Nice to meet you

[sixthangel]

Hi everyone, this forum has a lot of information on all kinds of martial arts. I LIKE very much!!! So I'm sixthangel, I'm 27 living in Illinois. I trained in MMA and BJJ for a while and loved it. I stopped for a while but I want to start doing it again. It kinda scares me though when sparing with people. I spared with this one guy and he almost dislocated my jaw...that hurt like a bitchhhhhh. I almost cried. I like the sport but I'm just not good at it. I don't know if I naturally suck or not strong enough or just don't learn. So my question is how long does it take to get better? I trained for about 6 months in BJJ and about 3 in Muay Thai. I didn't see a lot of improvement. One other thing, I want an honest opinion, do you get scared when you spar? I mean it hurts, it's fun but I get bruised so easily and it would take like 5 days to get over the pain every single week. I know I sound like a whimp and I think I am...but I like BJJ...it just scares me when I fight with people. Any advice to get over this fear? Or do you think I should take up self defense class instead?

Another thing about me, I'm trying to get a webstore going, selling Muay thai shorts, Tshirts, sports medicine, and some other stuff. I was just in Thailand visiting my family and I realized that I had the connection in Thailand and I could buy all these cool things to sell on my website. I came across this one ointment called Herbal Ice, I used it and loved it. When you put it on it's cold and helps heal bruising fast. It's just amazing to put on muscle pain. Anyway, If you have time please visit my website: The Exotic Earth Shop If you don't want to buy anything at least critic or become a fan.

Thanks !

The Exotic Earth Shop

[Dankichi]

It sounds like the schools you trained at were not a good fit for you. I think sparring is a pretty important part of training if for no other reason than it gives you good feedback about your technique. However, I don’t think it is generally effective to force people to spar before they feel ready. I think you have two basic choices about sparring; choose a school where you don’t have to spar, or change the way you experience sparring.

I know when I started thinking of sparring as direct and honest feedback on my technique, I made much better progress in my martial arts. Something about punching people in the fist with my face helped me to better understand the corrections my teacher was always making.

[linkmoko]

Hi nice to meet you. Welcome aboard to the forum. Enjoy.

[tomyle1]

welcome sir
nice to see you.