Judo Aikido Mats

Are Self Defense Grappling Techniques Effective on the Street?

Many martial arts and self defense courses teach grappling techniques but how effective are they on the street? Arts like judo and aikido train their students for grappling and are a core part of their belt ranking. Brazillian Jiu Jitsu is probably the best known of the modern grappling arts.

I recently spoke to a guy who has worked for many years as a doorman at bars and clubs and his view of the value of grappling was very much changed by this experience. One of the obvious differences is that training in a dojo or gym is usually done on soft mats or rubber flooring. When you take this onto the street and are on concrete it’s a very different place! Not only the fact that concrete is a lot harder of course – there are obstacles such as cars, lamposts, bins, all of which will obstruct your movement and techniques.

Fighting for survival and not for prizes or pleasure are a world apart. On the street there are no referees or time limits and worst of all no rules! In a street fight there may be other attackers who join in and if you are on the floor even the most proficient grappler will struggle against kicks and other assaults.

Many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes teach students to spar from their knees and this to me is a fundamental error. Although a fight may end up on the floor it will start from a standing position. Other arts neglect the floor and ground fighting self defense techniques but in my view this is at least where a fight starts.

Many grappling techniques rely on using your head as a base or lever point. This is fine in the gym but would this really be practical on concrete? Shooting techniques often rely on you going to your knees and again on concrete this is more likely to injure you than your opponent.

Let me make it clear I have every respect for all martial arts and certainly for Jiu Jitsu but the practicalities of many of the techniques in street fights are limited.

Effective self defense techniques have to be practical a range of conditions and scenarios and for me this means grappling is a limited basis for street fighting and defense.

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Aikido Demonstration Mats Ahlin (2010)

Zebra Grappling Tatami Mat divThis mat is designed to take the throws of Judo Aikido Hapkido Jujitsu etc. It has the same superior multiple density technology as the Combo Mat in a 1.5″ thickness. Also features Tatami-Style Textured vinyl surface and the anti-skid bottom surface. This is a very popular product with law enforcement training of all types. br Mat Size is 1-1/2″ X 3′ 3-3/8″ X 6′ 6-3/4″ br br Pricing: br 1-19: 1…