Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: an intro
Hi.
I bet you don't see me on your friends page much. If you do, there's something weird going on.
But, at last, I've decided to update. I'm going to use this page as a placeholder until I get out of debt and can start spending money frivolously again. Then, I'll register urbancontra.com and start a real blog there.
But, for now, I will write about: brazilian jiu jitsu.
This LJ (and eventually my own blog) will focus on brazilian jiu jitsu and my foray into twisting and bending limbs into uncomfortable positions. First, a quick overview for those of you too lazy to read the wikipedia article on the topic:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (hereforth [I don't care if I made that word up] known as BJJ) was developed from Judo when Japanese judoka (that means "judo dude" in Japanese) Mitsuo Maeda brought the art to Brazil in the 1910s. A man named Carlos Gracie helped Maeda become established in Brazil, and in turn, Maeda taught Gracie judo and Japanese jiu jitsu. Carlos and his brothers established a jiu-jitsu academy in 1925 where they taught a modified version of the art. Thus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was born.
This means that basically, if you ever hear of a Gracie in conjunction with any kind of fighting, you know they're a badass. Any Gracie who is well-known is at least a black belt in BJJ. Most of them are 3rd degree or higher. More on this later.
BJJ is different from most (if not all) martial arts in that striking is not taught at all. The art is focused mostly on fighting from the ground (the jiu jitsu), with some emphasis on throwing your opponent (the judo influence). From these positions, you work to submit your opponent by either manipulating joints or choking your opponent until they either tap, their limb breaks, or they pass out.
Gracie Jiu Jitsu (theyre are other styles, but they only differ in philosophy) was developed to help small people beat big people, so a great deal of the art focuses on being comfortable and defeating opponents from the back. The dominant position from the back is called the "guard" position, in which, facing your opponent, you lock your legs around their back. This restricts their movement and gives you an excellent defensive position while simultaneously allowing you to gain control of the opponent's limbs and neck in order to attack. This also produces several homoerotic positions, in which your opponent will proclaim "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GAY SH-" immediately before passing out. (I'll post a little glossary of terms later on.)
BJJ also differs from other martial arts in training. Martial arts that teach striking can only be taught at slower speeds and with great caution, since a full power strike can seriously injure or kill your sparring partner. Since BJJ is focused on joint locks and chokes, however, sparring partners can practice the art at full speed and power, provided they respect their opponent's range of motion and requests to quit. As a practitioner, you have full control over what you are doing to your opponent, and can stop or let up at any time.
Ranking takes much longer in BJJ. While a devoted student of Karate or Tae Kwon Do can achieve black belt status in a year or two, the same rank in BJJ can take anywhere from 8 to 15 years to achieve. Other martial arts have many ranks; BJJ has only five belts that are attainable by students: white, blue, purple, brown, and black, with one to three "stripes" grading a student's achievement within a belt rank. The red belt is reserved for very high level (9th and 10th stripe) Gracie family members. A red and black belt is sometimes used by instructors who have achieved multiple stripes into the black belt rank.
Later, I'll talk about terminology and actually get into what I intend to write about: my experience, what I've learned, and theories I develop.
I bet you don't see me on your friends page much. If you do, there's something weird going on.
But, at last, I've decided to update. I'm going to use this page as a placeholder until I get out of debt and can start spending money frivolously again. Then, I'll register urbancontra.com and start a real blog there.
But, for now, I will write about: brazilian jiu jitsu.
This LJ (and eventually my own blog) will focus on brazilian jiu jitsu and my foray into twisting and bending limbs into uncomfortable positions. First, a quick overview for those of you too lazy to read the wikipedia article on the topic:
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (hereforth [I don't care if I made that word up] known as BJJ) was developed from Judo when Japanese judoka (that means "judo dude" in Japanese) Mitsuo Maeda brought the art to Brazil in the 1910s. A man named Carlos Gracie helped Maeda become established in Brazil, and in turn, Maeda taught Gracie judo and Japanese jiu jitsu. Carlos and his brothers established a jiu-jitsu academy in 1925 where they taught a modified version of the art. Thus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was born.
This means that basically, if you ever hear of a Gracie in conjunction with any kind of fighting, you know they're a badass. Any Gracie who is well-known is at least a black belt in BJJ. Most of them are 3rd degree or higher. More on this later.
BJJ is different from most (if not all) martial arts in that striking is not taught at all. The art is focused mostly on fighting from the ground (the jiu jitsu), with some emphasis on throwing your opponent (the judo influence). From these positions, you work to submit your opponent by either manipulating joints or choking your opponent until they either tap, their limb breaks, or they pass out.
Gracie Jiu Jitsu (theyre are other styles, but they only differ in philosophy) was developed to help small people beat big people, so a great deal of the art focuses on being comfortable and defeating opponents from the back. The dominant position from the back is called the "guard" position, in which, facing your opponent, you lock your legs around their back. This restricts their movement and gives you an excellent defensive position while simultaneously allowing you to gain control of the opponent's limbs and neck in order to attack. This also produces several homoerotic positions, in which your opponent will proclaim "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GAY SH-" immediately before passing out. (I'll post a little glossary of terms later on.)
BJJ also differs from other martial arts in training. Martial arts that teach striking can only be taught at slower speeds and with great caution, since a full power strike can seriously injure or kill your sparring partner. Since BJJ is focused on joint locks and chokes, however, sparring partners can practice the art at full speed and power, provided they respect their opponent's range of motion and requests to quit. As a practitioner, you have full control over what you are doing to your opponent, and can stop or let up at any time.
Ranking takes much longer in BJJ. While a devoted student of Karate or Tae Kwon Do can achieve black belt status in a year or two, the same rank in BJJ can take anywhere from 8 to 15 years to achieve. Other martial arts have many ranks; BJJ has only five belts that are attainable by students: white, blue, purple, brown, and black, with one to three "stripes" grading a student's achievement within a belt rank. The red belt is reserved for very high level (9th and 10th stripe) Gracie family members. A red and black belt is sometimes used by instructors who have achieved multiple stripes into the black belt rank.
Later, I'll talk about terminology and actually get into what I intend to write about: my experience, what I've learned, and theories I develop.