In your opinion, what do you think is the right grappling/throwing art for me? Why?

Question

I've practiced Karate and Drunken Kung Fu in the past, but Tae Kwon Do is my major art. I've gotten to black belt in Chung Do Kwan, and I'm a currently a blue belt in Moo Duk Kwan.
I'm 5'11" and 154 pounds. Most of my weight is distrbuted in my lower body, and my legs are pretty long.
I know trying a grappling art is a good idea, but I haven't decided which one I want to take after I get my black belt in Moo Duk Kwan.
Which do you suggest and why? Hapkido?Jujutsu?Sambo?Aikido?Judo?

Answer 1

One cannot underestimate the importance of the instructor, whether Sifu, Master, or Sensei---the instructor truly makes the art. I am a hapkidoist, but I have dappled in BJJ for its grappling superiority. Make no mistake, BJJ is the only real grappling art, but it is very difficult to find good instruction. It is even more difficult in rural areas. This is true of most arts. If you live in a town/city that has hapkido, BJJ, Jiu-jitsu, Aikido, and Sambo then you simply need to do a trial and error with all of them. Before I became a Hapkidoist, I studied Aikido for a year, Goju-Ryu for 3 years, and Ishin-ryu for two years, so I too got my start with the stand up arts. I too am a smaller dude and cannot get away from the dynamic effectiveness of Hapkido. However, I will warn you that not all Hapkido is created equal. Aikido was good, but I think I am too young still to really appreciate it let alone when I was in my early 20s. Hapkido will do several things for you. FIrst it will allow you to transfer smoothly from outfighting to infighting because that is its basis. Also, it coincides very well with Moo Duk Kwan/Tae Kwon Do. It allows you to rely on your already attained outfighting skills and will teach you what to do if/when your opponent closes the gap. It is both proactive and reactive in this sense. You can sit back and reactively wait for your opponent to engage or you can proactively engage your opponent and follow up by closing the gap yourself. Lets face it, only about 10% of people know how to truly fight. Of those 10% about 2% know how to fight in close. So while they are grabbing on to you in hopes that you won't push away and feed them your foot via a side kick. You effortlessly put them in instant pain via a joint lock, followed by a throw, and followed either with a submission or you can creatively feed them that foot while they're on the ground wondering how they were thrown so easily. This is the premise of Hapkido---get your opponent to the ground while you remain standing. The antithesis to this is if you both fall to the ground. If this happens it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some knowledge of BJJ. Keep this in mind though, my BJJ instructor, although only a purple belt, cannot get me to the ground when we both start in a standing position. He is stronger than I am, younger than I am, and faster than I am, but I am a Hapkidoist so balance is one of my learned attributes. One more thing, BJJ is still based around the sport of grappling. Some BJJ instructors will add some street fighting type skills to their repitoire; however, Hapkido is all about the street fighting. If you're not pinching sensitive nerves, fish hooking your opponent's mouth, and pulling on their long hair or beard than you are not practicing Hapkido. On the other hand, pressure points are not taught or used in BJJ. For a small dude, I gladly use pressure points to gain huge advantages over my opponents. Good Luck in your endeavors and I commend you for broadening your game.

Answer 2

Ju jit su or Sambo are great arts for ground skills.I see by your prior experience you have lots of standup training and to be well rounded in your training either of the 2 arts would do well.I used to do all stand up then met a friend who was a BJJ guy and I quickly learned that ground is good to know even if you learn it just to avoid getting taken down.Hope this helps :)

Answer 3

Hapkido, Jujitsu, all you mentioned are good choices.

I think it is going to come down more to you being able to find the right teacher to train you rather than the style. Any of these styles are good for what you want. So now its finding the best teacher for your needs.

Search around your area of reach and see what their is and watch a class, ask questions after, see if you could try a class. Check references, credentials and lineage. If you do this I am sure you will find the right school for you!!!

Each of us are a bit differant and hence need the right teacher to meet those needs.

GOOD LUCK.

Where are you looking to find a place to train??

Answer 4

Well I think the person above me was talking about Brazilian JiuJitsu instead of plain on JJ.

I suggest Judo, Sambo, or BJJ.

However depending on location, quality Sambo or BJJ may be a bit harder to find, and BJJ will definately be more expensive.

Judo is fairly easy to find in pretty much any where.

I say Judo because Jujutsu, Hapkido, and Aikido, while having throwing elements in them, are not great arts for practicality.

Jujutsu was done with having the fact that you were wearing armor in mind, it's movements are limited and were meant to go mainly with a sword weilding fighter. There is not a whole lot of ground work, no ground work sparring, Not to mention that they do little to no sparring, or resistance training. Which will make it generally uneffective.

Hapkido: While I feel it has some good uses, and shows some decent techniques, the total lack of sparring makes it pretty much worthless as well. Their ground work is limited at best, and also rarely sparred.

Let me explain myself, when it comes to throwing, or grappling one of the key components (as any combat art) is the ability to feel leverage, anticipate timing, see openings, and apply your technique. You cannot do these things unless you spar, and are able spar at full speed or close to it, against someone who is trying to win just as bad as you are.

A cooperative opponent in grappling is even more hurtful than if you were just throwing a dummy. Because when it comes down to a fight, your opponent will not be cooperating, they will do what comes natural, and you have to know what that is. What natural human reactions to your techniques are.

This is the problem with Aikido as well, aside from a few places (mostly Tomiki style) they do no sparring, and work Katas, throws, and small joint "grab my wrist" type of locks and throws.

Unforunately in the real world, people do not grab your wrist (because they are not trying to stop themselves from being slashed by a sword, the reason those techniques were developed) In the real world no one is going to jump when you apply slight pressure. Nor do you have time to do complex multistep throws, that require you to spin the person around three times, put one leg in and do the hokey pokey before throwing them.

And realistically, a good throw will leave you on top of a person with all your weight crushing on top of them. You want them to hit the ground at high speeds bearing not only their own weight being throwin 4 feet in the air, but also have to deal with your weight as well at the moment of impace. Not throwing someone and remaining standing.

You want high altitude, hard painful impact, dynamic, so fast your opponent does not know what is going on, type of throws. So that you can take them down, and finish or control them on the ground. That is what grappling is about.

IF you are old enough to take up High School wrestling, then go for that. and Judo for submissions and throws to add to your wrestling game.

Out and out I would say go for Judo, Combat Sambo, or BJJ.

BJJ is limited in it's take downs, but it's ground work is magnificent.

Combat Sambo has a good throws, some striking, and pretty good submissions. Solid groundwork controlling skills as well.

Judo has excellent takedowns and throws, great jointlocks and chokes, and great matwork controlling skills.

That is my suggestions, avoid any places that do not spar, or "roll" as it is referred to in grappling. No Kata, Stances, or magic pants are required for good grappling. Just a good understanding of techniques and the application of them full speed on a resisting opponent day in and day out.

Good luck with your search and on your second upcoming black belt.

Answer 5

Since you have adequate stand up experience, any grappling art would do. A good art to learn would be jiu jitsu. In my opinion, it is the most effective art in teaching ground control and submission grappling. It will teach a large variety of submission locks and holds that include chokes, armbars, kneebars, and ankle locks.

One submission hold that is very effective in controlling your opponent from your back is the triangle choke. This is particularly effective and works well for those who have long legs.

Answer 6

Wrestling

Answer 7

jujutsu because its close contact and controling rather than out there and you working harder to take care of business