Why start bjj?

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anca

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I'm curious, what makes you start BJJ,when you know nothing about it?
 
Self defence, no bullshido approach, become healthy, relaxation.

Overall it's something to do, because it's interesting for me.
 
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if not anything its great exercise and weight control good for you i hate running so anything i can do thats fun that gets you in shape im down for
 
anca said:
I'm curious, what makes you start BJJ,when you know nothing about it?
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I always had an interest in martial arts as a kid but my parents weren't interested enough to pay for karate lessons.

As an adult, in my late 20s, I started taking BJJ lessons. My reason is that and I wanted to learn a 'skill'.
 
Always wanted to start martial arts, but I didn't wanted to learn stuff and never do it. I tried kung fu but there was no applications. I tried kickboxing but I didn't like the sparring, too many hot heads that are gonna go full throttle. But at those classes we had always some grappling techniques and I found out that it was amazing. Then I went to a BJJ club.
 
Choke people without going to jail
 
I started with muay thai. When i got good at that and i would be better than guys i knew did bjj i always had it in back of mind that if it went to ground theyd get me. I initially tried it just to be competent on the ground but once i started i got hooked because its this never ending learning experience.
 
So many reasons for me.

I wanted to do it since I was like 17, but finally got around to it at 34, and two years in now.

It adds a lot to my otherwise dull life. Before it was work and home and work and home, but now its work and BJJ then home. You get to make friends, talk to other adults outside of work, get a good workout that is FUN (cant say the same for lifting weights or running), and at least in theory learn useful self defense techniques. Even as just a relatively new blue belt, I feel I would have *some* advantage if I ever get in a scuffle and I'm lucky enough for the fight to hit the ground.

Its hard to judge, but I feel that I realize more and more as time passes how little people really know what to do in a fight on the ground. I get this impression from when new people join our academy and I roll with them. I'm hardly that good but I'm surprised how easy they are to just sweep and mount, etc. Not sure how this would translate if that same person was throwing punches to my face, so take that with a grain of salt.

What I can tell you with 100% certainty is that its FUN. Even competing is fun. I've only done it once but did get gold medal and its a great feeling, especially going with teammates who are competing as well.
 
It is easy if you watch mma, because you will see a majority of guys use bjj in their fights. But I started with wrestling, started cross-training in Judo (a bit of sambo, too) and when I moved to USA, I saw bjj is very popular and not so different to Judo. So it was pretty easy for me.
 
Evenflow80 said:
Its hard to judge, but I feel that I realize more and more as time passes how little people really know what to do in a fight on the ground. I get this impression from when new people join our academy and I roll with them. I'm hardly that good but I'm surprised how easy they are to just sweep and mount, etc. Not sure how this would translate if that same person was throwing punches to my face, so take that with a grain of salt.
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I know what you mean. I'm not a big guy or this bad ass or anything but I feel the same way. It's ridiculously easy to beat/submit someone who has no training whatsoever in a grappling match.

Knowing what I know now I would avoid street fights like the plague(not that I ever gotten into street fights anyway). It's no match with someone with some training vs someone relying solely on adrenaline/aggression assuming both people are no world beaters. The guy with training will probably win 9 /10 times
 
2008 said:
I know what you mean. I'm not a big guy or this bad ass or anything but I feel the same way. It's ridiculously easy to beat/submit someone who has no training whatsoever in a grappling match.

Knowing what I know now I would avoid street fights like the plague(not that I ever gotten into street fights anyway). It's no match with someone with some training vs someone relying solely on adrenaline/aggression assuming both people are no world beaters. The guy with training will probably win 9 /10 times
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Not sure I understand, why would you avoid street fights more now (when you have some training)?

I'm not really sure how punches being thrown into the mix would affect things. I still have my doubts abotu effectivness of BJJ (unless you are a REALLY good black or brown belt), because we never really train to defend against strikes aside from rudimentary hand positions, etc
 
I started because it went hand in hand with a weird fetish I have.
 
Evenflow80 said:
Not sure I understand, why would you avoid street fights more now (when you have some training)?

I'm not really sure how punches being thrown into the mix would affect things. I still have my doubts abotu effectivness of BJJ (unless you are a REALLY good black or brown belt), because we never really train to defend against strikes aside from rudimentary hand positions, etc
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I think when it comes to defending yourself in a street fight, a lot of common sense is involved. You have to avoid fighting a guy if he has a gun/large knife, obviously, and if he is with a large group of friends. I would avoid these situations at all cost.

I trained MT for a couple of months so I understand very very basic striking principles. I know its important to cover your face/head with your hands first, and then get into a striking posture. If I could beat the guy with a couple of punches standing up, great. If I can't, I would at least fake that I'm trying to strike/square up with him first, then when possible go for a takedown, like a football tackle or something and start grappling from there. That would be my strategy(in theory anyway).

I would avoid fighting now even though I have intermediate experience in BJJ because you never know who your dealing with. The other guy could be a brown/black belt level grappler, which then he will definitely kick my butt and negate my grappling or he could be an experienced striker that could just KO me.

I know its so obvious to us, but I have friends who don't train any martial arts at all that if they ever get into a fight at a bar or in a parking lot with even a low level trained person they don't realize how at a disadvantage they are in getting a beat down.

Hope that makes better sense.
 
2008 said:
I think when it comes to defending yourself in a street fight, a lot of common sense is involved. You have to avoid fighting a guy if he has a gun/large knife, obviously, and if he is with a large group of friends. I would avoid these situations at all cost.

I trained MT for a couple of months so I understand very very basic striking principles. I know its important to cover your face/head with your hands first, and then get into a striking posture. If I could beat the guy with a couple of punches standing up, great. If I can't, I would at least fake that I'm trying to strike/square up with him first, then when possible go for a takedown, like a football tackle or something and start grappling from there. That would be my strategy(in theory anyway).

I would avoid fighting now even though I have intermediate experience in BJJ because you never know who your dealing with. The other guy could be a brown/black belt level grappler, which then he will definitely kick my butt and negate my grappling or he could be an experienced striker that could just KO me.

I know its so obvious to us, but I have friends who don't train any martial arts at all that if they ever get into a fight at a bar or in a parking lot with even a low level trained person they don't realize how at a disadvantage they are in getting a beat down.

Hope that makes better sense.
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I know what you mean. I live in San Diego and the chances of me getting into a street or bar fight with a brown or black belt in BJJ is actually noticeably higher than pretty much any where else in the world. MMA training and especially BJJ is so widespread here. I think I would realize the massive mistake I made the moment I try even the most basic BJJ sweep or sub and he does the correct counter. Kind of funny to think about actually.

Still, I would estimate on average that of 100 men I pass by every day, maybe at the most 1 or 2 have any kind of formal grappling training.
 
I actually started with sambo but i noticed the bjj guys (gym had both sambo and bjj) would be advancing way faster than me. When I would roll with bjj guys that were at the same level as me i was pretty clueless aside from being able to get nasty ankle locks on them. The straight ankle is still one of my favorite moves to this day. I feel like you can learn a lot more in bjj than sambo in a quicker amount of time so i stuck with bjj.
 
I want to live an honest life. Jiu Jitsu helps in that regard.
 
Started with just kickboxing, decided to try bjj just as something else to do, plus I hurt my shin and couldn't do much kickboxing, got hooked. Now I mostly train bjj and only do striking occasionally.
 
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