Originally Posted by razor840
Its been awhile since I've trained. I moved back to my hometown after some personal issues and I started trying some gyms out around here, in the Mid-Ohio Valley. I went to a Judo place that was pretty nice, everyone was really cool and I liked it (boy those break falls are no joke :-)) and I tried a JJ place that trains out of the local YWCA. I was wondering if anybody knew of any other good places in the Parkersburg, WV area. I checked the gym finders online and the yellow pages and what not but I just thought I would ask if anyone knew of a low key place I might have missed.
I used to think of JJ and the fighting arts in general as a self defense first kind of thing but I've since gotten my conceal and carry permit and I usually carry a blade in my boot as well, because its getting dangerous around here with all the meth heads wandering around. So I guess I'm really more interested in the sport/MMA aspect at the moment (the whole human chess aspect and what-not). Plus, I want to make sure that if someone tackles me from behind or something, I'll be able to defend and get to one of my weapons in time. I took a self-defense class awhile back that dealt with knives and guns and stuff, I also read a lot of literature about how to stay alert while walking to your car and stuff. Also, I had to become very proficient with fire arms to get my conceal and carry permit. I've been thinking about getting a kevlar vest but I think if I wore it full time, my friends and co-workers might think I was getting too paranoid.
I guess, basically, what I want to ask is, as a grappler, or someone involved in MMA, what is your self-defense strategy? How should I approach a future instructor about these issues, if I want some help addressing them? I agree BJJ=self defense but, how do your instructors go about imparting this? I mean, is there any logical break bettween BJJ/self defense? I mean, I know there are things you should and shouldn't do but how do you train for a legit, street confrontation? I was thinking of maybe trying to find an underground fight club but I don't know if anything like thise really exists or how to find it. I guess maybe tough man contests might because you get the flailing and the testosterone. I also see the spiritual, disentegration of society aspect that gets explored in the movie fight club as somewhat interesting. I watched something on the History Channel about an underground sword fighting club. Anyway, I do see the primal, animalistic side of full on competition as being healthy. Do you see your training as full sport, a mixture of sport and self-defense, or do you like the primal, tearing away social nicieties that you sometimes get when you play human chess with someone?
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