One of my goals to achieve in the next 90 days is to compete in a BJJ competition. I trained BJJ for a year but I stopped due to financial reasons last year. Now I am back! I love BJJ. Unlike most martial arts which adopt more of a technique and tactic sort of approach to developing yourself as a martial artist, BJJ adopts more of a principle based approach. If you ever goto a BJJ class, you will notice that classes are informal compared to traditional martial arts. Kind of like comparing Mystery Method to Natural Game. I think Helio Gracie, one of the founding fathers of BJJ, acknowledged that everyone is different and what may work for one person may not work for another.
I have trained taekwondo for 3-4 years. I have come to the stage where I am feeling restless, frustrated and sometimes angry. I feel there is no freedom for creativity and they are not allowing me to experiment with different techniques. I feel the restriction is not allowing me to be the type of martial artist I want to be. I feel the instructors are sort of on an ego trip. Especially being newly appointed black belts they think what they say is the be all and end all. They fail to acknowledge that there is more to taekwondo than just technique. The classes feel linear and robotic. I am a firm believer in using what works and taking away what doesn't (Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do). Unlike your typical taekwondo fighter who looks to keep distance. I like to close the distance. I use alot of elbows and knees and I also like to use the clich. I am not the fastest, strongest and most powerful guy. If I were to get into a speed battle, I would get my ass kicked. I like to slow my opponents down and control my oppenent to my pace where I know I'll dictate the fight.
I feel that the instructors at my dojo fail to see this and don't see the big picture. They say this or that technique is the be all and end all. They are afraid to address the reality of a self defence situation. They don't address the mindsets required to survive. I feel students there are being given a false sense of security when it comes to defending themselves. If I were an instructor I wouldn't feel confident many of the students would be able to defend themselves in real life.
I feel BJJ challenges me in ways which fall in line with my core values. Though I don't believe I would use much BJJ to defend myself in a fight situation, I feel that the way it is taught helps develop the mindset necessary to defend myself. I like the fact that rolling (or sparring) has very minimal resistance whilst being relatively safe. So constantly you're being put in a very high pressure situation. There are so many things you need to be aware of like your body, your balance, who has control, where your oponent is... You have to have a hihg degree of self-awareness to be very good.
Another thing I love about BJJ is the opportunity to compete. I played tennis as a kid and competed nationally. I was very competitive and loved the feeling of being in the moment and imposing my game on my opponents. To me it was like a form of self expression. Smashing my opponents with my enormous serve and my crushing forehand (I had a hit the other day. I still got it). I am not as physically able as I used to be and to train to get back to my old self would be quite difficult. I miss the feeling of competing and I feel BJJ would be great for this. I have only competed in one BJJ competition. Even though I lost (I lost on points). It was an amazing rush. Something I really miss and something I feel will really juice me up. My first class back really reminded me of this feeling and has really juiced me up. I plan on getting some one on one coaching to streamline my progress and prepare me for the next competition which is coming up in October, I think.
I also love the philosophies adopted by Helio Gracie. BJJ is a lifestyle. It is a form of physical, mental and spiritual development. I feel that alot of the priciples fall inline with what I value in my development as a person and when you are acting inline with your values there seems to be a flow on effect in other areas of my life. I love that BJJ, being informal, there is a human element to it rather than making people into robots. You can't practice techniques on your own, so it requires you to be able to interact with others. And because it is so challenging, BJJ guys are usually the most humble. We've all started at a place where we've all had our arses kick and even the more senior guys get their arses kicked. As most of us can relate to these experiences everyone is willing to help each other out. Alot like the pick-up community and All Stars.
I love that BJJ transcends race, gender, religion... you are only judged on how much effort you put in to get better. It's funny how the pick-up community adopts very similar values.
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