The Root of the Martial Arts Tree

The root of the Martial Arts tree is grappling. Learning to be comfortable on the ground and have a clear knowledge of, at least, the basics of the art are essential. If an attacker closes on you and takes you to the ground, and it is unfamiliar territory for you, you are going to be in serious trouble.

When I have a new student I will have them learn what a kesa gatame is, and then I will have a student put one on them. This is a very basic judo pin, and, by itself not very, not a very solid one. It takes no more than a few seconds to see if the person has any ground game. If they don’t, they will certainly know, right away, why it is so important. I will usually let them try to escape for 30 seconds, making sure that my student is using no more than 30% effort, and being very careful not to hurt the novice. After that I will show and have practice on 3 or 4 different escapes. In our class our goal is not to pin, or submit, the attacker, our goal is to get up and away. I have my students roll away and up, keeping their chin down and checking the perimeter for other, potential, threats.

The basic skills should include learning how to do the mounts, front, side four corner and guard, as well as how to safely escape from them.

We are starting a kids class where we can teach children, and their parents, how to do these and many other skill as a game. As the Gracie’s call it, they learn to “play Ju Jutsu.” Even if they spell it differently… In this way the learns to be comfortable with the Martial Arts and learn vital skills in an atmosphere of enjoyment. And, if Mon and/or Dad join in, they get to learn a lot to and have a wonderful bonding experience with their child or children.

If you have an interest in how this works, please come out and join us at the River of Life dojo. We’d love to train with you!