review of brazilian jiu jitsu

[rollercoster97]

some background about myself,

im a martial art conosure. Ive been trying to learn as many diffrent martial arts so i can deal with situations as they arrive on the modern battlefeild which is the streets.im a blackbelt in american kempo, taikquando, and 2 diffrent types of karate. ive won multiple karate competetions and I was planning on mastering Kung Fu this year.

i moved to a new city recently due to my parents being in the military.i started looking for a kung fu dojo in my area but i couldnt find any. however i did find a brazilian jiu jitsu dojo just a few blocks down from my house.

normally i only study eastern martial arts because of their proven effectiveness in combat through the ages. honestly i never knew that brazil even had a martial art until last week.

so i walked into the brazil dojo to sign up for a free class. It was a really hot building with no air condition, and it was worsened by the fact I was also wearing my karate gi. I looked around at the students and instructors and one thing I noticed was the lack of upper ranks... in fact, I was the only blackbelt in the room.

A purple belt approched me and introduced himself as the "instructor" for the day and he asked if I was a blackbelt. I said yes and he said that I was welcome to join them today. I was hesitent to train under a lower belt, so I inquired about where the master was and if I can train with him. To my surprise he said the owner of the gym was just a brown belt! and that he was away for the day.

The class started off with a long and tedious warmup that lasted a good 10+ minutes.

After that the purple belt took the center of the mat and the students gathered around for a teqnique demonstration.

He pointed to me and said, "can i use you for a second?". I hesitantly walked over to him. He gestured to me to lie down. Once I was on the ground he put himself inbetween my legs. He said something like "close the garte". I didn't know what he was saying so I just kept still. He repeated again, "close your garte". I didn't know what he was saying, and then he said "you're a blackbelt?". I don't know about what people do in some dojos, but in my dojo a blackbelt is a position of respect. I wasn't going to be made a mockery of so I stood up and sat off the mat while they went over their leg teqniques.

The instructor then declared that the students were to spar. Its been awhile scince I martial art sparred, but I was bored and there was a good 20 more minutes until I was getting picked up. So I decided I would show these guys up.

The purple belt asked if I wanted to go, and of course I accepted his challange. I took my stance and he said "Start standing then?". I approched him while keeping my horse stance deep. His ribs were volnerable and I quickly switched stances and poped off a spinning round house to the ribs. Instantly like a brute he charged me and pinned me to the ground. he grabbed my collar and sqweezed. He said that I need to go, and him and a few others pushed me out the door.

I had to wait outside for 15 minutes until my ride came.

In conclusion i rate brazilian jiu jitsu a 4/10 because the people are rude and stop duels after one hit.

[JusticeZero]

normally i only study eastern martial arts because of their proven effectiveness in combat through the ages. honestly i never knew that brazil even had a martial art until last week.

First, eastern martial arts aren't "proven" so much as "well known". There are martial arts all over the place that have good track records that just aren't as well known.

Second, BJJ is actually a descendant of Jujutsu, from Japan, with a substantial amount of development put into it in order to develop it in specific directions.

Third, in BJJ, a black belt is a really big deal. If you see a BJJ black belt, it means that they have been training hard for like, ten years straight. Their 1st degree black belt is equivalent to a moderately high Dan rank in Karate. They give a BJJ black belt a lot of respect. A Karate black belt not so much, because the typical Karate black belt has what they consider a trivial amount of experience.

Fourth, they are grapplers. You went in expecting something totally different from what they are actually doing, and proceeded to be very disrespectful. It sounded like he was being pretty polite, all things considered, in response to someone "showing them up".

How would your Karate teacher respond to a highschool wrestler coming in, discovering that they don't have a lot of competitive coaching victories in a sense that is only relevant to a wrestler, and deciding to 'show him up' with a takedown, just to have the teacher demonstrate applications of reverse punch on him?

[pittbullJudoka]

I'm just going to say you we're luck that the collar choke was all you got. Man I'd hate see you try this with one of the purple belts that teaches on occasion at the gym where I train.

[ShoriKid]

I'm just going to say you we're luck that the collar choke was all you got. Man I'd hate see you try this with one of the purple belts that teaches on occasion at the gym where I train.

No doubt man. Holy smoke that would be bad.

[JusticeZero]

I hope the OP posts again. This was a bold post to make, regardless, and it is valuable to see people willing to make bold statements.

[Dobbersky]

I was looking for a response. from the OP, never mind.

BJJ is an excellent art, yes of course you get some clubs where they've got the we're the best in the world but if you read in the Korean Arts part of this forum we also get it in other arts too.

Now what I would like to know is what the response of the Instructor and the students reactive to the way the OP was behaving within the BJJ school.

If I attend a school and I am not familiar with the style I am ALWAYS respectful and if I don't understand the terminology I ask. I also wear a White Belt too, unless the Instructor insists I wear my current grade.

[brickshooter]

I thought that what the OP did was terribly rude.

[sensei8]

normally i only study eastern martial arts because of their proven effectiveness in combat through the ages. honestly i never knew that brazil even had a martial art until last week.

First, eastern martial arts aren't "proven" so much as "well known". There are martial arts all over the place that have good track records that just aren't as well known.

Second, BJJ is actually a descendant of Jujutsu, from Japan, with a substantial amount of development put into it in order to develop it in specific directions.

Third, in BJJ, a black belt is a really big deal. If you see a BJJ black belt, it means that they have been training hard for like, ten years straight. Their 1st degree black belt is equivalent to a moderately high Dan rank in Karate. They give a BJJ black belt a lot of respect. A Karate black belt not so much, because the typical Karate black belt has what they consider a trivial amount of experience.

Fourth, they are grapplers. You went in expecting something totally different from what they are actually doing, and proceeded to be very disrespectful. It sounded like he was being pretty polite, all things considered, in response to someone "showing them up".

How would your Karate teacher respond to a highschool wrestler coming in, discovering that they don't have a lot of competitive coaching victories in a sense that is only relevant to a wrestler, and deciding to 'show him up' with a takedown, just to have the teacher demonstrate applications of reverse punch on him?

In that, I'm not the typical Karate black belt because my experience isn't trivial; I've been around the block and then some. Being lumped into being a "typical" Karate black belt is an unfair general statement because not all Karate black belts fit into your description. I believe that everyone here at KF can agree that not all black belts, no matter the style, are the same across the board, and yes, BJJ black belts are as you've described but it's unfair to those karate BB's that have a well of experience, and in that, they can hold their own on the floor; I don't shy away from any floor.

[JusticeZero]

Thus the word "typical", used in a statistical fashion. Your black belt is a big deal. Most black belts, however, are expected to land at an ever-decreasing minimum competency level.

[sensei8]

I think I understand what you're saying, still, I'm not 100% sure I do, and that's not your fault, it's mine for being a dunderhead at times, in that, I'm reading some ambiguity nonetheless.