I dont mean to insult people who study ring arts...if they are good, they can still beat your ass, so even ring arts can give you a one up in a real fight.....But the focus is totaly diferent, and in some ways I say ring arts can almost become a handicap rather then an asset when you are going up against somebody who is a trained killer or street fighter.....there are all kinds of rules in ring arts, and you get so used to working around them that you dont realy prepare yourself for realistic encounters.

BBJ is weak in the area of strikes, and they are not realy teaching you how to snap bones but its mostly submission holds....You can however make a working system out of it if you combine it with a striking art and then do some realistic sparring on the side....

If I were you, I would recomend Ninjutsu to sharpen your skills, then some kind of free-style sparring just to get your punches and kicks up to proper speed....They do use strikes in Ninjutsu, but you might want to supplement that with some realy basic training with a punching bag.

Dude, listen your 20, just go out and explore the field. I'm not sure as to your fexibility, strength, athletic ability but I know where your coming from. I'm 6"1" 315. It just so happened that I found my path with American Jiu Jitsu. My advice would be to find something that encompasses every aspect of street defense. something that takes from the old and modifies it for the new. also do not be afraid to cross train. I hope that you find what you are looking for brother.

Let go to flow

Hello again try these i'm not sure wihch one is in your area, www.reddragonjujitsu.com, www.sekaimartialarts.com, www.aikimartialarts.com, I was doin some lookin for ya and came up with these choices. hope they work for ya. may the gods bless you on your journey.

Let go to flow

Hi Chris,

In martial arts, there are a lot of opinions, kind of like on the stock market tribe I'm on. Many will stick with the style they do, while others, including those in this thread, have many good objective comments. My opinion, which was stated above, is to go out and try classes at different schools. If they don't offer you a free class, I bet they are hiding something. I really think its important to participate to get the real feel. I'm currently at an upper blue belt at a Gracie Barra BJJ school in San Diego (well, Del Mar and we have another in Oceanside). One thing I noticed is that the guys who choose to "watch" the class, never come back. Those that "participate" always come back. In the intro class, they actually get to spar full on with the instructor or a higher belt (so its safe). However, I'd like to point out, I'm not pushing BJJ, just that if you go to say 5 or 6 places, it won't take long before you can figure out who's real and who isn't.

My background was wrestling in high school, college, along with the olympic styles, but I never really thought it was a martial art (this was in the 80's). After watching UFC 4 live I figured I should get back into something, did a little kick boxing, visited Fairtex muay thai, then moved to SD where I joined Gracie Barra. In the middle of all that, I had visited a lot of other schools. Some of them barely got my heart rate up and promised me I could take on 5 guys at once etc. Later, one of the schools entered their guys into a kick boxing competition, and they all got beat pretty badly. On the other hand, the school that I am in now, though we train mainly with a gi and no striking, sent 11 white and blue belts (bottom belts) to the CA pankration (punching and kicking to the body allowed) championships and got 2nd place out of some 30 schools. A few of our guys go fight MMA too. Results under bjjgraciebarrasandiego.com/ under ezone news. We have also had quite a few white belts get jumped and come out unscathed. One white belt accidently broke a guys vertebrae, didn't mean too, but the guy kept trying to pound on him. So I figure, by trying out a bunch of schools, I made a decent decision. I'd like to add that at no time have they ever promised me that I can beat up anyone. In fact, one of the black belts who has had tons of street fights under his belt told me over and over - dude, don't fight unless there is no way out. His advice for training after learning many martial arts though was to stick with BJJ until you are a blue belt, then get some Muay Thai or boxing in - but again, its opinion, but the guy has been in a lot of fights.

I know this is long and I'm rambling, but here's another thing. When I think of one of the most basic chokes that I have learned, I realize that I have been taught it repetitively, I have practiced it repetitively, yet, against someone fighting back, its tough to pull it off - but I can practice it. I'm a little weary of those "slam your palm into the guys nose and the cartilage will go in his brain" claims. Simply being is that I have practiced this choke for 6 years and yet, I still can't pull it off 60% of the time against guys in class, likely I could to someone untrained. Well, as a scientist, I'd say then, how many guys will I have to kill before I can pull that palm to the nose thing off to get to the point I can do it 60% of the time.

Regarding competition... competition is really good for speeding up the experience, and getting some adrenaline control. Its about as close to getting to fighting than fighting itself. If you really want to get good at fighting, of course, the best (and likely most dangerous) thing is to just get into fights. Most guys I know that fight on a regular basis never lose, but its a dangerous game.

So like some of the other folks said, try a bunch of places out, change styles from time to time, and from me, I'd say make sure some real sparring is taking place. It's one thing to hit a bag, but if the bag doesn't pop you a good one in the nose and make your eyes water, you won't be ready for it. Lastly, fighting is unpredictable, you never know when someone's buddy is going to catch you from behind with a beer bottle, or you slip and hit your head on the edge of a table, but barring those things, training that gets you in really good shape and has a solid foundation to it will increase your odds of coming out of it alive.

I regret I wrote a book, I'm just waiting for my laundry to get done! At least I realized that its about time I get some standup work in. Oh yeah, despite the price go take a class at the BJJ school and just see how you like it, also, if you wonder if the instructor is real, I can ask around.

5 minutes you obviously know nothing of real combat. Real 1 on 1 combat is over in seconds. I hope someone takes you up on your offer so you will stop your ignorant trash talk

Same here