BJJ(Brazilian Jui Jitsu)

[lwg8tr]

Been a while since I posted here. Been doing BJJ for 5 months now, LOVE IT. Never have done something so challenging. For those of you not familiar, BJJ it a grappling martial art which allows a smaller weaker opponent the opportunity to submit or grapple a person to exhaustion. Any of you watch MMA, its the on the ground stuff you see, sans the punching. If you who have done HS wrestling it's a little similar. A typical workout is 1 hour and 15 minutes, the first 15 minute is calisthenics, and stretching to get your muscles warmed up and your heart pumping, 10 minutes of line drills which consist of doing crab walks, reverse crab walks, etc. Then 25 minutes of drills where you work on three different things each session such as chokes, submissions, escapes, strikes, etc. Then the fun part..ROLLING, aka sparring, where you practice a real grappling session with a partner usually of a higher rank. It's 25 minutes of pure hell, gets your heart rate at 90 of max and uses every muscle from your shoulders, back, legs, chest till they are screaming, you leave every session absolutely drenched. I was in decent shape but when I started I could only roll for 5 minutes before getting winded. I am down to 168lbs form an all-time high of 198 before my divorce. I am 45 and can do more than most 25 year olds. Oh and its fun to, not tedious and boring. You will learn how to handle yourself in any street fight and even against other martial artists in other styles. Most arts like Tae Kwon Do and Tang So Do are useless once you get someone to the ground. You Tube it and you will see BJJ black belts absolutely humiliate other martial artists. BJJ it takes you minimum of 8 years to get black belt compared to 3-4 for other Korean martial arts. Not denigrating other MA but let's face it 10 year old black belts, come on. My son is a Yi Dan (Second degree) in Tang Soo Do and he loves it but he likes BJJ even more.

[G8rChuck85]

Always a good thing when you find something your excited about and will stick with. I'll have to check it out.

[malscott]

Good for you! I used to roll around quite a bit! I have a second degree Black Belt in Karate and a blue belt in submission wrestling or BJJ. I did BJJ for a about three years martial arts for 25 years. But I'm older than you and can't hang with all the neck mangulation any more. I've even weened on the karate to save my hips and knees. Now I try to swim 1000 meters three times a week to keep from being too geezerly. BJJ, besides the technique, is all about relaxing and creating opportunities. Do you use a Gi or are you bare-chesting it? I'll tell ya some of the technique with the Gi is great, but it is insanley harder without one because you don't have the grip...very cool though. It's a long road, be careful so you don't get torqued-so easy to screw up your shoulders. Tap out before it hurts too much. That way you'll be healthy later to return the favor. congrats!

[lwg8tr]

Originally Posted by malscott

Good for you! I used to roll around quite a bit! I have a second degree Black Belt in Karate and a blue belt in submission wrestling or BJJ. I did BJJ for a about three years martial arts for 25 years. But I'm older than you and can't hang with all the neck mangulation any more. I've even weened on the karate to save my hips and knees. Now I try to swim 1000 meters three times a week to keep from being too geezerly. BJJ, besides the technique, is all about relaxing and creating opportunities. Do you use a Gi or are you bare-chesting it? I'll tell ya some of the technique with the Gi is great, but it is insanley harder without one because you don't have the grip...very cool though. It's a long road, be careful so you don't get torqued-so easy to screw up your shoulders. Tap out before it hurts too much. That way you'll be healthy later to return the favor. congrats!

I do Gi, no-Gi I have yet to do. I learned about relaxing, moves and counter moves. I learned this by going to an open mat sessions, per week, str8 up rolling. I am learning it's all about causing your opponent to commit to a defense of something you are doing and then trapping them into making a bad mistake. When I roll with purple and brown belts they do this , defend the cross choke from Guard and they arm bar you. It's frustrating but Sensei said it will come, a repertoire and a muscle memory reaction to certain things your opponent does. I walk around with constant muscle aches and my arms and chest of bruised still. We did spider guards last week, a move where if an opponent is above you and you are in guard a away of splaying him out and getting him off balance with you grabbing his Gi and using your knees to push his arms out, renders him trapped. Anyways being the guy on top your arms get get bruised.

I looked at myself in the mirror the other day, getting a nice fullness in my chest and V shape, my lats and shoulders bulking up, tummy is flat but no muscles poking through yet. I think I may get back to HIIT or more specifically Cross Fit type stuff on my days off to build endurance. I have been eating clean,small meals over a day primarily for portion control, I avoid white flour, sugar and white carbs. I feel better mentally and physically.

[jaxbeachgator]

If you have the time and happen to be in the area stop by the Training Yard in Atlantic Beach. Great group of guys and the instruction is excellent.

[oI2ange]

BJJ is fantastic. Did it for about a year but took a break due to not having enough $ to justify costs for that + my other sport (rock climbing). Really great workout and really fun as well.