If This Doesn't Convince You To Start BJJ... Nothing Will 

Bro is dick and balls deep in the thai boxing rabbithole now. There is no escape.

Honestly as someone who trains in MMA, Muay Thai and BJJ. Muay Thai is hands down the best to get started in, theres something about the community that is always hyper positive.

And that’s something you can actually use in real life. Can reserve jujitsu, they don’t want me to pick you up and just slam you. Which I can do very easily. So Brazilian jujitsu guys grow with this unearned confidence, because no one’s trying to hit you were really slam you and hurt you.

@@TheAlexJimenez This 👍. Pure jiu-jitsu with no real danger is really doing you a disservice in terms of self defence. I'm tired of these pijama nerds thinking they can pull off their off the back, no threat, theoretical techniques on eveyone and everywhere. I'm talking in general. There are real wizards out there that have the toughness to pull if off but chances are if whoever is reading this... you ain't one of them.

Do you still train muay thai? My only concern with striking focused martial arts is the envitable brain damage, besides that I really like boxing as well. I'm planning to start bjj soon, and get a boxing bag to train striking at home. Do you think it's possible to become a decent striker by just hitting the bag and shadow boxing? I don't care about being amazing, I think being good at bjj + being a decent striker is more than enough to take down majority of people in case of self defence.

You must be an absolute weapon

@@NJ-500 Boxing 3 years, Muay Thai 7 years, and BJJ 1 year here. I'd say for striking there is stuff you just can't learn by yourself. I've seen it when new people learn striking, and before they're allowed to try sparring, they get really good on the bag and pads. But when they start sparring, they crumble from the pressure.. The first real test if you want to get good at striking is taking a proper punch to the face, as it's a lot different when the bag hits back. That's where a lot of people quit. Brain damage you just have to work out where your cut off is. Some people stop when headaches get consistent after training, some after a few knockouts in fights etc. But if you want to get competent I'd say you would have to do sparring/fighting. Then once you have the striking IQ and experience, then you can get away with keeping the tools sharp with just hitting the bag and shadow boxing. Something to think about is - if you were backed into a corner and had to fight someone who had good striking, would you feel comfortable fighting back? There are countless people who have those skills out in the wild, I don't believe only shadow boxing/bag work will help you against them. My personal view is I train for self defence. So I'm willing to trade losing brain cells to be a competent fighter on the feet and on the ground. If I never get into a fight again, then all that training didn't go to waste, as I love martial arts & want to teach others what I know, helping people learn how to defend themselves.

@@NJ-500the answer is no, you cant be a decent striker without sparring and even that will take years. Bjj just like striking is hard to learn and in wrestling you will also hit heads alot so its brain damage either way but its very minimal. I trained and fought muaythai since i was 12 till like 22 and ive never experienced any head trauma.

@@NJ-500 no you need to go to a gym with good strikers to teach you foot work, technique, and how to condition yourself. Also you need to spar. You don’t have to go hard to the head but if you don’t pressure test your techniques against a wide variety of body types you’ll never really know where you stand.

Tbf you will probably have less chronic injuries

BJJ is cool, but ngl I feel like most people who gravitate towards it are afraid of getting punched in the face.

@@The_Original_Hybrid not necessarily. Different strokes for different folks

Well, some people don't like to have CTE lol@@The_Original_Hybrid

yeah, only some CTE down the line@@onetwo9719

😂😂😂

Ah sh*t you made eye contact didn't you?

You’re*

Very true

It was a hard conversation but they've been accepting.

Congrats!

hows it going now?

Sounds cultish. Plenty of them about

Wdym 'testing'?

some places test for belts, it's a thing. never been a fan myself but some gyms do it.@@dexterlar

@@MrCraigHartleyi wasn’t a fan either but D1 wrestling exists so it makes sense. for the average person there is no reason to test but if a d1 wrestler knows to submissions they can sometimes tap high level black belts so like what belt are they. that’s at least why my coach said he belt tests

yeah, so often the accumulated damage gets done in the first few years when you're enjoying it and can't help but try quite hard during sparring. And certain positions that you're told are safe and shouldn't tap to actually cause significant wear and tear . like when someone grabs a guillotine but you get to cross side control so you're lying across on top of their body. You're told that position is safe so that's how you can defend the guillotine, but still if they keep a tight grip a hold of you and try to twist it still strains your neck and things like that over time cause damage and pain and lead to injuries that will never fully heal and will flare up easily. there are a lot of things I'd tell me when I first started that I never came across that info.

Can I ask were you stretching if so how long for.

@@Evolve1976 arrived 15minutes before the session for years, warm up for 5 minutes on assault bike, dymanic streching for 5-10 minutes then the course starts with drilling, then techniques, then positional sparring then normal sparring.

Very important perspective. More people need to be aware of this.

@@JonathanHebert thanks for the info. I could be the most injured guy in bjj history started bjj about 10 years ago and probs only had half that time on the mat. Injuries are part of bjj and hard to avoid. I do think of giving it up as it takes so much out of your body even typing this up my necks in bits but I also feel I’ve put to much time into bjj just to give up. Think the important thing is to relax and pick your partners wisely.

Open mat

Man that really sucks, I really want to start a martial art but I'm aware of the damage it can do to your body, that's why I was more drawn to bjj, but seems even with bjj damage is inevitable. May I ask how you tore your acl and did you hear about many injuries in the bjj gym?

@NJ-500 unfortunately everything has risk. Having done some for of martial art throughout most of my life I've been ok and unfortunately got caught put on an electric chair move and didn't realise my knee was going to pop as I'd never experienced it before. A bitter pill to swallow but a smart person taps out before they get hurt

Research alpha lipoic acid for nerve damage recovery. Really cheap and does amazing stuff

@@TheConfusedTaco nice one mate I’ll check it out, might of spoken a little too soon as it looks like I’ve got a herniated disk pressing on a nerve 🫠👍🏾😂

@Dwyer1987 sounds rough pal wish you a quick recovery 🙏🏾

Was it hard to learn? Or does it start with absolute basics.

@@bennicolai9829 most bjj gyms start of with basics so it shouldn’t be hard to learn at first for most people

@@bennicolai9829 Of course you will start with the basics, same as anything in life

Damn, you reckon kick boxing is safer for your body than bjj? Or is that just in your case because you have spinal damage and don't want to bend. Also ik I'm just a stranger but have you ever thought about quitting martial arts? Spinal damage is no joke man and life is too short, but hey if martial arts is worth becoming paralysed in your opinion, I can respect it

respect

it's open for everyone. I'm short but stocky and i still get a good workout in, either grappling dudes massively larger than me or dudes half my weight.

It's not as bad as you think. Give it a try but if you don't like it then a striking art like Muay Thai.

Most injuries happen at lower belts because we simply don’t know what to do or where to turn or just do dumb stuff without thinking. Letting go of the ego and tapping early rather then trying to fight out of everything goes s long way with injury prevention too

There's a big injury risk, especially for 40 year olds, ESPECIALLY if you don't already have have a good level of strength and muscle from an athletic background (i.e. if you're a 40 year old average guy thinking "I'll get in shape by doing bjj for exercise" the risk is a lot higher than if you're a 40 year old who has been continuously weightlifting or comes from an athletics/sports background and has kept up his fitness). Just look at some of the videos of bjj practicioners and instructors on youtube talking about injuries and injury risk craig jones (one of the most successful competitors of the last few years) and others have done a few under the tag "jiu jitsu ruined my life". a 40 year old starting bjj or wrestling should probably be considered almost as bad an idea as a 40 year old starting playing rugby, the injuries just accumulate over the time span of a few years. You need to be very careful and disciplined with how you train and who you choose to train with as a 40 year old to avoid this , which is very hard since it's so fun. I wouldn't recommend starting it to any 40 year old , least of all someone with kids.

I'm a 53 year old black belt. Ive trained grappling for 24-25 years (31 years of martial arts), with the last 10 focused on just jiu jitsu. Injuries are part of a contact sport of this nature, but a good academy, choosing good training partners and going in with the right attitude will reduce the risk. So far, the only serious injuries I have had a meniscus and knee ligaments. Go give it a try....

@@MrAaronChatfield damn 25 years of grappling, you must be a beast. What belt are you? Im 19 and really interested in starting a martial art, I joined a boxing gym but quit after a couple months because I was becoming aware of the long-term brain damage. Now I'm more drawn to bjj but I keep seeing videos and comments about injuries. If I start bjj is it possible to not sustain any serious longterm injuries?-joints-ligaments? I'm an apprentice plumber so my joints already take alot of damage.

@@NJ-500 at 53, not so much of a beast these days! I’m a black belt. My first combat sport was boxing, in the early 90s. You can certainly do things to avoid any long term issues in BJJ. Taping fingers, knee supports etc… plus tapping early. Jiu jitsu is one of the safest martial arts, because of the ability to stop instantly by tapping. Find a good club and get started 👍🏻

Yeah sleeves actually help so much. Especially colder months!

I’m trying to get them changed 😂

carry it on, drop the cali

BJJ *feels* a lot less physically demanding, at first your breething will suck, stick at it and you'll get more efficient with movements and learn how to breath while receiving huge amounts of pressure.