Does Sport Jiu-Jitsu help self-defense?
This discussion is increasing in popularity around the Jiu-Jitsu world online. Even the accessibility of the sport Jiu-Jitsu, increases.
The key question is, “Does exercising the sport Jiu-Jitsu help self-defense?”
Street fight is a scary serious business and the practice of the sport Jiu-Jitsu may just seem to be a joke to some when suggested. One side of the debate stems from a state where it doesn’t agree that the positions and strategies in the sports BJJ would not translate and help people to defend themselves from a violent situation in real life.
However, BJJ may just be what you need to survive fights on the streets. Just to be clear, we are not referring to self-defense and fighting against a well trained opponent in this debate. It is for situations where 95% of the average population is not yet trained with the sports.
First and foremost, Jiu-Jitsu originated in feudal Japan. It’s origin comes from defending yourself in an actual fight. Master Jigoro Kano, who is the originator of what is currently known as Judo, blended a combination of moves from the schools of original Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu then found its way to Brazil through one of Jigoro’s students and got refined by the Gracie family into the techniques that exists today.
Jiu-Jitsu spread rapidly after its introduction to the USA. Gracie along with their students just used a few rules to “rough up” experts of other martial arts. The Gracie family, in their testing, redefined what we now know as the BJJ. This drew more attention to Jiu-Jitsu, resulting to a growing popularity.
Despite all of the increasing popularity and practices of Jiu-Jitsu, it has picked up some critics over the years. Their contention is that numerous moves of the sports are not adequate to be applied on the streets. Moreover, Jiu-Jitsu would have led some individuals to a more dangerous situation due to heightened self confidence. A good example of this is below.
This is because practicing unproductive sports moves may lead to a misguided feeling of certainty. The false confidence would mislead people to thinking they have figured out how to defend themselves, when in reality they are learning and rehearsing strategies similar to pulling half guard and spider guard and searching to get two points for a sweep to triumph in a match.
An ideal martial arts should include reasonable and verified techniques for circumstances that could occur in real life.
Now, the opposite side of the debate is that Jiu-Jitsu practitioners would not employ guard pulls and lasso guard sweeps in a real-life altercation. This would obviously be an understatement, since most trained individuals have sense and logic. Jiu-Jitsu teaches not just moves but logic and sense. Thus, it turns out that they would use the most suitable moves for different real-life conflicts that may arise.
Jiu-Jitsu competitors are usually set up for high pressure and high intensity physical fights against an opponent. They are generally comfortable with these circumstances, unlike a typical untrained person.
In some cases, Jiu-Jitsu training is done with a combination of boxing + judo. This kind of training has demonstrated to be much more practical in preparing people for the unusual aspects of a street confrontation.
It is logical to say that any experienced wrestlers, boxers, BJJ and judoka competitors have a tremendous edge in managing a physical altercation compared to an average untrained person.
Martial arts training has played a major role in boosting confidence of individuals. Learning self-defense is a life-changing experience and now more people have the capability of defending themselves, thanks to BJJ. BJJ training overall has played an important role in ensuring people to not fall victim and avoid altercations.
