• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is fascinating

Rolled with my training buddy today. We have trained for about the same amount of time and I absolutely destroyed him today. He was shocked. I was shocked. We've got a rivalry going on. I'm really hoping he adjusts for next roll so we can make it more even. We help each other grow a lot. He tried to escape my side control and I triangle choked him. Today's theme for me was triangle chokes. I wanted to finish every sub with a triangle if possible. Doing a triangle from side control requires some flexibility. Flexibility I never I would have had a year ago. I really hope he steps it up next time. Everyone needs a good rival.

Good luck on the body soreness tomorrow!

You too! And good job with the smashing 😃
 
Upper belts, I hear you don't get to brown or black without having some kind of major injury. Is this true and what major injuries have you had? It's honestly what scares me the most.
 

ido

Member
Yeah, you'll get more from a seminar as a white belt definitely. Usually pretty basic technique is shown so that everyone will be able to grasp it. Every now and then tho, you'll have world champs stroll through town and stop in and show off some really legit shit.

But yeah, go for the experience if anything. You'll have fun, at least.

I wish we could all roll one day. Gimme some stats... I'm pretty small. 5'9 or so, 155.

We had a local Comic Con here a couple months back and the Red Power Ranger(Steve Cardenas) and the Black Ranger (Johnny Yung Bosch) came to our gym to roll with us after the event. Super cool guys, and Cardenas is a black belt so he was damn good, we had some really fun matches.

Last year one half of the Boondock Saints came to the little Comic Con(Sean Patrick Flannery) and he also hung out and rolled with us after the convention. He's a black belt as well, and had a really good pressure pass. Really fun rolling with him, and he trained with Rickson for years so his grasp on basics was pretty goddamn on point. I got a lot out of that.

That's how fucking cool BJJ is though. These mini-celebrities agreed, for free, to come chill and roll with us after these conventions. I imagine it was a nice change of pace for them, and they felt more comfortable around people that aren't asking them to sign something.

Anyway sorry to ramble lol

Upper belts, I hear you don't get to brown or black without having some kind of major injury. Is this true and what major injuries have you had? It's honestly what scares me the most.

lol nah.

Been training 16 years or so, and never had a serious injury. Plenty of busted noses, bruises, cauliflower ear draining, pain, etc. Just nothing that I would consider serious(ie, needing medical attention)
 
Height: 5'4
Weight: 150 lb
Age: don't go there

We had a local Comic Con here a couple months back and the Red Power Ranger(Steve Cardenas) and the Black Ranger (Johnny Yung Bosch) came to our gym to roll with us after the event. Super cool guys, and Cardenas is a black belt so he was damn good, we had some really fun matches.

Last year one half of the Boondock Saints came to the little Comic Con(Sean Patrick Flannery) and he also hung out and rolled with us after the convention. He's a black belt as well, and had a really good pressure pass. Really fun rolling with him, and he trained with Rickson for years so his grasp on basics was pretty goddamn on point. I got a lot out of that.

That's how fucking cool BJJ is though. These mini-celebrities agreed, for free, to come chill and roll with us after these conventions. I imagine it was a nice change of pace for them, and they felt more comfortable around people that aren't asking them to sign something.

Anyway sorry to ramble lol

See, that's so fucking cool. Imagine Steph Curry or Lebron James strolling through town and deciding to give a seminar on how to play better and playing pickup games with local players. That'd be so fucking cool and one thing I love about BJJ and is that for the most part people are trying to further the art. You do this by making an environment where everyone wants everyone else to get better and see what they themselves are made out of. This is due entirely to regular everyday sparring. You spar with your teachers. You can spar with a world champ. You can go into Marcelo Garcia's gym right now and ask for a roll probably. This easy access to various mini celebs and people who do jiu jitsu make it feel unique. I can, and have, with my professors permission, visited other bjj schools in the area to do open mat. I think that's so wonderful.
 
Upper belts, I hear you don't get to brown or black without having some kind of major injury. Is this true and what major injuries have you had? It's honestly what scares me the most.

Nah. Some people are more durable than others though, there's definitely a genetic component to keep healthy. Good strength and conditioning can mitigate injuries before they happen but I've never really needed it. I think being big - 5'10, 210 helps with that aspect too.
 
Hmm. Was reading up a bit and I was wrong. I forgot that Carlos made the FJJERJ. Sports regulation for bjj occurred in 1970 way before the IBJJF.

Also, my competition is in a week and I'm starting to get cold feet. I'm really scared.
 
lol nah.

Been training 16 years or so, and never had a serious injury. Plenty of busted noses, bruises, cauliflower ear draining, pain, etc. Just nothing that I would consider serious(ie, needing medical attention)

This is a little reassuring. (aside from the busted noses!! ive only seen that happen once so far thankfully...). I think injuries are my biggest fear, and i think with the wealth of information out there you can get a bit overloaded with peoples tales of woe. Reading r/bjj some days and its literally a cavalcade of the walking wounded. Youd swear people got their shoulders popped or elbows broken or ACL tears on the reg.

I think now my brain fog has lifted after last night, i can remember some more individual things about last night rolling, and i think it was probably some of my best to date. I escaped full mount twice with an upa, got that one armbar sub, used a de la riva guard, passed an upper belts guard and got into full mount (fluffed the armbar attempt tho). All in all im happy with those wins!!

Also size wise, im 6'2", 75KG, 36yo.

Hmm. Was reading up a bit and I was wrong. I forgot that Carlos made the FJJERJ. Sports regulation for bjj occurred in 1970 way before the IBJJF.

Also, my competition is in a week and I'm starting to get cold feet. I'm really scared.

Youll be fine. Whats a competition but rolling with a medal at the end. You roll every other day, its nothing you cant handle :)
 
How's the soreness? ;) I'm feeling pretty springy. Gonna lift that iron soon!

Thanks for the confidence boost. My family will be there, as well as my boyfriend. It will be the first time my family sees use the gentle art. I wonder how they'll react. I hope I don't get smashed. I want at least one win by submission! My thighs are my biggest asset. I have to switch my main sub to triangles. But I also have to be able to survive and I could end up with white belts that are honorary blue belts.
 
I'm so happy for you.

Thank you:D BJJ certainly also comes with its own frustration, hardships and disappointment, but I am glad I am doing it!^_^



Left out some details to protect my identity.

I got into BJJ during the tail end of the Dark Ages of North American MMA (this was the late 90's to mid 2000's when it was banned in many parts of North America). I watched the first few UFCs on my dad's illegal cable box. Wasn't hooked right away - I was a huge pro wrestling fan as a kid and the commercials for the early UFCs made me think that it was just some crazy Japanese promotion trying to expand into North America. This was at the same time WCW was blowing up so it wasn't unimaginable that a Japanese promotion would try to get in on the action as well.

Anyways, I watched the first couple and wasn't too entertained - real fighting was as cool was people being hit in the head with steel chairs and shit, and kept it in the back of my mind. I casually still followed it, tuned in for big fights but wasn't educated enough yet.

Grew up and watched the Monday Night Wars take place and most of the Attitude Era in the WWF (now E) take place and then around sophmore year of high school, I just lost interest in pro wrestling. It was getting crazier and crazier (the Attitude Era was still peaking) but by now it was apparent to everyone that it was fake so I stopped watching it. I still really enjoyed the combative sport aspect of it so I watched boxing for a bit but boxing was kind of in it's own Dark Ages in the early 2000's as well. As it so happened, I also got high speed internet and torrents around this time and decided to give MMA another shot. That's how I discovered PrideFC and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. That's when I became a hardcore fan.

At this time in North America, unless you lived in NYC or California, most BJJ schools were run by blue belts or just a bunch of random dudes gathered in a room to watch instructional videos and then trying out the moves. I think the entire country of Canada in the mid 2000's only had like 3 black belts teaching. Marcus Soares out in Vancouver, Wagney Fabiano in Montreal and Omar Salvosa out in Toronto. I was living in Toronto at the time but was still a teenager and didn't have the funds to do BJJ but I knew I was interested so I was training at random judo clubs and trying to self learn the rest. In 2004, I graduated from high school and told my parents I wanted to move to a city to go to school - but in actuality, I wanted to move there to get involved in the martial arts scene. I took a year off to make some money and then was off to a city.

Got really involved in the MMA scene here. The early days of BJJ in North America was fucking crazy. There was no IBJJF back then - IBJJF tournies really got going in 2007-ish, so you'd have tournaments being held in house at various small gyms where'd all types of people would show up. Dudes would show up with singlets and shoes and be pared off with dudes in full on gis and the matches would go like 10 minutes with a vague understanding of points. Blue belts ran most schools, non-Brazilian black belts were unheard of and if you saw a purple belt, nobody believed you unless you took a photo because that's how rare it was to see a purple belt or higher. BJJ back then was used as a conduit to get into MMA or to get better at fighting. A lot of us who were training back then didn't really ever train thinking we'd get our black belts or even purple. The first guy I knew who got his purple was a guy in Montreal who would go back and forth between here and NYC to train at Renzo Gracie's on an almost weekly basis and after years of doing that, he finally went from blue to purple. It wasn't a separate sport like it is now.

I know guys from the old days who competed back when MMA (or NHB as it was called back then) was still limited to shady Indian reserves and cops would raid events afterwards so if you were in the audience you had to book it the fuck out quick. One of my good buddies fought in one promotion where you'd get points if you threw your opponent out of the ring, Royal Rumble style.

In between, I bounced around several schools due to limited funds (both on the schools end and my own). I probably trained three years before I sniffed a blue belt. Once I left school (university) I got a dead end job (you can go through my post history to find a thread about that) and found that I had a lot more time to train so I threw myself into it. There was a period during my blue belt days where I would two hours in the morning, sleep, train three hours in the afternoon, go to work and half ass my job (overnight shift) and then go back to the gym for another two hours in the morning before sleeping. That was my schedule, 3 times a week for a good year. The other 4 days, I'd go to the gym in the morning to swim and then sleep and train in the evening before work. I'd get a girlfriend, neglected her for BJJ, broke up with her and continue to train. Repeat. I started doing all sorts of things to further help my BJJ. Shaved my head to get my hair outta the way (I was going bald anyways though), slept on the floor to harden my body (broscience) fucking everything. Got my purple in 2010 which when I started was the Mythical Magic Belt. Blue to purple was the last time I really cared about the belt.

By the time I got my brown, BJJ had kinda evolved into it's own sport, IBJJF tournies were popping up everywhere. Gyms suddenly had rules against reaping the knee and all that stuff. Purple to brown was a lot less romantic for me. I'm still very glad I got to experience the tail end of the early days though. It was an objectively worse environment to train in but I think a lot of people who start today lack the appreciation for those days. While the Gracies and Machados brought BJJ to the coasts, the rest of North America was being supported by broke ass degenerates training in garages and rented halls and they're often the forgotten pioneers of the sport in BJJ. I'm happy that I got to know some of them on my journey. They'll never be in any book or YouTube documentaries but they are every bit as important to spreading the sport as any Gracie was.

I got my black belt late last year. Still in the city I told my parents I moved to for school, still training but now I get paid to teach which blows my mind sometimes.

That was a really cool story! It reminds me of Roy Harris telling his story and what he went through, and his falling out with the Gracies: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/my-journey-through-bjj-by-roy-harris.344665/



I am very interested in how people spread meaningful skills in a place that didn't have that. One of my instructor is planning to visit the Lionheart project - A MMA/BJJ project by some American instructors to spread out in Africa. Senegal have absolutely insane high levels of Wrestling, so it could really be a big thing if they are succesful in taking their skills and combining them with modern MMA and BJJ; http://www.lionheartmmafrica.com/rollin-in-dakar.html
 

NotBacon

Member
So how did everyone get into bjj?

I took a Science & Pseudoscience course at my uni and one section was on fantasy-based martial arts. The chi and no-touch knockout stuff was pretty comical and expected. Then we discussed things I hadn't really considered. Stuff like kata, Aikido, Systema, knife fighting demos by wannabe commandos wearing camo, etc. Basically stuff that has no resistance/energy, has predictable timing/patterns, and no spontaneity.

Next class we had guest speaker Matt Thornton, founder of SBG and a bjj guru, give a lecture. He went over the live sparring aspect being essential to bjj with full resistance/energy, spontaneous movement, no timing, etc. All the components needed to be ready for an actual fight in a live situation. I was very interested by the end of the lecture.

Turns out the headquarters for SBG is right here in Portland so I signed up the next day.
 
Hi all, I've been interested in trying BJJ primarily to learn self defense and lose some weight. I have done some research and found a studio not far from where I live and priced at $179 a month. Is there anything I should know about or look at for?
 
Went to Canada couple weeks ago and was talking with family, idk how but I brought up jiu jitsu and learned that my cousins husband also trains, and also enrolled their sons in it too. We found a place and got to train together. Yay for bjj helping me bond with my family even more 😀😀

Hi all, I've been interested in trying BJJ primarily to learn self defense and lose some weight. I have done some research and found a studio not far from where I live and priced at $179 a month. Is there anything I should know about or look at for?
Belt lineage and instructors rank. Price seems on the higher end but you also might be living in a nicer area with great schools/instructions and that would make more sense.
 
Hi all, I've been interested in trying BJJ primarily to learn self defense and lose some weight. I have done some research and found a studio not far from where I live and priced at $179 a month. Is there anything I should know about or look at for?

Find out lineage and the rank of the instructors. Rawr is right. Purple belt instructors are common. They don't all have to be black belt but it'd be good to have at least one BB teacher. Also check to see if the school is clean. Try sitting in on a class to see how the teachers teach newer students because that's how you'll be treated. They should be sparring (rolling) every class. Also check for any clues of instructor deification. 179 a month is really steep but they may be a prized lineage and a popular school.
 
Belt lineage and instructors rank. Price seems on the higher end but you also might be living in a nicer area with great schools/instructions and that would make more sense.

Find out lineage and the rank of the instructors. Rawr is right. Purple belt instructors are common. They don't all have to be black belt but it'd be good to have at least one BB teacher. Also check to see if the school is clean. Try sitting in on a class to see how the teachers teach newer students because that's how you'll be treated. They should be sparring (rolling) every class. Also check for any clues of instructor deification. 179 a month is really steep but they may be a prized lineage and a popular school.

Looking on their website the main instructors are black and brown belts respectively. There is a third instructor listed but doesn't show his belt rank though it says he specializes in wrestling, was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter, and fought in Strikeforce and Bellator.

The studio is in a nicer part town. I've read through reviews and forums and many claim its a great place for all skill levels and is family friendly oriented. There class schedule also aligns perfectly with mine. I sent an email and hope to schedule a day where I can sit in.
 
Looking on their website the main instructors are black and brown belts respectively. There is a third instructor listed but doesn't show his belt rank though it says he specializes in wrestling, was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter, and fought in Strikeforce and Bellator.

The studio is in a nicer part town. I've read through reviews and forums and many claim its a great place for all skill levels and is family friendly oriented. There class schedule also aligns perfectly with mine. I sent an email and hope to schedule a day where I can sit in.
Sounds good so far. If you don't mind, could you post their website?
 
Went to 630am class today and my jaw made a loud pop. Someone leg scissored my face instead of my neck. As it was happening I was turning and exploding to my knees and "pop." I think it isnt serious as it's been hours and there's no pain or swelling. A little discomfort and it feels a little numb when I chew. It likely was a brief dislocation. Guess it's flow rolling for me this week.
 
Went to 630am class today and my jaw made a loud pop. Someone leg scissored my face instead of my neck. As it was happening I was turning and exploding to my knees and "pop." I think it isnt serious as it's been hours and there's no pain or swelling. A little discomfort and it feels a little numb when I chew. It likely was a brief dislocation. Guess it's flow rolling for me this week.

Oh wow. Dude I hope you're okay. Keep an eye on that.
 
Went to 630am class today and my jaw made a loud pop. Someone leg scissored my face instead of my neck. As it was happening I was turning and exploding to my knees and "pop." I think it isnt serious as it's been hours and there's no pain or swelling. A little discomfort and it feels a little numb when I chew. It likely was a brief dislocation. Guess it's flow rolling for me this week.

Jesus. Hope it's okay. I had something similar when I was younger, my own fault tho, I fell over and landed face first on the pavement while piss ass drunk. Busted my face open, could've lost or badly damaged my eye as I shattered my glasses right into my face, and from that day on my jaw popped and clicked every time I ate. It was only a couple of years later that one day I was talking to a friend and my jaw just made this Almighty pop that he heard across the room from me. After that it was fine again.

Not gonna lie, I love doing BJJ but seriously hearing these kinda stories makes me think "I've had fun, but I'm out". My shoulders still being sore as shit today doesn't help that notion. I do wonder at times if the payoff is really worth putting your body through the ringer like we do
 
Yeah, it's worth it as long as you manage your ego and know your limits.

Yeah, I'm not sure I have much of an ego left after most of the gym gas tapped me by now!

I'm in a bit of a slump today tho for traininh. My shoulder/ arm is still a bit sore from last week. The rational part of my brain is saying "give your shoulder a rest, let it heal, come back stronger on Thursdays class". But then the irrational part of me is like "oh you wuss just go to class stop being a lame ass making excuses" etc. I always beat myself up over any time I miss even tho I know BJJ is a marathon, not a sprint and one class I a drop in the ocean. Still feel like a loser if I skip it tho
 
So I went back yesterday and I can't move my neck today. Plus left and right side ribs are killing me. That's all normal though (kinda) and I wasn't killed so that's good.

PLUS. I tapped a guy I'd never caught before. Like he's still only a white belt but he's close to blue and A LOT stronger than me. Used to completely smash me. I used the RG but the omoplata wasn't working so I went to the youtube part of my brain and finished with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdOmI5ivpDs

I was very proud of myself. Even that i remembered to stop him rolling in the first place but then to get the tap. Hooray.

Ok it's NOT A LOT but give me this guys I was just back and I'm all injured today!
 
Thanks brother! They were healed and I'm figuring it's just regular ''getting back'' pains I've got now. Also I was super stubborn when someone had me in a guillotine so that explains the neck. I got out of it though! (should've tapped)
 

Fox318

Member
The guy I had to roll with is a heavyweight preparing for his first amateur fight.

Dude is like 270 lbs of muscle and looks like Arnold.

Trying to get a takedown on him his tough as fuck.
 
I should probably try takedowns sometime right? I always just pull guard. I'm legit more comfortable on my back. A lot of times I get side or full mount and I'll be like ''meh'' Need to improve so much.
 
I've been wanting to try jiu jitsu for years now. I'm attempting to convince myself to goto the free intro class at a nearby 10th Planet which focuses on no gi. I'm scared shitless to be honest but I feel I always chicken out on things. I'm in my early 30s so the excuse of age is looming.

Is there a preferred method of training for a beginner when it comes to the decision of gi/no gi?
 
I've been wanting to try jiu jitsu for years now. I'm attempting to convince myself to goto the free intro class at a nearby 10th Planet which focuses on no gi. I'm scared shitless to be honest but I feel I always chicken out on things. I'm in my early 30s so the excuse of age is looming.

Is there a preferred method of training for a beginner when it comes to the decision of gi/no gi?

Different people say different things.

The conventional wisdom is that for beginners, starting with the gi is better because the pace of sparring is slower and you have better options for control and defense due to the ability for you to pull off techniques in live sparring. The grips allow for better control and better control leads to better submissions. Some people use the analogy that learning jiu jitsu with the gi is akin to learning how to ride a bike with training wheels first.

There is a big divide in the community beyond that. Some people say sticking with the gi too long will hinder your development as you get more and more advanced while others believe it is always necessary to train in the gi. Myself, I do nogi 4-5 times a week and train in the gi twice a week which puts me in minority - a sizable and growing one but one all the same.

There is a growing minority of people who believe that the gi isn't necessary even for beginners. 10th Planet is one, Firas Zahabi of Tristar Gym actually believes you should begin without the gi and then adopt the gi as you get more advanced.

My personal opinion, I started nogi but I it was much harder to grasp the concepts since it's much harder to control people without gi grips. Once I joined a gi school and understood the importance of control and grips, I was able to make the adjustments back to nogi. As I got more advanced however, I began to feel that the gi was holding me back so I dropped it and became more nogi focused. Now I do gi more as a fun diversion to mix things up.
 
I'm in my early 30s so the excuse of age is looming.

Is there a preferred method of training for a beginner when it comes to the decision of gi/no gi?

I'm 37 this December and I started in March. Of all the excuses i tell myself to get out of having sweaty dudes choking me with their groin, age isn't one!

I do Gi training mostly because Gi classes are the only ones that suit my time schedule. But I like the Gi. It's fun to do stuff like cross collar chokes that you couldn't do in nogi. I also get to make "G in a Gi" jokes
 

Fox318

Member
I should probably try takedowns sometime right? I always just pull guard. I'm legit more comfortable on my back. A lot of times I get side or full mount and I'll be like ''meh'' Need to improve so much.

Since I'm at a catch school they fucking hate hate hate people who pull guard.

Its kinda funny in comparison to so many BJJ videos online that get people to pull guard.
 
Since I'm at a catch school they fucking hate hate hate people who pull guard.

Its kinda funny in comparison to so many BJJ videos online that get people to pull guard.

Yeah I'm not quite sure of the etiquette, I know there's a bit of a running joke in some quarters that pulling guard is a bit... not good but I fucking hate takedowns and all forms of wrestling/judo etc. No one says anything about it where I am, perhaps they fear me.

But nah I'm a skinny dude too, I don't want someone weighing 80 pounds more land on me.
 

Fox318

Member
Yeah I'm not quite sure of the etiquette, I know there's a bit of a running joke in some quarters that pulling guard is a bit... not good but I fucking hate takedowns and all forms of wrestling/judo etc. No one says anything about it where I am, perhaps they fear me.

But nah I'm a skinny dude too, I don't want someone weighing 80 pounds more land on me.

I wish I was skinnier. Now I'm 200lbs at 5'11".

They mentioned that the takedown should be something earned and that simply giving up guard is giving up.

I don't know if I completely agree with it seeing all the triangle and baseball bat chokes I've seen but I kinda get their point.
 

Shmuppers

Member
OP you're probably the coolest poster on this forum.

Is boxing respected as a "martial art"? I ask because you are pretty passionate on the subject.
 
I wish I was skinnier. Now I'm 200lbs at 5'11".

They mentioned that the takedown should be something earned and that simply giving up guard is giving up.

I don't know if I completely agree with it seeing all the triangle and baseball bat chokes I've seen but I kinda get their point.

5'11'' 147Ibs here. need to bulk up a bit but I've been saying that for years. i guess that's part of my avoidance of the stand up added to the fact that I'm more comfortable off my back. So ''giving up'' for me leads to my only game pretty much. I've often had full mount and been uncomfortable there. Emily Kwok has a good video about that. said it took her a long time to work out why it was the best position in BJJ.
 
Top Bottom