This is the last visualized part of the amazing talk with Matt Thornton a BJJ legend, self defense expert. Next up the full conversation will be published both in the Martial Arts Journey UA-cam channel and also new podcast which you can find here: anchor.fm/martialartsjourney . Enjoy
Through reading The gift of fear and Protecting the gift I found Ellen Snortland and her book Beauty bites beast which has the foreword written by Gavin the Becker. I highly recommend that you check out that book to and check out the type of self defense training-classes called full force (for kids and teens its called kidpower and teenpower). The book was made into a documentary 2 years ago. It only shows through screenings but you can find the trailer here: ua-cam.com/video/DsCy8QFRehw/v-deo.html
kungfujoe I used to wonder about that too until I went and trained with some of them. it's not a perfect system and has some shortcomings (like every style) but the basic moves and principles are really effective. most BJJ places offer a couple of free lessons, my advice would be to go have look and see first hand what everyone is on about. If they all put on robes though and start chanting at you, get out quick! lol
"If somebody's not holding on to you, why didn't you just run away? Unless you're protecting someone, that's a different scenario, but there's not a lot of situations where you need to square up with somebody, you know?" That's golden wisdom right there: the truest self-defense. Thank you Martial Arts Journey! You're helping us a lot.
Good advice, but, if I may throw my $0.02 hat into the ring, clinching with someone who has a weapon on them sounds like a catastrophically bad idea to me. Every time I begin an "encounter" (where my Spider-Sense begins to tell me I should run), I start by assuming the other guy (or at least one of the other guy*s*) have(/has) a knife or a gun on them, or that, if they don't right this second, they will "Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel" when you run into them at the same watering hole next week. "Some people **REALLY** don't like losing, and they don't mind a few ADW ["Assault with a Deadly Weapon"] charges along the way to 'not losing'" is one of my mottos. Metatron has the only conceivable strategy for surviving such an encounter in 2018, but at first glance it's a little off the deep end.
I agree with a lot of this. My thoughts would be to add in watching videos of violent encounters to desensitize you to that as well as training striking. I assume Matt means bjj as in just grappling as opposed to bjj and mma as an umbrella term, so if I've misinterpreted, feel free to disregard the following: Striking well is crucial to violence, particularly when multiple attackers are present (I know in the UK, in over 3/4 of violent encounters, the victim is out numbered) and even just using your striking to set up your takedowns or being able to defend against strikes, I think those skills are crucial. If I had to choose one over the other I'd choose boxing over bjj for self defence but if you can train both then do both because the ability to grapple is still very important.
I would amend this slightly, I'd add #0 BEFORE #1, and say you need to do a SPEAR seminar or a dog brothers seminar, learn the conceptual basics of self defense (don't turn corner at sharp angles, the flinch, the invisible fence, back turn response, etc.), and then I agree with the rest from #1 onwards.
A couple things: This video is very realistic, practical and accurate... so that means no one will want to watch it haha. Secondly... I don't believe that a bjj class is the very best way to start in self-defense, but I believe it is the best way that actually exists. A self-defense specific program, especially one studied with private training with the instructor would be best... but the problem is the large percentage of nonsense in that space.
For me, Martial arts is a combination of hard, soft, slow, and fast of one body. It took me years to understand how martial arts really works. First, I develop every muscles of my body, using weight lifting and adding weights to my body, to be strong. After I observe myself became strong but slow moving due to heavy weight of my body, I practice myself to move slow in every direction that could possibly do as long as it is continue moving until I felt relax because my body is in constant tension. It is just my way of making myself fall a sleep. It could help also to develop your arms and hand expression or your whole body expression. It is also a stretching for your body. Then, I develop my speed by punching fast using only one hand, consecutively. First, right then left. It is a way of developing your force to move forward or outside in the direction of your body. To be fast on punching, you need to relax your fingers. You could also do the same thing using your legs and feet only. After that, I use shadow boxing to simulate a fight for me to train my mind removing or facing my fear during a fight. I use three sets of this simulation. Practicing and then resting three times. Just like tension and rest.
Yes. This is great content! Having given this a lot of thought, and trained mostly in Karate, wrestling and some BJJ and MMA. What you decide to use and when is almost as important your actual skill set. In all that some of my most enlightening work was with a coach fresh from Thailand. We worked 8 weeks of just standing clinch work with no striking. Live drilling HARD but not actuall sparring. Asserting yourself from the clinch with good head controll of the opponent is one of those level of the game that few have perfected like the thai. When it come to true self defense, I think martial arts and BJJ/mma in particular are just as lacking as traditional arts. In the ring, we can test our skills and fight. On the street it's kill or be killed, it's not a fight, it's a deadly encounter. If ever attacked, I draw my force multiplier and end the threat.
FYI, I never aim to become martial artist or learn martial arts but, enemies are always there where ever I go. So, I accidentally discover my martial arts. Style is only a way for someone to pass on his idea of expressing himself in a fight. Just like aikido. If you have develop your own style, you will name it and create a basic movements that base on your own expression, so that, you could pass it on to the next generation and hope that it might be develop by someone who will learn it. But it also depends on how flexible is your body is. If you can do some split or back tumbling, you might add it up to your style of martial arts.
You can apply this to any martial art you don't have to train in bjj, bjj while good and definitely worth learning is not superior to other martial arts period.
If you're ever in the UK I'd love to have my instructor show some of our principles...koryu traditional jujutsu, the old schools have it all when understood properly.
The last ten seconds are priceless. Not everyone is built with strong knuckles and jaws to withstand barehand combat even if they train in some sort of martial art. Good reflexes and mental toughness to remain calm under pressure should be at the top of the list for those of us who are not born with physical talents suitable for extreme fighting. Is there a program that focuses on these aspects of self defence?
Liked this a lot, especially the bit about running away. I also think it's interesting that he mentions that some of the BJJ techniques will be more useful than others, I think this could be said for all of the effective fighting systems. For anyone interested in a course of BJJ that focuses on street defence I would recommend looking at Gracie Jiu Jitsu, they have a channel on youtube: GracieBreakdown. More and more I think the answer to a good self defence system would be to pick the most useful/proven techniques and principles from a couple of effective combat styles. If you combined them into a very short, distilled list I think you could cover all the most common escapes and defenses needed and still learn & teach it quickly.
We need to throw out all of the old stuff and start from the beginning. Start by designing a perfect resting stance and how to move quickly from that stance into defensive dodges and forward moving attack motions. Look at the physics of that stance and initial movements. Such as architectural thrust. Do a google image search for "physics architectural thrust" or wiki "Arch" and you will see how it applies to a strong stance forcing upward and outward into an unyielding solid attack. You can see how important solid contact with the floor is. This can be considered a non-fantastical version of Ki based on real physics. Where fantastical Ki I've heard described as an outward force coming from roughly the navel (though they are probably talking about center of gravity) but really is generated from thrust coming upward from your contact with the ground. I think of Chi as a rotational movement that can be used to circumvent or redirect. Ki straight, Chi rotational. So if contact with the ground is important then maintaining contact as much as possible even while moving in non-telegraphed sudden rapid non-wasteful (not longer than is required) movements should be important. Aimlessly bouncing around constantly is wasteful of energy and while you have no contact with the ground you are vulnerable. So look at all the different fighting styles, perhaps even the way tennis players move, and see what aspects you can harvest. My favorite is the way fencers move, but it doesn't mean you have to take it wholesale. Olympic Fencing Footwork ua-cam.com/video/Q2J3eW1BlAg/v-deo.html I also like to think of zones: Green Zone - where they have to move their body forward to contact you (no jabs, but have step forward cross). You don't need to hop about and you have plenty of time to react. Amber Zone - They are within contact range with jabs. They only need sudden arm movements to contact you. Harder to react to but you are on the edge so a quick move backwards and they fall short. Here you use blocks and counters. Red Zone - Close body proximity. Headbutts, elbows, upper-cuts and body shots are in range and so are grapples. This zone is where I see boxing style rules or wrestling. All movements are difficult to see and react to. When in different zones you have different Modes of Operation. Green Zone you can skirmish moving in and out of the Amber Zone with testing shots, or you can catch your breath dodging away and to the side to keep a safe range. Amber Zone you are blocking and jabbing moving here and there finding an advantage. Red Zone your primary defense is the boxing guard. Your aim is to blitz attack as fast as possible or cover up. Blocks are extremely difficult because your field of vision is restricted and attacks are quick and short. This sort of fighting is exhausting so after a short moment you might need to evacuate to the Green Zone to rest up. Anyway, lots of rambling, but my point is if you really want to reform martial arts start from the beginning. Take samples from everywhere and analyse their merits. Take those parts that have worth and incorporate it into your system. Throw away everything else. Build a sort of Martial Arts Programming Language with Terms, Processes, Variables, Philosophies. Also remember not everyone is the same. What works for one will not work for another. A 6'7" 300 pound man isn't going to fight the same as a 5' 100 pound woman. Think about that in the development.
Oh and develop training practices for the techniques and principles you develop. Examples: Green Zone Avoidance - Practice keeping Green Zone distance with an attacker. Constantly keeping the area behind you and to your sides open while moving away from the attacker. Relaxing, wasting as little energy on that movement to get your wind back. Red Zone Blitz and Cover - Punch bag training, cover up then punch as fast and hard as possible into the punch bag then cover up and repeat. Move back relax, move back into Red Zone and cover/blitz punch again, etc.
BTW Thrust: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The force you exert on the ground creates an equal and opposite force pushing you upward. That is why you don't sink. If you aren't in contact with the ground or your stance is bad then some, or all, of that force is pushing you backward rather than pushing into the solid ground and oppositely into your opponent. This thrust is also needed to move. You push force into the ground and it pushes back and moves your body in a direction. Not in contact with the ground you cannot act. You are waiting for your opponent to act. A simple thing but the kind of very basic thing you need to think about when developing something meaningful and deep from the ground up (no pun intended)
For self defense i wouldn't go to bjj exactly, i would prefer muay thai, or if you like grappling judo is perfect for self defense, i'm not saying bjj isn't good for that purpose but there are better arts for self defense, you don't wanna go to the ground in the street.
Okiwaga that's why bjj is useful, but judo have ground game too, and muay thai is perfect for a person trying to push you ir take you down, an elbow to the face or a knee and its over.
Arik Arteta I think going on the ground on op is great, as long as you train basic wrestling it should be just as effective in most self defense situations
Get fit. And then get fitter. I'm not saying be a gym bro but being able to be good with doing body weight exercises like squats, push ups or pull ups and having a good cardiovascular capacity with running will help you a lot. These are all free to train and you can do them by yourself and develop some discipline and work ethic that will undoubtly carry over in your actual self defense classes or training. At the very least, you'd have some measure of physical capacity to get your ass free and run the fuck away from whatever bad shit you stepped into.
Selve defense basicaly boils down to defending once honor and character, and not actually to win a fight. Once mighty and honorable cities are now in ruble. The start of learning self defence starts with the knowledge that even the mighty ones can be broken to ruble, and that little small trees can grow to become big trees but even those big trees will get old, sick or brought down or damaged by a human, elephant, beaver or fungus). Fight with the will to win and be ready to loose a fight with honor, for there is no absolute guarantee that you will win every time in a self defense situation. I am a lousy weed smoking bullshito artist "captain" of a broken ship who would probably sink crossing a lake, let alone in a voyage across the martial arts oceane, so don't mind my words to much. But in my mind the "yourney in martial arts" is not about learning "selve defense", but about learning about your own character. The strenght of martial arts is not the learning of techniques, but the building of character. In martial arts you wel get some "tools" which (with the right character) can be used for selve defense, but even with the right character and technique you are able to loose a fight. the strenght lies in the way you handle that loss and keep motivating yourself to pick your self up and fight to succeed while being ready to fail with honor and this strenght lies in the building of character. You can win a fight and still loose by showing no character or honor, and you can loose a fight and still win by showing honor and character. That is why it all boills down to defending your honor and character, and not actually about winning or loosing, for everybody will win/ loose some day (in a fight or other aspect of life). When you go to martial arts, you will get punched, kicked and will loose now and then a fight, things which hurt and are not funny but which will build character. You might walk out of the club a "loser" one day, but by coming back next class ready to try again you have shown to have character and thus the potential to become a "winner", which makes you automatically no more a "loser".
This is the last visualized part of the amazing talk with Matt Thornton a BJJ legend, self defense expert. Next up the full conversation will be published both in the Martial Arts Journey UA-cam channel and also new podcast which you can find here: anchor.fm/martialartsjourney . Enjoy
Martial Arts Journey I much prefer Catch Wrestling but a grappling art is the best beginning.
Interested to hear the podacast, will check it out.
Through reading The gift of fear and Protecting the gift I found Ellen Snortland and her book Beauty bites beast which has the foreword written by Gavin the Becker. I highly recommend that you check out that book to and check out the type of self defense training-classes called full force (for kids and teens its called kidpower and teenpower). The book was made into a documentary 2 years ago. It only shows through screenings but you can find the trailer here: ua-cam.com/video/DsCy8QFRehw/v-deo.html
why do bjj dudes always think grapling is the be all end all?is it really a cult? (and so they really think bjj is the only matial art that does it?)
kungfujoe I used to wonder about that too until I went and trained with some of them. it's not a perfect system and has some shortcomings (like every style) but the basic moves and principles are really effective. most BJJ places offer a couple of free lessons, my advice would be to go have look and see first hand what everyone is on about. If they all put on robes though and start chanting at you, get out quick! lol
"If somebody's not holding on to you, why didn't you just run away? Unless you're protecting someone, that's a different scenario, but there's not a lot of situations where you need to square up with somebody, you know?"
That's golden wisdom right there: the truest self-defense.
Thank you Martial Arts Journey! You're helping us a lot.
Good advice, but, if I may throw my $0.02 hat into the ring, clinching with someone who has a weapon on them sounds like a catastrophically bad idea to me. Every time I begin an "encounter" (where my Spider-Sense begins to tell me I should run), I start by assuming the other guy (or at least one of the other guy*s*) have(/has) a knife or a gun on them, or that, if they don't right this second, they will "Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel" when you run into them at the same watering hole next week. "Some people **REALLY** don't like losing, and they don't mind a few ADW ["Assault with a Deadly Weapon"] charges along the way to 'not losing'" is one of my mottos. Metatron has the only conceivable strategy for surviving such an encounter in 2018, but at first glance it's a little off the deep end.
I agree with a lot of this. My thoughts would be to add in watching videos of violent encounters to desensitize you to that as well as training striking. I assume Matt means bjj as in just grappling as opposed to bjj and mma as an umbrella term, so if I've misinterpreted, feel free to disregard the following: Striking well is crucial to violence, particularly when multiple attackers are present (I know in the UK, in over 3/4 of violent encounters, the victim is out numbered) and even just using your striking to set up your takedowns or being able to defend against strikes, I think those skills are crucial. If I had to choose one over the other I'd choose boxing over bjj for self defence but if you can train both then do both because the ability to grapple is still very important.
Okiwaga i disagree. The most common attack is a right haymaker. If an untrained persson wants to hurt someone they'll just punch until he goes down.
I would amend this slightly, I'd add #0 BEFORE #1, and say you need to do a SPEAR seminar or a dog brothers seminar, learn the conceptual basics of self defense (don't turn corner at sharp angles, the flinch, the invisible fence, back turn response, etc.), and then I agree with the rest from #1 onwards.
Good point. I agree as well
Loved this, especially what was said during the last few seconds
A couple things: This video is very realistic, practical and accurate... so that means no one will want to watch it haha. Secondly... I don't believe that a bjj class is the very best way to start in self-defense, but I believe it is the best way that actually exists. A self-defense specific program, especially one studied with private training with the instructor would be best... but the problem is the large percentage of nonsense in that space.
For me, Martial arts is a combination of hard, soft, slow, and fast of one body. It took me years to understand how martial arts really works. First, I develop every muscles of my body, using weight lifting and adding weights to my body, to be strong. After I observe myself became strong but slow moving due to heavy weight of my body, I practice myself to move slow in every direction that could possibly do as long as it is continue moving until I felt relax because my body is in constant tension. It is just my way of making myself fall a sleep. It could help also to develop your arms and hand expression or your whole body expression. It is also a stretching for your body. Then, I develop my speed by punching fast using only one hand, consecutively. First, right then left. It is a way of developing your force to move forward or outside in the direction of your body. To be fast on punching, you need to relax your fingers. You could also do the same thing using your legs and feet only. After that, I use shadow boxing to simulate a fight for me to train my mind removing or facing my fear during a fight. I use three sets of this simulation. Practicing and then resting three times. Just like tension and rest.
Thank you much! I appreciate what you are doing! Please keep going and showing!
Yes. This is great content! Having given this a lot of thought, and trained mostly in Karate, wrestling and some BJJ and MMA. What you decide to use and when is almost as important your actual skill set. In all that some of my most enlightening work was with a coach fresh from Thailand. We worked 8 weeks of just standing clinch work with no striking. Live drilling HARD but not actuall sparring. Asserting yourself from the clinch with good head controll of the opponent is one of those level of the game that few have perfected like the thai. When it come to true self defense, I think martial arts and BJJ/mma in particular are just as lacking as traditional arts. In the ring, we can test our skills and fight. On the street it's kill or be killed, it's not a fight, it's a deadly encounter. If ever attacked, I draw my force multiplier and end the threat.
FYI, I never aim to become martial artist or learn martial arts but, enemies are always there where ever I go. So, I accidentally discover my martial arts. Style is only a way for someone to pass on his idea of expressing himself in a fight. Just like aikido. If you have develop your own style, you will name it and create a basic movements that base on your own expression, so that, you could pass it on to the next generation and hope that it might be develop by someone who will learn it. But it also depends on how flexible is your body is. If you can do some split or back tumbling, you might add it up to your style of martial arts.
You can apply this to any martial art you don't have to train in bjj, bjj while good and definitely worth learning is not superior to other martial arts period.
If you're ever in the UK I'd love to have my instructor show some of our principles...koryu traditional jujutsu, the old schools have it all when understood properly.
The last ten seconds are priceless. Not everyone is built with strong knuckles and jaws to withstand barehand combat even if they train in some sort of martial art. Good reflexes and mental toughness to remain calm under pressure should be at the top of the list for those of us who are not born with physical talents suitable for extreme fighting. Is there a program that focuses on these aspects of self defence?
Did you check this video? ua-cam.com/video/TVcoe6zLZSM/v-deo.html
What if a person has physical restrictions (lower back/neck) is there any other recommendations other than BJJ?
Good advice
I can’t believe Matt didn’t mention multiple attackers…. That is right next to weapons…..
Liked this a lot, especially the bit about running away. I also think it's interesting that he mentions that some of the BJJ techniques will be more useful than others, I think this could be said for all of the effective fighting systems.
For anyone interested in a course of BJJ that focuses on street defence I would recommend looking at Gracie Jiu Jitsu, they have a channel on youtube: GracieBreakdown.
More and more I think the answer to a good self defence system would be to pick the most useful/proven techniques and principles from a couple of effective combat styles. If you combined them into a very short, distilled list I think you could cover all the most common escapes and defenses needed and still learn & teach it quickly.
We need to throw out all of the old stuff and start from the beginning. Start by designing a perfect resting stance and how to move quickly from that stance into defensive dodges and forward moving attack motions. Look at the physics of that stance and initial movements. Such as architectural thrust. Do a google image search for "physics architectural thrust" or wiki "Arch" and you will see how it applies to a strong stance forcing upward and outward into an unyielding solid attack. You can see how important solid contact with the floor is. This can be considered a non-fantastical version of Ki based on real physics. Where fantastical Ki I've heard described as an outward force coming from roughly the navel (though they are probably talking about center of gravity) but really is generated from thrust coming upward from your contact with the ground. I think of Chi as a rotational movement that can be used to circumvent or redirect. Ki straight, Chi rotational.
So if contact with the ground is important then maintaining contact as much as possible even while moving in non-telegraphed sudden rapid non-wasteful (not longer than is required) movements should be important. Aimlessly bouncing around constantly is wasteful of energy and while you have no contact with the ground you are vulnerable. So look at all the different fighting styles, perhaps even the way tennis players move, and see what aspects you can harvest. My favorite is the way fencers move, but it doesn't mean you have to take it wholesale. Olympic Fencing Footwork ua-cam.com/video/Q2J3eW1BlAg/v-deo.html
I also like to think of zones: Green Zone - where they have to move their body forward to contact you (no jabs, but have step forward cross). You don't need to hop about and you have plenty of time to react. Amber Zone - They are within contact range with jabs. They only need sudden arm movements to contact you. Harder to react to but you are on the edge so a quick move backwards and they fall short. Here you use blocks and counters. Red Zone - Close body proximity. Headbutts, elbows, upper-cuts and body shots are in range and so are grapples. This zone is where I see boxing style rules or wrestling. All movements are difficult to see and react to.
When in different zones you have different Modes of Operation. Green Zone you can skirmish moving in and out of the Amber Zone with testing shots, or you can catch your breath dodging away and to the side to keep a safe range. Amber Zone you are blocking and jabbing moving here and there finding an advantage. Red Zone your primary defense is the boxing guard. Your aim is to blitz attack as fast as possible or cover up. Blocks are extremely difficult because your field of vision is restricted and attacks are quick and short. This sort of fighting is exhausting so after a short moment you might need to evacuate to the Green Zone to rest up.
Anyway, lots of rambling, but my point is if you really want to reform martial arts start from the beginning. Take samples from everywhere and analyse their merits. Take those parts that have worth and incorporate it into your system. Throw away everything else. Build a sort of Martial Arts Programming Language with Terms, Processes, Variables, Philosophies. Also remember not everyone is the same. What works for one will not work for another. A 6'7" 300 pound man isn't going to fight the same as a 5' 100 pound woman. Think about that in the development.
Oh and develop training practices for the techniques and principles you develop. Examples: Green Zone Avoidance - Practice keeping Green Zone distance with an attacker. Constantly keeping the area behind you and to your sides open while moving away from the attacker. Relaxing, wasting as little energy on that movement to get your wind back. Red Zone Blitz and Cover - Punch bag training, cover up then punch as fast and hard as possible into the punch bag then cover up and repeat. Move back relax, move back into Red Zone and cover/blitz punch again, etc.
BTW Thrust: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The force you exert on the ground creates an equal and opposite force pushing you upward. That is why you don't sink. If you aren't in contact with the ground or your stance is bad then some, or all, of that force is pushing you backward rather than pushing into the solid ground and oppositely into your opponent. This thrust is also needed to move. You push force into the ground and it pushes back and moves your body in a direction. Not in contact with the ground you cannot act. You are waiting for your opponent to act. A simple thing but the kind of very basic thing you need to think about when developing something meaningful and deep from the ground up (no pun intended)
Boom!
For self defense i wouldn't go to bjj exactly, i would prefer muay thai, or if you like grappling judo is perfect for self defense, i'm not saying bjj isn't good for that purpose but there are better arts for self defense, you don't wanna go to the ground in the street.
Okiwaga that's why bjj is useful, but judo have ground game too, and muay thai is perfect for a person trying to push you ir take you down, an elbow to the face or a knee and its over.
Arik Arteta I think going on the ground on op is great, as long as you train basic wrestling it should be just as effective in most self defense situations
You spelled deterrence wrong. Helpful video though!
Thanks! Sorry, not my native tongue + new word :)
oss
Get fit. And then get fitter. I'm not saying be a gym bro but being able to be good with doing body weight exercises like squats, push ups or pull ups and having a good cardiovascular capacity with running will help you a lot. These are all free to train and you can do them by yourself and develop some discipline and work ethic that will undoubtly carry over in your actual self defense classes or training.
At the very least, you'd have some measure of physical capacity to get your ass free and run the fuck away from whatever bad shit you stepped into.
I see you prescribe to the knowledge of the great Jacko. Matter of fact beaides the lit, I suggested tge same things.
Selve defense basicaly boils down to defending once honor and character, and not actually to win a fight. Once mighty and honorable cities are now in ruble. The start of learning self defence starts with the knowledge that even the mighty ones can be broken to ruble, and that little small trees can grow to become big trees but even those big trees will get old, sick or brought down or damaged by a human, elephant, beaver or fungus). Fight with the will to win and be ready to loose a fight with honor, for there is no absolute guarantee that you will win every time in a self defense situation. I am a lousy weed smoking bullshito artist "captain" of a broken ship who would probably sink crossing a lake, let alone in a voyage across the martial arts oceane, so don't mind my words to much. But in my mind the "yourney in martial arts" is not about learning "selve defense", but about learning about your own character. The strenght of martial arts is not the learning of techniques, but the building of character. In martial arts you wel get some "tools" which (with the right character) can be used for selve defense, but even with the right character and technique you are able to loose a fight. the strenght lies in the way you handle that loss and keep motivating yourself to pick your self up and fight to succeed while being ready to fail with honor and this strenght lies in the building of character. You can win a fight and still loose by showing no character or honor, and you can loose a fight and still win by showing honor and character. That is why it all boills down to defending your honor and character, and not actually about winning or loosing, for everybody will win/ loose some day (in a fight or other aspect of life). When you go to martial arts, you will get punched, kicked and will loose now and then a fight, things which hurt and are not funny but which will build character. You might walk out of the club a "loser" one day, but by coming back next class ready to try again you have shown to have character and thus the potential to become a "winner", which makes you automatically no more a "loser".
Jiu Jitsu proves its worth again
WTF? Striking?