Question for Ladies about Martial Arts

[BarraGergus]

This is a serious question to all women who practice martial arts, i am interested why not many women take up grappling style arts. Now i have trained with women in the past and they were all very good, but i don't see many starting and taking it further than a few months.

 

I understand the appeal of Striking based arts, for fitness and self defence.

 

Is it that most classes are mainly men and women dont want to fight men?

Is it that grappling just doesn't appeal to ladies?

Or is there a club out there that is all women and i'm talking crap?

 

I would like to hear your opinion on this thanks.

 

Gregg

[themadrev]

Hiya m8. I'm not pretending to be a woman or typing in a high voice! This months 'Ultimate Grappling' mag was saying how women's BJJ is really getting big in the USA. From my own experience here, any Judo club I've been in has always has a good percentage of women-hope you all caught the Women's World Cup from Birmingham on recently on Sky. With BJJ I suppose stuff with the Guard and Mount might be strange and intimidating if you're arriving as a lone female to a BJJ club. maybe it would be good to advertise a female only BJJ class to get things going and after doing the basics together then roll with the men? Anyway I'm writing this on Good Friday afternoon between services so have a good Easter everyone! Cheers

[Crayfish]

I think it'd just take a few to come before more would come - one woman turning up to a class of 20 men might be a bit intimidated especially considering it's all very close up stuff with the guard and mount etc... Although, imagining it the other way round, I'd think some women would be jumping at the chance!

 

We have had a couple down but maybe never enough to form the critical mass needed to start bringing their friends along etc.

 

Don't think starting a womens only class would work that well though - we don't have any women instructors and only one occassional participant... Could very easily just be an empty room

 

Have a great easter, I'll probably be down on Monday - seeya soon!

[Cyclone]

We do a small/moderate amount of grappling, and we certainly find that if we introduce it to early to female novices it puts them off completely.

I think partly it's the extremely competitive style of it, ie unlike the normal uke/tori training style, in grappling someone always wins, and amongst novices it's normally the bigger/stronger.

I suspect that women just aren't as comfortable as men in grabbing hold of a stranger and rolling about on the floor. Especially if the stranger is some sweaty guy.

 

For these reasons we tend to leave the introduction of the grappling until our novices have done probably about 5 or 6 classes covering other aspects, and until women have graded I tend to direct them to fight only other women (even if that's a higher graded female).

My SO has been training for about 8 years now, and she still finds it frustrating when she looses in groundwork grappling to someone just because they outweigh her by 30kg.

[ANVIL]

My SO has been training for about 8 years now, and she still finds it frustrating when she looses in groundwork grappling to someone just because they outweigh her by 30kg.

 

That's an interesting comment, and one that i can relate to as someone who is consistently outweighed by several stones, but i think that Royce Gracie set a great example in early UFC's by beating opponents who outweighed him, and my instructor is possibly the lightest person at our club, but his skill and technique is such that he's still 'the man'! LOL Of course the fact that Royce Gracie and my instructor can both kick ass despite being outweighed makes no real difference to myself and your SO, BUT, i do think it gives cause for optimism. Do you think your SO's situation will ever change, or do you think the weight differential will always be too much to compensate for?

[Cyclone]

it all depends on the amount of weight difference and the amount of skill difference.

Sometimes she wins a few, and beating someone bigger than her who's still got a bit of skill gives her a good sense of achievment.

Enough skill difference can make up for the weight/strength differential. I had a roll with Rosi Sexton, it took her 10 mins, but she choked me out despite my best efforts, and I must outweigh her by a good 20 - 30 kg.

[ANVIL]

I had a roll with Rosi Sexton, it took her 10 mins, but she choked me out despite my best efforts, and I must outweigh her by a good 20 - 30 kg.

 

that's what i like to hear

 

not that you got choked out you understand...

[Crayfish]

I think there are a lot of competitive women... Kickboxing / Thai boxing clubs for example still seem to get a fair few down (and they're far more painful!). I suppose it's harder to compensate for the weight difference in grappling, but I'm still surprised that we get none at all... There must be more budding Rosi Sextons out there!

 

Maybe the sweaty guy thing does have something to do with it though, one thing swapping kicks and punches with a huge sweaty beast and quite another being sat upon by them

[Cyclone]

Rosi came from a traditional JJ background (the same style I do, hence why I know her). And I think she might have done some more punchy/kicky style MA before that. So she had plenty of time to get used to the idea of being sat on (and sitting on) sweaty blokes.

[ANVIL]

what does rosi train in now, and where?