Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Along history humankind has developed different types of activities to have a hobby. In this attempt to find a new way to pass time martial arts were born, One of this: Brazilian Jiu- Jitsu.

But, what´s Jiu-jitsu?

Is a martial art, combat sport, and a  self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was formed from early 20th century Kodokan Judo ground fighting (Ne-Waza) fundamentals that were taught to Carlos Gracie by master Mitsuyo Maeda. Brazilian jiu-jitsu eventually came to be its own art through the experimentations, practices, and adaptation from the Judo knowledge of Carlos  who then passed their knowledge on to his extended family.

BJJ promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using leverage and proper technique, taking the fight to the ground – most notably by applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the other person. BJJ training can be used for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self-defense. Sparring(commonly referred to as "rolling") and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition, in relation to progress and ascension through its ranking system.

Benefits of Jiu Jitsu

Everyone associates exercise with a look. People want to look a certain way. You won’t likely hear many people say, “I workout so I can lower my cholesterol.” The only people who say that are the ones who went to the doctor and found out they have high cholesterol and need to exercise. BJJ is no different. Students rarely walk through the door looking to improve their blood sugar, but I always tell people the best part about exercise is the stuff you can’t see. Keep this in mind when you get frustrated training. No matter how many times you got submitted, you are still doing something positive for your health.

On top of that, BJJ teaches you how to use your body as one unit. In our current society where most of the day is spent sitting, driving, or working at a computer, the body develops some strange and unnatural movement patterns. The body awareness that BJJ teaches you is priceless. With an increase in body awareness, strength and mobility will soon follow. You can’t see improvements in strength on the mats necessarily, but in the weight room you can see the numbers on your lifts increasing. On the mats it’s harder to see, but it’s something you can feel. Improvements in mobility show up during techniques and drills that at first were difficult to complete but now you are able to move your hips better. Improvements in mobility will keep you on the mats training for a long time.

Mental Benefits

One of the hidden benefits of BJJ is what the struggle of learning, drilling, and rolling does for you. Walking into a class after spending months learning a technique, attempting it, and being crushed by everyone is not a good feeling. What is a good feeling is walking in the next day and trying it again. The mental strength to keep pushing even when things are not going your way will show up in other areas of your life outside of the gym.

And things don’t always go our way, in the gym or in life. Everyone has stress in their lives. It’s how we deal with the stress that is important. BJJ is a great stress relief. After a long day at work or school, you can walk into the academy and everything goes away. The last thing you want to think about when someone is trying to armbar or choke you is your bad day at work. BJJ requires focus. When your instructor is showing technique, if you are not paying attention you could miss a key detail. That key detail could be the difference between completing the move or getting your guard passed.

 Another benefit is that training allows for you to “let your anger out.” During rolling and drilling you can take that anger and built-up frustration and release it on the mat. Roll hard. Let it out. You will find after an intense rolling or drilling session you will feel better. Use the academy as an outlet. It’s one to two hours where the time is yours. No one is going to be asking you about your bad day at work while rolling. Training time is your time.

Conclusion

Brazilian jiu jitsu academies are a collection of almost every type of person you can think of doctors, lawyers, students, law enforcement, businessmen and women, and more. Every day they walk into the academy for the same reason - to get better at BJJ. These same people walk into the academy every day and improve their health, learning ability, and stress levels. They may not be thinking about the many benefits of BJJ that cannot be seen, but it doesn’t matter if they can see them or not - they are happening. To me, what you can’t see is really what the Brazilian jiu jitsu lifestyle is about. It’s taking the lessons learned on the mat and applying them to your everyday life.