Cross training Striking and BJJ - your opinion?

O

Oldguy

Blue Belt
Joined
May 6, 2008
Messages
752
Reaction score
175
Let's say you have a black belt in BJJ and a black belt in Shotokan Karate. You stopped Karate years ago and you currently train 3-4 times a week in BJJ.

If you wanted to maximize your ability to defend yourself, which do you think is a better plan?

A. Continue training BJJ 3-4 times a week.
B. Train karate 2 days a week and BJJ 2 days a week.

I recently had a situation where I almost had to defend myself. Going to the ground would have been a disaster. As a result, I am second guessing not training in stand up fighting. The downside to splitting my training time between two arts is that I will see my grappling progress slow down. There is only so much time in the week.

I just wanted a sanity check. Any opinions?
 
The way you train BJJ is very important. As someone who trains Luta-Livre, we do plenty of wrestling on the feet and a lot of wrestling based sweeps and top game, and I never had any doubt in my ability to defend myself. Untrained people are morons and one hard throw on the concrete will finish them easily.

However, if you train in the GI and the school is focused on spider guard and other things which kind of lack aplicability when someone is stomping your face in, then for sure continue training your striking.

Grappling in my opinion is the most effective fighting tool for 1v1 combat by far, but you have to train it right. Having no top game and heavily focusing on sporty guards which simply dont work when getting punched isn't the smartest idea if you are training for self defense.
 
If bjj is your primary interest, you don't necessarily have to split your training completely in half between it and striking. Just go to a striking class every once in a while to stay Sharp. I like some muay Thai every now and then but sometimes I'm not in the mood and just feel like man hugging.

Also your grappling training hopefully has a strong wrestling and top game orientation
 
I did Judo for 2 years. I have a lot of respect for Judo. Of all the things I have trained, it was the hardest on my body. It is funny, I first started training martial arts to learn how to fight. Then, as time goes on, the reasons for training change.

I still think training should be at least partially about what makes a person most capable of defending themselves.
 
Well, I just started a few weeks ago. Muay thai and bjj, each twice a week and on different days. Eventually will increase bjj to 3 days a week.

It's OK to split your focus. Plenty of people do that. It's not one or the other. If you only have time for 4 nights a week of training, split it two and two. Pay attention, train hard, and get as good as you can as quickly as you can. And then you can reevaluate.

After a while, perhaps only one night a week of striking. There's a few guys at my gym that concentrate mainly on Jiu Jitsu. And they do the muay thai once in a while. I have littlevto no striking skills. And for self defense, I want to get as good as I can as quickly as I can. So I'm going 2 times a week for muay thai. I am learning a lot and I am coming uP to speed fast.

Looks like I am advocating option B.

-T
 
Strange that in the year 2016 there would still be advocates for focusing on one style to the detriment of others.

Did we learn anything from watching MMA?

I vote for 2 and 2, maybe look at a more alive style of Karate like Kyokushin or Enshin, Dutch style kickboxing if you can find it.
 
Train striking and train to avoid going to the ground?
 
I'm lucky in that I have access to an RBSD group which is completely made up of people who train in "alive" arts, which is a really good resource for this kind of training. Also I started having casual sparring sessions with various friends who train in other arts, where I focus on using solely BJJ against what the other guy is doing so that I can broaden the scope of application of my Jiu Jitsu rather than "training in a vacuum" where I only know how to use Jiu Jitsu against other Jiujiteiros.

I come originally from a striking background, and honestly in my experience grappling is a much better option in a street fight from a legally defensible standpoint. If a guy tries to step to you, and you outclass him completely with striking chances are the court isn't going to look to favorably on the fact you made someone's face look like a stomped-on tomato. But if all anyone sees is a guy trying to step to you, then you restraining and holding him down, and they don't even know you choked him out, you probably won't even end up in court. Source: I've been in both situations. YMMV.
 
If nothing else, training in stand-up styles with help indirectly by helping coordination, movement, etc. not to mention the obvious benefits. No reason to skip it if self-defense is a concern.
 
I wonder about this a lot. On the ground I trust my Jiu-Jitsu. Even against MMA guys.

But I don't know how to throw a punch, a kick, how to protect myself, how to clinch, close the distance, or anything. I could realistically incorporate 1 day of striking into my BJJ week (3x). That would be realistic, but I have no idea if someone like me who values self defense would benefit from Thai Boxing once a week.

There is very little theoretical material out there about the benefits. Everyone talks about BJJ and crossfit and weightlifting and kettlebells, and all kinds of things. But BJJ and striking is always synonymous with MMA.

What if you're a grappler who just wants to brush of his weakest areas that are completely clueless. I'm not getting to a double or single leg if a guy can knee me in the head. That doesn't even have anything to do with "sports jiu jitsu".
 
Gentle Giant said:
I wonder about this a lot. On the ground I trust my Jiu-Jitsu. Even against MMA guys.

But I don't know how to throw a punch, a kick, how to protect myself, how to clinch, close the distance, or anything. I could realistically incorporate 1 day of striking into my BJJ week (3x). That would be realistic, but I have no idea if someone like me who values self defense would benefit from Thai Boxing once a week.

There is very little theoretical material out there about the benefits. Everyone talks about BJJ and crossfit and weightlifting and kettlebells, and all kinds of things. But BJJ and striking is always synonymous with MMA.

What if you're a grappler who just wants to brush of his weakest areas that are completely clueless. I'm not getting to a double or single leg if a guy can knee me in the head. That doesn't even have anything to do with "sports jiu jitsu".
Click to expand...

If you value self defense, you have no choice: you need a stand up technique. I posted above my three weekly activities and days per week: bjj x 2, muay thai x 2, and strength x 3. All three are important to me.

I have a blast at muay thai. My conditioning is getting better, pad work is really cool, and then tying it all together with combos. And I've been at it for 3 weeks.

I am no expert by any means. But I am better today than I was 3 weeka ago.

-T
 
I am tending to think of personal self defense as a military analogy.

Army
Navy
Airforce

Every strong nation has all three. A weakness in any one of the three can meet defeat. Germany learned this lesson in WWII. They could not dare to invade England in Operation Sea Lion. They did not have the Navy to support the invasion. So, they shelved the idea. Because they had a strong army, they decided to play to their strengths and invade the Soviet Union. We all know how this worked out.

In self defense:

Army = Stand up
Navy = ground work
Airforce = weapons skills (guns, knives, ect..)

I am leaning towards splitting my time with Karate and BJJ. I have strong foundations in both. But, my striking skills are out of practice. I train handgun, shotgun, and rifle several times a month.
 
Oldguy said:
I am tending to think of personal self defense as a military analogy.

Army
Navy
Airforce

Every strong nation has all three. A weakness in any one of the three can meet defeat. Germany learned this lesson in WWII. They could not dare to invade England in Operation Sea Lion. They did not have the Navy to support the invasion. So, they shelved the idea. Because they had a strong army, they decided to play to their strengths and invade the Soviet Union. We all know how this worked out.

In self defense:

Army = Stand up
Navy = ground work
Airforce = weapons skills (guns, knives, ect..)

I am leaning towards splitting my time with Karate and BJJ. I have strong foundations in both. But, my striking skills are out of practice. I train handgun, shotgun, and rifle several times a month.
Click to expand...

Yup. One of my defense techniques is my CCW.

-T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,264,583
Messages
57,293,922
Members
175,628
Latest member
nicks auntie

Share this page

Back
Top