Self-defense

I have just read a post about how ordinary people think that BJJ is useless in a street fight.

Back in the early 80s, I started my martial arts journey by joining a Taekwon-do academy. At that time, we practiced many leverage and self-defense techniques. Yes, that was before TKD became widely associated with Olympic competition — it was presented primarily as a martial art for fighting and self-defense.

My instructor was not only a Taekwon-do black belt but also held a black belt in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. And yes, Jiu-Jitsu was built around self-defense principles.

During my last class this Monday, our head instructor was teaching again. He’s an old-school guy and always emphasizes that Jiu-Jitsu is a self-defense martial art, and that we should also practice self-defense scenarios rather than only sport on the mats.

So after a solid warm-up — which included 100 burpees (one of his favorite warm-up exercises) — we practiced open-hand strikes to the chest followed by a face push: one hand controlling the opponent’s neck while using the other to push the head backward and off-balance them to the ground.

The partner had to fall properly using the breakfall technique, avoid hitting the head on the ground, and stand up safely afterward.

At the end, I had four rounds of free rolling, each lasting five minutes. All my partners were, of course, young and agile guys. Two of them were even blue belts, but I did fine.

Needless to say, all my muscles are sore today.

And yes, in my academy, many of the blue, purple, and especially the brown and black belts are so physically strong, athletic, and powerful that they do not need much of their Jiu-Jitsu to overcome an average person in a street fight.