Grappling arts

[Amjmcintosh]

Hi Rmaxers,
After 4 years I am leaving the Bujinkan to explore as-yet unaddressed gaps in my training. I have virtually no ground fighting skills or hardwork experience, and I'd like to do some grappling. Can anyone suggest a style of grappling that would not clash overmuch with RMAX principles? There's very little chance of me getting to the states for proper RMAX groundfighting training in the next year or so.

Grapplers on the boards? I know there's a fair few of you

Thank you

[Christopher]

I have serveral years experience with BJJ and my advice would be to choose based on the people and training environment and not just on the style.Judo and BJJ will probably be the most prevalent.
Good luck on not getting injured.

[Coach Hurst]

I come from a judo background with a strong emphasis in newaza. I absolutely LOVE ground work.

I scanned the internet for some places in your area that appear to be a bit more 'rounded' with stand up and ground work. The University group looks like a solid bunch. It is judo but from the look of it they have various people come in to do seminars including Royce Gracie which I think is a great thing to do.

Here's the home page.

http://clubs.uqsport.uq.edu.au/uqjudo/welcome.html

Here is a list of other clubs.

http://www.judoqld.asn.au/ClubWebPages.htm

Give 'er a look.

And I'm always around for advice on how to not get hurt in judo.

[Amjmcintosh]

I've had a look at some of those videos in your Flight Lessons thread, Coach. I've decided that judo looks like a hell of a lot of fun and I want to try that. Thanks for the links to the clubs. I'd be very keen to hear any advice you have on staying injury free in judo.

Christopher, your second sentence sounded a bit ominous! Is there a high injury rate in groundfighting, then?

[Coach Hurst]

Glad I could be of help Adam.

Like anything new you try there is a risk of injury just by jumping in and trying it. If you can get yourself to realize that you are a beginner and there to learn and not beat everyone from the get go you will be way ahead of the curve.

There are wonderful ways to get you prepared for the learning. That is what we are here for. And I'm real good at helping. Especially for judo.

[Geoff Dixon]

Hey Adam,
My grappling background is quite extensive,BJJ , Greco, freestyle,judo,catch wrestling,etc. I would have to say that the people you train with make ALL the difference. For instance, I trained BJJ for a long time with Renzo Gracie and also did some training with Royce. Not only the same style, but relatives from the same family line, and the teaching and atmosphere were totally different. What I would suggest is to find a place that you are really comfortable with. When you are comfortable with your training partners, it makes it WAY easier to explore the methods of CST and RMAX within the confines of the style you are practicing.
I would also suggest that you take a look at Coach Sonnon's ordering of the Dimensions of Grappling, to get a better idea of how you want to fill the gaps in your training. All of the major styles of grappling have their areas of expertise.
geoff