Brazilski Jiu-Jitsu Savez Srbije

Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu is a specific martial art style created in the early 20th century by members of the Gracie family, and later advanced and upgraded by various MA masters througout Brasil.

Brothers Carlos and Helio Gracie modified traditional japanese jujitsu and develpoed an extremly efficient martial art suitable for persons of lesser strength and constitution. The main plot was that most fights come to a clinch and eventually turn into a groundfight. For these reasons they developed a set of techniques used to avoid punches and hits whilst directly entering a clinch which becomes a groundfight from which jointlocks and chokeholds are used to finish off the opponent. The level of technical expertise and the intelligence of the fighter are much more important than other "wrestling" styles where raw power, speed and reflexes decide the winner; in BJJ, it's all about fulcrum points, body forms and realistic application of techniques.

If you are planning to train BJJ you have to get to know the basic principles of this martial art.

BJJ has practically no similiraties with other martial arts trained in our country. It means that if you start training BJJ everything will be new and unknown to you! If you have previous experience in martial arts they will be of little value to you in BJJ, because you will learn new principles of fighting. Therefore, all beginners in BJJ, no matter of their past achievments and experiences in other martial arts start with a White belt. This practice is completely logical for you can not hope to start at an advanced level if you have never experienced a martial art that is completely different. After the introductory period you can succesfully incorporate elements of your previous classes into your new style of fighting. BJJ is not a "hitting" martial art but can be ideally combined with any such.

A typical BJJ training session is divided into three parts:

1. Warmups and excersies of movement, flexibility, power, strength, etc. You also learn how to fall and move on the ground and introduce yourself to "body forms", "fulcrum points" and a sense of location and coordination.

2. Learning techniques and practicing them with your partner. In sports BJJ there are throwing and groundfight techniques. Throws comprise all kinds of various actions to get your opponent to the ground, while groundfight techniques concentrate on fixation, jointlocks and chokeholds. The most focus is placed on groundfight techniques and especially fixation moves which are the base of all succesful finishing moves. All these techniques have been perfected and ridden of excessive or inefficient moves.

Leg-bar

3. Sparring is the most important aspect of sports BJJ trainings. In BJJ you have the unique opportunity to try out what you learned starting from day one. In sports BJJ and grappling strikes and hits are forbidden so the chances of injury are reduced to a minimum. Fights last at least five minutes, and techniques and relaxation are of upmost importance, with proper timing using minimal strength. Groundfights are extremely demanding, and the key is in learning to distribute your strength properly. As a beginner you will probably all-out use your strength which will quickly wear you out. Also you will soon learn how "long" five minutes can last in a real fight, therefore learning to properly use your weight against your opponent and the advantage of technique instead of power. In BJJ, realism is number one, because during sparring you can never know in advance what will your opponents move be. School techniques are idealised and therefore sparring is the only way to arm yourself with experience to properly counter your opponents reactions in all realistic situations. This experience can only be gained with sparring many thousand times. In each training session you can put new techniques into practise but it is important to realise there are no two same opponents or patterns. Sparring is done with everybody, opponents who are smaller, bigger, weaker, stronger, less and more skillful. This way BJJ will help you gain experience faster than any other martial art.

Throwing technique during a fight

The biggest problem newcomers are facing is losing a lot of fights. No doubt we all have a certain amount of pride and it is hard to admit failure over and over, especially from somebody who could injure or even kill us. This problem is especially present with persons of lesser strength and physical constitution, because power and weight have a big advantage in early stages of training BJJ. But if you concentrate on developing techniques and perfecting them you will soon be able to stand up to much larger and stronger opponents! However, mistakes and defeats are your biggest lessons, so try to understand your opponent as somebody who is there to help you improve your skills and work together towards your progress. Everybody loses sometimes and we are all here to train towards perfection. Therefore you must realise it is no shame to be defeated in a fight, it is shameful to get defeated by your own self! To admit loss to your own pride means to be truly defeated!

BJJ is very attractive to girls, too

BJJ has many aspects - in the world it is practised as a sport; as an excellent form of self defense; as the dominant style in free fights (Ultimate Fight and Vale Tudo). BJJ does not offer fake self-confidence or imaginary techniques which are useable only after many years of training. After just a few months of training BJJ you will have proper knowledge which you can efficiently use against other martial arts (this is all true!!!). It might sound like bragging - but it really is like that - BJJ, unlike other martial arts, is based only on the most realistic techniques and principles of fighting. Now we will try to explain to you why.

Rules of engagement in all sports lead to degradation and unrealism of said skill, therefore the biggest advantage of BJJ as a sport is that the rules managed to keep up the realism and origins of BJJ.

BJJ is unmatched when facing other martial arts, and as most styles are divided as "striking" and "grappling" (wrestling), we'll try to explain how to confront against these MA's using BJJ.

First of all, BJJ is dominant in wrestling sports because while other sports focus on throwing and getting down to a groundfight, stop right there. It is a bad concept, for you can be quite adept at throws, which are useless if your opponent is not resisting and lets you take him to the ground, performing "destruction" of the fight (which is strictly forbidden in most wrestling styles!!!) - that is, you deliberately fall to the ground dragging your opponent with you. In the groundfight your opponent will have a slim chance of defending himself, maybe only in the beginning and trapping you into a fixation, but that is far from being victorious. Your opponent cant hold you forever, because in order to win you need to place a finishing move succesfuly (jointlocks, chokeholds). Groundfight techniques are completely perfected in BJJ, so you will soon so your opponent does not stand a chance against the plethora of moves a BJJ fighter knows!

"Destruction" of the fight and draggin your opponent to the floor

When facing a striker, the odds of winning are again on your side. If you eliminate the chances of a sudden strike, which you can counter by being "awake" all the time and respecting the basics of the BJJ principles of fighting, you will see there are slim chances of receiving a serious punch. Why is that so? As in the previous paragraph, you will once again avoid areas of expertise of your opponent - because if you trade punches you can be certain of being knocked out! All good strikers know how easy it is to clinch an opponent, and that is exactly what you will do. After closing the distance and trapping the striker it wont be hard for you to go into a groundfight, where you have all the knowledge and your opponent will feel like a "fish on dry land"

A fight between a "striker" and a BJJ practicioner

Using its multidisciplinarity and a plethora of techniques, BJJ practically guarantees you that you'll discover your style in it no matter what your interests are. Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu allows you to stay efficient even when you grow older. This martial art has proven itself worldwide as an exceptional counter to decadent behaviour, which are more and more common with youth. Not only as a system of fighting, but as a lifestyle itself, BJJ never ceases to adapt and progress, opening new horizonts for you every day.