the power of good martial arts!

[bjjboulder]

So I am in the gym the other day lifting and as I walk to the shower I see some people grappling in the cardio room. I have on my BJJ Boulder t-shirt and think "I gotta go get some of this."

I walk in very politely and don't say anything at all. I am using VERY respectful body language and I sit down in a chair in the corner of the room. ....I sit silently and watch.

The instructor is wearing an american flag gi with the Red and White candy cane belt of a master. He is fat and out of shape and doesn't move real smooth. He looks to be about 35-38 yrs old.

He starts off teaching a sprawl counter to a double leg and then proceeds to teach a "head and arm" takedown off of the sprawl.
He performs HORRIBLY; flopping to the ground on his back and then making a loud grunt as he strains to roll the guy over the top of himself.--(he basically flops down and pull the guy into side control on top of him, then tries to roll him off) I am thinking "Oh my god..this is just horrible instruction". I want to offer to help but I am in this guy's school and I am not gonna be a dick..so I just keep watching.

Next he teaches a keylock from mount..only its not a keylock, its a kimura..he calls it a keylock, and its from mount...he has his guys wrap up the kimura from mount and as they try to apply it they lose mount and roll completely over into guard in order to get the tap. The master says that this is the correct way to do it.

Then he teaches defense from being mounted. He has one student mount the other one and the one on TOP has focus pads while the student on BOTTOM punches STRAIGHT UP at the mitts.
The master says.."Don't think that because your mounted that the fight is over..you can still punch and hurt this guy." THEN he teaches the guy on bottom to reach up and GRAB THE NECK OF THE GUY ON TOP AND HOLD IT AND ELBOW WITH THE OTHER ARM!! I am biting my thumb trying to keep quiet squirming in my seat.

Finally the guy comes over to me and introduces himself as "master truman". He asks if he can help me and I reply that I like jiu-jitsu and I saw people grappling and I was interested. He then tells me that jiu-jitsu is ok..AND ADS THAT HE USED TO HELP TEACH FOR MY INSTRUCTOR..(guys got balls)..but that his style is called "Moo Rei Do" and he created it and it is "ONLY FOR STREETFIGHTING!" He proceeds to say that their real specialty is striking and brags that they have some of the best kickers in Colorado.

After that..he gos back to teaching...now knowing that there is a real jiu-jitsu guy in the room...he completely abandons all grappling and teaches only kicks. He breaks out the foam shields.
I then witness some of the most pitifull excuses for kicks I have ever seen. The WORST were the rear leg pivoting sidekicks which would bounce and glance and slide off of the pad in any manner of directions. The round kicks were these AWFUL slapping little thinks and following any and every kick was a huge scary...
KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I got sick to my stomach. This guy obvioulsly had no desire to really be any good and he certainly wasn't going to have me correct him. So I left without saying a word...I know, not how you hoped it would end, but what was I gonna do?
I just went away thinking...

This guy calls himself a MASTER, and wears the belt of a master and wants his students to refer to him as master truman and wants the respect of a master....I know that a kid with a good jab/cross, a legkick, and 3 months of solid jiu-jitsu could humiliate master truman. Would that kid then be a master?

Its just amazing how much power lies in even the smallest doses of real martial arts.

[Oldskulbus]

Great post dude. You got some will power too. I probably would have just thrown up or left. I sometimes visit McDojo's to see what they are teaching... I always walk away feeling good about my school and a little sad that chumps like your example are making money.

[YeLLa-TiGeR]

I hate those foam shields! I like Thai Pads so much better...

[SweepEm]

Hey Punk:

you should have challenged the guy. Who knows, you could have owned him and taken his belt from him in winning. HA!

In all seriousness, there are some really egotistical dudes out there that have some huevos to tell others that their style is the best and it's almost like the Jim Jones hypnotic blind faith followers. So many weak minded people just believe someone if they can say their BS right.

I was at the Torrance Academy a long time ago, Rorion was telling me of a story where one guy called him up to inquire about the Vale Tudo matches in Brazil and wanted to go down for a match. Rorion convinced the guy to come into the academy for a challenge match. The guy shows up and instead of Royce taking the challenge, it was Lowell Anderson who went up against him.
I saw the tape of the match and it was comical. Anybody with 3 months of any type of martail arts training could have taken the guy. Back then, I was a white belt and knew I could have taken the guy.
The supposed style of martial arts was something weird like "Trauma Shock", deadly street fighting.
There are many guys out there that have impressive photos on the wall, call themselves Sensei, Master, Supreme God of the Arts.....etc. It's sad that these guys convince unknowlingly naive people into paying their hard earned money for some stoopid BS hybrid martial art. There are so many scam masters in every type of business, so it goes with martial arts and you saw one where it was just a joke.
My sister was telling me a story about a couple that was getting married and they were on a tight budget. In looking for a wedding photographer, they went to see many people and so they kind of knew what the market prices were. But they met one guy who was on 1/4 of the price of everyone else, so they hired the cheap guy. This cheap guy told them how good he was...blah blah blah. When it came time to show his pictures to the newly married couple, there were many shots where the guy chopped off people's heads in the pictures. A 10 year old with a disposable camera would have taken better photos than this "professional" With the event of their wedding only a memory, and lousy pictures the path to save a a few hundred dollars went down the drain. Not to be paranoid, you should really check the backgroundof all you deal with, whether it's a Dentist, a Doctor or your teacher.

[bjjboulder]

Sweep em,
When you used the phrase..."Supreme god of the martial arts" in the last post you reminded me of another story that I have been steaming about for like 4 years.

Back in my JKD days I had a japanese friend who was real into kyokushin, but was taking JKD lessons from me. The two of us went to check out a seminar that was being given by the CCMA--thats the colorado chapter of modern arnis. So we go in and this guy is again..a big fat dude in tight sweatpants and a black t-shirt that says TAI CHI on it. When he calls the meeting to order he wants everyone to introduce themselves and then say what arts they've done. When he gets to us..My friend says his name and that he studied kyokushin..and the guy replies.."Kyokushin?..so traditional japanese karate..well thats crap!" I am going..jeez did he really just say that? Then he gets to me and I say my name and that I am a Jkd guy..and the guys laughs and says.."Ha so you waisted your time and money studying a bunch of shit Bruce Lee made up" My jaw drops open ..I can't believe this guy. My friend who is VERY japanese has taken this VERY personally and is ready to kill the guy.

We sit there about to explode when we hear the guy say.."Yea, I don't like to be real egotistical...I mean I have been in the arts for like 20 years which pretty much makes me a martial arts god by now..but I try not to make a big deal out of it.

At this point my friend gets up and is HOT and starts telling the guy off, I step in and mediate and tell him that we are leaving and that he should be more careful who he insults. Then he says is that a threat..and then my friend gets right in his face and growls.."DO YOU WANT IT TO BE?!" The guy just turns around and starts talking to the rest of the class. So again nothing came of it. We left. But god what a bastard huh?

I have had similar experiences every time I have delt with anyone from the CCMA. Anyone have any knowledge of this group?

[Nthman]

Damn, that sh$t makes my brain feel like its going to explode!! This "Moo Rei Do" sounds like Do Re Mi bullshit. It sucks that people get taken in..

[jobber-d]

maybe im a worse man for saying this, but if i were in your shoes, i would definitely challenge them to a sparring match. If they really want to bullshit everyone into giving them money, they should have to prove themselves. Especially the person you described, bjjboulder. If you challenge them, you aren't really doing anything wrong. Heck, you're doing the people there a favour if you beat him, showing that they shouldn't waste money on people like that

[Szczepankiewicz]

Or maybe ask for a free introductory lesson and gradually work everyone until you get to the top and take Master Blaster himself out.

They probably won't do a challange, but you could get in, get some instruction, argue the validity of the instruction and show them a better way...?

[Szczepankiewicz]

On the same note:

We used to have a school here in BOI that had a big sign, backlit and everything, Kenpo: The Ultimate in Self Defense.


It was actually on the way to my dojo... So MANY times I wanted to go find out if it was all it was cracked up to be.


But they moved

[bjjboulder]

I am reminded of yet another thing....

I've got this blackbelt magazine and I am reading this article called..."Hapkido grappling techniques..are they better than Gracie Jiu-jitsu?" By Scott Shaw Phd. --and my friend Mike come up and looks over my shoulder and says out loud.."Hapkido grappling techniques..are they better than Gracie Jiu-jitsu?...Huh, well, thats a short article....NO!"

I laughed so hard I fell out of my seat!

[E1am]

There is so much BS out there in the martial arts. I think my story takes the cake though. When I fist moved to Seattle I had done a few months of grappling. I was looking through the phone book and came across a place called something like, "Carlton's American Karate and Full Contact Jiu-jitsu." I wanted to know what the hell full contact jiu-jitsu was so I called. The guy invited me down to check it out and I couldn't resist.

He explained to me that by the age of 15 he had studied 31 different martial arts (only learning the fisrt few months of basics) and put them all together to make his own style. After all what more was there to learn than the basic?

He used to be in the military and came up with his own philosophy for jiu-jitsu that he claims they had him teaching the troops. Basically you and a partner would grapple with each other and try to figure out moves that worked for you. That's right he never actually taught you a technique (Of course you still had to pay him). This was so you're techniques would be customized and secret. He then asked me if I wanted to try. When I asked where the mat was he chuckled because they were too hardcore for mats.

Our session started with us standing and trying to twist each other's arms and wrist. At one point he had my arm slightly twisted and told me to tap out. I said, "It doesn't hurt." He told me I can't wait till it hurts because that's bad for my joints. He was a big muscular dude so eventually he would get me from sheer power. Then I asked about working from the mount, hoping to show him a thing or two. He told me that the mount was useless for the streets because it would hurt my knees. Besides he could just punch me.

I noticed when the new phone book came out his place was no longer there. What a shame.

[Atomic]

LOL. Funny thread, guys.

I think everyone here has mislabeled these people. They should actually be called DREAMERS because they definately aren't living in reality.

[macdawg]

Yep, those types are all over the place. As someone up above said, they always want to know what style you've trained or to show them an example technique.

At my old college, I stopped by the martial arts club and there was a big fat guy that was like trying to psyche me out when we talked, talked in a cocky tone, looked at me like he could kick my ass, etc. He bragged to me about his top student who won point Karate contests. The sad thing is is the head top guy of it all bashed Royce Gracie to my face and I was too shocked to do anything, I mean the guy was like 40 years old!

A year later his "top student" stopped by a judo club in a town 2 hours away. Turns out he remembered me somehow from stopping by. He actually challenged me but insisted we take the gi's off, so after class at a sport Judo club, this guys starts throwing punches at my ribs, I grab his wrist and his head with the other hand and launch this kid in a swift hip toss type of move, it woulda been an ippon if there ever was one, or a 6 point throw in wrestling, this kid had kindergarten level wrestling and absolutely no balance. From there I went straight into a neck crank from mount that is like a reverse type rear naked, his neck popped like a dorrito and surprisingly he wanted to go again. I chose a neck crank cuz before class he said all that I do is sport martial arts and I said call it whatever you want if your neck is in a hold that can break it thats not sport to me but feel free to call it that. Anyways, round two I let him last a little longer, I butt flopped and threw a few kicks at his knee's and he would back up like ten feet, I stood up double leg Matt Hughs style, and a little forearm on throat, into an armbar that he didn't want to tap to, I straighted it out, gave it a little pop and let go, he never tapped. He then asked me if I wanted to trade some techniques and workout once a week or something, I told him I don't have time.