFC refs are pretty good at preventing that, but I still prefer Pride rules when you could kick a downed man and you could kick someone in the face who was passing your guard.

by **CaliG** on Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:54 pm

My school definitely falls on the technical side (from what I have seen) with major emphasis on drills and relaxing and going slowly. It's like taiji on the ground, except for the part about getting your head squeezed between someone's legs.

One thing that took me forever to figure out is that when someone successfully defends from the guard or passes the guard it all comes down to hip movement.

If someone passes your guard or keeps you from passing it's because they moved their hips when you didn't move yours...among other things that is.

by **fuga** on Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:07 am

Thanks for the tip, Greg. As a rank beginner, I've mostly been working from the guard position. What I found interesting is that the very first thing we do is control the other person's center, create space through moving the hips, and then isolate and attack one side of the body. I think this is part of the reason that it reminds me of taiji (especially how I was taught push hands).

And it is much easier for me at this point of information overload to be thinking about (and remembering) principles rather than specific techniques.

Definitely a blast.

-pete

by **CaliG** on Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:49 pm

fuga wrote:And it is much easier for me at this point of information overload to be thinking about (and remembering) principles rather than specific techniques.

I think you're on the right track. The way Matt Thorton from SBGi coaches is by only teaching principles, he says if he can get through a whole seminar without teaching a specific technique he has done his job.

by **everything** on Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:05 pm

Re: Kosen Judo (aka. Japanese BJJ)
by fuga on Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:07 pm

I guess I am in the camp of starting BJJ as an old man (41).

My school definitely falls on the technical side (from what I have seen) with major emphasis on drills and relaxing and going slowly. It's like taiji on the ground, except for the part about getting your head squeezed between someone's legs. Okay, maybe it's not really like taiji on the ground...

My experience exactly having started bjj as an old man of 38 (now 39). We have a guy in his 50's in our class.

by **Butterball** on Sat Oct 04, 2008 5:07 pm

everything wrote:
Re: Kosen Judo (aka. Japanese BJJ)
by fuga on Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:07 pm

I guess I am in the camp of starting BJJ as an old man (41).

My school definitely falls on the technical side (from what I have seen) with major emphasis on drills and relaxing and going slowly. It's like taiji on the ground, except for the part about getting your head squeezed between someone's legs. Okay, maybe it's not really like taiji on the ground...

My experience exactly having started bjj as an old man of 38 (now 39). We have a guy in his 50's in our class.

Nice, I train regularly with a guy that is 65 (started bjj when he was 62 I think) and it's definitely a cool experience. He takes great care of himself and I'm learning alot from him about how he does it. What's amazing is that he still has the strength and explosiveness that younger guys do, but he's learning how to not use it in BJJ because his body doesn't have the durability to handle that kind of movement like a younger guy would.