Mario sperry on Bjj>

[T-Rex]

I was reading an issue of blackbelt on grappling and nhb and Mario sperry did an article on how most bjj instructors in america seem to focus more on the comp side of bjj instead of vale tudo fighting or street bjj? Why is that? I mean to go into a tourney is one thing but to actually use the techniques on the street? He also said that the comp techniques are otherwise useless on the street. Why is that most instructors focus on the comp side more than the street BJJ I mean isn't that the essence of bjj? I mean thats why I wan to study the art. Isn' t it like sport tae kwon do where the the techniques are useless on the street. Dosen't develop bad habits for the street for Bjj stylists? Fill me in guys. Im still new to bjj scene so guide me please?

[Hookah Smokin Caterpillar]

I'm really stoked that while my instructor focuses on the competition side, he also does freestyle techniques. Its all in who your instructor is, I think its just much easier to teach one thing like tournament grappling, and get lazy and not teach real self-defense. I've seen other schools around my area, and I can see the difference between their schools and mine. I'm sorry you live in Chicago or I'd invite you to come check out my school. I don't know what the possibilities you'll ever be in Orange County, CA, but if you ever are, you can e-mail me or something and I can show you my class. Or, you can try to find a guy around your area who comes from a real respectable team like the Carlson Gracie team for one

[Martial Artist]

How can he say that in America,reachers like to show the sport side and in Brazil thats all they do!

[Americana]

Rather than having official "self-defense" training, I'd rather just focus on learning gi and no gi techniques, combined with hard training. Unless you're a cop or something, the "self-defense" training can be extremely speculative.

[Tony10]

I have to agree at least partially.

Although, I'm not sure that anybody focusing on sport BJJ isn't already aware that these are not "street" tactics.

My involvement in BJJ has only been for self-defense; sure, the gi stuff is fun and you can never know too many things, but it has been hard to locate a place where the focus has been solely on surviving a street attack that goes to the ground--although there are an awful lot of techniques that transfer easily. Gi or no gi, a rear naked is a rear naked, an armbar is an armbar.

While it's not my place to tell the awesome instructors I've encountered that I'm not sure all this sport/gi training is what I need--many will tell you you must learn this first--the fact that somebody of Sperry's stature has pointed this out shows that somebody of his level recognizes this. That's why I love his tape set, because it's based on some of these principles.

However, I will say that, IMHO, if you train regular BJJ hard, it's easy to supplement or modify that knowledge and experience to make it more "street." Somebody like Vunak or Roy Harris, for instance, will teach grappling combined with biting--which is about as street as you can get. You could add some Judo training to master throws and locks--also good to know--or wrestling for takedowns, etc.

So you're not learning nothing--IMO you'll probably have to "juice it up" yourself to what you want it to be, given the current focus on "sport."

My frustration has always been, for instance, trying to train escapes or position and getting caught in some obscure gi choke by somebody who's especially proficient at them. That just frustrates me, because the gi often makes me feel like I'm wearing velcro! But maybe I'm kidding myself--this argument's been brought up before, and there's a lot of people here with tons more experience than me.

So let's hear it, y'all--what do you think?

[Americana]

Are gi techniques irrelevant to "self defense" bjj? I don't believe so. In a self-defense situation, it is highly unlikely that your opponent will be wearing a speedo unless you tend to get in fights only with gay guys on the beach in Maui. Most likely you'll at least have a t shirt to work with (which can be used to choke people out unless it's too flimsy). In many areas of the country (in fact most) there are jackets, coats, heavy shirts, etc. These could be used for gi techniques.

In fact, I believe that the whole idea of gi techniques is to simulate clothing in fights. It certainly has become a sport now, but I don't think its right to envision a street fights as two guys wearing speedos.

[Newbie]

Americana

"In many areas of the country (in fact most) there are jackets, coats, heavy shirts, etc. These could be used for gi techniques."

Not all year long. Even in winter, most people take their coats off indoors. This is also assuming they even live in an area where the temperature falls below freezing for a sizable portion of the year. There are many places where it almost never snows. No one in these places has much use for a winter coat. How many people wear a winter coat when it's 45 degrees outside? Even spring jackets are generally only worn when it's below 60 degrees outside. I've seen fights in the summer at the basketball court/volleyball court/outside in the lawn at kegger's etc. where both guys had t-shirts on. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the fights I have seen were outside in the lawn at kegger's in the summer and both guys were wearing t-shirts. T-shirts make shitty handles for jacket throwing.

"In fact, I believe that the whole idea of gi techniques is to simulate clothing in fights."

Gi's don't stretch, don't slip, and don't tear. They are thin yet strong and are designed to hang loosely in such a way as to make nice handles. This is all unrealistically ideal in favor of jacket throwing.

[andreh anderson]

Im a big fan of Mario Sperry, but I think the comments he was making about self defense training vs. sport BJJ training were simply made to differentiate what he was selling from the rest of the stuff on the market.

Nearly every school in Brazil focusses on sport BJJ primarily, but also allows the student the option of taking it to the freestyle or NHB level once they've reached a thorough understanding of the basics.

As I understand it, you are trained with the gi, then invited into more private training sessions if you show an inclination or talent for no gi/nhb.