The beginning, again

If you’ve read my post about my martial arts background, you’ll know that I studied for a couple years at two different schools. I’m interested in expanding my knowledge and in trying a completely different experience: Brazilian jiujitsu.

I won’t attempt to define BJJ here when there’s a perfectly good Wikipedia article on the topic.

[BJJ] promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themself [sic] against a bigger, stronger assailant using leverage and proper technique; most notably, by applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat them. Jiu Jitsu can be trained for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self-defense. Sparring (commonly referred to as ‘rolling’) and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.

The last six months have been crazy, with work and a long trip; I couldn’t go to class at my current school. During that time, I did some serious thinking about what I want out of a martial arts education. Trophies, tournament records, being able to flip a weapon around like I’m a baton twirler—none of that interests me. What I want is to be healthy and active, to make friends who share my interest in martial arts, and above all to learn techniques and mindsets that translate into practical self-defense.

After some research and some creative reshuffling of my budget, I concluded Brazilian jiujitsu would provide those three things. A couple of weeks ago, I emailed a local Brazilian jiujitsu school. They are reopening in a new location on February 1st, and invited me to come check out a class.

I’m super excited. Also really nervous. Really, really nervous. BJJ will be a challenging experience; it’s very much focused on live testing of techniques and on adapting to rapidly-changing situations, and it’s going to be very different from my past experiences. I’m tiny, so any opponent could defeat me right now by just sitting on me. I know very few ground techniques. Pretty much the only thing that I can bring in from my past experience is the fact that I’m a fairly quick learner. I feel like I’m at the beginning, again—I have no idea if this martial art and I are going to work out.

But finding out is going to be ridiculously fun.

My background

I’ve been writing about martial arts over at my original blog, Standing on the Wall, for a couple years. But it’s time to start a separate martial arts blog. I’m finally going to bite the bullet and jump into Brazilian jiujitsu.

Before I do that, I’d like to lay out my martial arts background.

Self-defense

I started taking a women-only self-defense class when I was 16. The class was awesome, if a little nerve-wracking; I was the only girl who consistently showed up, which meant that for a half-hour twice a week, I would have class with five or six black belts just standing around and watching me. After six months of this I was folded into the regular karate program.

Jitsu Do Karate

The system was called Jitsu Do Karate. Mr. H., the head instructor, had created it based on (in no particular order) Shotokan karate, judo, aikido, Wing Chun kung fu, and some other arts. We focused on self-defense, using functional techniques, and sparring. Mr. H. would explain the physics of certain moves, throw us into experimental self-defense scenarios, ask us to create our own miniature katas or sparring combinations, discuss concepts like the force continuum or the centerline, etc.

Usually made-up arts should be approached with caution, but I feel that Jitsu Do was well-grounded in reality. The philosophy was: If something doesn’t work, throw it out. If you’re attacked, use simple, effective strikes to vital areas of the body, control the attacker, and then either run away and call 911, or keep control of the attacker while you dial 911.

I studied Jitsu Do for about 3 years and earned a red/white-stripe belt, which was a lower high belt, if that makes any sense (first-degree black was a couple of ranks above me).

Shinki Ryu Jujitsu/Shito Ryu Karate

After I moved to Kansas City, I took a break for a few years, then joined a martial arts club. Mr. B. taught a combination of Shinki Ryu Jujitsu and Shito Ryu Karate. Shinki is a mix of judo and jujitsu; Shito is one of the main ryus, or schools, of Japanese karate.

Shinki/Shito concentrates mostly on striking, throws, kata, and joint locks. I had fun learning the style but there’s not much live sparring, discussion of practical self-defense, etc. I miss the aliveness of my old school.

I’ve earned a green belt—about midway through the ranks before first-degree black—but am not sure how much longer I’ll continue with the school. Lately I’ve been feeling the itch to do something different: Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’ll have more in the next post.