Looking Outside Your Martial Art For New, Cutting-Edge Ideas

It’s late March and wrestling season just ended. I know this because a good number of my youth students were wrestling for their high schools or club teams.

When wrestling season hits we end up with about 5 kids that split their time between wrestling practices and Ivey League.

For me I like for the kids to get out there and experience something like wrestling. No matter what they always return to Ivey League a lot tougher and with a few new tricks.

And that’s what it’s all about, learning as much as you can in order to become the best YOU that you can be.

Yet I’m always surprised to hear other martial arts instructors say they don’t want their kids involved with wrestling.

They see that time spent on the wrestling mats as time that could have gone to better use inside their academy, doing this or that.

When it comes down to it, many instructors just flat out don’t like when their students go looking for new solutions, and they’re not shy about saying it either.

I’m happy to say that I’ve never been like that and in fact I embrace all forms of grappling, not just wrestling.

Whatever can be added to the overall MMA system is a win in my book. When it comes to grappling arts, you’ve got plenty to choose from that’s for sure.

Other styles like Judo and Sombo have tons of useful techniques that, with a little adjustment, work great in BJJ or MMA.

The point I’m trying to make is that it’s not a bad thing to look outside your martial art for new ideas, different takes on techniques and new training systems.

Take me for example, my main styles have always been Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Boxing, everyone knows this.

Everyone also knows that I’m always watching college wrestling or Dutch Kickboxing videos in search of new ideas. I don’t always find them of course but that doesn’t stop me from trying.

I’ve always been the type of fighter who looked for new and cutting edge ideas. Many times those ideas can be find in other styles like Wrestling, Judo, Sombo and yes even Karate!

Seeking out new ideas not only helps my overall MMA game but also keeps me interested and challenged. AKA I don’t get bored.

It also gives my fighting style a unique touch because I tend to do things that most people aren’t familiar with.

Actually, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I use a unique style or anything like that. No It’s more that I use a good blend of different grappling/striking arts in order to give me a wider variety of techniques to choose from.

What’s the saying? Variety’s the spice of life or something like that? Okay well variety is also the spice of your MMA training and it’s never a bad thing to have a few more moves in your back pocket.

Might as well enjoy yourself right? Add variety to your training and sooner or later the payoff will come. That’s when you really get to enjoy yourself 🙂

Okay enough typing for one day. My fingers are shot. Check out the youtube videos below. They feature the 3 main grappling systems I pull from.