Tcm & Grappling

Yes I agree with this statement Mark. I actually left my first school after the contract was up because of the personality clash I had with the majority of the instructors and students. But will say grappling arts like Judo, traditional Ju Jujitsu and some BJJ schools do teach there students to have respect but they get categorized in the MMA and Grappling mentality allot of the time.

I still believe TMA Students should learn the basics of grappling so if they find themselves on the ground in a street fight they have the tools to protect themselves and get up off the ground as quickly as possible.

So if this is your mentality then you must be also against all the women's self defense courses or krav maga seminars that people take because if they go up against a trained martial artist they are pretty much SOL.

I was saying that TMA should learn the basics of grappling so they can defend them selves under the assumption of that they were going against an average person that took them to the ground to ground and pound on them. I wasn't thinking we were talking about going up against an experienced grappler (even though a TMA would stand a better chance against one if they knew the basics of grappling).

I agree with the self defense courses and seminar being a joke Sean but still think they might help a minimal amount part of the time. I would never tell some one to do one of those courses but I still stand by my opinion that a TMA will stand a better chance against an average Joe in a street fight if they ended up on the ground.

Why not teach them how to lock their legs around the hips of the opponent to prevent from being mounted and smashed on till the fight can be broken up or better yet so thy can use their TMA weapons they already know while in the guard like eye gouging or rigid claw to the eyes, spear hands to the throat or eyes, tiger or dragon claws to the face or ears, Phoenix eye strikes to the temple, mind point or throat. I guess if would be better just to get mounted then pounded on till hopefully someone comes to the rescue.

Well I guess the police and armed forces waste our tax payers money because they all do crash courses and seminars in self defense when we all already know that it's pointless because they have weapons so why does most of the military teach the basics of grappling an self defense now?

LOL Sean

Everybody has their own opinions And mine is I don't believe having a voluntary based basic grappling course at a TMA school to teach their students how to defend them selves against an average joe in a fight is wrong or being irresponsible. If I was a head instructor I'd much rather have my students attend a basic grappling course then not to so they don't end up a black sash or a black belt that's just gets ground and pounded on by a nobody because they have no clue how to at least defend themselves on the ground.

Just as a scenario if you took 50 TMA black sashes from the same school and had 25 take a supplementary grappling class for 6 months and the other 25 not take the classes then had them do a MMA style sparring tournament against eachother your saying the grappling class wouldn't have helped at all?

Now if you say that it's a sport and the tma cant use there techniques then use it as a street fighting scenario instead of MMA scenario.

If I was a gambling man I would bet all my money on the 25 that took the supplementary grappling course because it would make a difference even after just 6 months of supplementary training.

I still don't get how you think a grappling class that taught the basics of grappling and gave even just a few hours of mat time a week to their students is irresponsible especially now since your even saying from a qualified grappling instructor. A few hours every week for about 6 months is all you need to start to grasp the basics and to actually feel what to expect when you get swept thrown or taken down then mounted or thrown in a side mount or scarf hold. Its not giving the students a dangerous illusion or false sense of security like your saying. It's conditioning them and training them on what to expect if they end up on the ground and giving them the ability to calm down and not to panic because they have been in this position 20-50-100 times before because of the suplementary grappling training they previously did. If they are able to be calm and not panic like a fish out of water this will allow them to start to try to get to a better position or try a sweep or escape or who knows maybe even get lucky and submit the attacker.

If your saying a student that can learn traditional forms and strikes can't learn anything from a basic grappling group class over a period of a few months Then I'm sorry to say your just hating on the grappling concept and are blinding yourself with your own ignorance. I can personally say my first month of grappling was an eye opener and I learned a huge amount then the 3 month and 6 month marks I gained the ability of knowing what danger i was in when held in each grappling position and knew a few escapes or submissions from each basic position.

If anybody doubts this go watch a grappling tournament they will have BJJ white belt with only minimal may time pulling off impressive sweeps from the guard and submissions and they are going up against other people at their own level of training not a non trained person that is just trying to ground and pound you.