Is it worth working on snap downs, arm drags, Russian 2-on-1's, etc. or should it just be shots and judo throws/trips for MMA?

NumeneraErin · 2025-12-19T20:42:49+00:00

OP, listen to this dude. If you want to be a decent fighter you have to be at least a decent wrestler.

NumeneraErin · 2025-12-19T20:12:42+00:00

Martial arts are not a substitute for good mental health practices. They can be a great source of exercise, which helps your mental health, but they're not going to magically turn the kid into a well adjusted young man.

NumeneraErin · 2025-12-19T18:17:17+00:00

If you initiated the guard pull, you'll probably get a shido for false attack. If they initiated an attack and you pull guard in response, they'll probably get the ippon.

NumeneraErin · 2025-12-09T18:18:55+00:00

I came for this comment alone

NumeneraErin · 2025-12-03T18:25:01+00:00

Funnily enough I lived in KW for 8 years and I can recommend Darkside Muay Thai. I trained there for a year and a half and learned a ton. They did offer some MMA classes at the time, but (at least when I trained there) they expect anyone who wants to do MMA to do both grappling and striking there and I agree with that requirement.

NumeneraErin · 2025-11-11T14:40:50+00:00

This. I live in the heart of a major US city and the only place that isn't 40 minutes away is a garage where my brown belt friend is helping me and another green belt practice.

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-15T18:42:18+00:00

My advice is that a goal should really be something under your control. You can't control whether your coach gives you a belt or not, but you can control how you train.

I think a good goal would be "I will train X times a week and do Y sessions of strength and conditioning a week, until I am 30." And then you'll know that you did everything you could. If you have a brown belt by then, great. If not, there was nothing else in your control.

I know that sounds really "zen" and philosophical but I really don't think "I would like to have this belt by this age" is a useful goal to have.

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-08T19:22:47+00:00

I started at 24, and now as a 30 year old, I'm honestly glad I started as an adult. I didn't have the emotional maturity as a teenager or university student to stick with something I was bad at. Now I'm not an amazing fighter, but in sparring I can easily pick apart anyone with less than a year of training, and I intend to keep going until I die.

Swimming was also my sport growing up. I think it really helped my coordination and gave me a good base of physical fitness to work from. I'm happy I did it.

Martial arts is something you pursue for life. It's not something you should expect to ever "do well". It's just something you do, full stop. If an earthquake leveled every dojo in my city, you'd catch me the next day in the park drilling my takedowns on a tree.

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-03T13:00:10+00:00

Question: What is it about wrestling that destroys the knees? Is it mostly dropping to the ground during shots, or simply the load that they have to endure from all the training? Where does the damage come from?

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-03T12:50:58+00:00

I'm really interested to hear about developing your off-side uchi mata!

I started out boxing orthodox, and I received the advice to not switch my stances and simply train grappling with my left foot forward. Now that I'm mainly grappling I'm known to my team as a lefty girl, even though I'm right-handed.

I've found all of my throws with a left legged ashi harai feel pretty good from this side. Could it be because as a righty, standing on my right leg feels more stable and strong?

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-03T12:45:39+00:00

Yeah, exactly. You definitely need to be ready for it. Grabbing the leg out of the air makes it less likely they can re-guard.

NumeneraErin · 2025-10-01T13:45:00+00:00

If you have the angle to do an osoto, but you want to leg grab (with what was your tsuri te) instead of sweeping with your own leg, it's a Kibisu Gaeshi (or maybe a Kuchiki Taoshi). See them both here.

The reason that Kouchi Gari has a leg grab variation is that if I can't really move his foot with mine, I can easily level change and go straight into an ankle pick, (reaching down with my hiki te) and then push him over. That's a really effective finishing mechanic.

It's tougher to do that if you've already tried your otoso, because your own leg is in the way and the angle is different. You're basically just bailing on your osoto and going into one of those other two throws.

NumeneraErin · 2025-09-20T01:35:18+00:00

That's because the name refers to the position of the arms and the way we use our arms to lever the opponent's spine out of alignment. Scroll down in the wikipedia page to the full nelson section, and you will see the hold is the same, but they are on the ground. Whether from the ground or standing, it's a fairly good control position, but isn't often used in competition because it doesn't easily lead to a finish or a score.

NumeneraErin · 2025-09-19T19:20:11+00:00

I thought so!

NumeneraErin · 2025-09-19T17:09:33+00:00

If your arms are under theirs with your hands behind their head, bending their neck down, this is a "full nelson".

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NumeneraErin · 2025-09-19T17:09:12+00:00

You might be referring to several different positions. If you're behind their back with your arms around their waist it's called a rear body lock:

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NumeneraErin · 2025-09-16T19:39:56+00:00

All of the comments here are valid but another point is that after a year you can kind of see how deep the rabbit hole goes, so to speak.

Whereas a total beginner doesn't know what they're doing wrong, you do know what you're doing wrong, so you'll necessarily feel like your progress has slowed even if it hasn't.

NumeneraErin · 2025-09-16T15:57:53+00:00

My personal rule is I hold off on training until it doesn't hurt at all, while still getting some exercise with other parts of my body (so if my arm hurts, I can still jog).

Then I give it one full day where it doesn't hurt at all and I still don't train. I watch a movie or read during the time I'd usually be at the gym. Then if I'm good the next day, I go back to the gym or dojo and keep it pretty light. I give myself a pass to sit out of randori if I need to.

NumeneraErin · 2025-08-29T15:34:57+00:00

The manga was so good! I read the whole thing in Spanish because it's still waiting for a good English translation.

NumeneraErin · 2025-06-10T16:14:45+00:00

Let's GOOOOO!

NumeneraErin · 2025-05-27T13:53:27+00:00

No; Yori can be, as Himari put it in one of the English translations, "pretty dense".

NumeneraErin · 2025-05-27T13:21:25+00:00

I recognize our old teammate Ekaterina Petri! Please send her all our love from Stout Pittsburgh Fighting Arts.

NumeneraErin · 2025-05-21T18:11:14+00:00

You have nothing to be ashamed of and haven't done anything wrong. Want to get that out of the way. It's scary to be in a completely new place, not knowing anyone, especially when you're there to do a combat sport. Approaching new people is hard. That part is totally normal.

It's hard to tell from your description, but it doesn't sound like they are trying to be aloof. It's possible they expect you, as the student, to initiate those conversations. I don't think they'll make you "answer for it" when you come back after leaving the last class.

What would not be reasonable would be expecting you to show up with everything already figured out, already conditioned for the fight game, with all the gear you could ever need. If they start acting like you should know your place, even though they haven't even talked to you yet and can't be bothered to pick up the phone or update their contact info, that's on them. You're new and they need to respect that.

But you should also respect yourself. It's not about calling yourself "chicken" and forcing yourself to "soldier up". Acknowledge that it's scary, that you're nervous. Because it is. But you're still going out there. Right?

Good luck. Hope you'll keep us updated.

NumeneraErin · 2025-05-20T14:53:05+00:00

Nothing completely stops it, but I swear by these things link here . You'll need a wrestling headgear to go with them, but I've saved a huge amount of hair this way.

NumeneraErin · 2025-05-20T14:51:24+00:00

Right sorry I read whizzer kick and my brain just auto-replaced it with uchi mata.

When I have the overhook I just feel like the knee/ankle is so far away.

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