Martial Arts advice

In fact, technically it wouldn't be a RNC if you made use of the gi. The clue is in the name :-D

RNC is hard to get in the gi as well. Too much friction. It's much, much easier to get the arm around the neck properly in no-gi.
In a gi I'll generally try and get the collar choke if I have back mount rather than try a RNC at all.

Oh, you can do a rear naked choke without any part involved wearing a t-shirt or Gi.

Some of the guys on here have rather interesting views! nice to see everyones opinion though, and heres mine:

Ive trained in Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Freestyle Wrestling and Karate, have competed in several, and medalled (bronze and gold) in freestyle grappling comps and also had an amatuer cage fight.
The fight team I train with is an MMA organisation, we have professional and in some cases olympian level coaches teaching each of the disciplines, this is true for the vast majorty of places too, There are some exceptions but I find this statement -

the thing is, all the places doing "MMA" classes are exactly that. They are just going of the hype of the UFC. If asked about at a few of these places, by MMA they rarely actually mean mixed martial arts, what they mean is "you know, like UFC".

Basically some half arsed kick boxing and attempts at "ground & pound". They rarely have the high quality instructors in specific disciplines, like BJJ.

Quite ignorant to put it simply. Where were these MMA gyms? What you have to remember is you cant just learn MMA by going to MMA classes, sure they will teach you the basics of striking, ground and takedown work but its up to you to explore and develop these fields seperately, for example at most MMA gyms they will have a few MMA classes a week which teach you to combine the techniques rather than teaching you them on their own. They run other classes which cover the different aspects - BJJ, Wrestling and Muay thai among others. over 90% of pro MMA fighters hail from a background in a seperate martial art, be it wrestling, boxing, muay thai, of bjj, they then choose to do mma and build other skills to enable them to compete but keep their natural base discipline.

Slight bit of sidetracking there, but from my experience I would say a Muay Thai offers excellent self defense, if as is obviously the best option - flight, doesnt present its self then muay thai offers very effective striking, clinching, kicks, elbows, knees and trips to defend yourself. BJJ would be tricky to pull off in a street scenario as you need free movement, maybe nto achievable in jeans and a jacket etc, however what I would say is if someone took you down or tripped you over you would know correct positioning to protect yourself on the floor and be able to escape more easily. Wrestling is also an excellent option, if you gain a basic level of technique you can throw around a bigger guy no problem and have excellent balance in a fight situation.

In summary I would say the best option is Muay Thai and Wrestling, Muay Thai being more advisable. I tend to avoid these self defense style martial arts, I know a cage isnt the same as the street, but time and time again, every successful pro has showen they either have a base of Muay Thai, BJJ, or Wrestling. these are the three most effective arts, you dont see any fighting champions with backgrounds in kung fu, wing ching, yung jun doe, nin jitsu etc, they all abide by the basic tried and tested fighting systems.

Let me know if Im rambling, Its 2.40am and ive been up all night studying...

Some of the guys on here have rather interesting views! nice to see everyones opinion though, and heres mine:

Ive trained in Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Freestyle Wrestling and Karate, have competed in several, and medalled (bronze and gold) in freestyle grappling comps and also had an amatuer cage fight.
The fight team I train with is an MMA organisation, we have professional and in some cases olympian level coaches teaching each of the disciplines, this is true for the vast majorty of places too, There are some exceptions but I find this statement -

Quite ignorant to put it simply. Where were these MMA gyms? What you have to remember is you cant just learn MMA by going to MMA classes, sure they will teach you the basics of striking, ground and takedown work but its up to you to explore and develop these fields seperately, for example at most MMA gyms they will have a few MMA classes a week which teach you to combine the techniques rather than teaching you them on their own. They run other classes which cover the different aspects - BJJ, Wrestling and Muay thai among others. over 90% of pro MMA fighters hail from a background in a seperate martial art, be it wrestling, boxing, muay thai, of bjj, they then choose to do mma and build other skills to enable them to compete but keep their natural base discipline.

Slight bit of sidetracking there, but from my experience I would say a Muay Thai offers excellent self defense, if as is obviously the best option - flight, doesnt present its self then muay thai offers very effective striking, clinching, kicks, elbows, knees and trips to defend yourself. BJJ would be tricky to pull off in a street scenario as you need free movement, maybe nto achievable in jeans and a jacket etc, however what I would say is if someone took you down or tripped you over you would know correct positioning to protect yourself on the floor and be able to escape more easily. Wrestling is also an excellent option, if you gain a basic level of technique you can throw around a bigger guy no problem and have excellent balance in a fight situation.

In summary I would say the best option is Muay Thai and Wrestling, Muay Thai being more advisable. I tend to avoid these self defense style martial arts, I know a cage isnt the same as the street, but time and time again, every successful pro has showen they either have a base of Muay Thai, BJJ, or Wrestling. these are the three most effective arts, you dont see any fighting champions with backgrounds in kung fu, wing ching, yung jun doe, nin jitsu etc, they all abide by the basic tried and tested fighting systems.
Let me know if Im rambling, Its 2.40am and ive been up all night studying...

+1 from me cause i agree.
For me a good combo is gracie BJJ and Muay thai.

The father of my old Taekwondo coach introduced Pukulan/Poekoelan in the 80's to our Budō. it's related in some ways to Pencak Silat and all I remember when taking some courses was that it's suitable for the mentally disturbed.

+1 from me cause i agree.
For me a good combo is gracie BJJ and Muay thai.

+2 tbh

Really helpful responses cheers guys, interesting to see everyones views. Sounds like Muay Thai could be a good shout.

In response to my age/fitness - I'm 24, 6"2, 15 stone, pretty strong, cycling fit but not a runner.

Cernan, I'll have a look at the club at the uni, a few of my mates have done Muay Thai in Roundhay and said it was good so may check that out as well....

Cool.
check out www.beyondfighting.com for the leeds krav club.
Wheres the muay thai in roundhay? seen as i live there that might be quite interesting to me.

Do muay thai, you will not be dissapointed.

+1

Here's a question for grapplers:

How is the rate of injuries due to overextending, overstretching etc in class, and how do you guys deal with prevention and treatment?

Reason I'm asking is because in class some guy took me to the floor and I managed to wrap my leg around his neck and hold on to my ankle, making him tap. Not a very Wing Chun scenario, but hey, I thought I'd give it my best shot! Anyway, now I feel like my leg had been pressed up towards my body to much, maybe a muscle pulled ... not sure yet how bad it is, will see tomorrow.

I think i will probably just speak out my ass right now.

Is it a good pain or a bad pain? Is it cause you pushed yourself or have you hurt yourself? Ive never hurt myself (like injured myself properly) in movements that ive made. I used to find that i would have stretched stuff or tired out areas to extremes. Use ICE perhaps and rest it for a few days, see how you feel.

BTW - nice move! Congrads!

well, he pressed into the leg towards my body to evade the choke, so the left hamstring was pushed further than I am flexible ... now it hurts a bit. Will see what happens.

'rub it on, rub it off' Mr Myagi

end of thread.

'rub it on, rub it off' Mr Myagi

end of thread.

Fail.

"Wax On, Wax Off"

Dimwit!

How is the rate of injuries due to overextending, overstretching etc in class, and how do you guys deal with prevention and treatment?

Depends how you wish to take it. I got armbarred in a comp maybe 6 months ago and my wrist still feels dodgey. But then again that was my stubborness not to tap which caused it. Grappling takes a while to get used to, I found I had a few aches and pains to begin with but as fitness and flexibility develop you should be ok. I would say risk of injury in bjj is less than that in mma or muay thai tbh, I wouldnt be worried about injury.

For anyone in Leeds that fancies trying out Tai ji Quan & Kung Fu a friend of mine runs a beginners class at the Cardigan Centre on Mondays 6:30 - 8pm

He also runs classes for more advanced students on different nights.

He's trained at shaolin amongst other locations and is a top bloke, I'm attending my first class on monday.

I did karate for a bit but wasn't up for all the dancing.
When I quit the teacher called me a handbag and the whole class laughed at me.

lol!

you only need to see Wanderlei V Jackson early fights to see the damage that style can cause. NB the second fight is particularly brutal/disturbing.

I went to a BJJ class tonight with a mate. My mate has been training for the last couple of months in Portugal whilst he has been there. We picked a gym and emailed them to get ourselves into an introductory class. After the warm up, the instructor demonstrated a move a couple of times and then people paired up to practice it.

As a relative beginner and a complete beginner, we were not exactly perfect. When we asked for a bit of assistance, the instructor told us that he wouldn't help us as we had not committed to the gym, that he had to help the others, and that anyway, he was part way through a cycle of techniques and we should try to get on with it. The result was that we grappled and watched others as best we could for about 40mins of a 1hr class.

I thought that this was pretty piss poor, and am unlikely to return as a result. Is this usual? Or would I be better off trying a couple of places?

Man, that sounds rubbish.
Of course, as the newbie sometimes it's better to shut up and earn their respect, but yeah ... this does sound rubbish.
I'd trust my gut feeling and try somewhere else.

Also a good indicator is whether people are welcoming and whether the seniors figure you're a newbie and start explaining stuff to you, so they can get better by having better partners.

..apply to a real life situation.

from the channel islands i moved over to ilford in the 70's and lived in east london until 1998. it was a shock. some observations:

getting hit in the face takes some getting used to before you can think about running away or retaliating

jab, jab, cross is a good combo, then leg it

never turn your back, but then someone's arsehole mate nearly always comes up behind you, a brick to the back of the head really fucking puts a downer on your night

the effects of a glassing are gruesome

knife attacks are undefensible; a stupid kid with a stanley can unwittingly kill

gun beats knife

it's better to run away and live for another day

respect to austin goh and bob breen

... bob bream

The fishy brother of Bob Breen?

..gah! floundered.. :$

getting hit in the face takes some getting used to before you can think about running away or retaliating

I haven't lived a sheltered life and have survived violent incidents in the past. Not always in great shape but still, survived. it's always been a bit of a hit and hope though, where as I would like it to be more precise & confident.

I can't help but wonder if confidence gained through a martial art may also transfer to my day to day doings... which is another part of the attraction.

Luckily in Leeds we don't have quite the same level of knife crime as you do in London, and old fashioned fisticuffs are often the scallys weapon of choice.

In London I will always go out of my way to avoid trouble. I admit as a northern boy i find the big schmoke pretty intimidating.