.
.

Judo Gene LeBell: “Wrestling is The Ancestor of Jiu-Jitsu, Judo & Sambo.

Judo Gene LeBell: “Wrestling is The Ancestor of Jiu-Jitsu, Judo & Sambo.

Gene LeBell is an American Judoka, instructor, stunt performer, and professional wrestler born. He has also worked on over 1,000 films and TV shows.  In 2000, the United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (USJJF) promoted him to 9th Dan in jujitsu and taihojutsu. On August 7, 2004, the World Martial Arts Masters Association promoted LeBell to 10th Degree and in February 2005, he was promoted to 9th Dan in Traditional Judo by the USJJF. In an interview with Blackbeltmag Lebell talked about wrestling being the ancestor of all martial arts:

 

“Jiu-jitsu comes from wrestling. So does judo. They’re really all the same thing.”

While that statement may drive some traditional martial artists up the wall, consider the source: “Judo” Gene LeBell. A two-time AAU judo champion, LeBell is regarded as the authority on grappling. But even when you have a background that includes championship titles in professional wrestling and a lifetime of research into unarmed combat, the contours of history can remain sketchy.

“Someone once showed me a book called Egyptian Walls, and it had pictures of those ancient Egyptian paintings,” LeBell said. “In it was a picture of a guy doing a wrestling-[style] body slam. Another one showed him doing a karate-style kick, and still another had him in one of those old-fashioned boxing stances. I don’t know, but there seems to be a lot of similarity between techniques done in the East and West.”

Like his hieroglyphic friend, LeBell takes a multifaceted approach to combat. In his private dojo, a home for “sadomasochists and other people who aren’t too tightly wrapped,” he teaches his own brand of practical self-defense. If anything, LeBell said, his style is closest to the Japanese sport of shootfighting, which he calls the best self-defense method ever devised. With fighters versed in kickboxing and wrestling, and rules that favor a mixture of both, the sport makes for one of the more well-rounded and realistic martial arts going.

“A lot of guys who are world-class in one art like kickboxing or wrestling come to Japan and lose real quick because they’re not versatile enough,” said Bart Vale, a shootfighting instructor based in Miami, Florida.

According to Vale, who has competed — and won — extensively in Japan, the Japanese who started the sport combined their own martial arts expertise with amateur and professional wrestling techniques learned from Western champions, primarily Karl Gotch. Gotch was a shooter (as many real wrestlers prefer to be known) of such ferocity that he often refused to engage in staged matches and was avoided by most American pro wrestlers. Traveling the world, he ended up in Japan in the early 1960s, where he nearly rose to the status of a deity within the local wrestling community. Among his students were the legendary Antonio Inoki, who once fought a memorable, if boring, draw with Muhammad Ali; and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, regarded by many as the finest submission wrestler competing today.

“Karl Gotch is the best wrestler that ever lived as far as I’m concerned,” Gene LeBell said. “He traveled all over the world — India, China, everywhere — to learn techniques.”

Among Gotch’s ports of call was a gym in England that taught the Lancashire style of wrestling, from which he got many of the unique submission holds used today by grapplers.

“That was a place where the first time you came to work out, they’d lock the door and beat the hell out of you,” LeBell said. “Then if you came back the next day, they’d teach you something.”

Modern Times

Today’s methods of grappling instruction are somewhat more civilized, although still quite painful.

Grappling involves a different kind of pain than most martial artists trained in the kicking and punching styles are used to. While a strike may stun a fighter, knock him down or even break bones, it’s different from enduring the searing pain that comes from having a joint twisted past the straining point or the constant grinding of an elbow into the neck.

“When people come to train in shootfighting, the karateka and kickboxers seem to have the most trouble adjusting,” Vale said. “People with an amateur-wrestling background often do better at first because they can take the pain and exhaustion that comes with the sport.”

Besides conditioning, physical toughness and the aforementioned sadomasochistic streak, wrestling primarily requires technique. The key lies in concentrating all your body weight against a single point on your opponent’s body. A good example of this is found in the cross-body armbar frequently seen in grappling demonstrations and MMA matches. A standard technique in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it’s one of the more common finishing holds used today. Simply, the opponent’s arm is trapped and extended against your body while your legs hold his body down. But the pain comes when you press up with your hips against his elbow joint. (You’ll know you kept the hold on too long when you hear a crack.)

“That’s a great hold because it’s easy to get into from so many different positions,” LeBell said. “In any hold, you have to use all the muscles in your legs, hips and back.”

Another key to successfully using holds like the armbar is applying pressure in two directions. This is clearly shown when someone performs a simple but effective choking technique: While pressing down with your forearm against the carotid artery on the side of your opponent’s neck, simultaneously pull up on his head, thus doubling the pressure. (Kids, don’t try this at home. Vale said he once saw a similar hold, done with the legs, strangle a competitor to death during a shootfighting match in Japan.)

The final principle that contributes to wrestling’s effectiveness is the old judo maxim of using an opponent’s own strength against him. In other words, if you’re trying to twist a person’s head to the left and he’s resisting by turning to the right, change the direction of your technique and go along with him by pushing to the right. Usually, he’ll spin into the desired position.

Read the full article