Hi

I've been doing alot of reading around here on the forums. I've been doing BJJ for around 4 months and was wondering what the best complimentary art would be for my BJJ??? I specifically want this art to be good for real self defense and not just "sport". Real life situations. As we know real life violence is entirely different than sport. Thanks.


BJJBrazil

Wrestling's good, especially if you work your way up to the collegiate level.

I recommend a stand-up, striking art. TKD, Karate, HapKiDo, etc... they're all good complimentary arts, as long as the school is legitimately geared toward self-defense.

BJJ is awesome on the ground, but if you wind up in a streetfight, you want to try and keep from going to the ground, in case your attacker has a buddy lurking in the shadows.

Strike hard, knock him down, run away.

Muay Thai. Boxing (although it lacks kicks and stuff which is a downside), Judo, good Aikido, good Karate/Taekwondo, a reputable combatives system (avoid ones that overly appeal to macho fantasys). Basicly it would probably be good to get a standing martial art to compliment your experience on the ground.

-Umbra

Boxing, wrestling and jits all done together = MMA. Do that.


-John

Muay Thai. 'nuff said.

-Taison out

Agree with all, just make sure it is a good school teaching quality techniques.

Despite the fact that BJJBrazil has been outed as a troll, and summarily banned, I'm going to leave this thread open, because it's a good topic for discussion.

http://www.everythingwingchun.com/Samuel-Kwok-Carlson-Gracie-Double-Impact-DVD-p/sk01.htm

Here's an example of how Carlson Gracie Sr.(RIP) and Sigung Samuel Kwok combined BJJ with Wing Chun.

It seems as though lots of people naturally assume that MT & BJJ are made for each other. I think that comes from the popularity of MMA.

Pardon my ignorance but isn't MT light on sweeps, throws & off-balancing? I know that there are people out there who will claim that MT "has everything" but as a sport (as hard-core as it is), it's a stand-up game.

Karate, Kung-fu, Shorinji-Kempo & other traditional "stand-up" MA have the benefit of throws, sweeps & off-balancing within their systems. I'm not going so far as to claim that Naihanchi kata has grappling techniques in it but it's not a stretch to see BJJ/Judo/Sui-Chao/Wrestling as a logical extension of these so-called "striking arts".

BTW: I don't see it the other way around (karate is an extension of BJJ for example) because you usually start standing & MAY end up on the ground.