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There have been a few clips of ju-jitsu posted recently. They show some fine practitioners performing exciting techniques.
These prompted me to start a new thread.
I think that the greatest hinderence to many ju-jitsu styles is their aversion to randori. I'm not talking about one person standing in the middle of a circle of attackers who attack one after the other. I'm talking about one-on-one, both wanting to win randori.
Demonstrations and circle randori are fantasies. Look closely: uke leaves his punch dangling in the air; he snaps his head back in response to a punch; he is whipped off his feet by a clean ogoshi; and he can't wait to tap from that ude garami. In reality, uke's punching arm will be really tensed and he will be trying to take your head off. If he misses with the first shot, you can be sure he will immediately follow with something else. When you hit him, his head might move off its axis but you may also break your hand. Or miss! Or he beats you to the punch! When you go for a throw you can bet he's going to react. He might block with his hips, push your upper body away or try to counter. And when you go for that ude garami he will try to straighten his arm, hit you with his other hand or try to get you off his body.
In my early days doing a 'traditional ju-jitsu style' I used to get upset when scrappers off the street could come in to our dojo and easily outclass me. What I hadn't worked out then, was these guys were fighters and I was a technician. They knew about fighting and instinctively understood distance, rhythm and force, and I ... didn't. They knew about fighting because they practiced fighting and I, meanwhile, practiced grabbling dangling punches, throwing punches at someone who snapped his head back, throwing an unresisting person and puting on complex locks. I was practicing being a technician but I was not practicing fighting.
I think randori is the single most effective means of turning techniques into fighting tools. It does not have to be 100%, full-on. In fact, our brain cannot process things happening at that speed so we do not learn well. It is better working at, say, 60% much of the time so that the conscious brain can learn. Then it's good to go at 100% sometimes, too, so that the subconscious gets a chance to practice as well.
Randori is how we test our techniques, tactics and resolve. A successful throw in randori is the reward for hours of technical throwing practice. However, an unsuccessful throw attempt is just as positive and should be the prompt for new technical practice and tactical consideration.
Take another look at a spectacular ju-jitsu display and then find a good, fiesty lightweight MMA fight. Don't watch tori; watch uke. Look at what he is doing and not doing. Then you will understand that uke's compliance really isn't helping tori at all and, in fact, it is his resistence, agression and force that is really helping tori in the long run.
These prompted me to start a new thread.
I think that the greatest hinderence to many ju-jitsu styles is their aversion to randori. I'm not talking about one person standing in the middle of a circle of attackers who attack one after the other. I'm talking about one-on-one, both wanting to win randori.
Demonstrations and circle randori are fantasies. Look closely: uke leaves his punch dangling in the air; he snaps his head back in response to a punch; he is whipped off his feet by a clean ogoshi; and he can't wait to tap from that ude garami. In reality, uke's punching arm will be really tensed and he will be trying to take your head off. If he misses with the first shot, you can be sure he will immediately follow with something else. When you hit him, his head might move off its axis but you may also break your hand. Or miss! Or he beats you to the punch! When you go for a throw you can bet he's going to react. He might block with his hips, push your upper body away or try to counter. And when you go for that ude garami he will try to straighten his arm, hit you with his other hand or try to get you off his body.
In my early days doing a 'traditional ju-jitsu style' I used to get upset when scrappers off the street could come in to our dojo and easily outclass me. What I hadn't worked out then, was these guys were fighters and I was a technician. They knew about fighting and instinctively understood distance, rhythm and force, and I ... didn't. They knew about fighting because they practiced fighting and I, meanwhile, practiced grabbling dangling punches, throwing punches at someone who snapped his head back, throwing an unresisting person and puting on complex locks. I was practicing being a technician but I was not practicing fighting.
I think randori is the single most effective means of turning techniques into fighting tools. It does not have to be 100%, full-on. In fact, our brain cannot process things happening at that speed so we do not learn well. It is better working at, say, 60% much of the time so that the conscious brain can learn. Then it's good to go at 100% sometimes, too, so that the subconscious gets a chance to practice as well.
Randori is how we test our techniques, tactics and resolve. A successful throw in randori is the reward for hours of technical throwing practice. However, an unsuccessful throw attempt is just as positive and should be the prompt for new technical practice and tactical consideration.
Take another look at a spectacular ju-jitsu display and then find a good, fiesty lightweight MMA fight. Don't watch tori; watch uke. Look at what he is doing and not doing. Then you will understand that uke's compliance really isn't helping tori at all and, in fact, it is his resistence, agression and force that is really helping tori in the long run.
