Where can I learn wrestling as a female adult beginner?
October 21, 2017 6:10 AM Subscribe
I want wrestling that doesn’t involve joint locks or choking, which seems to rule our MMA places. I’ve enjoyed playing rugby, especially the tackling, and I’d like a sport that’s just the knocking people down part. I have no experience wrestling and want to learn, in a place with other newbie adults (including other women).
I have no experience with wrestling, but it looks like it could be a lot of fun. I’m strong and not so fast and knocking people down comes pretty naturally to me.
However, I don’t want to do the kind of wrestling that involves choking and joint locks - that sounds scary and not fun. I’d also feel uncomfortable with a place where I was the only woman.
I’ve tried googling for adult Greco-Roman wrestling classes, but came up empty. My partner was like “no there’s lots of places”, but when he sent me the sites, they were all focused on kids and it didn’t look like they offered adult classes.
This must be a thing that exists somewhere, right?
I’m interested in:
* websites for places that offer something like this (regardless of location)
* suggestions of search terms or how to better describe what I want
* strategies for finding this (who do I ask?)
* actual locations in the NYC area
I have no experience with wrestling, but it looks like it could be a lot of fun. I’m strong and not so fast and knocking people down comes pretty naturally to me.
However, I don’t want to do the kind of wrestling that involves choking and joint locks - that sounds scary and not fun. I’d also feel uncomfortable with a place where I was the only woman.
I’ve tried googling for adult Greco-Roman wrestling classes, but came up empty. My partner was like “no there’s lots of places”, but when he sent me the sites, they were all focused on kids and it didn’t look like they offered adult classes.
This must be a thing that exists somewhere, right?
I’m interested in:
* websites for places that offer something like this (regardless of location)
* suggestions of search terms or how to better describe what I want
* strategies for finding this (who do I ask?)
* actual locations in the NYC area
How hard does the knocking-down need to be in order to feel satisfying, and do you definitely want a sport that involves holds?
Aikido does sometimes involve joint locks or choking, but it's wayyyy less aggressive than something like MMA (by design) and the dojos I've been to often have a great balance of genders, offer lots of classes for beginning adults, and have good fun let's-knock-eachother-over vibes. It's also great for improving balance and making you feel good in your body. The Zen part may not be for you, but different dojos have different ways of addressing that part. There are a lot of dojos in the NYC area; not sure where you are, but you might check out Jikishinkan and see if what they're doing looks fun to you.
posted by halation at 6:59 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Aikido does sometimes involve joint locks or choking, but it's wayyyy less aggressive than something like MMA (by design) and the dojos I've been to often have a great balance of genders, offer lots of classes for beginning adults, and have good fun let's-knock-eachother-over vibes. It's also great for improving balance and making you feel good in your body. The Zen part may not be for you, but different dojos have different ways of addressing that part. There are a lot of dojos in the NYC area; not sure where you are, but you might check out Jikishinkan and see if what they're doing looks fun to you.
posted by halation at 6:59 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
I was going to suggest aikido or judo - it's not that there are *no* joint locks (haven't seen choking really), but it tends to be practiced as a community sport rather than competitive sport (though depending on the dojo YMMV), and the focus is on form and getting your body to do the thing, rather on destroying your partner :) Throwing people around is also fun, but the intensity of it is up to you and the skill level and willingness of your partner, too.
I would suggest going to a few dojos to observe both beginner and advanced classes, if you can - like halation mentions above, the dojos also differ in the amount of spiritual elements they add to the practice, it's perfectly possible to find one that is more about throwing in good fun then about Zen :)
posted by Ender's Friend at 7:54 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
I would suggest going to a few dojos to observe both beginner and advanced classes, if you can - like halation mentions above, the dojos also differ in the amount of spiritual elements they add to the practice, it's perfectly possible to find one that is more about throwing in good fun then about Zen :)
posted by Ender's Friend at 7:54 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I found this site that seems to be a list of a bunch of types of martial arts in NYC; maybe you can look through some descriptions and see what appeals to you. The keyword on that one is "grappling," and the first thing I thought of when I read your question was sumo wrestling.
posted by gideonfrog at 8:14 AM on October 21, 2017
posted by gideonfrog at 8:14 AM on October 21, 2017
I think you should check out a judo class. It's a lot of throwing people (and being thrown) on the ground.
posted by gnutron at 8:55 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by gnutron at 8:55 AM on October 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I was going to suggest judo as well, though aikido is a good thought (I have almost zero exposure to it, which is why I didn't think of it). I'd avoid Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (which is where a lot of the grappling in MMA comes from, I believe), mostly because it seems to have high crossover with MMA and, to be frank, BJJ and MMA folks are the people I've been least comfortable training with.
The NY section of USA Wrestling has a women's program and contact information for its director (but virtually no information about anything on its website). If something exists, they're likely the people to know.
posted by hoyland at 8:58 AM on October 21, 2017
The NY section of USA Wrestling has a women's program and contact information for its director (but virtually no information about anything on its website). If something exists, they're likely the people to know.
posted by hoyland at 8:58 AM on October 21, 2017
I'm afraid I can't help with the wrestling aspects, but if you'd just like to knock people down, can I recommend taking up roller derby?
You don't need to be fast, it's all women (including trans, 2spirited etc) and there are very specific rules to make it safe (so, no knocking someone down by hitting their spine, or hitting them from an unexpected direction). It also has more padding than rugby. Its only been around as a sport for 15 years or so, so no one expects you to already know the rules (most of our newbies are in their 20-40s, doing it for the first time)
posted by valoius at 9:06 AM on October 21, 2017 [6 favorites]
You don't need to be fast, it's all women (including trans, 2spirited etc) and there are very specific rules to make it safe (so, no knocking someone down by hitting their spine, or hitting them from an unexpected direction). It also has more padding than rugby. Its only been around as a sport for 15 years or so, so no one expects you to already know the rules (most of our newbies are in their 20-40s, doing it for the first time)
posted by valoius at 9:06 AM on October 21, 2017 [6 favorites]
Judo.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:33 AM on October 21, 2017
posted by humboldt32 at 9:33 AM on October 21, 2017
Best answer: Try calling the places and asking if they have classes for adults, or can refer you to a place that does.
posted by yohko at 12:55 PM on October 21, 2017
posted by yohko at 12:55 PM on October 21, 2017
You might also check with your local SCA group, while they are more known for sword and fencing based martial arts I did find some videos of SCA wrestling.
posted by yohko at 12:59 PM on October 21, 2017
posted by yohko at 12:59 PM on October 21, 2017
I am in a meeting right now, so can't Google this, but you will probably find way more info for collegiate style wrestling (or freestyle) rather than Greco Roman.
Ok, I cheated and googled it. There is a place called Edge in Hoboken, and it looks like the New York Athletic Club also has a women's wrestling team (not sure if you can just join that one though).
posted by Literaryhero at 7:38 PM on October 21, 2017
Ok, I cheated and googled it. There is a place called Edge in Hoboken, and it looks like the New York Athletic Club also has a women's wrestling team (not sure if you can just join that one though).
posted by Literaryhero at 7:38 PM on October 21, 2017
Sumo wrestling?
Judo consists of sweeps and throws, but also locks and chokes. A lot of the beginner stuff is just sweeps and throws.
A more obscure form of wrestling is Shuai Jiao, a form of Chinese wrestling. From what little of it I understand, there are a lot of sweeps and throws.
Unfortunately, if you're out-of-school in terms of age, you're out-of-luck in learning wrestling (freestyle, Greco-Roman).
posted by heliosanthus at 4:12 AM on October 22, 2017
Judo consists of sweeps and throws, but also locks and chokes. A lot of the beginner stuff is just sweeps and throws.
A more obscure form of wrestling is Shuai Jiao, a form of Chinese wrestling. From what little of it I understand, there are a lot of sweeps and throws.
Unfortunately, if you're out-of-school in terms of age, you're out-of-luck in learning wrestling (freestyle, Greco-Roman).
posted by heliosanthus at 4:12 AM on October 22, 2017
Best answer: One big caveat to all these recommendations, Judo is very much about choking and joint locks. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in MMA is often jokingly referred to as "Basically Just Judo", and the originator of BJJ was a Judo practitioner. So if that is a deal killer I'm sorry we can't be more helpful.
However if that's negotiable you should try it, as it is the official Olympic sport of knocking people down and keeping them there. It's like wrestling while wearing pajamas. And as it's an Olympic sport, you will likely find more women in judo than many other combat sports. You should find women training partners, instructors and lots of places that offer women only classes if thats your preference.
Here's a short video showing some basics. Note that the demonstrations are much faster than you would train. Here is a short video with womens match competition highlights, showing judo techniques deployed at 100% speed and power against resistant opponents of roughly equal size and skill. Will give you a better idea if its interesting for you.
If it is, to another point, training chokes and locks should never be scary or threatening for the student. Never. Aside from 'tapping out' (which should be universally respected immediately without question by anyone you train with) the person applying the technique can stop or go slowly and always should. you don't need to fully deploy those techniques to learn or practice them. since you have so much control they are safer to train than many other type of techniques like strikes or throws. This is training, and it should be a safe learning environment.
There are three judo governing bodies in the USA - look for a club or dojo with membership in one or more of those and that has an active competition team in officially sanctioned events. even if you don't choose to compete, knowing that others do gives you confidence in the functionality of the techniques being taught and the competence of the instructors.
This reply got a bit out of hand but I hope you try it. Learning how to properly throw someone across a room is one of life's joys.
posted by anti social order at 11:21 AM on October 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
However if that's negotiable you should try it, as it is the official Olympic sport of knocking people down and keeping them there. It's like wrestling while wearing pajamas. And as it's an Olympic sport, you will likely find more women in judo than many other combat sports. You should find women training partners, instructors and lots of places that offer women only classes if thats your preference.
Here's a short video showing some basics. Note that the demonstrations are much faster than you would train. Here is a short video with womens match competition highlights, showing judo techniques deployed at 100% speed and power against resistant opponents of roughly equal size and skill. Will give you a better idea if its interesting for you.
If it is, to another point, training chokes and locks should never be scary or threatening for the student. Never. Aside from 'tapping out' (which should be universally respected immediately without question by anyone you train with) the person applying the technique can stop or go slowly and always should. you don't need to fully deploy those techniques to learn or practice them. since you have so much control they are safer to train than many other type of techniques like strikes or throws. This is training, and it should be a safe learning environment.
There are three judo governing bodies in the USA - look for a club or dojo with membership in one or more of those and that has an active competition team in officially sanctioned events. even if you don't choose to compete, knowing that others do gives you confidence in the functionality of the techniques being taught and the competence of the instructors.
This reply got a bit out of hand but I hope you try it. Learning how to properly throw someone across a room is one of life's joys.
posted by anti social order at 11:21 AM on October 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I did a search for "learn greco-roman wrestling nyc" and eventually got to a website which suggested contacting a college where they have a women's wrestling team. You can find a (possibly not up-to-date) list of colleges at https://ncwa.net/teams?school=230 but the only thing I see in New York state is at the University at Albany, but their club sports page is useless.
It probably wouldn't hurt to look for club teams at universities in the NYC area.
posted by blob at 6:29 AM on October 21, 2017