Hi Dwellers of the Jujutsu forum! As some people may have read in my post in the Check Ins thread, I'm about 3 months in to my 15 month journey to the illustrious Shodan, and I've been thinking that, once I get to the destination, I might add another Martial Art once a week to compliment my Jujutsu. Firstly I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, I know that my background in TKD helped in some of my Jujutsu training, and more so in competitions I've fought in, as a lot of people aren't used to opponents kicking as much or as high as I do. But would adding something else help my Jujutsu? I'm thinking either Aikido or Judo. Aikido to help fluidify my Jujutsu more, especially as after the Shodan the Jujutsu syllabus seems to be much more flowy techniques rather than big throws etc. Or Judo to help improve my resistance throws and balance, which would help in the competitions I enter, although recently I've concentrated on other forms of competition rather than the sparring due to my awkward size (before my current fitness thing I'm doing I was too heavy to fight with the middle weights but I was often giving up 10-30kg against other people in the heavyweights... slight issues with only having 3 weight classes =p) Thoughts?
As much as I love certain styles of aikido, if given a choice between the two the answer is always judo, hands down.
15 months to Shodan? From 1st kyu or from scratch? I would say concentrate on your current art and not think about "what next" just yet. By shodan your ideas and priorities may have changed. You might change your mind about which art next...Maybe you will choose an art you haven't even considered yet. If you are not going to take something up now (cross train) then don't think about it until you are ready to begin.
From First Kyu, we have a minimum of 12 months between 1st Kyu and Shodan, but as the Dan gradings are every 12 months compared to Kyu gradings every 3 (not that you can do certain kyu grades every 3 mind) and I passed my Brown in September the next available Dan grading that I can take will be next December. My focus is entirely on Jujutsu at the moment, I've even said that I'm not going to enter any major competitions until I've passed my Shodan. I was just thinking about it and thought that it might prompt an interesting discussion on what have appeared to be quite a quiet forum recently =p Care to expand on why?
More reliable standards between schools, groundwork, more resistant training, higher percentage techniques.
Why not complement a traditional Japanese throwing art with a traditional Japanese striking art and do karate?
I'm quite lucky in that one of the Godan Sensei at the club I train at also has a ~20 year Katate background as well (can't say I know what style or grade he was though) who often will help with striking techniques - usually doing some horrible one knuckle punch to the ribs that floors me in one hit (my ribs are pretty soft after breaking most of them a couple of years ago - he's quite old and so just tells me to be a man =p) combining that with my TKD background I am quite confident with the striking aspect of things - (admittedly punching could do with some improvements, but with weak wrists as well I tend to avoid punching other than as a distraction to get a kick/throw off, as unless they're fully strapped and gloved up my wrists can't handle anything above about a 60% power punch without hurting after...)
I'm with NEEJJ which is a part of the Jikishin Association I'm not sure if there are any Koryu Jujutsu schools near me tbh but could be something else to look into, how different would that be to current training? ie what could it add to my "game"?
We do quite a lot of ground work, two of our Sandan sensei are very into their ground work, and share a lot of that with us and one of the guys I roll with most frequently has started BJJ too, so he's starting to bring some ideas to the mat as well. Some recent syllabus adjustments have started putting a little more focus on some ground work aspects as well - to help in a self defense situation where people are trying to imitate the UFC etc =p I even blagged a gold in the mens heavyweight ground fighting at the jikishin nationals this year =D
I suggest Yoga, Pilates or even gymnastics. You will get greater flexibility, avoid injuries and build a better core. It will also help the mind to switch off from combative mode...
It depends on how you want to widen your scope Ian. You can do it by learning about the history, culture and mindset (koryu), you can learn a completely seperate discipline (Karatedo, judo or aikido) or you could do as cisco suggests and go for yoga or pilates for more flexibility and possibly better recovery time when injured?
I am already looking into fitting some yoga into my new fitness routine, purely for the fitness benefits mentioned. As to how I want to widen my scope, its a tricky question, as I am interested in the benefits of adding Aikido, Judo and Koryu but obviously can't add all three. We have a Yondan sensei who is also a Aikidoka (I think Nidan, could be wrong) and even his jujutsu technique is incredibly flowing, and a joy to watch. Similarly I've been to courses with some other sensei whose technique has seemed so effortless. Adding Judo would improve my competition game with great imrpovements to reistance throwing etc. And Koryu would greatly appeal to my love of the Japanese culture and history etc (tbh I don't know enough about it to know the differences in technique to what I train?)
Hi Ian - As others have mentioned it really depends what your goals are out of the training. As an aside, it looks like you are training in a BJJA (British Ju Jitsu Association) club and that what you are doing is already a combination of aikido, karate and judo. Now if you wanted to try a Judo club to see how what you are doing stacks up to it that wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea. Also if you had a genuine interest in Japanese culture and history, it wouldn't hurt to explore an art that could help you learn more. Again it really depends what you are looking for and those goals will certainly change over time.
We're not with the BJJA any more - politics and all that jazz, we left a year or two ago, but the syllabus is largely the same, although steps have been made to modernise it to relate more to modern self defense techniques (the idea being that the original syllabus was designed for when people watched chuck norris doing big swinging round houses - so most defenses were to deal with that - now everyone is watching UFC so we deal with a bigger range of attacks including more ground work) The head of Jikishin instead has made the UK Martial Arts Governing Body (UKMAGB) and we're within that now, along with a few other martial arts local to us. From the sounds of it the best bet will be to wait until the Shodan has been achieved and see what my goals are then. I've had a bit of a look around and can't seem to find any Koryu clubs near me (Colchester, Essex) - although people more familiar with the art might be able to offer better advice on finding one other than a google search. There does seem to be a good Aikido club in the same village I train Jujitsu with a 7th dan Sensei who is the head of their association which I'd be tempted to try out. And I'm sure I could find a half decent Judo club as well (from what I understand Judo is a bit more universal club wise?) What I'm kind of leaning toward at the moment is a bit of Judo to improve my competition game while I'm relatively young, and then once I start to slow down on the competition front pick up a bit of Aikido to add more flow. The other one I'm already planning on doing albeit probably only once a month if that is battodo after watching a display to help with my katana work as we only really cover a couple of basic kata, but again that will be post Shodan.
Thanks! The plan always was to wait until Shodan before starting anything, I was just trying to do a bit of research and start a bit of discussion on it all (rather than solely being about me =p but all advice is appreciated) But the advice does seem to be see how I feel once I get the Shodan, as there are other hurdles at training as it is besides the difficulty of the Shodan syllabus itself lol.
Do you know where those sword kata come from? Would be good to find that out, as it would then point you to a school to further your sword.
