How much BJJ training do I need to benefit?

[bleedinblue]

I'm a 15 year cop.  37 years old, one daughter who is almost three years old, and my wife is also a cop.

I've never truly considered adding BJJ training into my life, not until I discovered Jocko and Tim K.  Now I'm thinking it needs to happen.  I'm getting older, slower and I'm struggling to keep my conditioning where it once was.  I need all the help I can get, especially with the increasing violence.  My job isn't getting any safer.

So here's the rub...with my wife and I both doing this job, our crappy work schedules and a toddler who is our #1 priority no matter what, I am working on figuring out a way to fit in BJJ.  There is a Gracie Berra gym about 15 minutes from my house, but I guarantee their classes doing fit in well with my work and parenting hours.  I am home in the evenings three days a week, but those are valuable days I need to be home to be a dad. 

I figure I could make it to training one day a week.  Two days would be a rarity but would likely happen occasionally.

Would one day a week do ANY good?  I don't believe this gym is going to cater toward LE, and it seems to me that my needs will differ from those training for sport/points.

[mynewunit]

Number 1 - Anything will be better than nothing. Start from easiest to hardest. Easiest is Watch a bunch of youtube videos from 10 planet, Gracie Academy, Dean Lister, old Jocko classes. Get the wife and have her try a scissor sweep on you, Ezekiel or guillotine.
Next would be getting some videos like Gracie, Jeff Glover, or the like. There are DVD's and online courses.
Then there is classes. One class a week will build a good tool kit. It wont put you on the race track to a black belt. In a few years, you can pair your class with the daughter's and kill 2 birds with one stone.
The gym I used to go to, had cops in class and people with ankle monitors. As for "Law Enforcement" BJJ, you could try a Tim Kennedy Sheepdog course. This is highly tuned toward LE. BJJ classes are all about grappling and technique. It will help your "ground game". Generally the nuance wouldn't be changing your technique before a purple belt. That is a few years off.

[bleedinblue]

Awesome, thank you.

[bleedinblue]

Gracie University has their Survival Tactics course that is built for law enforcement and I just found they offer the complete series online. A little pricey/risky at $400 for each half, but it looks to be a lot of content. It MAY be worthwhile. I'd love to get to their actual class and/or the Sheepdog Response classes at some point.

[bleedinblue]

Just really checking in so I'm not one of those fly by posters in a forum that posts once or twice and never returns. I know that's annoying.

I joined a local gym and went for my first class the other night. It was a good time. A hell of a workout, even though newbies are this gym dont really roll until they've learned at least a handful of moves in the fundamentals class. I was paired with another brand new guy and we did one move repeatedly for like 45 straight minutes.

I'm looking forward to more. I think it is achievable to train one day a week. Not enough, but a lot better than nothing.

[mynewunit]

Don't discount the effort. For a long time once a week will be a lot of improvement. One year of once a week might make you the most skilled on the force.
The path is long.

[dmurk]

I love BJJ. With that said, I found catch wrestling and wrestling probably the two best forms of work for LEOs. I can list a bunch of reasons, but there are many wrestling clubs available for minimal fee or free. My takedowns improved immensely and the workouts were great. You can also do a lot of moves on your own. Sorry to slightly derail your thread.

[bleedinblue]

Luckily this gym has everything from judo to wrestling to kickboxing and my membership covers all classes. I'll be able to branch out.

[dmurk]

Jan 3, 2019 20:20:50 GMT -8 bleedinblue said:

Luckily this gym has everything from judo to wrestling to kickboxing and my membership covers all classes. I'll be able to branch out.

That’s great you can take advantage of all those disciplines. Wrestling to learn takedowns; judo to learn leverage, throws, and decent ground control, kickboxing to learn striking with hands/elbows/knees/and leg strikes. Very good all around training for an LEO. My suggestion is to utilize offense rather than trying to control the suspect’s offense.

[mark2791]

Jan 3, 2019 20:20:50 GMT -8 bleedinblue said:

Luckily this gym has everything from judo to wrestling to kickboxing and my membership covers all classes. I'll be able to branch out.

Sounds good.

Just a suggestion if you don't mind - do they do morning BJJ classes? I'm now doing a mixture of morning and night and the balance means I don't spend too much time away from work and family. Plus I'm very slowly improving.

Good luck on the journey.

[bleedinblue]

Jan 7, 2019 15:56:16 GMT -8 mark2791 said:

Jan 3, 2019 20:20:50 GMT -8 bleedinblue said:

Luckily this gym has everything from judo to wrestling to kickboxing and my membership covers all classes. I'll be able to branch out.

Sounds good.

Just a suggestion if you don't mind - do they do morning BJJ classes? I'm now doing a mixture of morning and night and the balance means I don't spend too much time away from work and family. Plus I'm very slowly improving.

Good luck on the journey.

A couple times a week they have no-gi classes in the afternoon that will absolutely open up training times for me. I can't go to them for now, I have to go to those yet, I have to go to evening fundamental classes for several weeks before I can roll. It sucks, but I get they dont want panicky white belts who dont know ANYTHING to hurt themselves or others.

[mark2791]

For sure.

It's taken me nearly 5 months, but I'm only now starting to relax.

I keep joking with the guys that it's like being pushed into a dense forest with a small pair of scissors.

[dmurk]

I applaud both of you and others who make it a point to train for you, your family, and your partners. As I get older, I remember rolling with all belt levels, go and no-gi. Always be humble and train smart. Be ready to tap and enjoy practice. There is always the “ultimate fighter” in the group and I usually didn’t train with them (unless they knew what was up). I ended up rolling with partners at work.

We worked a lot of takedowns and takedown defense. Another was to be able to not gas out either while in a bad position.

Just remember to turn that fight “clicker” on and open up the WHOLE can of whoop ass when you need it.

Stay safe...