Choosing a right Martial Art part 2: grappling arts.
Jul 15 '01
The Bottom Line Grappling is for people who like to get up close and personal with their enemies, have strong build and ready to get hurled on the floor a lot.
This as you can see is a second part of my attempt to categorize and explain different types of martial arts. Quite honestly I didn’t expect people to like the first part, but surprisingly I got I few hundred hits, not member hits, but mostly non member ones, but it’s still nice. Plus some people left me comments saying that they want to read more, so my thanks to them and here is the second part.
I’m going to discuss grappling martial arts, their pluses, minuses and their different types. First off I want to explain what a grappling art is. Grappling is when you try to inflict damage on another person by the means of choking, joint locking and in some grappling arts you can use punches and kicks to help you to bring your opponent down and then execute a technique. Of course the core of grappling is grappling, or simply trying to twist something in your opponent’s body so that he would get hurt. Now that you know what we are talking about here, I’d like to discuss a few pluses and minuses of grappling.
Biggest minus of grappling in my opinion is that during a real fight you can only concentrate on one opponent. If you are a grappler then you will have to face a person and try to get in an advantageous position then grab some part of his body and quickly unbalance him or do something that will prevent him from hurting you further. But imagine that there are two people attacking you, so you are facing one of them and you’re trying to wrestle him into submission, trying to get a lock on him, and maybe you’ll finally do get what you want, BUT while you’re busy grappling up close with the first guy, his friend will come up behind you and smash your brains out! Does that sound realistic? I hope it does, because there is a very important point to that example. You see, grappling is a not a multitask fighting system, so to speak, it works superbly against one opponent especially if he’s not a grappler, because when you get in the face of a person who knows only how to strike, then he gets confused and loses his edge. However as I said, as soon as a grappler is faced with more than one opponent things are not looking very well for him. So, there you go, make what you will of it.
Biggest plus in grappling is that it works very well in one on one combat, especially if you’re facing an armed opponent. Grapplers are trained to intercept, unbalance and hurt by the means of grabbing limbs, and that helps a lot when you need to disarm some redneck with a jackknife.
Training in different grappling arts differs, but basically you’ll find that you’ll have to spar most of the time, do a lot of warm ups and sometimes do strength training. Unlike striking arts grappling arts don’t put too much emphasis on kata training, however Judo and Aikido training regiment include kata which you’ll have to learn.
Now that we know what grappling arts are like let’s take a look at most popular and effective systems.
Jiu Jitsu- supposedly originated in ancient Japan to aid samurai in their combat skills. Not to be confused with karate which was developed by Okinawan peasants, Jiu Jitsu was born in the hands of professional warriors, and so it received a lot more publicity and fame. To this day you can find old 13-14th century scripts depicting different locks and positions used for practice by samurai. Jiu jitsu schools rarely teach how to use weapons, but sometimes you can learn how to use sai(fork-like short weapons used primarily for intercepting a sword) or bo(staff). Traditional uniform is a gi, which is just like a karate uniform but it’s a lot thicker and stronger because it has to take a lot of pressure from grabbing, pulling etc,. Jiu jutsu is famous for it’s chokes and joint locks, and in most schools you can learn how to incorporate punches and kicks in your fighting, and needless to say that if you can strike and grapple then you are at a huge advantage. However Jiu Jutsu doesn’t blend the two together perfectly, and there are a few arts out there that attempt to mix two elements as well, but that’s another topic. Training in JJ is composed of primarily sparring and exercises that strengthen your muscles.
Judo- Japanese martial art that was officially founded by Jigoro Kano. He was studying Jiu Jitsu for a number of years, and he really wanted to spread the word about that martial art. So he decided to work on it, and shape it into a sport like form of fighting. There were rules, techniques weren’t as cruel and painful as in original Jiu Jitsu, and it could be practiced by people without getting seriously hurt. To make it more attractive to people he added some throws, and made the system more dynamic. Judo is simply a softer form of Jiu Jitsu, and as such it is regarded as a weaker form of self defense. If you want to try it out, you have to be prepared for getting thrown on the grown a lot. So if you have a problem with being tossed left and right then you should try something else, because after a few dozen of throws your body is going to ache real bad. Unlike Jiu Jitsu Judo doesn’t teach you any strikes at all.
Pankration- originated in Greece, and later was used by Roman legionaries. It incorporates strikes and grappling, and is known for it’s simplicity and effectiveness. There are a few schools around, and it’s a lot harder to find a good pankration instructor than it is to find a good karate or Judo teacher.
Sambo- a Russian art, that originated in the middle of 20th century. Some Russian man whose name I don’t remember studies different kinds of Japanes grappling arts for a few years, and then took the best elements from them and made one damn good system. Sambo lacks history and traditions of Asian martial arts, but it makes up for it by teaching real effective combat locks and techniques, as well as kicks and punches. There a few famous russian sambists in Ultimate Fighting championship circuit, and they seem to be doing very well. Sambo is most famous for it’s leg/foot locks.
Brazilian Jiu Jutsu- if you’ve ever seen Ultimate Fighting championships or other no holds barred events then you’ll know that Brazilian JJ takes a special, almost legendary place in the hierarchy of contemporary martial arts. It was developed by the Gracie family in the end of 20th century. Gracies dominated the ring of no holds barred fighting for a while, and because of the exceptional skills of their fighters they earned a good name for Brazilain JJ in just a few years. All that is good, but what people don’t see, or don’t want to see is that Brazilain JJ is the same Jiu Jitsu that Japanese practice, Gracies even admitted it, there’s no secret to it. The only reason why it is so good, is because they have really good fighters in their family. That’s all there is to it. So, studying Brazilian JJ will not make superior to someone who studies regular Jiu Jitsu.
Aikido- probably one of the most interesting martial arts ever, because unlike arts where you learn how to hurt people, here you learn how not to hurt people. Aikido was developed by Morihei Ueshiba who wanted to create an art that would teach restraining techniques, but would not do any serious harm to people at the same time. In the first part about striking arts I mentioned that some people are reluctant to hurt others even in self-defense, so with Aikido their problem is solved. Aikido teaches principles of evasion, using your opponents force against himself, using momentum and by the means of the above three putting some kind of gentle joint lock on your enemy. Aikido is a very interesting to watch due to grace with which real masters execute throws and joint locks. It takes a while to get good at Aikido and if you’re hoping to defend yourself in a brutal street fight, you’ll have to spend at least 5-10 years training, and if you want to be really good, then decades. It’s one the most spiritual martial arts, and development of a person’s character is valued above physical skill. Training is not excruciating, but rather light and great deal of attention is paid to details and theory.
There you have it. Those are the main grappling martial arts, and schools that teach them can be found in every major city. There are different branches of these martial arts, but they all have the same core. Grappling arts are not the only ones that teach how to apply pressure to joints and choke people out. There are other mixed martial arts. And that’s what I’m going to discuss next time, that is if anyone wants to know.
Here's a link to part 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_1102291076/tk_~CB0011.1.1
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Epinions.com ID:
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Member: Alex
Location: Somewhere in Asia
Reviews written: 59
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About Me:
I'm absolutely in love with cheese, and thanks for reading my reviews! Kisses sunshines!
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