Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and ground fighting. It was developed in Brazil in the early 20th century by the Gracie family, who adapted traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu techniques to create a combat style that emphasizes leverage and technique over strength and speed. BJJ is known for its effective use of chokes and joint locks to defeat an opponent. It is often taught in conjunction with other martial arts, such as judo and kickboxing, and is a popular martial art for self-defense and mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions.

What makes Bjj different from other styles?

BJJ focuses a great deal of class time on ground fighting and take-downs and less time on how to throw punches and kicks. One of the first things you will learn in BJJ class is how to initiate a clinch and take your opponent to the ground. You will have a great advantage fighting on the ground being a BJJ student.

If you are unfamiliar with ground fighting, it essentially involves 3 distinct stages or phases. Stage 1 is getting the assailant to the ground where you will have the advantage. The second phase is to gain a superior position. There are intrinsically advantageous positions in fighting these are:

The 3rd and final stage of a conflict is called a submission. Submission techniques include:

Bjj can be sport oriented or self defense oriented depending on the school

Many of the methods of BJJ cannot be applied to real-life combat situations. Examples of these techniques might be the berimbolo, inverted guard and single leg takedowns where your knee makes contact with cement.

While these moves may win you points and prizes in the BJJ competitions, there are far simpler techniques that are much more practical in a real life self defense situations.

The style of BJJ at our school is a combination of both sport BJJ and actual fighting techniques. 

What are the belt colors for BJJ?

BJJ has corresponding ranks for the players who gain expertise in the sport. The belt system for 99% of BJJ schools is the same. It takes many years of hard training to achieve the rank of black belt. It is almost unheard of for anyone to get their black belt in less than 8 years.

The six belts of listed below.

Bjj tournaments

BJJ can be  a more slightly sports-oriented version of the traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu. While both of these are martial arts still have self-defense techniques, BJJ offers students a way to practice fighting at near full speed and power with very little chance of injury. BJJ also offers students a chance to test our techniques in competitions or tournaments.

In BJJ tournaments you are awarded points for executing certain techniques. Here is a short list of the point system. 

For most tournaments matches last between 4 and 10 minutest depending on your division and experience. The competitor with the most points at the end of the match wins.

Leverage and body mechanics

The key to making BJJ work against a larger opponent is using your body mechanics and leverage rather than strength. In this way BJJ uses science and  logic to overcome size and strength.

For example, arm-bars are one of the first techniques you will learn in BJJ, and you will use them through to black belt. This technique uses your hips to apply pressure to an opponents elbow joint to cause pain and make them tap out. The leverage you get from this technique is generated by lifting your hips up and using the large muscles of the human body. With enough lift you can actually break bones and dislocate their arm with this simple technique.

You might not know this but you can be unstable and lose your balance while ground fighting. In BJJ you mus maintain your stability and balance in order for you to gain a superior position.

A good BJJ player will be able to use body mechanics to cause you to lose your balance while rolling on the ground. Once you lose your balance they take advantage of this opportunity and change their position to gain and advantage. They might move into mount, side control or knee on belly after they sweep you.

Body mechanics in BJJ is sometimes know as framing. This along with the ability to play defensive and create space between you and them is the key to their ability avoid being smashed and crushed in rolling.

Sometimes this ability to frame, create space, close space and use leverage is known as invisible jujitsu. Have you ever noticed that when you watch 2 higher belts rolling with each other it doesn't look spectacular? Showtimes it can look downright boring.

However what the untrained eye cannot see is the details of the movements being executed. It is hard to see how such small details in technique can make such a huge difference in ability. Believe me, rolling with a high level black belt can feel like you are drowning. there is now way to create any space to breathe when they are on top of you. They know what you are going to do before you even do it. The reason they know what you are going to do is because through detailed technique they limit all of the things that beginners do. They limit their opponents options.

High level practitioners of BJJ know how to use their weight to crush and smother their opponents. They also know how to create small amounts of space between you and them, so as to be able to facilitate and escape.

Unless you have ever rolled with a high level black belt this feeling of helplessness is hard to explain.