Getting Down with it

 Often the discussion comes up that people should practice grappling because thats what will happen in a fight.  Often they mention that 70% of fights end up on the ground. Whilst personally I don't subscribe to that high percentage, it is almost guaranteed that 100% start with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

What contributes to this view is the popularity of BJJ and MMA, with the latter responsible for the popularity of BJJ as it is seen that in the environment of MMA fights, grapplers were often dominant. So it's no surprise that this is the opinion held by many.  Is it therefore important to train lots in grappling? 

I say NO.  Let me clarify: Firstly, I'm going to state that it is good to get a bit of grappling experience, so you know what it 'feels' like.  But I'm saying NO to training it a LOT.   Why? First off, it is very unlikely that in a street fight, you will be facing an (experienced) grappler.  I can say this because of statistics. In the UK (where I live) there are approximately 67million people, of this, according to sport England data of 2022, about 237 thousand practice martial arts. That's one in 280 persons.  Of that amount a large proportion will be children. In practice it is probably about 2/3rd children and teens, vs adults.  That changes the ratio to about one in 5-600...  All other potential opponents have no martial arts background whatsoever so their fighting skills are not going to be of a high quality. That doesn't mean they won't try it (they see it on the TV all the time), but as a trained martial artist, you should be reasonably succesful in fending off their attacks from a stand up position, which is far more favourable. You retain mobility, so you can run away as soon as there is a chance, but one other big factor is important: Once on the ground, you are very much in a one on one environment with very little to no situational awareness. YOu're not going to see his budy (or a stranger) suddenly getting in on the action and kicking you in the head or worse.. Also you're not going to see any concealed bladed weapon he might be carrying so you could get stabbed in this situation, another reason to stay on your feet and keep him at a distance. 

So instead of spending time learning intricate grappling techniques and submissions etc, learn take down defenses, and how to get back up QUICK, when you're on the ground. Focus on those elements of ground fighting, and you will be best prepared for the majority of street encounters you are likely to find yourself in, at least in the UK.  Your mileage may vary, but thats the situation where I live. 

Walk On! 

Cross training in other arts?

 In my previous post I wrote about the importance to look at the 'root', and not the branches.

Subscribers to the JKD concepts method tends to train in various martial arts, often combining the strengths of many into a personal expression of JKD (not Bruce Lee's ),and/or looking at similarities (but you'd then invariably need to know the original material too, that's a lot of time invested), whilst those on the other side of the fence focus on the fundamental material, (just learn to punch and kick etc etc.) and apply Bruce Lee's teachings on strategy and structure..  One trains the root, the other the branches (you should by now know which is which).

However, if you are on the 'original JKD' side of the fence, does it matter or is it even beneficial to train in other arts?  The answer is obviously not a one size fits all.  Firstly, you need to be mindful how you approach that training. Why are you cross training? Is it because you simply enjoy it, are you in to the sport element of the other art(s) perhaps? 

Me and one other student recently did a little of this. We went to a workshop hosted by a local kickboxing school, who had invited Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace to teach.  Truth be told, we went primarily to meet with this legend of the martial arts world, after all he's not getting any younger. (79 by the time of writing). 

That said, it was fun to spend about 2 hours training kick boxing combo's and techniques , predominantly his approach of course (and boy, does he love the side kick, we threw a lot of them).. But what did we learn from it?  

What stood out for me personally is that all drills we did, were aimed at the 'competition' strategies you may encounter. All kicks/punches were above the belt etc, so the structure/approach and execution of all we did was aimed at that.  If you have trained in JKD for a while, this should hopefully be immediately apparent.  Some of the combo's we trew, could be simplified if used on the street. (why bother trying to make the opponent move his arms so I can kick him in the ribs), when just as easily I could have kicked him in the knee or groin?   

Nevertheless there were some pointers for me personally that I found helpful. It is always good to have another person pick up on little habbits you may have (bad or good, but usually you want them to pick up on 'bad' stuff, that's how you learn and grow) and Bill found a few on me. 

Truth be told, I wasn't used to fight on barefeet (and I developed blisters about 15 minutes in that continued to distract me for the rest of the session), and I'm not used to a kick boxing approach so I naturally didn't perform certain techniques the way he wanted me to (muscle memory can be a dissadvantage sometimes, I wrote about that before..). Personally, I wasn't too happy with my personal performance, but that's OK, I picked up a few pointers and had a great time! 

My main focus will always be JKD, but it was fun to get some other insights and to learn how others approach a fight. You can get a lot from books and videos, but occasionally experiencing it helps further your understanding.  And in this case, if you can learn from a legend,  then take the opportunity if you can, it's fun!

Walk On!