First Session

I attended my first session in Jiu-Jitsu. First let me tell you that I liked it. The Budokan is a small academy in terms of square footage. The students were all friendly, and as I’d suspected before, Sensei Doug Knispel has a great personality which make his classes fun to be in. He is also quite knowledgeable in his art. (Ofcourse he has to be, right?!)

Let me also tell you learning a new martial art can be a very rewarding and at the same time a very frustrating task. The good thing is that I already have the mind-set and the physical fitness, but the difficult part is learning incompatible principles, and starting at the very bottom. Lots of moves are different. For the past two years I’ve learnt to block this way, now I have to block that way etc… and, I have to wear a white belt! oh well.

So, how does JuJitsu compare to Taekwondo? It’s too early to tell. In Taekwondo we do lots of cardio, then start with basic kicks, punches and blocks, then go to the more advanced stuff like reversal hook kicks, back kicks, spinning kicks etc. and even if done half-right they sort of work. Regardless of how you do, you sweat away doing the routines and get a great deal of satisfaction thinking that you’ve done well. At the end of the class you put your sparring gear on and practice your moves in a 2 min round with a live opponent.

In JuJitsu, there are lots and lots of techniques to learn and if you learn well, you can hopefully defend yourself without throwing a kick or a punch. I will sign up, and continue so stay tuned.

Tags: Martial Arts

Category: Lifestyle