I did a little googling and looks like you're not the only one looking for Scott's credentials and proof of his many claims. Apparently, Scott himself could not produce these. I am always skeptical of people who claim to be experts in more than a couple martial arts, train Navy seals......
Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo
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Indeed. BJJ it seems is a lifestyle and to get a black belt is a very serious achievement that can take ten years or more.... if you are committed totally to it. And it's easy to find out if the belts are legit because the BJJ culture requires direct and provable lineage.
I met a dude in a bar in Hillsborough. He had lots of tats and started spinning tales to a buddy and me about his "Krav Maga" mastery. Literally just walked up, introduced himself (has ridiculous nickname), and started running his pie hole.
"KRAV WORKS." was his mantra. He literally had tattoos of many slash marks up his arms. Probably 50-60 of them, which he brought to our attention, and explained that these represented all the "Martial arts masters" he had defeated in "open combat" solely to prove..... wait for it... that "KRAV WORKS".
He, being a "professional warrior" told us of his trip to Thailand, where he went from gym to gym with open challenges to expose the weakness of Muay Thai, and the superiority of KM. His toughest test was a 400lb Samoan Muay Thai master that he defeated using....leg kicks!!
Yep, Krav has better leg kicks than Muay Thai!!
I went home and looked him up. He has a carefully crafted online presence. The sheer smoke and mirrors behind it was fascinating. And, he's got a gym locally and apparently has many student who drink his bullshito koolaid. Bizarre stuff.
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A 125lb woman with good technique would sit my ass down, lol.
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Chuckman
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I know him. Or should say, used to know him, 20 years ago. I am not sure I want to say anything else about what I think about him on an open forum.
The bastardized American version of KM is self defense lite, a handful of useful parlor tricks to immediately extricate yourself. The Israeli version is deeper for sure, but basically the same: an easy to learn, minimal technique, for saving your life and getting away. The Marines leaned heavily on it when they developed their MCMAP program, a mishmash of KM, jiu jitsu, grappling, and maybe a couple others. No one takes that very seriously either, they call it 'Semper Fu.'
Are you talking about me? I feel like you're talking about me. Oh wait, you said "woman" and "good technique". I got neither of those.
You know I've been punching at things for what, 6 years now? 7? 9 if you include that krav stuff with he who shall not be named. Still feel like I know nothing. Every time I leave the mat I feel dumber than when I arrived. There are just so many things I don't know and I haven't even touched on real grappling yet. My most proficient technique is 'hard block, hard block, cry, cry, disengage, 9mm 9mm 9mm'.
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Honestly, I do not remember. After about 2013, I was in and out of Scott's school, and trained and taught a good bit with Mark Cukro at Integrated Martial arts in Harrisburg, which is about 4 miles from my house. Scott's school was about 40 minutes from me, so I was in when I had time to go. I saw a picture of him with some Brazilian dude, handing him a certificate and a black belt, and a few pics of them grappling, etc. Who the dude was, if it was real, etc. had no concern to me, as I was never really interested in the BJJ game as said before. I'm pretty sure he got his purple under Carlson Gracie Jr. If I remember correctly, someone in Scott's jiu-jitsu class had said they saw his name under some website listed as a purple under Carlson, but again, I can't remember for sure. Either way, he was a very high level JJ practitioner.
As far as the fights, this was way before YT and cell phone videos, and even digital camera's when he was competing. In his school, him and his wife had a lot of trophies and plaques with their names and which fights they had been to and competed in. Quiet a few were local, some were in GA, etc. I have personally been to a few with him and saw him in action and win, which was mostly JJ tourneys.
He also had two belts from Fairtex for light heavyweight Muay Thai fights. And, I never really cared to look up all that stuff, as back then, google and the internet wasn't what they are today.
Sounds legit.
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Chuckman
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I have done a handful of sessions each of judo and jiu jitsu. Each is hard in its own way, neither easier than the other. The judo is more cardio intensive for me, so far. The 'practice fights' in 5 minute intervals for the last half hour are gassers for sure.
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Chuckman
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2-3 days a week. I'm perpetually sore lol, but it's been a lot of fun.
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Chuckman
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We got a great deal because it's me and my son, the owner/primary instructor gave us an informal 'family discount'. Otherwise, I am not sure I could afford both of us. If I could take a class every day, I would; I just don't have the time.
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Chuckman
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From what I researched when I was looking into it, that's probably average or just north. I think the local Gracie is about $170; ours is $150, but with the two of us he's charging, I think, $200 for the two of us, and that for all classes (BJJ, judo, grappling/wrestling).
I thought about Gracie but when i went there i got distracted by el jefecito Mexican restaurant in the parking lot.
Chose the chicken quesadilla.
Seriously, good on ya chuckman. It's a great skill to have!
Chose the chicken quesadilla.
Seriously, good on ya chuckman. It's a great skill to have!
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Chuckman
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Most days I'd choose the Mexican food, too. In fact almost all days.
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Chuckman
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Let us know how it goes!!
We're having a great time. Excluding the broken and jammed fingers.
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Chuckman
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Just officially signed up the other day. Going back this week for my second class. I’ll still be squirming around like a fish for a while lol
I just finished up my first month of BJJ, really enjoying it. Unlike the striking arts, the 'rolling' at every class is basically just sparing. Instead of every so often, you spar every class. That's going to get you good in a hurry vs. just drills.
They're charging $125/month, or maybe $135/month, I honestly don't recall. Haven't seen the first charge hit my card yet.
They're charging $125/month, or maybe $135/month, I honestly don't recall. Haven't seen the first charge hit my card yet.
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Chuckman
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If you do no gi, ask your partner what belt they are when you roll. Don't be afraid to say "I want to go at 75% and work on X". Most worth their salt will do that to help out, especially if they are higher belts. If you roll in gi, just ask the higher belts. They know, and most want to help you, not hurt you.
No one has been a douche about it (so far) other than one guy getting kinda cranky because I couldn't do anything. He kept giving me openings I couldn't take. Apparently he's a bit of a 'spaz' though, uses strength instead of technique. I've been told to watch out for him a bit, so now that I know it's not been an issue.
Today I did 3 rounds of rolling, and then the chick I'm working with wanted to spar. She's a black belt in some striking art (kung fu or karate or something) and was really taken aback by my muay thai. I was doing all sorts of 'illegal' things.... grabs, shoves, pulls and combining arts (trying to do a BJJ guillotine choke while standing after fighting my way in, and when that didn't work just throwing a knee to the gut and backing out). She kept going into this weird stance leaving her lead leg really far out, so I just kept hammering away at that with inside kicks. Not hard, just taps, but a lot of them. It was instructional to fight with someone closer to my level, I'm usually working with actual amature level fighters with real cage time who can just 100% kill me so I never have to worry about my control, if I can hit it I'll hit it. She got a couple of really solid spin kicks in, but in her millennial-ness didn't get the joke when I said "half point". Damn kids.
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Chuckman
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No one has been a douche about it (so far) other than one guy getting kinda cranky because I couldn't do anything. He kept giving me openings I couldn't take. Apparently he's a bit of a 'spaz' though, uses strength instead of technique. I've been told to watch out for him a bit, so now that I know it's not been an issue.
Today I did 3 rounds of rolling, and then the chick I'm working with wanted to spar. She's a black belt in some striking art (kung fu or karate or something) and was really taken aback by my muay thai. I was doing all sorts of 'illegal' things.... grabs, shoves, pulls and combining arts (trying to do a BJJ guillotine choke while standing after fighting my way in, and when that didn't work just throwing a knee to the gut and backing out). She kept going into this weird stance leaving her lead leg really far out, so I just kept hammering away at that with inside kicks. Not hard, just taps, but a lot of them. It was instructional to fight with someone closer to my level, I'm usually working with actual amature level fighters with real cage time who can just 100% kill me so I never have to worry about my control, if I can hit it I'll hit it. She got a couple of really solid spin kicks in, but in her millennial-ness didn't get the joke when I said "half point". Damn kids.
I'm glad your peers have been good for you. Yeah, I am not talking about douches, but rather (especially in no gi) the assumption of skill level. Rolling and doing randori (Judo sparring) with brown belts ad black belts is great because they'll usually say "try this, not that", etc. They'll go hard with a peer, but be really instructive with us toddlers.
My problem is that I wrestled and boxed, and I will still instinctively fall back to some of those things. I am working to break those habits. My BJJ instructor though, he said, yeah, in a fight, throw those punches, but for competition, no striking.
Still, I really enjoy it. I go three, sometimes four times a week. Going in 20 minutes.
I would try both. Judo teaches you how to fall which has proved invaluable over time for me. If you don't learn how to fall Judo is a big bowl suck, especially if you're a bigger guy. Gravity is an equal-opportunity punisher. I think a bit of jujitsu is good for everyone. Subduing a bigger opponent is a great skill. Judo is very good on the street too. It has the advantage that you are standing. Works really well if the bad guy is wearing a jacket
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Chuckman
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I would try both. Judo teaches you how to fall which has proved invaluable over time for me. If you don't learn how to fall Judo is a big bowl suck, especially if you're a bigger guy. Gravity is an equal-opportunity punisher. I think a bit of jujitsu is good for everyone. Subduing a bigger opponent is a great skill. Judo is very good on the street too. It has the advantage that you are standing. Works really well if the bad guy is wearing a jacket
Yep, I'm on almost 3 months of doing both. One definitely enhances the other.
I have noticed that. They'll let me try something a half dozen times even though they clearly know two dozen counters. It's like fighting with a kitten (with me being the kitten).
They've noted that I tend to keep my hands up around my face, asking me what I'm doing. Just keeping my guard up for those incoming punches....
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Chuckman
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@Jayne , last night at the fundamentals class the instructor said that now for belt testing (purple, I think) they are requiring competence with Gracie-style self defense techniques, so now we are spending 20 minutes a class doing that. Part of that? Keeping hands up around the face to deflect punches and protect the face. After that we were working on omoplata...
I have no gi today at noon. Going to ice up and take ibuprofen now lol...
I have no gi today at noon. Going to ice up and take ibuprofen now lol...
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I'm head ahead of the game.... finally getting punched in the face is paying off.
I had an ibuprofen chaser with breakfast myself. I know it's going to hurt today more than yesterday.
I'm not even sure how the belt stuff works at the place I'm at, I don't think they really follow anything. Guys who have been there for 3+ years are still wearing white belts and rolling hard against blue belts, it seems pretty random.
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Chuckman
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Yeah, the belt thing is random. I think belt promotion and stripes are up to the discretion of the instructor. My son and I have been going just shy of 3 months, we just got our first stripe. And the stripe? Medical tape lol.