My take on why is it so important to start from the feet in training /// By Jared Weiner

1. Street Fights do not start on the knees. How often do you practice your single and double leg takedowns? If someone is attacking you or your family, you can't stop and say excuse me sir we only start from the knees here... 

2. Knowing how to take a proper break fall is important. Starting from your knees you don't learn to fall properly. This kinds takes us back to the street situation. What happens if you end up getting taken down, the last thing you want to do is smoke your head on the concrete because you don't know how to fall properly. 

3. Tournaments. Grip fighting from the knees is not the same as learning to grip fight from the feet. Pulling guard from the knees is not the same as pulling from the feet, it's a completely different skill set. Last time I checked tournament matches start from the feet. Especially at the lower belt levels a lot of matches go south quickly because a lot of people never trained grip fighting or guard pulling from the feet once. Just take a few minutes at the next tournament and watch a little closer. You will be able to see the difference. 

This is not a knock on practitioners and professors that choose to start from the knees. I understand that space may be an issue and safety is always a concern, but if you never practice training from the feet including takedowns, grip fighting and even guard pulling you are limiting yourself and your students from a major portion of our art and sport. 

Good training to everyone. 

Photo by BDW Photography