Is wrestling a martial art?

[Uchi Mata]

what would you recommend for a guy out of college who wants to learn to wrestle?

If you live in a bigger city there's probably a wrestling club or two around, most MMA gyms will have wrestling days, and if all else fails and you have access to mats find a high school coach to teach you and a few friends to train with.

 

[Daniel Fox]

what would you recommend for a guy out of college who wants to learn to wrestle?

If there is a wrestling club near you, I say go for it, if that is what you are interested in. For self defense, and practicality, I would recommend any martial art where you go "live" against a resisting opponent. Wrestling, BJJ, Judo, Boxing, Kickboxing etc.

 

[Uchi Mata]

If there is a wrestling club near you, I say go for it, if that is what you are interested in. For self defense, and practicality, I would recommend any martial art where you go "live" against a resisting opponent. Wrestling, BJJ, Judo, Boxing, Kickboxing etc.

Anything where you spar and there are competitions is real shit. That's what matters much more so than the technical repertoire of whatever style you choose. American kickboxing, Muay Thai, and San Shou all have similar (though not identical) technical repertoires because certain things just work, and you figure that out through...sparring and competition.

 

[Daniel Fox]

Anything where you spar and there are competitions is real shit. That's what matters much more so than the technical repertoire of whatever style you choose. American kickboxing, Muay Thai, and San Shou all have similar (though not identical) technical repertoires because certain things just work, and you figure that out through...sparring and competition.

Well said!

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

If you live in a bigger city there's probably a wrestling club or two around, most MMA gyms will have wrestling days, and if all else fails and you have access to mats find a high school coach to teach you and a few friends to train with.

If there is a wrestling club near you, I say go for it, if that is what you are interested in. For self defense, and practicality, I would recommend any martial art where you go "live" against a resisting opponent. Wrestling, BJJ, Judo, Boxing, Kickboxing etc.

the ones I found are all youth wrestling places. I'll probably try to find a high school coach. I did some bjj and judo but I'm not really into being on my back. I've done boxing muay thai and karate, so I want to be able to strike without being afraid like wonderboy does.

 

[Daniel Fox]

the ones I found are all youth wrestling places. I'll probably try to find a high school coach. I did some bjj and judo but I'm not really into being on my back. I've done boxing muay thai and karate, so I want to be able to strike without being afraid like wonderboy does.

Where do you live? maybe there is a club near you.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

Where do you live? maybe there is a club near you.

I live in south jersey.

 

[Uchi Mata]

the ones I found are all youth wrestling places. I'll probably try to find a high school coach. I did some bjj and judo but I'm not really into being on my back. I've done boxing muay thai and karate, so I want to be able to strike without being afraid like wonderboy does.

Honestly, for not being afraid to strike BJJ is probably as important as wrestling. If you do get taken down, BJJ is going to give you more tools to defend and get back to your feet than wrestling. Not that wrestling stand ups aren't a super useful skill to have, but if your worry is 'I want to bang, but what if I get taken down' BJJ is really important. By all means work on your sprawl and stand ups but work on your guard too.

 

[Daniel Fox]

I live in south jersey.

I am pretty sure you could find wrestling in Jersey, you may have to travel. I know Rutgers has a club, I do not know if it is open to non students but you could contact them and find out. Check with various colleges who have wrestling as a club sport. Apex has clubs throughout the state, they are mostly for high school kids but I am guessing they would allow you to train if you pay the money.

Good luck!

 

[jack36767]

That's a good point. It is funny that some BJJ people might be reluctant to train with wrestlers because they're too rough and aggressive but also don't believe it's a martial art.

A vast subset of People who train traditional martial arts or expose it's "values" try to have their cake and eat it too. They want to train a violent art designed to control or damage people but try to do everything but admit that violence is the end goal. Wrestling doesn't

 

[Uchi Mata]

A vast subset of People who train traditional martial arts or expose it's "values" try to have their cake and eat it too. They want to train a violent art designed to control or damage people but try to do everything but admit that violence is the end goal. Wrestling doesn't

That's a good point. It is odd the degree to which people try to insulate themselves from the reality of what they're doing, which is develop the skills to seriously injure or kill another human. To be honest, it's something I struggle in planning to take an MMA fight, because I just don't know if I can keep hitting a guy who's already out until the ref stops it. Though in general it doesn't both me at all because having the skills and using them are two different things.

 

[jack36767]

That's a good point. It is odd the degree to which people try to insulate themselves from the reality of what they're doing, which is develop the skills to seriously injure or kill another human. To be honest, it's something I struggle in planning to take an MMA fight, because I just don't know if I can keep hitting a guy who's already out until the ref stops it. Though in general it doesn't both me at all because having the skills and using them are two different things.

That's never been a problem for me, the doing damage part. Honestly I really think high school wrestling has been an EXTREMELY underrated outlet for America's youth that if it and football weren't there, giving young men a violent outlet that was controlled there would be a lot more issues and problems than we even have now

 

[mataleaos]

That's a good point. It is odd the degree to which people try to insulate themselves from the reality of what they're doing, which is develop the skills to seriously injure or kill another human. To be honest, it's something I struggle in planning to take an MMA fight, because I just don't know if I can keep hitting a guy who's already out until the ref stops it. Though in general it doesn't both me at all because having the skills and using them are two different things.

Powerful post right here. My first martial arts instructor did 2 MMA fights. One win by guillotine and the 2nd was a TKO from mounted strikes and he said he feeling of the other guy's face on his knuckles reverberating through the gloves disturbed him. he never fought another fight and said that it just wasn't for him. he still trains all of the skill sets, but he lost all the desire to compete in MMA. Don't quote me on it but I want to say that Dave Camarillo dipped his toes into MMA but got out for the same reasons.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Powerful post right here. My first martial arts instructor did 2 MMA fights. One win by guillotine and the 2nd was a TKO from mounted strikes and he said he feeling of the other guy's face on his knuckles reverberating through the gloves disturbed him. he never fought another fight and said that it just wasn't for him. he still trains all of the skill sets, but he lost all the desire to compete in MMA. Don't quote me on it but I want to say that Dave Camarillo dipped his toes into MMA but got out for the same reasons.

I struggle with it. I want to do it for the self test and also just because I've been doing martial arts my whole life and it seems like the logical conclusion to my 'serious' competitive career (serious in my own eyes, if not in my results), but I'm not really about hurting people, especially when they're in a situation in which they basically can't fight back anymore. I mean, if the ref was late on the stoppage, could I keep punching someone I knew was out? Probably not. I'd probably just transition to a sub and hope to get the stoppage that way. It's one thing to knock a guy out with one big shot or even break his arm, it's another to continuously punch someone who couldn't tell you their own birthday at the moment.

 

[Junior Skilo]

Wrestling (in its various forms) predates every other single martial art... Many of the greatest armies of ancient history used wrestling as part of their combat training... The Mongols, Persians, Greeks, Spartans, Romans, Ottomans... Of course Wrestling is also a sport, but what popular martial art has not been turned into a sport?

 

[TheeFaulted]

but I'm not really about hurting people, especially when they're in a situation in which they basically can't fight back anymore. I mean, if the ref was late on the stoppage, could I keep punching someone I knew was out? Probably not. I'd probably just transition to a sub and hope to get the stoppage that way. It's one thing to knock a guy out with one big shot or even break his arm, it's another to continuously punch someone who couldn't tell you their own birthday at the moment.

If the guy is actually out, just stand up. What are they going to do, award the knocked out guy the W?

 

[ultimateriley-o]

I can't imagine a valid argument for wrestling not being a martial art. The very concept of such a statement is just laughable.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

Its pretty simple - if its a style of fighting, or a system that teaches it - then it's a martial art.

Some people get stupid and say that wrestling, boxing and muay thai aren't martial arts but it's flat out wrong.

Martial Art = Art of Mars
Mars is the God of War.

Martial Art LITERALLY just means fighting art.

If its a fighting art, it's a martial art.

 

[MaxMMA]

I can't believe that this is even a debate.
Wrestling Is "The Supreme Martial Art"

An overwhelming majority of limited/no rules unarmed confrontations are decided by the wrestling prowess of the combatants involved.