Why you need to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Why you need to learn BJJ

Can you defend yourself?  I mean with only the weapons God gave you…your body and mind.  With Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you can greatly improve your ability to defend yourself and others.  Learning a martial art like BJJ also means you forever have that skill to defend yourself with you no matter where you are.  Many people have a CHL (Concealed Handgun License) myself included but we don’t always have it with us.  Not every place you go allows weapons.  But you know what you always have with you regardless of where you are…your body and the knowledge you have of how to use it to defend yourself.   If you do think you can defend yourself and you’ve never tried Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I say you go try a free class at a legitimate BJJ school.  Try going a few rounds with some of the senior students in the class – it’s an eye opening experience and one that you will thank me for later!

Can your kids defend themselves?  Can they defend themselves without resorting to striking the other person and consequently getting hit themselves?  In my experience growing up, it never mattered to the teacher or other authority figure who started the fight.  What mattered to them was who had the bloody nose or other noticeable evidence of a fight.  Even if you were the one who was attacked it is the one that caused the bloody nose that looks bad in their eyes.  Most kids resort to hitting each other until one quits, runs away or starts bleeding enough that the other realizes they’ve had enough.  A particular aspect of BJJ that I admire is the controlling portion.  Kids, or any student of BJJ, learn the ability to control an aggressor without having to resort to physically striking them.  I have experienced this myself and the end result was always favorable.  Instead of entering into a striking contest with the other guy, I was able to achieve a dominant control position and make him realize this was not going to end well for him.  Suddenly, he was now ready to talk it out!  Fight ended and neither of us went home with evidence of an altercation.  No broken noses or black eyes the next day just wounded pride for the other guy making poor choices.  This ability to safely control an opponent and minimize or even hopefully prevent strikes is one of the main skills I want my 4 kids to have in terms of self-defense.  Anyone who has spent time around kids knows that kids instinctively know how to hit.  Even from a young age, they don’t have the words to express what they want or how they feel so they take and they hit.  This continues all the way thru grade school and for many bullies all the way into high school.  When this happens to your child do you want them to just take it?  Hit the bully back?  Neither of those are going to end well for either party.  However, with BJJ they learn tactics to relax, evade, move and control.  Here is a great program that is using Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a means to deal with Bullying in schools and for kids in general:  http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201108/real-it-gets-victims-schoolyard-bullying-can-fight-back-help-ufc-royalty

BJJ teaches lessons that can help you with life.
Patience is one virtue you will learn in BJJ.  Knowing when to attack and when to defend.  When to hold and when to move.  The same is true in life - you need to know when to move and when to stay and sometimes the patience to wait for the right opportunity.


**Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a fantastic martial art for self-defense, fitness and building positive lasting relationships.  I encourage you to try it.  Even better would be to get your kids involved in it with you and all learn self-defense together!**

Distance and your first BJJ Class

Distance and your first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class

First time students of martial arts all have a great deal of various emotions for their new activity.  Most are very excited but some harbor fear of the unknown.   You need not be fearful as 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

So here is what a typical first class resembles and what you can probably expect.

Generally, your first BJJ class will consist of a 10-20 minute warm-up of various exercises followed by the technique portion of the class and ending with the live sparing session.  Depending on the school, you may or may not be allowed to participate in the end of class live rolling activity.  Some instructors desire for you to have a few classes under your belt before you engage in active grappling.  Others will have you involved from your first class but with a patient senior student and the watchful eye of the instructor.  At your first class or in a beginner class, you can expect to learn one to three basic moves usually self-defense or escapes depending on the instructor.  Self-defense moves are usually where an attacker does something and then you use a technique to defend and escape.  For instance, the person tries to strike you and you learn to close the distance and clinch with them helping to minimize further strikes.  This may not sound like much but it is.  Learning to evade a single strike is very useful.  Learning how to control distance between you and your attacker is vast.  Initiating the clinch to turn the encounter into a grappling situation is yet another important lesson.

Regarding distance – the control of distance (making space or taking it away) is a constant skill that you will refine and use throughout your martial arts career in BJJ.  Every situation is unique, so sometimes you need to create space between you and your opponent, other times you need to remove the space.  For instance, at times you need to create space in order to escape from the threat.  Other times, you need to remove the space in order to achieve a good position.  Once the better environment is realized from you moving to the improved position you can defeat your adversary through control techniques learned in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

My nephew - the Smaller kid managing the distance

Clinching and closing the space

Success! Safer control position achieved!

This is an important skill for everyone to learn and apply to life.  Kids and adults need to recognize that every situation calls for the proper use of distance and space.  You distance yourself from bad settings and bring close good ones.  Those that can control their own distance between good and bad have an easier route to success both in practice and in everyday life!  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a great catalyst to learning this skill!


**Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a fantastic martial art for self-defense, fitness and building positive lasting relationships.  I encourage you to try it.  Even better would be to get your kids involved in it with you and all learn self-defense together!**