Grappling Versus Non-Grappling, Bruce Lee Style

Bruce Lee's Thoughts on Style Limitations

While I was perusing some Bruce Lee books, I found some comments from Bruce on certain style limitations.

Compare what Bruce Lee did with grappling and locks on film and descriptions in his writings, to what he says about the limitations of Judo, Wrestling, and Thai Boxing. You get at least one person's view of making sense of grappling in the martial arts.

Bruce Lee felt that all three, Judo, Wrestling, and Thai Boxing were sports.

Bruce Lee said they lacked "foul tactics"

Hmm, that was my only beef with those formalized UFC and NHB tournaments.

They were missing a lot of dirty tactics, if you were going to use them as a model for 'real' fighting. (Boy, did I receive flack for that comment when I first wrote it on the Net.)

Bruce Lee also felt that Wrestling and Judo lacked the ability to deal with attackers at a long range. The tactics just aren't contained in the system.

Bruce thought that the whole time you are doing wrestling or judo moves, you should be doing more. He believed, the long range tactics lacked "kicking, hair-pulling, butting, finger jab, kneeing, elbowing, stomping on shin or instep, grabbing groin, pinching skin, pulling ears, biting, etc." (Page 39, Jeet Kune Do, Volume 3, edited by John Little.)

He felt that Thai Boxing lacked a grappling element.

More Martial Limitations, According to Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee's other criticisms of pure Thai Boxing were that it "lacks economy structure and scientific leads" and that Thai Boxers were unfamiliar with martial arts' more delicate movements, like advance attacks (jabs) to eyes or groin. (Someday, we should explore what he meant by these limitations, in more detail.)

So, it's pretty easy to see why Bruce Lee might have wanted to combine styles. He wanted to "plug the holes" in classical systems.

Think about a grappler being able to deal with the long range before he comes in close. It's not as common as you might think.

Also, imagine a destruction machine, like a Thai boxer, being able to tie up someone with grappling controls, while still incorporating demolishing techniques.

Now, combine all of the above thoughts with the way Bruce Lee grappled in 'Game of Death' from 'A Warrior's Journey.' Then you start to see when Bruce used grappling. He combined it all -- he didn't grapple at a distance.

Every encounter need not end in a grapple.

When he did grapple, he combined. In his own handwriting (p. 78, Jeet Kune Do, Vol. 3), he writes:

"Two hits, side arm throw, and elbow."

Hits and kicks, kicks and hits -- BAM, take-down! With more kicks and hits following.

Can you say "whirlwind"?

     By Keith Pascal

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Judocoach - What New Students Should Learn

You walk into the dojo (judo classroom) and watch as people fly through the air and then just get up as if nothing happened. There is a lot of confusing action and people are moving and falling all over the mat so much that you constantly switch from one pair of judoka (judo practitioners) to another. It's exciting and you are itching to get into one of the judogis (uniforms) and try your hand at throwing techniques. So you sign up and the first thing you are doing is lying down on the mat and slapping it with your hands. You wonder is this Judo? What happened to all that action? You are learning ukemi (falling techniques).

The art and sport of Judo involves a lot of throwing techniques which means someone is doing a lot of falling. This means as a beginner it will most definitely be you. Usually in America students are taught one throw and a little ukemi and perhaps one hold down (newaza) technique in their first few lessons. Now some instructors teach a lot more than that but believe me they aren't doing you any favors by exposing you to so much before you get better at ukemi. You have to concentrate on learning the very basic principles of judo before you move on. It's just like any other sport or art. Judo is probably the best way to learn about balance, control and respect and it is expected and natural that you will carry that over to other areas of your life.

It's natural, people just want to throw other people and practicing falling can be boring in comparison to throwing. What would you rather be doing falling or making other people fall? I know I would rather throw you then have you throw me around. However breaking your fall is an integral part of Judo and you learn to control your body as you move through the air. Gymnasts and divers learn this skill too. It will improve your balance which can't hurt right? If you become proficient at ukemi then you won't mind the falls and believe me in order to get good at judo you will take many, many falls.

If you trip or have an accident and fall you will automatically assume the best position to take that fall if you master this unpopular skill. I have been saved from many twisted ankles and more serious injuries in my 44+ years since I began Judo by ukemi. I consider ukemi to be the most important thing to learn first. You can practice by yourself to improve and then with a partner for a more realistic experience.

One reason ukemi is not stressed so much in today's Judo is beginners quit once they discover that Judo is a rough martial art. And falling is rather awkward at first. Judo is physically one of the most demanding arts/sports in martial arts. And falling is no fun until you become good at it. It is not very hard to become proficient at ukemi, it just takes practice, and it is far more difficult and takes more time and practice to master a throw. The standard class begins with a short warm-up that includes ukemi. So even if your instructor does not stress ukemi, you will get to practice it every class. You should concentrate on doing it correctly every time you take a fall.

So approach your first lessons with an open mind and practice your ukemi, it will make your judo experience much more pleasant.

     By Sam Hashimoto

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A Modern Martial Art - Judo

For the average person on the street, the thought of judo can conjure up images of eastern mysticism and strange-sounding foreign words. Certainly judo, which means "the gentle way", has its roots in the Far East, owing its origins to the ancient Japanese art of hand-to-hand combat called ju-jutsu. But the popular sport as we know it today is comparatively modern, invented just over 120 years ago by keen academic Dr Jigoro Kano.

Judo's spread overseas, however, owed as much to its entertainment value than educational benefits in the first few years. In 1899, a team of martial arts experts came to England in an attempt to establish a school in London.

The initial project failed, but some members of the team remained behind and found success on stage, wowing audiences across the country with dazzling displays of skill.

The most famous of these was Yukio Tani, who offered challengers or every minute they could stay on their feet after the five-minute mark and if they beat him, he retired undefeated.

In 1920, Tani went on to become an instructor at Great Britain's first martial arts club, the Budokwai in London. By this time, the final touches to Kano's judo teachings had long since been added and Japanese experts had emigrated all across the world to promote the sport.

Unsurprisingly, judo continued to grow in popularity until the Second World War, when the global situation prompted a sudden decline in interest.

When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, martial arts were banned in schools and public institutions in Japan. These restrictions were relaxed in 1951, at the same time that the European Judo Federation was established, three years after the creation of the British Judo Federation.

Judo made its first appearance in the Olympics at the Tokyo Games in 1964. But it had to wait another 26 years before it made its Commonwealth Games debut in Auckland, New Zealand - its only appearance at the Games until now.

      By F. Feng

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A Judo Neck for Grappling

When you see pictures of old school Judoka (and some new school Judoka for that matter) they seem to have short but very muscular legs, big broad shoulders, chests that look like the front of trucks and big powerful necks. Wrestlers are the same, as are some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters and Submission fighters. Although there practice may be slightly different, they all grapple and grapplers tend to have this hard, strong body and neck. Having a strong neck is VITAL in grappling.

When throwing, a strong twist or lean of the head in the direction of the throw will aid greatly with the technique. This head movement can only be carried out with a strong neck. When ground fighting, most escapes from pins require some sort of bridge, forcing the fighter to upload most of his/her body weight onto his/her shoulders and neck. The neck muscles must definitely be strong for this, attempting this without the required strength can actually be quite dangerous! Finally if you're unfortunate to be caught in a choke or strangle, a strong neck MAY give you the ability to withstand the technique for maybe a second longer (which could be just enough time to escape).

These are just a few reasons why having a strong neck is important, and this is only for grappling. 

It is also very important for striking, but that's another topic. There are plenty of websites and hundreds of books which describe the best and safest ways to strengthen neck muscles, so my advice is start doing it if not already.

      By Markos Markou

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Shiro Saigo, Judo Techniques and MMA

Shiro Saigo, a very small and light fellow, born in 1866 in the city Wakamatsu (Izu province), performed outstanding judo techniques. He was lucky as quite young he was faced with martial arts, being adopted by a Shinto priest called Saigo Tanomo, who studied and practised them as the last representative of the secret techniques of oshiki uchi of the Takeda clan.

In 1883 Shiro became a member of Kodokan Judo when the headquarter was in its first location at the Eishoju Temple. When the dojo moved to the hangar of the Kobunkan, Saigo was the best student there and often taught most of the judo techniques, when Sensei Kano was absent.

Saigo had his first "mixed martial arts" experience in 1891 (24th year of the Meiji Era). Of course at the beginning most of the Kodokan students would visit other martial arts schools in order to try their judo techniques. But Saigo, who besides judo was very fond of sake, preferred to go to the market place while slightly drunk in order to challenge whoever was out there. He was famous for starting fights.

That day there were some sumo fighters. Araumi, their captain, accepted Saigo's challenge and found himself very soon on the ground thrown by Saigo. While on the ground he bit Saigo in the but and the "mixed martial arts" fight degenerated into a street quarrel.

The police arrested everybody and so Saigo, who still drunk insulted the policemen. Kano was informed on the matter and of course helped his best student out of the prison, but at the same time banished him from the Kodokan as he had infringed the rules.

After this famous "mixed martial arts" episode Shiro Saigo did not dedicate any time to judo techniques anymore and left for Nagasaki, where he became President of the local newspaper called "Nagasaki" and started to practice archery (Kyudo) becoming within shortly a master.

On 23rd November 1926 (11th year of the Taisho Era) he died in the city of Onomichi, in the province of Hiroshima and shortly after his death Kano Sensei decided to award him the 6th dan of Kodokan Judo.

Shiro Saigo became a legend in Japan with the name of "Sugata Sanshiro", which is also the title of the book written by Tsuneo Tomita (son of Tsunejiro Tomita), where the author describes the actions of Saigo.

It tells about the tournament between the students of Kodokan Judo and the jujitsu students of the local police school: a mixed martial arts tournament, where the judo students totally whipped out the jujitsu ones.

Saigo's fight was the last of the day and with an outstanding judo technique signed a decisive victory for Kodokan Judo becoming a legend. Up to today in Japan there are movies, that are inspired by him.

       By Aida Guemati

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17 Tips on Training Without a Grappling Instructor Or Even With One

For some people they have the perfect situation. They are trained by a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a former Muay Thai competitor, former collegiate wrestler or judo champions are teaching them takedowns and they have the time to train outside of class.

For others that's not the case they don't have that situation or they can't afford to train at a regular academy, but they still love the sport and want to train all the time and improve. Here is a list of things to do to help you improve in grappling and mixed martial arts if you don't have the ideal training situation. Here are some things that will help you stay focused and improve when you don't have an instructor or a school to train at.

• Buy books, instructional videos, and check out the internet. Fortunately for us there is an extensive amount of material on the different martial arts of mixed martial arts, so you're not completely left out in the dust.

• Do your best to find someone who is as interested in the sport as much as you are and wants to train just as hard as you. This is obviously really important. I'm sorry to say, but without a training partner your progress is going to be severely lacking.

• Constantly drill the moves you have learned through your resources over and over. This should even be the case with people who train at a good academy

• If you are the best one in the group. Many times put yourself in uncomfortable situations so you can improve on them. If you're bad at escaping triangles (even though it may not happen a lot). Then let your partner triangle you (with out them knowing)

• Always teach your partners the techniques that work for you best and tell them to look out for them. This is one of the most important tips, because it makes everyone better. Your partner learns how to defend them, and when he does you now have to do something different. This results in everyone's game improving.

• If you are better then your partner. Pick one or two things you are going to go for in sparring and let them know about it. Now it will make it much harder for you because they know what's coming, so you may have to react different.

• Drill, Drill, Drill. I don't mean just the dead pattern drilling. I mean practice the technique with your partner to get familiar with the mechanics then as you go have him/her add some movement so you have to react a little different. Then have them add more movement and resistance. Then when you roll, try to do the technique that you were drilling. To many people think drilling is partnering up with someone and just going through the technique. That is not the case, the best drilling in my opinion is trying it during your sparring/grappling session. That is what builds your timing, experience, and lets you know truly what will work for you. When you do this, try to execute that particular technique during your sparring/grappling sessions for at least 2 weeks, by then you should know if you should add it to your arsenal or not.

• Do conditioning out outside of your training sessions. As they say, "Conditioning is the strongest hold". I'm not sure who first said this statement, but I agree with it 100%. If you are not conditioned you will never be on top. When you get tired and fatigued, your mind doesn't work as fast and your reaction time is greatly hindered.

• Don't skimp on the sparring. Just like you need to drill a lot, the same goes with sparring. Sparring is where you see what works and what doesn't. It's what tells you what you need work on and what techniques are actually working for you.

• Have a game plan. When you go to train you need to have a game plan. Know what it is each training session you want to work on and work on it. This way you don't go in there and sit around thinking hey what should I work on today. If you do have an instructor and he teaches the class you still should have a game plan for your sparring/rolling session. The goal is to always learn and improve.

• Training isn't a competition. Too many people don't know what it means to not want to win during a sparring/grappling session. They are always looking to be the best and get ahead. While it is not a bad thing to want to win. It is bad to always want to win in training. These are the people who don't improve and they have no clue why. There are times during your training week that you should dedicate to competition type sparring/grappling. If you train four days a week, then at least three of those days should be dedicated to 100% learning and the other should be a more intense training session.

• Always go to other places to train, and try to train/spar/grapple with different people. This is especially important for the people who don't have access to an instructor or better training. While you may do well with your training partners, you may not do well with others. It will also keep your mind healthy when you're the one learning new ideas from new people.

• Always keep a positive mindset. Remember you're on the mat and doing something about it, while someone else is home, sitting on their couch and wishing they were even close to where you are now.

• Don't be afraid to give up positions and go for stuff in training. That is the time you need to mess up. If your afraid of messing up in training and don't take any chances, you are going to slow your improvement down a lot.

• Your imagination is one of the greatest tools you can ever have. If you have an imagination then you always have an option. The reason I say this is because you will always be able to come up with some idea on what to do in any situation. Even if it is a situation you've never experienced before. If you see something hanging out there and you think you can do something with it, then try it. Your not going to get anywhere by just thinking about it. If you think about it, all of the new techniques that have come along and even the development of all martial arts was developed first through someone's imagination. Never be afraid to be creative. When you are imaginative and you can make things happen, that is when your opponent will not know what to do with you.

• Always try to meet new people who are interested in grappling/mma. This way you can build up the amount of training partners you have. Go on internet sites and try to meet people who are in your area who would like to train. Go to schools that are not to far every once in the while and pay their mat fee to train with them for at least the one class.

• Don't get discouraged if you feel like you're in a rut. Even people who train with the best teams in the world go through ruts. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you not having a formal instructor/coach. That is the time you need your imagination most. Like stated before the imagination is important. It keeps you interested and it is one of the greatest teachers.

If you have the will to learn, nothing can stop you. You will get it done and succeed. Don't give up and make sure you keep training. Many people have started out being self-trained, and training in little clubs and have done well. It is always good to have good instruction, but it is important to always train right when that good instruction is not around at the moment.

"Often times the roughest road may be the best way to get where you want to go" - Anonymous

Thanks for reading!

      By Jason Scully

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Tae Kwon Do and Judo

There are many forms of martial arts, but only tae kwon do and judo have been selected for Olympic competitionsports.

Tae kwon do, originated in Korea, consists of rapid, crisp strikes of the feet and fists. This sports attaches importance to the mental and physical development.

Practicing tae kwon do, as a training tool for the primary sport by many professional, can develop speed, strength, balance and stamina.

Judo, a Japanese martial art, focuses on "grappling". It aims at overcoming an opponent by locking a major joint or applying a chokehold.

Martial arts not only are popular locally. But also are getting increasing international attention during the summer Olympics. In these days, many forms of martial arts get mixed with each other. Incorporating these different skills adds to the versatility of each combatant and makes the workouts more intense.

When you are practicing martial arts, you should be careful to avoid injures. Typical injuries in martial arts involve muscle sprains, contusions, dislocations, and fractures. Chronic nerve damage may also happen. It can be seen in the hand used repeatedly to break boards or cinder blocks. Grappling sports make the participants more likely to get injured on joint injuries. The most serious injuries are neurological in origin and involve the spine and brain.

Many people find the most attractive feature of martial arts is the combination of meditative exercise with a physical workout. The health benefits as well as the ability to defend oneself if attacked are good for the participants' longevity.

      By Tian Heng

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