
Originally Posted by
Mike Dewitt Jr
I found out today that if you only compete in grappling tournaments and dont fight mma, that makes you soft because you cant take being hit in the face. I'm just curious what others thoughts are on the subject. I did have a fight against a much more experienced opponent so I guess Im not soft, but whats your opinion?
Jiu Jitsu is soft and hard like water is, it is sometimes smooth and flowing, but when it comes crashing down (submission) it is like falling off a cliff into water, hard like concrete. Strikeing is soft and hard like bamboo, it bends in its relaxation and snaps to a hard strength.
Both are soft sometimes and hard sometimes, both are different in how they are soft and hard. Neither is better, they approach softness and hardness differently because they are different.
The conditioning and relaxation/tenseness of muscles is different. Both reqiure relaxation, in both relaxation can only be developed thru sparring and drilling. In this way they are the same.
One guy loses a loved one and his heart becomes hard and he distant. Another guy loses a loved one and starts a support group and tries to help others who have suffered loss. It is the mindset going into the fight that decides if a person comes out the other side hard or soft. Ones ability to deal with the emotional trauma of the fight. Some people need anger and hardness, some try to achieve a mushin or no mind type state, while others are just trying to have fun.
I just want to have fun with it. I tell the hardasses to join the Marin Corps where hard is a way of life, not a type of conditioning. I tell the Mushin guys that what they are chasing is to close to religous fever for me. For me its a sport I enjoy with my kids, whether we box or grapple and we are here to have fun. Just my two cents.