A brief discussion of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

An explanation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:>(as posted on my web page two days ago)
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (hereinafter BJJ) is a martial art that focuses on minimizing the damage done to combatants. Striking of any sort is de-emphasized due to the potential for self-injury as well as the likelihood that the party absorbing the strike will be injured. You may be asking, how can BJJ ever expect to work against a 'real life' angry person who wants to knock your head off? Answer: we carefully measure the distance between our attacker and ourselves. Then we move in to clinch or take-down the attacker to take away the space necessary to employ an effective striking attack.

Once the clich has occurred, or a take down has happened, the object of BJJ is to gain a dominant position on the attacker so as to either 1. convince them to calm down and cease their attack, 2. employ a BJJ attack such as a joint lock or choke, or 3. utilize short range strikes to overcome the opponent.

BJJ is also a sport. Competitors start on their feet and seek to defeat their opponent by gaining a submission (opponent taps the body of the competitor signaling desire to stop the match) or by points which are awarded for positional dominance. Matches vary in length based on skill level, ranging from 5-10 minutes with no breaks.

BJJ is unique in that its moves do not require great strength or speed. (Unlike striking styles, wrestling, or judo). Instead, the more advanced fighters win using a mastery of leverage, baiting, and techniques that emphasize the weakness inherent with the human body. Submission holds focus on the weak joints of the human body, chokes focus on the easy availabilitly of blood sources to the brain to be impeded, and sweeps take advantage of the awkward centers of balance in different positions. Through a mastery of these concepts employed in various techniques, a very small BJJ student can quickly render unconscious or incapable of fighting, a much larger, stronger, and tougher attacker.

Many find the allure of BJJ to be the complex mental components necessary to excel. It has been called 'human chess.' When two fighters are at the same skill level, the one who will win the match will be the one who is thinking more moves ahead of the adversary. Unlike wrestling where a match is ended based on body positioning (i.e. the opponent's back is flattened to the mat), in BJJ you must cause you opponent to submit... they must signal defeat. This can be quite a feat!

Tim 7/11/04