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Before I started kickboxing, I was a wrestler for six years. Most of my life, when people asked me what martial arts training I had, I would tell them about the kickboxing and side submission stuff I did.
But recently I've been attending BJJ class, and I've noticed something very cool there -- I'm in almost complete control of when things get taken to the ground. My takedowns, balance, and power are a lot more honed, and while I'm used to 'breaking things off' and trying multiple angles of attack before I finally settle into a full takedown, most of the guys there just don't have that expanded mentality of taking others to the ground. I've also noticed that save for the most experienced there, I have better awareness of my position and my opponents position when we're rolling around. It's still too early to tell, but I have a feeling that save exceptions, when wrestlers mix it up with Jiu Jitsu guys, it's ultimately the wrestler who choses when and if it goes to the ground.
I know; there're lots of BJJ guys out there who train takedowns very well, many BJJ guys who have rounded themselves out as wrestlers; I agree with the general consensus of the previous "Wrestler Advantages over BJJ" thread--it depends on the person, not the art. Still it's generally agreed that wrestlers have a very strong and reliable framework for takedowns.
Since this has all happened, I've re-evaluated how I consider wrestling as relating to martial arts. While there aren't many moves that can be taken as submission moves in wrestling, there are plenty of takedowns that are very effective on the street, and more effective still in a MMA context. Wrestling, I think, is best considered an untapped martial arts--something which while trained in its sport does not offer the needed benefits to qualify itself, if crosstrained, if taken out of the college/high school wrestling setting, and reworked into the context of a fighter, it then translates into great effectiveness. If you teach a kid to wrestle through high school, give him six months of training designed to show him the mounts, ground and pound game, I think you'll have on your hands a capable and on-their-way student in MMA. While I wouldn't say he then knows all he should (as of, that student's too limited in their striking and submission), that wrestling has certainly given him a sense of work ethic, attitude and skill to compete and grow qualifies it for a worthy martial art.
I'm unsure how other people think of wrestling though, as a martial art. Obviously it's not a very expanded art, but what it teaches rivals the best of similar framework in any martial art insitution around.
But recently I've been attending BJJ class, and I've noticed something very cool there -- I'm in almost complete control of when things get taken to the ground. My takedowns, balance, and power are a lot more honed, and while I'm used to 'breaking things off' and trying multiple angles of attack before I finally settle into a full takedown, most of the guys there just don't have that expanded mentality of taking others to the ground. I've also noticed that save for the most experienced there, I have better awareness of my position and my opponents position when we're rolling around. It's still too early to tell, but I have a feeling that save exceptions, when wrestlers mix it up with Jiu Jitsu guys, it's ultimately the wrestler who choses when and if it goes to the ground.
I know; there're lots of BJJ guys out there who train takedowns very well, many BJJ guys who have rounded themselves out as wrestlers; I agree with the general consensus of the previous "Wrestler Advantages over BJJ" thread--it depends on the person, not the art. Still it's generally agreed that wrestlers have a very strong and reliable framework for takedowns.
Since this has all happened, I've re-evaluated how I consider wrestling as relating to martial arts. While there aren't many moves that can be taken as submission moves in wrestling, there are plenty of takedowns that are very effective on the street, and more effective still in a MMA context. Wrestling, I think, is best considered an untapped martial arts--something which while trained in its sport does not offer the needed benefits to qualify itself, if crosstrained, if taken out of the college/high school wrestling setting, and reworked into the context of a fighter, it then translates into great effectiveness. If you teach a kid to wrestle through high school, give him six months of training designed to show him the mounts, ground and pound game, I think you'll have on your hands a capable and on-their-way student in MMA. While I wouldn't say he then knows all he should (as of, that student's too limited in their striking and submission), that wrestling has certainly given him a sense of work ethic, attitude and skill to compete and grow qualifies it for a worthy martial art.
I'm unsure how other people think of wrestling though, as a martial art. Obviously it's not a very expanded art, but what it teaches rivals the best of similar framework in any martial art insitution around.
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