BJJ Beginner Question.

[Kanku65]

The other day while driving through town, I noticed that there's a brand new looking Carlson Gracie BJJ Academy in town. So I decided to check out their website. Happily I noticed that their BJJ schedule fits more than sweetly beside my Karate schedule. So, I decided to do some more online research about Gracie BJJ... And found out just how many different Gracie Academies there is.

So, my question being;

What, if any, differences will potentially be found between BJJ schools? Say, Carlson Gracie BJJ vs Helio Gracie BJJ vs Rolls Gracie BJJ vs Gracie Combatives vs non-Gracie named BJJ school?

Thank you.

[ps1]

This is a potentially loaded question, my friend. You're getting into some deep political differences, more than anything.

Carlos Gracie Jr. = son of Carlos Gracie: Learned Jiu-Jitsu directly from Mitsuyo Meada. Opened the first Gracie Academy (Acadamia Gracie de Jiu-Jitsu) in 1925. Went on to become the mastermind of the Gracie diet, which he forced the rest of his family to use. He acted as Helio's manager for a very long time.

Helio Gracie= Youngest brother of Carlos Gracie: Learned by watching Carlos teach and is credited in making several leverage based modifications, mainly from the guard position. He was also the first Superstar of the family, fighting in many many fights. He was the "Michael Jordan" of Brazil.

When Rorion Gracie (the eldest son of Helio) first established himself in the United States, he trademarked the term, "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu." Very few other people can use it, and then, only under license (I use it...luck me!). This caused waves for some of the other family members (Carlson included) because they were not allowed to use the term. Weird, I know, but that's how it is.

Carlson Gracie founded "Gracie Barra (ba ha)," one of the largest and most competitive jiu-jitsu teams on Earth. Very well respected and it has equal focus on Self Defense and competition. Good curriculum and professional instructors that undergo instructor training courses.

Gracie Academy (Helio) schools have a much greater focus on self defense in the beginning and are not known for competition on the large scale. Some individuals do, but this will not be the focus. Also have instructor training courses.

"Other BJJ" schools: There are a ton of great schools out there today. All of them will have solid lineage and many now have black belt instruction, which is a newer development in the US due to the infancy of the art in the States. However, you really need to pay attention to what YOU want. If you want knife defense, gun defense, and alot of standing defense, you're better off going with either Gracie Academy or Gracie Barra. They still use the old school techniques as part of their curriculum. Many of the others are very specific toward sport competitions, and that's fine if that's what you want.

If you have any other questions, shoot me a question. I'd be happy to help.

Edited June 8, 2014 by ps1

[Kanku65]

Thank you ps1, that clarifies a lot for me.

You packed a lot of knowledge into the short version of that story.

I'm planning on making attendance next week. They encourage beginners to take several free sessions. (As I believe most places should) I have no reason not to.

Again, thank you.

[ps1]

My pleasure.

[Archimoto]

Good thread and great feedback PS1!

Would love to hear how it goes Kanku, please post an update!

[sensei8]

Mindsets [methodologies/ideologies]; that's the difference from one to another!!

Imho!!

[Chucksmanhood]

My pleasure.

Gracie Barra - Carlos jr (not Carlson) I'm sure it was just a typo but I thought I'd point it out for the newer folk to the Gracie family.

[ps1]

My pleasure.

Gracie Barra - Carlos jr (not Carlson) I'm sure it was just a typo but I thought I'd point it out for the newer folk to the Gracie family.

Absolutely correct here! Thanks for catching that Chucksmanhood! I edited the original post to be correct.

[Kanku65]

Tonight, after several busy weeks, I was finally able to attend the Calson Gracie BJJ class We'd discussed earlier. Me being overly optimist all the time, went in with rather high expectations. And the class really did exceed all my expectations. I was a bit nervous at first, but the students and instructor all made me feel very welcome. We started with a half hour warm up, and then went straight into passing the half guard. We practiced 3 techniques, working on each for about 15 minutes. For the last half hour, the class did open rolling which to me appeared to be the BJJ version of open sparring. During this time one of the higher ranked students took me aside and essentially explained many of the basics to me. This place while being very sport oriented, definitely hit a good spot with me. I may look into some of the other clubs in town. I've seen many around town, and my Internet search has shown me at least 8 within 10 minutes from my home...

[wagnerk]

Cool, glad to hear it