THE HEART OF ALIVENESS resisting, powerful opponents,
we would lack perhais the presence of timing, motion, and energy. Without spontaneous, fully ps the most important check on the wildest imaginations of what we think we might be able to do. If
we want to know what we really can do, we need aliveness, and ultimately, we need competition, in some form.
Healthy, honest competition sharpens and tempers our technique and shapes us as athletes. Of course, competing flat out all the time
is simply not sustainable. Any competitive athlete must spend most of his or her training time building skills, conditioning, and generally preparing. Competition allows us to focus on what we are preparing for.
Even in our competitions, we still place limits, to keep them healthy. We don’t jab each other in the eyes, for instance, even though eye jabs are effective in fighting. It just isn’t good for us, mentally or physically, to go around jabbing each other in the eyes.
Similarly, but to a much lesser degree, boxing, muay thai, judo, and mixed martial arts fighting (as popularized in the UFC) entail very alive, accountable, realistic competition, that comes with a certain physical cost. For instance, there is no getting around the |
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very real, potentially long term damage that results from severe blunt trauma to the head. To some extent, every kind of alive competition comes with physical costs. Sometimes we embrace these, and we’re proud to take part in all these competitions, facing our very toughest peers.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Submission Grappling in general, is special. While BJJ has more than proven itself in Mixed Martial Arts fighting,
it comes with much less physical cost and can be practiced into a healthy old age. It is fighting without the hard physical blows and, generally, without the high arching throws and consequent impacts. It is a way to learn effective fighting by engaging in play. Because
of this, a camaraderie and even a friendliness is altogether common between adversaries.
To be very clear, we at Alive MMA, not only respect but embrace and teach the full range of functional combatives, including boxing, kickboxing, judo, and also realistic, responsible weapons training. Still, Submission Grappling is at the heart of what we do because it
is the most healthy and joyful alive competition we know.
It is with this spirit that we host the Submission Grappling League. |
