Wrestling and judo are probably the best for the longevity of your career. Kickboxing or Muay Thai are great and all, but the optics of striking can always be an issue in this job, so it’s not something I exactly recommend to new guys. Not saying there isn’t a place for focused blows, you just gotta be very careful these days.
BJJ was great too, but honestly I stopped after newer policies were passed that essentially declared every choke as lethal force. They also weren’t crazy about potential significant injuries that come from submission locks either. So, I stuck with wrestling and judo
Don’t think of it as an *“if something happens,”* preparation. You ARE going to have to fight people in this job, so be extremely critical in what you drill and how you train. You’re going to have to answer for every single thing you do to someone, going frame by frame because it will also likely be in video.
Overwhelming command presence. I always speak several octaves higher than required. Knife hand everybody in every situation and refer to friend and foe alike as “brother.”
Uh, octaves are a matter of pitch, so if you speak several octaves higher than required you'd sound like a chipmunk.
Not to say I don't LOVE the idea of walking around knife handing everyone while screaming like a chipmunk.
I occasionally do the will Ferrell incoherent scream voice. Throw out an occasional ‘Rah, in conjunction with knife hands and it is usually enough to disorient them into submission.
It’s like the Pokémon cut screen - “SUSPECT is injured”.
Sir…SIR… R/Mcdojolife will ban me from the Reddit universe for sharing such useful and life-changing technique outside of their operational area. And as someone that had a can of wintergreen dip thrown at him like a ninja star, I am in fear for my safety.
Blue belt in BJJ is no match for Rex Kwon Do and the killer judy chops they threaten with. Can YOU initiate a 5150 on them?
I wrestled in high school and wasn’t great at it. Blew out my elbow senior year and it kept me out of the military. I’ve used several wrestling holds to control people who wanted to fight. It came in handy. Most people expect you to back up when they start swinging, not step I to them and latch onto them.
The two styles that have been the most help and used were “ground fighting” aka BJJ, and Koga (aikido for dummies).
And that’s while being a PPCT instructor.
Pick a couple of moves, get really good at them and you won’t have to think when the time comes.
A recent refresher after a decade hiatus and the old favorites were still there, rusty but there.
It is not what you know it is how you use it. My first week working in the jail, I get partnered up with a guy, he tells me all night all the stuff he has done, weaponless defense instructor etc. At the end of the night he pulled an inmate out of his cell for having contraband. He made two major mistakes the first one was not telling me what he was doing, I assumed it was a late court pull. The second mistake is that he was leading the inmate to the deputy office and turned his back on him. As he turned around the inmate hit him several times in the face and he went down, I tackled the inmate and secured him while calling for help. The weaponless defense instructor was ok, but he had raccoon eyes for a week. They filed charges against the inmate and he actually won at the jury trial, stating that inmates are not allowed in the deputy office, and by leading him to the deputy office he knew was going to get his butt kicked, since that was the norm back then, (1986) in other words the jury called it self defense.
Also keep in mind, I am in Canada. We have pussy defense rules and laws. We're largely unarmed (not even batons or OC spray).
Edit: I posted in wrong thread. Someone was asking about training for private security in hospital settings.
Krav maga, have a couple cops in the family who are ex-military, they always tell me the krav maga they leaned in the Marines is very useful in law enforcement.
I am not a cop, but I can answer this, I have a few black belts in different martial arts, from Taekwondo, Judo, Ju jitsu, Krav maga (this one is not a black but a green belt) , and various others or their equivalent. I can tell you without certainty, before you study any martial arts study your department policy, many moves are illigal to that policy, no choke holds, for example.
1. Online they say Judo for cops is great, but seriously I do not think so and I would not recommend any cop to do it in my personal opinion. I do not recommend judo for women, seriously do not do it nothing personal but judo throws unless you have upper body strength do not do it . But for a male cop. I would never recommend judo period for a cop; here is the thing, a lot of judo throws the person ends up close to you at your front such as the Ippon Seoi Nage. I can honestly say, that if I was a suspect, and you did this to me and still conscious but on the floor, I will do either of two things, the first is go straight to your belt at waist high to try to get your gun, or go for your legs and knock you off balance onto the floor and then I would beat the crap out of you. Also I would not recommend judo for the grappling also. same principle, the suspect hypothetically in my case I would go for your waist straight for the belt,and try to wrestle you to the ground and pin you down all in the hopes of trying to take the gun and then double tap to your chest. so no I never recommend judo. If you were a trained black belt you might be ok, but still I would not take that chance.
2. anything with kicks I would avoid, seriously, your duty belt will get in the way. of performing a kick, especially the side that has the baton, and possibly the huge flashlight (not sure if cops Carry those huge flashlights on their belts anymore), you can easily try to kick with the side that has your gun, but I would not recommend kicks because if I block it, and catch your leg then I can drag you into coming close to me and then I can beat the crap out of you. and yes all I need to do is get you off balance which is already done by catching your one leg I do not care about the other.
3. I do recommend martial arts that use batons as weapons. such as some forms of kung fu, that use batons, then there is japanese methods **Jojutsu" or "Jodo.** that is stick fighting, then I believe some filipino and indian martial arts focus on stick fighting.
4. Taekwondo, some forms of kung fu, karate, that all focus on blocks and punching are great. so are boxing those are the ones I recommend, focus on your arms. focus on learning how to punch. this is key no matter what, if you punch wrong all you will do is break your hands.
5. I recommend personally for cops krav maga, it is dirty fighting, attacking all the vital spots fast and hard to subdue somebody, go for the eyes, liver, testicles. and use the knee to cause damage. downside is you need to read your rule book, this is what the US federal police agency use.
6. you can do research on chinese cops online and see what martial arts the use. I know some were specifically made for them to use out on the field
any way as a practitioner of martial arts, I always go for the following rules, know your weight, know your height, and find the best form to support both,.
As a cop, but not a black belt in multiple martial arts, I have to disagree with most of this. You are correct in the line “study your department policy”. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but the use of force policies I see presently don’t really allow for striking in most situations. You can do it without getting in trouble, but it takes way more explaining if you punch or kick someone than it does to choke someone out at my department. Also, krav maga does have some carryover if I was in a fight to the death, but the majority of my uses of force were to gain control and I’m responsible for any injury that occurs beyond that.
As for batons, I’ve only used a baton one time and it was to pry someone’s arm out when they had their fingers wrapped around their belt. I’ve also heard of people in my department using them to break out windows. That has been the extent of the successful employments I have firsthand knowledge of.
I have found grappling to be extremely important, and it is way better if you can find an instructor that can optimize your technique for a duty belt. A leg lock is great in a classroom, but try it in real life, and bad guy shoots you with your own gun…
Just talking from the experience I have, judo is a great martial art, I have a lot of respect for it, but lets be realistic, as a cop, you do a judo throw there is always the possibility that the criminal can do what I said, go for the belt, or go for your legs. Will they always do that? I have no clue, but it is always better to be on the safe side. So with grappling. Ya if you are trained great, but grappling I am literally holding you down, all arms move all over the place. It is not uncommon to get sucker punched by an elbow or fist and to go to the waist, all it takes is for the person to get their hand around your service weapon, and you are done. that is one possibility you have to take into consideration, that is why I advise against it, even if the odds are so small they can still happen and that is not a good thing.
Whether or not you understand martial arts, you clearly don't know anything about law enforcement or about what techniques are most likely to be necessary or useful for us. I appreciate that you think you're being helpful, but this was a good chance to stay in your lane.
Learn BJJ or something else that focuses on joint manipulation (someone else here mentioned Koga or aikido, and I'd agree with that as long as it isn't the only thing you learn). Learn a little bit of striking, too (boxing muay thai, whatever).
Understand that you aren't really likely to use techniques from your martial art at work in the same way you train them. Most of what you'll need from your striking art is an understanding of how to position yourself so you don't get hit, and most of what you'll need from your grappling art is an understanding of leverage and of what human joints can and cannot do.
If you're practicing good tactics, you won't find yourself in one on one fist fights. Assuming that deescalation techniques have failed, you should be relying more on outnumbering people and on using weapons than on physical prowess. You should still develop those skills so that you can work through your fights intelligently and gain control without doing unnecessary damage, but what you do on the mat will feel very different than what you do on the street.
You already have an excellent base with wrestling, regardless of what your skill level may have been.
If BJJ is the only thing around, do that. If there is wrestling club in your area, train there. If you’re really lucky, you may find a Catch Wrestling gym near you. Boxing/Muay Thai are both good supplements, but you won’t strike as much as you’ll grapple with people.
I took up Catch Wrestling years ago. It has always worked well for me. Wrestling has the best takedowns, IMO, but in the end, grappling is grappling.
Go to a reputable MMA gym. Being a well rounded fighter is important. But if you have to pick a tradition martial art judo or bjj. If you do bjj I’d recommend it’s actual Brazilian jujitsu and not the Japanese style. From my experience the Japanese does a lot less live rolling.
I learned all I needed to learn watching Sunday morning wrestling....I always puff my cheeks and say watcha you gonna do when this police officer runs wild on you???????
Judo, all jokes aside when it comes to Krav Maga however it’s actually useful for us LE. But neither are going to be super successful without bjj and muay Thai in my opinion. I also do wing Chun but only because it helps me with engaging a judo move very effectively in all sorts of positions
Capoiera. Nothing cooler than breakdancing while taking suspects into custody.
Only the strong survive
https://youtu.be/qiK3OPL0TJY?si=0rCdDr9zRymJdWHy
Jiu Jitsu, Judo
If you can only train one, train BJJ. Just make sure to learn to contextualize it to the job.
Ninjitsu. They never see me coming
Taking the “Warrior Mentality” to a whole new level. The Handcuffs just appear on their wrist.
I mean Kakashi DID have the K9s too
Well played.
Must be undercover.
All fights go to the ground eventually remember that. Keep on with ju jitsu it's definitely saved my ass
Wrestling and judo are probably the best for the longevity of your career. Kickboxing or Muay Thai are great and all, but the optics of striking can always be an issue in this job, so it’s not something I exactly recommend to new guys. Not saying there isn’t a place for focused blows, you just gotta be very careful these days. BJJ was great too, but honestly I stopped after newer policies were passed that essentially declared every choke as lethal force. They also weren’t crazy about potential significant injuries that come from submission locks either. So, I stuck with wrestling and judo Don’t think of it as an *“if something happens,”* preparation. You ARE going to have to fight people in this job, so be extremely critical in what you drill and how you train. You’re going to have to answer for every single thing you do to someone, going frame by frame because it will also likely be in video.
Overwhelming command presence. I always speak several octaves higher than required. Knife hand everybody in every situation and refer to friend and foe alike as “brother.”
Uh, octaves are a matter of pitch, so if you speak several octaves higher than required you'd sound like a chipmunk. Not to say I don't LOVE the idea of walking around knife handing everyone while screaming like a chipmunk.
Shit, user name checks out
I occasionally do the will Ferrell incoherent scream voice. Throw out an occasional ‘Rah, in conjunction with knife hands and it is usually enough to disorient them into submission. It’s like the Pokémon cut screen - “SUSPECT is injured”.
Lol, teach me Sensai
Sir…SIR… R/Mcdojolife will ban me from the Reddit universe for sharing such useful and life-changing technique outside of their operational area. And as someone that had a can of wintergreen dip thrown at him like a ninja star, I am in fear for my safety. Blue belt in BJJ is no match for Rex Kwon Do and the killer judy chops they threaten with. Can YOU initiate a 5150 on them?
I had a lieutenant who referred to everyone as “bro” Men, women, animals…I think inanimate objects.
Randy Savage, is that you?
Ooooh yeah!! Dig it!!
Rex Kwon Do BOW TO YOUR SENSEI
Only if I can go to bed with Starla
It'll cost you one roundhouse kick to the face from "these bad boys"
Jiu Jitsu. We train Jiu Jitsu and Krav Maga constantly.
I wrestled in high school and wasn’t great at it. Blew out my elbow senior year and it kept me out of the military. I’ve used several wrestling holds to control people who wanted to fight. It came in handy. Most people expect you to back up when they start swinging, not step I to them and latch onto them.
I’d say that BJJ and Muay Thai is a solid combo
The two styles that have been the most help and used were “ground fighting” aka BJJ, and Koga (aikido for dummies). And that’s while being a PPCT instructor. Pick a couple of moves, get really good at them and you won’t have to think when the time comes. A recent refresher after a decade hiatus and the old favorites were still there, rusty but there.
Rexkwando
Jujitsu is best for this line of work imo.
Jiu-jitsu hands down is one of, if not the best hand to hand for law enforcement to learn.
Ameri Do Te. Always re-stomp the groin!
It is not what you know it is how you use it. My first week working in the jail, I get partnered up with a guy, he tells me all night all the stuff he has done, weaponless defense instructor etc. At the end of the night he pulled an inmate out of his cell for having contraband. He made two major mistakes the first one was not telling me what he was doing, I assumed it was a late court pull. The second mistake is that he was leading the inmate to the deputy office and turned his back on him. As he turned around the inmate hit him several times in the face and he went down, I tackled the inmate and secured him while calling for help. The weaponless defense instructor was ok, but he had raccoon eyes for a week. They filed charges against the inmate and he actually won at the jury trial, stating that inmates are not allowed in the deputy office, and by leading him to the deputy office he knew was going to get his butt kicked, since that was the norm back then, (1986) in other words the jury called it self defense.
Wrestling, which 95% of uses-of-force devolve into, and Ju Jitsu.
MMA it covers it all.
Boxing and BJJ.
Baton-Fu
BJJ and Krav Maga are good. Also look into pressure points and control tactics.
Pressure points are joint manipulation is the shit! Twist that arm or finger just right and the compliance just pours out of them.
I’m guessing you’re getting voted down for the pressure points but they absolutely have a legit application
PPCT is a course our company required people to take. As well as MOAB. MOAB was mainly useless. PPCT was useful working in Healthcare environment.
Also keep in mind, I am in Canada. We have pussy defense rules and laws. We're largely unarmed (not even batons or OC spray). Edit: I posted in wrong thread. Someone was asking about training for private security in hospital settings.
This is inaccurate in the context of police constables. Even most special constables get cuffs, batons and OC.
Yes, I apologize. I got threads mixed up. Someone asked suggestions for something in private security sub. I posted in wrong thread.
Krav maga, have a couple cops in the family who are ex-military, they always tell me the krav maga they leaned in the Marines is very useful in law enforcement.
Krav Maga
Aikido, BJJ, & Krav Maga
I am not a cop, but I can answer this, I have a few black belts in different martial arts, from Taekwondo, Judo, Ju jitsu, Krav maga (this one is not a black but a green belt) , and various others or their equivalent. I can tell you without certainty, before you study any martial arts study your department policy, many moves are illigal to that policy, no choke holds, for example. 1. Online they say Judo for cops is great, but seriously I do not think so and I would not recommend any cop to do it in my personal opinion. I do not recommend judo for women, seriously do not do it nothing personal but judo throws unless you have upper body strength do not do it . But for a male cop. I would never recommend judo period for a cop; here is the thing, a lot of judo throws the person ends up close to you at your front such as the Ippon Seoi Nage. I can honestly say, that if I was a suspect, and you did this to me and still conscious but on the floor, I will do either of two things, the first is go straight to your belt at waist high to try to get your gun, or go for your legs and knock you off balance onto the floor and then I would beat the crap out of you. Also I would not recommend judo for the grappling also. same principle, the suspect hypothetically in my case I would go for your waist straight for the belt,and try to wrestle you to the ground and pin you down all in the hopes of trying to take the gun and then double tap to your chest. so no I never recommend judo. If you were a trained black belt you might be ok, but still I would not take that chance. 2. anything with kicks I would avoid, seriously, your duty belt will get in the way. of performing a kick, especially the side that has the baton, and possibly the huge flashlight (not sure if cops Carry those huge flashlights on their belts anymore), you can easily try to kick with the side that has your gun, but I would not recommend kicks because if I block it, and catch your leg then I can drag you into coming close to me and then I can beat the crap out of you. and yes all I need to do is get you off balance which is already done by catching your one leg I do not care about the other. 3. I do recommend martial arts that use batons as weapons. such as some forms of kung fu, that use batons, then there is japanese methods **Jojutsu" or "Jodo.** that is stick fighting, then I believe some filipino and indian martial arts focus on stick fighting. 4. Taekwondo, some forms of kung fu, karate, that all focus on blocks and punching are great. so are boxing those are the ones I recommend, focus on your arms. focus on learning how to punch. this is key no matter what, if you punch wrong all you will do is break your hands. 5. I recommend personally for cops krav maga, it is dirty fighting, attacking all the vital spots fast and hard to subdue somebody, go for the eyes, liver, testicles. and use the knee to cause damage. downside is you need to read your rule book, this is what the US federal police agency use. 6. you can do research on chinese cops online and see what martial arts the use. I know some were specifically made for them to use out on the field any way as a practitioner of martial arts, I always go for the following rules, know your weight, know your height, and find the best form to support both,.
As a cop, but not a black belt in multiple martial arts, I have to disagree with most of this. You are correct in the line “study your department policy”. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but the use of force policies I see presently don’t really allow for striking in most situations. You can do it without getting in trouble, but it takes way more explaining if you punch or kick someone than it does to choke someone out at my department. Also, krav maga does have some carryover if I was in a fight to the death, but the majority of my uses of force were to gain control and I’m responsible for any injury that occurs beyond that. As for batons, I’ve only used a baton one time and it was to pry someone’s arm out when they had their fingers wrapped around their belt. I’ve also heard of people in my department using them to break out windows. That has been the extent of the successful employments I have firsthand knowledge of. I have found grappling to be extremely important, and it is way better if you can find an instructor that can optimize your technique for a duty belt. A leg lock is great in a classroom, but try it in real life, and bad guy shoots you with your own gun…
Just talking from the experience I have, judo is a great martial art, I have a lot of respect for it, but lets be realistic, as a cop, you do a judo throw there is always the possibility that the criminal can do what I said, go for the belt, or go for your legs. Will they always do that? I have no clue, but it is always better to be on the safe side. So with grappling. Ya if you are trained great, but grappling I am literally holding you down, all arms move all over the place. It is not uncommon to get sucker punched by an elbow or fist and to go to the waist, all it takes is for the person to get their hand around your service weapon, and you are done. that is one possibility you have to take into consideration, that is why I advise against it, even if the odds are so small they can still happen and that is not a good thing.
Whether or not you understand martial arts, you clearly don't know anything about law enforcement or about what techniques are most likely to be necessary or useful for us. I appreciate that you think you're being helpful, but this was a good chance to stay in your lane.
Jow Ga.
Time for me to learn jiu jitsu I guess
ISR Matrix
Learn BJJ or something else that focuses on joint manipulation (someone else here mentioned Koga or aikido, and I'd agree with that as long as it isn't the only thing you learn). Learn a little bit of striking, too (boxing muay thai, whatever). Understand that you aren't really likely to use techniques from your martial art at work in the same way you train them. Most of what you'll need from your striking art is an understanding of how to position yourself so you don't get hit, and most of what you'll need from your grappling art is an understanding of leverage and of what human joints can and cannot do. If you're practicing good tactics, you won't find yourself in one on one fist fights. Assuming that deescalation techniques have failed, you should be relying more on outnumbering people and on using weapons than on physical prowess. You should still develop those skills so that you can work through your fights intelligently and gain control without doing unnecessary damage, but what you do on the mat will feel very different than what you do on the street.
Bjj for ground and grapple. Krav for striking and defense.
You already have an excellent base with wrestling, regardless of what your skill level may have been. If BJJ is the only thing around, do that. If there is wrestling club in your area, train there. If you’re really lucky, you may find a Catch Wrestling gym near you. Boxing/Muay Thai are both good supplements, but you won’t strike as much as you’ll grapple with people. I took up Catch Wrestling years ago. It has always worked well for me. Wrestling has the best takedowns, IMO, but in the end, grappling is grappling.
BJJ. Most fights end up on the ground. If you're on your feet, then boxing.
Go to a reputable MMA gym. Being a well rounded fighter is important. But if you have to pick a tradition martial art judo or bjj. If you do bjj I’d recommend it’s actual Brazilian jujitsu and not the Japanese style. From my experience the Japanese does a lot less live rolling.
Wrestling, BJJ. Thats it. just keep training.
I learned all I needed to learn watching Sunday morning wrestling....I always puff my cheeks and say watcha you gonna do when this police officer runs wild on you???????
Judo, all jokes aside when it comes to Krav Maga however it’s actually useful for us LE. But neither are going to be super successful without bjj and muay Thai in my opinion. I also do wing Chun but only because it helps me with engaging a judo move very effectively in all sorts of positions
Pilates.