ShivWorks

[cedartop]

I actually think you're less likely to get hurt playing those games with serious martial artists than with the average, 200+lb untrained guy on the street.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear the injury rate has gone down as the students training backgrounds deepen.

There could be some validity to that.

 

[turnandshoot4]

This is the most important metric. You learned and it worked in real life. You can't get more value than that from a course

I didn't have very much experience when I took it, but it was several years ago. I'd have check my notebook for the date. Maybe 7 years ago.

I'd say it was 50/50 between people with considerable grappling training and those without. Maybe its not the issue I imagine. I just see the people who follow him going deep into it. One thing Craig does well, though, is pair people up so both benefit.

I've taken it 3 times over the past 9 years.

My observations:
First time I went 9 years ago I was doing basement jiujitsu with buddies, boxing for a gym, and training as many draw and shoots as I could. Got paired up with a "small business owner" and a crossfit guy in my 2 on 1. The "small business owner" turned out to be a JJ black belt. Got stomped pretty bad on that one. Had a much bigger FBI guy that trained muai thai for my 1 v 1. Passed his guard on top and triangle choked him on the 2nd. A few people in that class had *some* JJ, but not many. The black belt was magic. Craig was a purple belt in JJ at the time.

Second time 5 years ago (I think) I went with a group of my instructors. All of my guys were a smattering of JJ multiple stripe white belts, I was blue. Multiple blurple belts in class. Tons more JJ in the 1 v 1. If you didn't have cardio or at least 6 months of JJ, you were getting smoked. Partially because they'd gas out. 2 v 1 was with my own guys so it was normal for us.

Third time 2 years ago class had multiple black belts. I brought my instructor group which was almost all blue. People who ran their own youtube channels doing JJ and self defense oriented things were in class as well. My 2 v 1 was with shivworks alums that had double digit Craig classes under their belts. No fighting, I talked my way out of it. Many more gals in this one (5?). All JJ gals. My female instructor got paired with a larger but not JJ guy. Thought she was going to take his arm off with an omoplata. We did have a "classically" trained pistol guy that screamed at the target after each drill that we shot for about 3 drills. "HELP! THEY JUST TRIED TO KILL ME. SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE. I NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION!" That guy opted out of the grappling.

While we didn't have 2 people pulling guard at the same time, it was definitely a huge rise in Jiu Jitsu at the same location many years apart. (I have always went to Cincinnati) Craig has seemed to start to reel people in on the hard jiu jitsu focus of classes as this is more wrestling based.

 

[Jackson]

I've taken it 3 times over the past 9 years.

My observations:
First time I went 9 years ago I was doing basement jiujitsu with buddies, boxing for a gym, and training as many draw and shoots as I could. Got paired up with a "small business owner" and a crossfit guy in my 2 on 1. The "small business owner" turned out to be a JJ black belt. Got stomped pretty bad on that one. Had a much bigger FBI guy that trained muai thai for my 1 v 1. Passed his guard on top and triangle choked him on the 2nd. A few people in that class had *some* JJ, but not many. The black belt was magic. Craig was a purple belt in JJ at the time.

Second time 5 years ago (I think) I went with a group of my instructors. All of my guys were a smattering of JJ multiple stripe white belts, I was blue. Multiple blurple belts in class. Tons more JJ in the 1 v 1. If you didn't have cardio or at least 6 months of JJ, you were getting smoked. Partially because they'd gas out. 2 v 1 was with my own guys so it was normal for us.

Third time 2 years ago class had multiple black belts. I brought my instructor group which was almost all blue. People who ran their own youtube channels doing JJ and self defense oriented things were in class as well. My 2 v 1 was with shivworks alums that had double digit Craig classes under their belts. No fighting, I talked my way out of it. Many more gals in this one (5?). All JJ gals. My female instructor got paired with a larger but not JJ guy. Thought she was going to take his arm off with an omoplata. We did have a "classically" trained pistol guy that screamed at the target after each drill that we shot for about 3 drills. "HELP! THEY JUST TRIED TO KILL ME. SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE. I NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION!" That guy opted out of the grappling.

While we didn't have 2 people pulling guard at the same time, it was definitely a huge rise in Jiu Jitsu at the same location many years apart. (I have always went to Cincinnati) Craig has seemed to start to reel people in on the hard jiu jitsu focus of classes as this is more wrestling based.

I feel like this trend has good and bad points. Obviously, as the average skill level goes up, the overall field of weapons grappling advances. The better the competition, the more advancement you get in the state of the art.

The downsides are that grappling with an experienced person feels significantly different from Grappling with someone who is big and strong but has never grappled before. If two jiu jitsu guys are playing jiu jitsu, that may be less realistic.

Then the people getting gassed and run over by guys who grapple multiple times a week may not be getting much out of it.

 

[jsharmon7]

I feel like this trend has good and bad points. Obviously, as the average skill level goes up, the overall field of weapons grappling advances. The better the competition, the more advancement you get in the state of the art.

The downsides are that grappling with an experienced person feels significantly different from Grappling with someone who is big and strong but has never grappled before. If two jiu jitsu guys are playing jiu jitsu, that may be less realistic.

Then the people getting gassed and run over by guys who grapple multiple times a week may not be getting much out of it.

Anyone who has trained with a big, spazzy white belt knows it presents different challenges than rolling with someone who is a bit more predictable.