So I got a little bit of mat time last Friday, at a college folkstyle wrestling club. A few things I noticed:
>Guys there are mostly engineers and comp sci athletic nerds, not the sterotypical meathead
>The forms for takedowns and sprawling are very counterintuitive compared to striking and much harder to train alone, as other anons suggested.
>Grappling is really tiring and I am pretty sore/bruised up
>It doesn't seem as dangerous as people imply it is. Sure you can get hurt in a freak accident, but the same can happen if you go skiing. Especially if you train with people who don't wanna hurt you, it's relatively safe/painless.
>I'm probably more likely to get concussed from attempting a poor takedown than from being taken down.
>The movements are all more like sprinting than striking is like sprinting.
Anyways, I look forward to a little more mat time when I'm less sore before the year ends. I jammed my thumb at some point while rolling and bruised my knees because I need to get better at shooting. The guys there showed me basic single leg and double leg takedowns.
>"The movements aren't like striking"
>"Wrestling is like sprinting"
Is this an A.I bot post?
No, I used to do sprinting and 800m back in undergrad, and I did a few months of Muay Thai (still training).
>It doesn't seem as dangerous as people imply it is
Do they really? I always thought grappling was way safer than striking, because of the CTE.
I mean in general I think people are scared of entering snap city, but I read in an article that even Track and Field has more bone fractures per capita than folkstyle wrestling. It's important to note that large throws and potentially injuring moves are against the rules.
Not OP but I find people who are injured all the time for grappling usually don't lift. A lot of BJJ guys are scrawny af and don't lift because they are really into technique > strength. Without muscles the joints take all the beating so their knees get all fricked up.
Since I got strong (1/2/2/3) I literally never get injured besides minor bruises
Yeah, grip strength (plus fingers), core, and neck are what I need to keep training.
In 2 years of muay thai i have seen the grand total of 2 dudes get knocked out at training. In both cases they were holding pads wrong. The worst injuries I've seen sparring are a fricked up foot from kicking an elbow and a dude btfo his knee because he tripped over someone's water bottle after it got knocked off the ring
Pretty much everyone retires due to injuries, especially neck injuries. Football is the worst about CTE and boxing is just famous because of the handful of deaths.
bjj guys get neck injuries all the time and eventually need surgery
>It doesn't seem as dangerous as people imply it is
guy on my old team got his neck broken by some moron, be careful anon, that said you're more likely to tear something in your knee
Shit, did he get paralyzed?
Yea it was fricking horrible. The whole team was down for quite a while after.
Just do judo.
>more competitions geared towards adults
>cheaper
>feeds perfectly into bjj if you're interested
>has a humble crowd of practitioners
>more useful because in most street fight scenarios you're not gonna be fighting someone naked and you can't shoot a double leg on concrete
>you can't shoot a double leg on concrete
Yes you can. In a street fight no one is in a wrestling stance. The only reason a double leg has the knee hit the floor in wrestling is because the stances are so low that the level change is required. Plus an overhand punch into a frame + kneepick (see Bo Nickal) is more than enough for a street goon.
how dare you speak truth about grappling on IST
Aren't you supposed to level change before shooting so most of the force isn't going into the floor anyways?
You have to level change in wrestling because if you don't they'll intercept the takedown with their head and hands and you'll get the takedown stuffed. If the path is clear for a takedown because their hands are high, there's no real reason to.
head and arm throw(koshi guruma in judo) works just as well with clothes on, I've tossed some guys around with it
better idea
crosstrain every grappling sports you can find.
wrestling for shots and bodylocks to get into mount or side control.
judo for general standing self defense against anyone who has clothes, also some submissions. judo Throws will kill people and it will also help you get into mount or side control
bjj if you ever find yourself in the ground. also learning how to set up and finish an armbar, americana/kimura, omoplata, and RNC from mount or backmount is a must for anyone. guard is not as important for self defense imo but is still a good idea to learn since sweeping is massively important. Learn full guard, half guard, and butterfly guard for fundamental defensive positions.
Are you the runner that asked how to get into wrestling? What kind of club is this that has engineers and nerds wrestling?
University club team under NCWA
Really glad you got started king
>guys there are engineers and comps sci nerds
i also found this to be true in my judo club. you only find the real meatheads in varsity and competitive circles where competing is a big reason theyre in college. I really only ever found sports meatheads in my high school wrestling team.
>grappling is really tiring
yes. grappling really is like intermittent sprinting rounds, and this is true for judo and bjj as well. a large part of learning as a beginner how to grappler is learning when and how to relax.
as a beginner, your job is to learn to go light enough that you dont get injured ever when sparring, because injuries lead to time off training. the rest will take care of itself if you continue sparring.
>injuries
best way to avoid injuries is to get stronger and to spar lightly.
train legs, back, core, and neck. bulk up if youre skinny.
spar lighter than your partner. it will force you to get better at positioning, timing, and technique, and you'll be less likely to injure yourself or your partner. also, no girls or smaller dudes will want to spar with you if you just slam them every session.
>takedown and sprawls are difficult
sprawling imo is much more intuitive. the idea is to separate your hips from their hands, and use your hands to post on their shoulders and head to bring them to the ground. when i wrestled in highschool sprawling was like an instawin button against my m8s because they weren't good or strong enough to finish the takedown or do peek outs.
takedown on the other hand i find more difficult, and i frankly sucked at it. you have to set it up properly. hand fight, get dominant position, clear their hands, level change down, grab a single/double/armdrag.
What you should learn immediately that i didnt learn early enough are how to bail from a shitty shot. learn to do peek outs and learn to get really good at them. drill those mfers or else learning offense will be hell.