A lot of thought and research went into my decision to learn BJJ as opposed to other martial arts. I thought I would share these thoughts, as I am sure there are others out there asking themselves “why should I learn BJJ?” and “what are the benefits of BJJ?”
I decided that I wanted to learn some form of martial arts, for health and self-defense reasons. The question was which one was best? I think the first thought for many is something like Karate or Taekwondo because, well, it looks cool. I’m sure that I would get plenty of health benefits and fitness out of it, but what about true self-defense capabilities? I questioned how applicable it was in real life, when you are fighting somebody who is much larger/stronger than you and he gets you into a bear hug. It doesn’t seem that punching and kicking would help out much in that situation.
That’s when someone told me that if I want something applicable for real-life self-defense, I should learn some form of grappling martial arts (Judo, Jiu Jitsu, etc) or even Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Grappling does not use punches and kicks but instead focuses on gripping your opponent and usually taking him to the ground. Once on the ground your opponent can be controlled and subdued through the use of technique and dominant position.
In researching different types of grappling martial arts, I found that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) has recently exploded in popularity. One of the primary reasons was its success in MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which emulates real-life fighting. For whatever reason, fighters skilled in the art of BJJ were on average more successful. With further research I found the following reasons why BJJ is successful in real-life fighting:
- Fights usually end up on the ground – either intentionally or accidentally. In such a position, striking your opponent becomes much less effective as it is close-quarters and you won’t have the space needed to execute such moves. What becomes effective is your ability to restrain and subdue your opponent through a combination of techniques such as choking and holds, which is exactly what BJJ teaches.
- BJJ does not involve striking (punching and kicking like other martial arts), which means you do not have to hold back out of fear of truly hurting your opponent. You can train at full strength against an opponent who is resisting you at full strength. This means you train the same way you fight, which makes you more comfortable if a real fight begins.
- There are very little rules and regulation in BJJ competition – just like there are very little (no) rules in real-life street fighting. This is the foundation on which BJJ was created.
To me, these arguments make a lot of sense. As such, I decided to start training with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
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