Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

I hope everyone enjoyed my last blog about the Filipino Martial Arts. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the grappling martial arts, Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in particular. When I started doing martial arts, I had always believed that the striking arts, such as Karate, Kung Fu, and Tae Kwon Do were unbeatable and were truly devastating systems. When I was a teenager however, I had seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship and I was surpised to see that wrestlers, Judo players, and practioners of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu were defeating practioners in the strking arts such as Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Kung Fu. After viewing this, I decided that I would take up grappling, so I began studying Judo at a local YMCA. When I got into high school I decided to join the wrestling team in order to complement my Judo. As time passed, I wish I had learned how to grapple (a general term that is used to describe techniques that use holds, throws, and locks, without the use of striking) much sooner. As years progressed, I became more proficient in the art of Judo, so I decided that I would take up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well. Currently I am considered a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but I can say that I love it, and the skills that I have learned are amazing.

If you are studying traditional martial arts such as Karate, or Kung Fu, you might be asking yourself, "why should I learn how to grapple"? The answer to this question is simple, what would you do if someone tackles you and takes you to the ground? How would you defend yourself without knowing how to fight on the ground? Lets just say on the other hand that you want to use your striking skills in order to defend yourself against someone who practices grappling. It would be better to know how a grapple thinks in order to defeat a grapple, don't you think? So if you are interested in learning grappling skills, it would be a good idea to learn Judo or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, if you have no martial arts experience, and want some self defense skills, learning to grapple is not a bad idea . When looking for a school, make sure the school has a trial lesson to ensure that the school is right for you. Another option that is available to you are online programs such as the one offerred by Jean-Jacques Machado, which work well if you have a training partner. I wish everyone good luck in their training, in my future post, which I will entitle Judo vs. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I will go into specifics about how both of these grappling styles differ, until then I wish everyone good luck in their training.