Mitsuyo Maeda: A Protege of the Ne Waza Revolution- MMA Training and Workouts

One of the most important figures in the history of grappling jujitsu was Mistyyo Maeda. He was originally a highly regarded student of classical jujitsu, but like most people of that time, he eventually switched to kodokan judo. Around 1986, Maeda began judo and quickly rose to prominence in the kodokan as a result of his outstanding ability. It is interesting to note that the time that MAeda entered judo coincides with the time that followed Mataemon Tanabe's individual challenges to members of the kodokan. Judo players were already studying ne waza as a way of countering Tanabe's well-known ground skills. Maeda was in fact present to witness the kodokan team lost to Fusen ryu, which preceded the movement toward ne waza training. Maeda was highly ranked in the kodokan and was doubtless a part of the drive toward ne waza expertise.

At the time, however, Jigoro Kano was interested in exporting judo from Japan. He sent delegates all over the world to expand judo overseas with several highly ranked judo men being sent to America and other parts of the world. Maeda was sent to the East Coast of the United States to display and promote judo in 1904, but there he had mixed success. He did fight some challenge matches and win; however, he considered America unsuitable for living as a result of the strong anti-Asian sentiments that he encountered.

Thus, he began a remarkable journey around the world, not unlike that of Yukio Tani, fighting a huge number of challenge matches wherever he went and emerging the winner in all but two cases. In Europe, he took on the name and emerging the winner in all but two cases. In Europe, he took on the name "Count Comde," which is a humorous play on words. It plays on both the Spanish term for combat and Japanese term for trouble, and it conveys the idea that he was the "prince of combat who was constantly in trouble!"

Shortly before World War I, Maeda moved to Brazil. He became involved in the Japanese government's program of overseas colonization. This was the time of colonial powers. Japan, as an emerging power, wanted to be part of the colonial elite and join nations such as England, France and Germany. A national program of emigration to Brazil was begun, and a considerable number of Japanese made the voyage. Maeda was a major figure in this movement and an enthusiastic advocate of Brazil as a place for the Japanese to live.

In looking for land in which to house the colonists, Maeda came to befriend Gastao Gracie, a man of Scottish descent whose family had emigrated to Brazil and gained some prominence on local politics. Both men had an interest in professional fighting. Maeda had become something of a legend in Brazil, fighting all-comers in a large number of challenge matches and teaching his fighting skills to an ever growing number of students. Indeed, "Count Comde" had grown quite rich as a result of his exploits and became an owner of a considerable amount of land. In return, for the help given by Gastao Gracie, Maeda offered to teach his famous fighting skills to Carlos, the oldest of Gastao's sons. For somewhere between two to four years, Carlos learned from Maeda until, Maeda ever the traveler, moved on to a different part of Brazil.

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Technique Differences - MMA Training, Workouts and Muay Thai

Other significant differences exist between traditional jujitsu and Brazilian jiu jitsu. Unlike, Brazilian jiu jitsu, traditional jujitsu has many techniques that could not be used in a sporting or live-training context. For example, many of the favored strikes in traditional jujitsu are aimed at the genitals, eyes and other weak points of the human body; in addition, there are numerous foul tactics, such as biting, hair pulling, stomping and the like. Brazilian jiu jitsu completely lacks all such techniques. In fact, every technique of Brazilian jiu jitsu can be used in sanctioned sporting MMA matches.

In addition to the removal of technique that cannot be practiced at full power on a resisting opponent, there has been wide=-scale revision of technique of the part of Brazilian jiu jitsu stylist. This way due partly to the small size of many of the most influential members of the Gracie family. Lacking size and strength, they were forced to look for the most efficient, effective use of leverage and bio-mechanics to get techniques to work in their favor. The result has been some significant revisions to traditional techniques. Brazilian jiu jitsu has a clear emphasis on technique that makes of so-called gross-motor movements. These are movements that involve large muscles of the human body, and they are strongly contrasted with the fine motor movements, which involve delicate and precise manipulation of small-muscle groups. Swinging a baseball bat would be an everyday example of a gross-motor movement. Threading a needle is an example of fine motor movement.

Many of the core techniques of traditional jujitsu involve fine motor movement. For example. many of the standing wrist locks, finger locks. and eye pokes- which are so prevalent in traditional styles of jujitsu-require precise finger placement. However, fine motor movements are hard to accomplish under the kind of stress and strain found in real combat. Think of how difficult it would be to thread a needle when your heart is pounding and when you are in the midst of a massive adrenaline burst. In the heat of combat, gross-motor movements are far easier to perform. For this reason, many of the core techniques of traditional jujitsu are either totally absent in Brazilian jiu jitsu, or greatly downplayed.

When Brazilian jiu jitsu is compared with traditional jujitsu. It soon becomes clear the Brazilian jiu jitsu is much closer in form to other grappling arts than it is to traditional jujitsu. This is not surprising when one looks at the lineage of Brazilian jiu jitsu artists. Maeda, the Japanese fighter who taught Carlos Gracie, was for a time a student of a traditional jujitsu. however he became a student of Jigoro Kano's judo at age 18, and it was in judo that he really excelled, rapidly working his way up the ranks of th kodokan seniors. Such was his skill level that he was selected by Kano as a representative of judo to be sent to North America. This was an honor meted out only to the best kodokan teachers and fighters, and it clearly shows just how highly regarded Maeda was by his peers and teachers.

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Grappling Arts - MMA in Schaumburg, Aurora, Naperville, Merrillville IN

Grappling styles of jujitsu are based on live training, control and dominance on the ground, in addition to the use of submission holds to end a fight. We have seen that they came into prominence in the late 19th century. They rose to a peak in the early 20th century with the rise of ne waza training in judo, the beginning of kosen judo, and the exploits of individuals such as Yukio Thani, Mitsyo Maeda, and the Gracie brothers. In addition, other grappling styles such as Western catch wrestling- a professional wrestling style based on a rich and complex set of grappling skills that include submission holds-reached a peak at this time. The modern Russian grappling art of sambo had its roots in this time period as well, when a group of grappling experts trained in Japan under Kano and returned to Russia. Combining their knowledge with the extensive tradition of wrestling in Russia, they created a formidable, grappling style of their own. Just when the grappling arts seemed destined to bloom, a series of events undercut the tremendous progress that had been made and thus greatly reduced the popularity and prestige of the various grappling styles.

In 1952, Jigoro Kano, disturbed by what he saw as an unhealthy trend toward ne waza in judo, instituted the first set of rule revisions that favored the use of standing-throwing technique over ground grappling. Players would be penalized if they repeatedly tried to drag their opponent straight down to the mat without attempting to throw. Over time, more and more such restrictions were put in place that made it increasingly difficult to use ground grappling to win a match.

In the post-World War II era, these restrictions got even worse. As judo became an Olympic sport with spectator demands, there was increasing pressure to severely limit "boring" ne waza and focus on the more crowd-pleasing throws. Judo became more and more a test of gripping and throwing skill with less and less focus on ground grappling and combat in general. In time, a widespread view developed that judo had little to do with fighting. The result was that judo, despite its prestige as an Olympic sport, fell into disfavor as a fighting art in the public view.

Sambo became the national grappling style of the Soviet Union. The political tensions between communism and the capitalist West, however, meant that sambo never got any real exposure in the Western nations until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Even among martial artists, it was virtually unknown until the 1990s.

Professional catch wrestling, a fascinating and effective grappling style with many unique submission holds, was ultimately overtake by the development of fake professional wrestling with crowd-pleasing, "worked" matches. The great skills of th old time catch wrestlers were not needed once the outcome of the "fight" was predetermined. Professional wrestling slowly descended into the farcical comedy that it has become today. Nowadays only a tiny number of genuine catch wrestlers remain.

Amateur wrestling, on the other hand, received a tremendous boost with its early inclusion in the Olympic Games. However, all the really combative elements, such as submission holds, were removed. This created a public perception that amateur wrestling was merely a sport, one not to be taken seriously as a martial art or fighting style. It was not until the 1990s that this erroneous perception was overturned with the great success of many amateur wrestlers in MMA competition.

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Technique and Concepts- MMA Workouts, Training and Conditioning

Think about the basic jab. The technique itself is simple and can be adopted quite will in a short time, even by a novice. However, the actual application of the technique is quite a different matter. At this point, you need to do much more than perform the technique itself; you must also engage all the attributes that allow you to apply the technique under combat conditions. For example. you must time the blow correctly and throw it with accuracy. Failure to do so results in a failure to hit the target. In addition, the blow must be thrown with adequate speed, or an opponent will easily evade it. Should you lack conditioning, fatigue soon sets in, destroying your ability to perform the technique correctly. You can clearly see, then, that the actual application of a technique involves much more than the physical movement associated with ti. Rather, proficient execution involves the technique itself combined with an array of attributes that make for successful application.

Herein lies the great weakness of martial arts that train only with kata, because the techniques they teach cannot be preformed safely in a sparring match or sporting competition, they can only be taught by repetitive drilling on a cooperative partner. Such kata training never develops the attributes that are required to accompany the technique if the fighter is to successfully apply it under combat conditions. In other words, kata simply builds technique, not attributes. This imbalance is the great failing of the traditional martial arts and one that has been readily exposed in MMA combat. Combat sports, on the other hand, allow the students to apply their "safe" techniques at full power, application of technique possible. This rationale explains the irony of how an art limited to "safe" techniques can regularly defeat arts packed with deadly or dangerous techniques. Once the distinctions among techniques, concepts and attributes are clearly spelled out, the wisdom of Kano's training method becomes clear.

Modern forms of jujitsu, most notably the Brazilian style, have taken the same approach. Limiting the techniques to those that can be made part of a safe sport, the modern forms of jujitsu have broken away from the classical schools in the all-important area of training method. This trend also applies to the striking aspect of contemporary jujitsu, which is based around Western and Thai boxing, which have both utilized the idea of limiting technique to that which can be made part of a safe sport. Just like modern practitioners of jujitsu, boxers develop the necessary attributes far more proficiently than do classical martial artists because boxers and modern jujitsu fighters can both train the same way they fight.

In fact, there is an axiom of martial arts training that everyone ought to know; The way you train is the way you will fight. Martial arts that allow you to apply your technique at close to full power in daily training and sport allow you to constantly use those very technique in almost exactly the same way during a real fight. This consistency creates a tremendous familiarity with the technique and with its real-world application.

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Defensive Clinching Skills - MMA Training, Conditioning and Workouts

One apt example of a fighter who made excellent use of defense clinching skills to aid his game was the Brazilian fighter Pedro Rizzo. Skilled primarily in Muay Thai kick boxing, he needed a means of keeping a fight in the standing position where he could utilize his strong punches and kicks. Rizzo centered his defense on an effective sprawl, along with an aggressive use of the over-under clinch. Whenever an opponent attempted a takedown, Rizzo would sprawl back and look to under hook the opponent's arms at the first opportunity. This under hook control made it trough for an opponent to complete the takedown. From there, Rizzo would stand up into an over-under clinch, which can be used in a defensive way to make it hard for your opponent to successfully take you down. Once in the over-under clinch, Rizzo would keep his hips back and stay in solid balance, then break the clinch to resume in his favored free-movement phase. Using this tactic, he negated the takedowns of many of his opponents. It simply tired them out. Rizzo could take advantage of their fatigue later in the fight and knock them out with solid punches.

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Sociological change and the Decline of Traditional Jujitsu- MMA Training, Muay Thai, and Jujitsu

Ironically, the same social stability and peace that allowed for the rise of koryu jujitsu also brought about is decline. The extreme isolationist policies of the Tokugawa shogunate meant that Japan stayed locked in a feudal age while the rest of the world went through the scientific and industrial revolutions, which caused a gap between the technological, economic, industrial, and military strength of Japan and the European nations. This came to a head when Commodore Perry sailed his modern gunboats into Japanese waters in 1854 and demanded access to Japanese ports.

Japanese political and military weakness was apparent, and it became increasingly obvious that the old order would have to go. Japan became divided between the forces of conservatism that demanded the preservation of the old feudal system and the growing intellectual classes who clamored for immediate change. In 1868, the old order crumbled, and Emperor Meji restoration took effect, the samuari class, their feudal overloads, and the domains they governed were an immediate casualty. The phasing out of the professional warrior caste and the fighting methods that they employed undercut much of the need for traditional jujitsu schools. Demand for instruction felt away drastically, and the result was a decline in jujitsu ryu, both in quantity and quality. More significant, jujitsu was heavily associated with old Japan and with the old order that had been responsible for th decline of Japanese power relative to the rest of the world. As such, it was seen as obsolete and without value.

Interest in koryu jujitsu plummeted. In addition, the breakdown of the feudal system of domains and restrictions on travel, along with the rapid growth of industrializaton, meant that many Japanese moved from the countryside to the city. Thus, many jujitsu instructors, no longer financially supported by a daimyo, also moved to the cities. This, along with falling number of students, created great competition for paying students. The result was a large number of bloody challenge matches that were designed to prove the superiority of one savory reputation as the activity of thugs and ruffians, which further dampened public interest. The overall result was a real crisis for koryu jujitsu. Most teachers sought out other occupations to make a living.

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Effects of the Fusen-Ryu Challenge Matches

IT is worth investigating the matches between the kodokan and Fusen ryu because they set the pattern for much of the modern development of jujitsu from the 20th century to the present. The single greatest feature of the Fusen-ryu victory was the adoption of an overall strategy that was wedded to a fighting technique that left opponents at a distinct and unexpected disadvantage. The idea was to take an opponent our of his area of expertise and into a situation that he was ill-prepared to deal with, while at the same time developing one's own skills in that specific area. This is exactly the strategy adopted by Mataemon Tanabe.

He saw that the training of pre-20th century judo was woefully inadequate in ground grappling. Thus, he developed his students' skills in ground grappling to a high degree, knowing that it is a relatively easy matter to take a fight to the ground. In this way, he could rationally expect his students to rapidly put their opponents into a phase of combat that they wee simply not able to cope with. T His unexpected strategy succeeded brilliantly in the empirical test of open competition. The core element of this novel strategy is the idea that unarmed combat can be broke up into phases, each of which is quite different in character from the others. For example. fighting in a standing position is entirely different from fighting on the ground. A fighter can be proficient at one but inept in the other. In addition, fighting in the standing position is quite different when the tow combatants get a grip on each other and go into a standing clinch. At that point, the control that they can exert on each other totally changes the character of the match from the situation where neither had any hold on the other.

Tanabe realized that the judo players were skilled in the standing position when they had a grip on this opponents. This is where they had been able to trounce their opposition in the previous challenge matches, such as the Tokyo police tournament. The gripping and throwing skills honed by live training had given the judo representatives a decisive advantage against the classical jujitsu schools and tournaments. The mistake made by traditional jujitsu ryu was to take on the kodokan at heir greatest skill-namely, groping, and throwing.

Fusen-ryu representatives saw that if they could take the fights into a phase of combat that the judo players were ill-suited to deal with, the chances of success would be much greater. Ground grappling was an obvious choice. IT is easy for trained fighters to take a fight to the ground, especially if they are confident enough to simply sit down to the guard position and fight from there. In addition, the means of victory on the ground is via submission holds, something that most untrained people have no idea how to defend against. Tanabe's great insight, them, was this notion of phases of combat. It was a strategy that used these phases to take an opponent out of his comfort zone and into a phase in which he had little change of success.

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