West Hartford Connecticut Adult & Youth Martial Arts Training – Mixed Martial Arts, Kung-Fu, Muay Thai, Karate, Brazilian Jiujitsu, MMA, Capoeira

Styles We Teach

We offer instruction in many different martial art styles, including mixed martial arts, traditional systems, and soft style arts. We believe in helping students find and adapt the system of study most desirable to them. By giving students both foundational and in-depth knowledge of the systems for which they desire, we provide them with the capability to make the art grow. That is to say that we would like for our students to become more than the sum of their training. With that approach in mind, we offer instruction in most of the primary and secondary systems of study. Provided below are brief explanations of those systems. Videos are included to show some visual examples of the styles. The videos are from Youtube. Some are solid examples, others are funny. All, however, are from Youtube, and contain content and links that may not be appropriate and the links provided by Youtube may not represent the high standards of ethics and values we hold at Plus One.

If you are interested in Brazilian Jiujitsu, you may also visit our www.bjj.teamplusone.com site. The site contains instructional videos and blogs. It’s extremely informative. (The website was fashioned by Sonny Parlin. Thanks Sonny!)

Sho Biyn Jiu (First Understand Peace)

This system is the cumulative result of the marriage between several styles, which includes primary influences from Chinese Kung-Fu, Muay Thai, Ed Parker’s Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Jiujitsu, and American Boxing.

In joining the philosophies from the styles, various strengths and weaknesses are brought to light regarding each individual style and how the style affects the practitioner. This enables the student to tailor the system towards her/his personal strengths, instead of forcing the student to adapt to the system.

Many traditionalists may get caught up in stylistic differences and feel that adding to a system takes away from its’ purity. While diversifying may be viewed as taking purity away from form, it is my belief that it adds to the essence of a system and makes it stronger. As an illustration, take an upside down pyramid, where the base is at the top and the point is at the bottom. In a traditional system that leaves no room for adaptation, you have the original instructor as the base (top) of the pyramid. S/he may teach many students, but likely doesn’t impart all of her/his knowledge to the students. That is, rarely is a student greater than the teacher. Therefore over time, as instructor teaches student, and the student becomes the teacher and instructs others, you have a knowledge base that decreases in size. You then have the upside down pyramid effect.

With the Sho Biyn Jiu system, the teacher instructs her/his students on how to increase the art and make the art grow. This reverses the upside down pyramid. As well, you lose much of the conceit and pride that may tend to sneak in.