Post: #1

Hi guys,

I had an interesting discussion IRL with a RVF member last night. He was saying how he'd been looking for a hobby which he could take up and just 'plug into' in whatever city he was currently living in. Interestingly, one of the ideas he came up with was one I'd myself considered: BJJ.

I've only done it twice ever, but my impressions were that it was nice and culty. There was definitely a "bro" atmosphere, lots of hetero man-love and friendliness and none of the retarded weirdness of plenty of other martial arts. Ontop of this, nobody really got hurt; it wasn't as confrontational as a striking-arts class. It was more educational. I've known guys in London who do BJJ and a lot of them are a bit 'alternative' and much more into hippy stuff and alternative lifestyles.

So... any thoughts whether BJJ is something you could take up to and just join up in foreign cities to get some social company? The chap I was speaking to said he tried just this in St Petersburg but it was full of meat-heads who just slammed him. (

He was considering Muay Thai as well. But i said imho the injury rate is actually higher in BJJ however MT is less sociable and has more radgies and timewasting women doing it.

Cheers.

Post: #2

Ive been training muay thay quite a while and I have never made a friend from training. I know the guys but usually I get in, train, get out. But I also know the mma/bjj scene and for some reason they do have strong community. They have movie nights where they rent a cinema for themselves. They have alot of seminars, training camps, events. I don't really know why is that so different between muay thai/mma-bjj, maybe its because of the belt system in bjj for some reason?

Post: #3

It's cause there is a lot of hugging in bjj n mma

Post: #4

There seems to be less training injuries in BJJ than in standing or striking styles like Judo, Muay Thai, or full-contact Karate (before anyone says anything, I know that BJJ includes some standing techniques). Also, BJJ doesn't appear to have as much of the ceremonial traditions that some other MA styles have, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. One benefit of BJJ, IMO, is that you can learn techniques very quickly as a beginner that you can use right away in real-world self-defense situations. Many of the other styles, especially standing styles like karate or tae kwan do, have more complex systems which can take a lot longer to learn how to use effectively in real life.

One of the only downsides that I think of for BJJ is that it is often more expensive than other MA styles, sometimes double the price. One other downside is that to have a well-rounded understanding of self-defense should also include some training in striking/kicking, which BJJ doesn't usually provide.

Post: #5

(12-07-2014 07:46 PM)Virtus Wrote:  It's cause there is a lot of hugging in bjj n mma

Post: #6

Agree with evilhei. I never saw any socialisation at boxing or MT, however the BJJ guys I know are always going out together.

B

Post: #7

Try another gym.
At my muay thai gym, everyone is very friendly and I have met great friends there.
People regularly do stuff together as well from the gym.
In my experience, I have seen more injuries from BJJ than muay thai.
In muay thai, you get bumps, bruises, cuts, or whatever.
But I have seen beginners or people rolling at BJJ that lock on to a submission and end up damaging someones joint, much more serious than cuts and bruises.
In a city like st petersburg, there must be a dozen BJJ gyms at least. Its not like they are all similar

Post: #8

Agree with the social aspects - a good portion of my social circle consists of people I've met on the mats. Cool thing at least from my experiences is that a lot of the people you meet will be people you normally wouldn't meet otherwise meaning people from all different socio-economic statuses and ethnicities. If I joined say a co-ed sports league around my area I'd probably just meeting other middle class white collar people. One of my best friends I have I met from BJJ many years ago and I doubt I would have ever run into someone like him if it wasn't for BJJ given that I had a pretty sheltered, stable upbringing while he grew up in hood and went through all the BS that comes with it.