WTF is Jiu Jitsu, Actually?

“The essential characteristic of jiu-jitsu is very simple. It’s the science and art of control that leads to submission.”
~ John Danaher

I’ts been a while since I’ve introduced myself to my audience, and it’s grown as much as it’s shifted over the years. A decent start to defining one’s self is how you spend your time and attention. At the time of writing I’ve spent over 2,100 hours on the mat training jiu jitsu.

One thing that many people say they love about jiu jitsu is “the community.” For better, and for worse, “the community” is also probably the worst part of jiu jitsu. Let me explain.

If we’re explicitly talking about the Brazilian variety of jiu jitsu — a distinction I’ll make in a minute — then we’re literally talking about family. Where you find family, born or chosen, you’re also likely to find both love and drama.

A lot more detail can be said about this from a historical perspective (see Opening Closed Guard below). I’ve had my black belt for about 15 months now, have clocked over two thousand hours (plus strength, conditioning, and film study), and parts of my body will literally never be the same because of this “art” I’ve elected to attempt to “master.”

With that in mind, I'd like to give my two cents on the topic.

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There’s a lot of hubbub and territorial pissing about who founded, invented, or discovered X, Y, and Z. In a universal sense, this is a natural process of learning — being able to distinguish things from each other.

Unfortunately, it seems there are a lot of hurt feelings about catch / wrestling vs. jiu jitsu vs. MMA vs. “self-defense”, etc… One thing I’ve learned over the past 14 years and counting is that “grappling is grappling.” There is a reason the term “white-belt-asterisk” exists.

If you think this is not true, I’d challenge you to find a world-caliber gym where they aren’t training a bit of everything — literally mining for gold on VHS tapes of some junior world championship if they have to.

Chris Haueter said something like:

“[jiu jitsu] is like Rock and Roll. Who cares how we got it. We have it, and it’s awesome.”

For myself, I usually write a lower case “jiu jitsu.” My intention is a collective term that encompasses all of submission grappling. I’m an American citizen, but not beholden to any country or style in terms of grappling techniques.

Part of my initial interest in (Brazilian) jiu jitsu was that while it was reminiscent of my wrestling years, it also seemed to be the most “open sourced” of the martial arts. That is, in the sense that it was willing to beg, borrow, and steal from any and everyone else if it meant improved (and community built) efficacy.

A lot of wrestlers, not all, like to shit on jiu jitsu; citing the prevalence of UFC champions who identify as “wrestlers” among other styles. I will have a later post on styles / situations / rules dictating tactics, but for now suffice to say that modern MMA favors transitions. It’s a great benefit to control the direction of the fight (e.g. to keep it standing or take it to the ground).

While it doesn’t make any sense to be a “ground fighter” if you cannot “take the fight to the ground” the tactics and pace change significantly if you cannot be saved by the referee or the bell at the end of an arbitrary time frame (e.g. “round”).

Perhaps I’m missing something, but nation or family of origin (American vs. Brazilian vs. Gracie) means much less to me than the three simple rules I give all trial pass students and open mat drop-ins:

1. Show me (a technique) works.

2. Show me you can train (a technique) safely.

3. Don’t be an asshole.

Unfortunately, there are myriads of charlatans and McDojos in the world. Regardless of how you describe my grappling, I can promise you that none of that garbage will find itself in my curriculum, or in any class or gym I teach at — at least not for very long!

I watch a ton of video. Sambo, catch wrestling, collegiate / Olympic wrestling, BJJ, occasionally even Sumo or something even more obscure from Africa or the Middle East.

“There are only three martial arts: weapons, striking, and grappling.”
~ Jocko Willink

I know where my skills are and where they aren’t. We have coaches that handle the striking — that’s not me. We don’t do weapons / force-on-force at our particular gym because, as I’m alluding to, that’s an entirely different area of specialization.

So, what do I do then? Grapple.

Are there weapons? Possibly, but that’s a totally different subject.

Are there strikes? No.

Is is wrestling? Yes.

Are there submissions? Yes.

So, it’s submission-wrestling? Yes.

So, you do no-pin catch wrestling? If you’d like to call it that.

Do you do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? That’s what my black belt’s awarded in.

What’s your lineage? Does it matter more to you where I come from than what I can teach you? (see open mat rules above)

Do you do UFC? That’s a promotion / business, not a sport.

Right.. so you do MMA? Yes, myself and our other coaches can cover that.

Why can’t you commit to the dogma! Because learning is more important than being right.

I only fight in the street! Then you should probably leave and come back another time.

Why isn’t there a simple answer to which martial arts or style of grappling is the best?!

Because this shit is complicated, and hard, and that’s what makes it explicitly not worth it for most people. That is why I chose to do it. Because everyone “can” do it, but it certainly is not “for” everyone. It is for a rare breed who will persist in spite of it “not being worth it.” It is for that very fact that I will achieve what you cannot even dream of. It is for that very fact that I must always be willing to learn if I am ever expected to teach.

You cannot buy excellence, but everyone pays. The tuition is a simple agreement: Slap. Bump. Roll. Again.

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