- This topic has 11 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 6 months ago by owlie.
What I’ve been working on…
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October 13, 2009 at 7:06 am #3503BenParticipant
Alright guys, so I guess I should show you all why I’ve been neglecting BBM recently! My friend Greg and I have been doing a youtube show for a while and we decided to get more serious about it so I built this website. Check it out if you want a chuckle. New episodes every sunday!
Now I have a bit more time to dedicate to BBM!
http://www.thegentlemansdrink.com
Ben
October 14, 2009 at 2:41 am #22831eternal05ParticipantThis is a pretty cool idea: GQ for the everyman (those of us who don’t wear fedoras). I dig!
On a side note, watched that first video, and I have to say, judging from your guys’ variety of martial arts, you may disagree with my ranking, but I’m all about that BJJ. I’ve been doing it for a while now. I think that, as far as real-world practicality and development of real skill goes, jiu jitsu is unbeatable as a martial art. Combine it with a striking discipline and you’re unstoppable
Then again, that’s how UFC started: the Gracie family’s way of proving to the world that their martial art could top all others.
Hey, I meant to ask somebody who’s doing it: what do you think of Krav Maga? Strengths? Weaknesses?
Cool site dude. Hope it picks up!
October 14, 2009 at 2:51 am #22832BenParticipantI actually think that Krav Maga is the ‘best’ martial art for those out there that are concerned with real life street fighting, thats probably why cops and the military use it quite a bit. The only things I don’t like about it are the belt tests (that are so hard it is almost at the point of ridiculousness!) and they don’t concentrate on the ground as much as I would like. They do some ground work, but most of it is basic stuff that is meant to get you back to your feet (which is what you want in a street fight, don’t want to be rolling with a guy and have his friend knife you in the back while you aren’t looking!).
BJJ is fun and is probably the sport I will do until I’m an old man. Boxing I’ll probably stop in the next 10 years or so, and it would be nice to get my black belt in Krav Maga, but like I said those tests are nearly impossible (and i’m only a yellow belt!).
To sum it up, if I had to train someone in 6 months to be able to defend themselves I would go with Krav Maga. BJJ and Boxing/wrestling take a lot longer to become ‘good’. Hell, i’m still a whitebelt in Jiu Jitsu and I’ve been rolling regularly for 2 years.
October 14, 2009 at 3:35 am #22835Bob HarleyParticipantStudy Aikido when you get old. The average age of the Aikido class I tried was like 40, and there was this 70+ year old guy who was a former shotokan student. He was stiff and ridgid like an old twisted oak, but he could roll and move out of the way and be behind you like a ninja! Martial arts is hard work. Much like motorcycles, practice and developing reflexes are necessary to truly enjoy. My last style was Kajukembo, which I very much enjoyed. Eventually I want to go back when I have the time to actually train. Showing up and getting beat on because you don’t train outside of class is just a pain, literally. My wife an I are on a “couch potato to 5k run” program. She wants to lose weight. I need the stamina so I don’t start wheezing after 30 seconds of exertion…
So Ben is web administrator, martial artist, motorcyclist and a gentleman. Are you independently wealthy too, so you can battle evil in your spare time? Somebody get this man a mask!
Brian
October 14, 2009 at 4:15 am #22839BenParticipantLOL I wish I was wealthy, I’m sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck!
Someday soon I hope to get out of this cycle When that day comes, I’m going to buy myself a ducati! Wait… maybe thats the reason i’m broke? Damn you materialistic society!!!!!!!
Ben
October 14, 2009 at 4:15 am #22838eternal05ParticipantI would argue, however, that no martial art is really any good against multiple opponents. Yeah, some will have you fairing better against untrained adversaries than you’d be by yourself, but if more than one guy who knows how to fight well take you on, you’re probably going to be screwed, regardless.
I am very tempted by Krav Maga, and will probably give it a try when I get some more free time in my schedule. I have plenty of things in my life to teach me discipline, patience, and “holistic thinking,” and plenty of other activities that keep me in good shape. I personally always got put off by martial arts that were too “wax-on, wax-off” about things without actually helping you with the self-defense aspect enough. If I’m going to train a martial art, it’s for the sole reason that, put in a situation where my life, or those of people I care deeply about, are at risk, I can do as much as possible to prevent harm. That means I don’t particularly care about a 10-minute kung-fu form, and would rather deliver a kick to the groin, a punch to the trachea, an eye gouge, etc. and be done. Hence my interest in Krav Maga: seems like a no-BS self defense approach.
Reasons I like BJJ so much are:
1) You can train at virtually 100% intensity. You don’t have to strike lightly or move slowly. If you’re rolling with a partner that you trust, and that has good lock-sense, you can go balls out without worrying about serious injury. Yeah, I’ve sprained things, strained and torn muscles, cracked a rib…but that heals just fine. Take too many hits to the head and you end up like poor ol’ Muhammed Ali.
2) You can avoid hurting an aggressor. This is really important in the age of frivolous lawsuits and some totally backwards legal loopholes. As you sort of mention in your video, if you’ve trained a martial art, you must be much more careful about how you defend yourself. If you’re most comfortable striking somebody until they’re incapacitated, you risk doing serious damage and incurring all sorts of legal liability. I much prefer a nice arterial choke Leaves no trace and does nothing to injure your “victim,” but properly done puts him to sleep in a few seconds.
3) Almost completely neutralizes a difference in strength. Marcelo Garcia is one of the best absolute-class (no weight limits) Jiu Jitsu fighters and submission grapplers, and he’s a mere 154 lbs (or so). He regularly submits dudes almost twice his size. One particularly memorable match I saw had him taking down former UFC champion Ricco Rodriguez, a huge (by comparison) 250 lbs MMA fighter! A smaller, cleverer, and more technical fighter can take a bigger guy 9 times out of 10.
4) Takes advantage of the fact that most guys who’d provoke a fight probably suck at ground control (though perhaps this is less true in the post-UFC world). As shown in countless instances, BJJ is a fantastic real-world fighting style for this exact reason: real-world fights between relatively untrained fighters inevitably go to the ground. The Gracies were known for taking opponents down, exploiting superior ground work to gain an advantaged position, and then just beating the snot out of their opponents while they lay pinned and defenseless.
5) Gets you STRONG. We’re not talking Lou Ferrigno huge, but rather the kind of real-world strength that you only get by doing real-world stuff. Your core muscles will develop strength you didn’t know was possible. I’m talking have-no-trouble-breathing-while-a-200-lb-guy-is-sinking-all-his-weight-into-your-solar-plexis strong. All the random little muscles that don’t get exercised with your normal lifting routine get worked out constantly.
Ok off the soapbox. Heh.
October 16, 2009 at 3:23 am #22885owlieParticipantOkay, I’ve been on this board for roughly six months now, and I’m just now finding out about the BJJ enthusiasts!
I could wax eloquent about how much I love to roll, but it would probably bore you all to tears. It has been about five years since I had a group to train with, and I really miss it. I miss listening to my breathing as I figure out how to leverage my opponents weight. I miss those fantastic moments when you realize that, no you aren’t going to get the choke, but hey that arm bar is totally there. I even miss the feel of elbows digging into my thighs to break my guard.
For me, the hardest part (well, other than being a workaholic) is that I have to find a group that I trust. I tend to find one of two things: 1) guys that want to recreate the UFC every friday night and 2) guys that won’t challenge me because I’m a woman.
I passed the last of the CFA exams (which consumed three years of my life). I think maybe it is time to look around and see if the local landscape has improved…
October 16, 2009 at 5:20 am #22891eternal05ParticipantGlad to hear there are more BJJ’ers out there. Semi-funny-at-worst-kinda-amusing story: my coach at the moment is Brian Johnson. Brian…J…Johnson. Heh. If anybody’s interested in BJJ in the Seattle area, definitely check him out. He’s SUPER friendly, extremely good, and an excellent teacher. The club’s cheap too: $100/mo for unlimited attendance.
I know what you mean about some guys though. I usually make a point to watch somebody pretty extensively before I ever agree to roll with them. I’ll refuse anybody that seems too testosterone-crazed, or insensitive to potential partner injuries. One of the things I really appreciate about NWJJA is that it is BY FAR the most “chill” of all the places I’ve been to. Everybody really wants to get better, but everybody’s #1 and #2 priorities are not to get hurt, and not to hurt others.
October 16, 2009 at 7:39 pm #22898owlieParticipantI picked it up while I was in college, but dropped it the last two years because the football team found out the group. I had a group here in Alaska, but as things sometimes happen, it dissolved as people move on.
My own semi-funny story- The guy that led the group at OSU when I was there was Brazilian, but he didn’t pick up the sport until he came to the US- and in the backwards college town of Stillwater, OK at that..
October 17, 2009 at 11:11 pm #22918BenParticipantWow, I find it odd that I didn’t know you were a woman until this moment Owlie! Haha, funny how you create an image of someone when all you have is a user name to go on.
You should definitely roll again. If you live in the bay area california I could recommend some schools, otherwise I guess you are on your own.
Ben
October 17, 2009 at 11:18 pm #22919owlieParticipantOkay, so I finally got a chance to watch the video, and so I can actually comment instead of thread-jack.
The top five was priceless. I dragged my husband to a local gun show last weekend, and he asked me if I was going to pick up something. I told him that I would only if I could find one of those small lady’s guns with engraving and bling. Then to have you bring up the engraved revolvers, it was perfect. I do have to disagree with your compatriot that the knife on the boot is a gentleman’s weapon, in the boot, perhaps, but otherwise, it is just fighting dirty…
October 17, 2009 at 11:21 pm #22921owlieParticipantFunny you say that…
I took the inspiration from this thread and went to check out one of the local BJJ schools. Its been around for a few years, but I had never been in to see it. I was impressed. They guys that run it are technically focused and appear to manage the newer students pretty carefully (ie the meatheads were only paired with experienced partners and were consistently instructed to work on technique rather than trying to bash their way out). The students who had obviously been there a while were in for the fun of it, and the testosterone level was quite reasonable. They do have MMA, but it is taught separately from the grappling (yay!). I am thinking about going to play next week (they said I can watch again, but it was hard enough to not just jump in the first time around…).
On being a woman, didn’t the reference to homemade chocolate chip cookies give you a hint?
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