I know this has been debated many times before on this forum.
But I have a question for this who are unhappy with BJJ's traditional self defense techniques.
How would you change the way the art is taught to make it more viable for the street or the barroom or whatever? Or do you think BJJ is essentially a sport and can't be made street-effective and still remain BJJ?
The only thing I would change is to have 1 night a week where sparring with strikes (on the feet and on the ground) is included. I think the self-defense curriculum is fine, though I regret not being better trained in it. I'm going to make it a point to better learn the traditional self-defense techniques.
Andre - for brushing up on the self-defense techniques I would highly recommend Pedro Valente in Miami - hope all is well!
I think that BJJ has many of the best training methods for learning to control an opponent on the ground. That's a great part of the larger self-defense picture.
I think that very effective self-defense training is comprehensive--it develops all of the necessary areas. Different people will have different views regarding what those areas are.
BJJ is good for what it is. I think it should drop the "traditional self-defense techniques" and focus on developing control on the ground, which it does so well.
oblongo -
Or do you think BJJ is essentially a sport and can't be made street-effective and still remain BJJ?
Your question, the fact that you would even ask it, says more about the current state of BJJ than any answer could.
I mean, are you trying to give Helio Gracie an aneurism or something?
One of the above posters mentioned bjj with striking. Which is great. I think a lot of the debate about bjj and its street effectiveness comes from its incorporation as a 'sport'.
Sports inherently are confined to an application of sportsman ship.
So in a street fight, drop the sportsmanship, do whatever you have to do to get a guy on the ground (if that is where you want him) and punch the crap out of him.
p.s. I think BJJ runs into serious problems when it goes from a one on one street fight to a multi person brawl. I sure as shit wouldn't want to go to the ground, top or bottom, with more than one person attacking me. Then again, any martial art is going to have difficulties adapting to multiple assailants.
Yikes. Didn't realize i'd mistyped BJJ. Never heard of BFF before. Learn something new everyday on here.
Having a BFF for self-defense is probably better than GJJ for self-defense, imo
lol TTT BFF
Snuggles said: "I think BJJ runs into serious problems when it goes from a one on one street fight to a multi person brawl. I sure as shit wouldn't want to go to the ground, top or bottom, with more than one person attacking me. Then again, any martial art is going to have difficulties adapting to multiple assailants."
I personally feel no martial art can or is "design" to deal with multiple opponents. In my opinion the only way to really deal with multiple opponents is to run away when the opportunity presents itself. If a person is going to have trouble dealing with one person imagine how much more that trouble is magnified when multiple persons are involved. Like I said the best way to deal with multiple opponents is develop a strategy where you can recognize and take or create and take the best escape route.
I feel that self-defense in general and dealing with multiple opponents in particular is intuitive and instinctive. In other words, I feel most people naturally know what to do when faced with a life threatening situation in terms of facing an attacker. I think established martial arts give people "tools" to work with but for the most part people naturally and instinctive know what to do and not do in a given situation.
I seriously doubt when facing multiple opponents that a person would "voluntarily" put themselves in a vunerable position.
Heck, even the "great" Rickson Gracie, who has been a bjj practitioner all his life, wasn't stupid enough to put himself in a vunerable position when fighting multiple attackers. My understanding is he has been in more than a few situations where he had to deal with multiple attackers and manage to survive mainly because he used his wits probably more than his Bjj skills. Common sense dictates what you should and shouldn't do, when you should or shouldn't do it, and how you should or shouldn't do it.
And yes, believe it or not, many of us have actually seen and faced many of the conditions we often "debate" about on these forum, such as dealing with multiple opponents, in our very "real" lives.
m.g - I personally feel no martial art can or is "design" to deal with multiple opponents.
You're obviously not familiar with aikido. Here, grab my wrist.
No, the other wrist--
No, don't let go.
Put a guy in the middle with boxing gloves and let him strike, have your guys try and close the distance, clinch and take him down while suffering the minimum damage.
The Gimp -m.g - I personally feel no martial art can or is "design" to deal with multiple opponents.
You're obviously not familiar with aikido. Here, grab my wrist.
LOL.
If you're worried about being attacked one day, I'd recommend training boxing and BJJ. Spend more time training the art you like more but get to a decent level in the other. Boxing would be your first choice in a self defence situation but if you had no choice but to go to the ground (maybe you were taken there), use your BJJ and odds are that if he doesn't have more friends than you, you'll beat him.
Against multiple opponents I have multiple friends (Renzo quote, I think), but just about the only art I'd give a chance of beating more than one guy is boxing. You stay on your feet, take people out as quickly as possible and don't risk getting unbalanced by throwing kicks.
ttt
i almost hate to get involved in this discussion again. But i feel compelled. I like the bjj sd curriculum in general. However, I believe bjj sd curriculum can be augmented. I dont like boxing as the augmentation. But if you do thats cool. What I want to know is what you find wrong with it. What Can you name a few sd scenerios. I am always curious what people imagine as actual self defense scenerios as opposed to drunken bar fights.
would you suggest adding these to any "self defense" system or just bjj?
What's the deal with those high-powered flashlights? Really a good idea to have one?
I will be getting some of these tomorrow. Thanks for the tip. I agree, for self defense one should carry something like this around.