Using the Principles of Jiu-Jitsu on and Off the Mat

In part four of this four-part series based on Rener Gracie’s interview with Lewis Howes on the School of Greatness Podcast, we will dive into some of the specifics of The 32 Principles, a book co-written by Rener Gracie and the focus of much of Rener’s interview on the podcast.

For Rener, these 32 principles make up the foundation of jiu-jitsu. Every technique in jiu-jitsu borrows from at least one principle and there is a lot of overlap. Most beginners do not really grasp these principles. They are just learning the moves as steps. As a correlation, most people when they learn music are focused on learning songs rather than why or even how certain chords or notes fit together. As Rener explains, the more time that beginners and intermediate belts invest into understanding technique, the more they will begin to recognize these principles. Similarly, musicians will eventually begin to understand the theory of music, typically after several years of practice.

Unlike music, however, the 32 principles of jiu-jitsu are not simply about martial arts. Many of them can be applied to other areas of life. In this post, we’ll focus on three:

• The Kuzushi Principle
• The Acceptance Principle
• The Grandmaster Principle

The Kuzushi Principle

Kuzushi is a Japanese term that pertains to one of the most fundamental skills in martial arts: disrupting your opponent’s balance and posture. Rener uses the example of a camera on a tripod. The tripod has three legs. If you remove one of them, the camera will tip over. Similarly, in a fight, if you break your opponent’s balance, they will tip over. Within an altercation, this is a huge benefit because putting another person off balance opens opportunities to then advance your position and potentially put them into submission.

Stepping back, this skill requires a lot more than just breaking balance, since you must first understand the source of the balance before you can disrupt it. In a fight, you need to understand what is structurally keeping that person upright before you break that balance. Alternatively, if you are trying to change someone’s mind, you must first understand their mindset and how they perceive an issue or a problem. Once you grasp their perspective, you can start to speak to their concerns. This will increase your chances of persuading them.

The Acceptance Principle

As Rener explains, acceptance is important in a fight scenario because sometimes it is better to yield to an advance rather than resist. On the one hand, giving up certain positions will allow you to conserve energy and await a more opportune time to counter. On the other, it gives you a strategic advantage since the first person to accept that an action is inevitable is also the first person to begin preparing for the consequences. It’s true in grappling, business, and even interpersonal relationships.

As an example of the latter, Rener tells the story of how before getting married, he and his now-wife had a very long discussion about the roles that they expected the other to play in their marriage. Rener comes from a very traditional Brazilian family where the man is expected to be the primary breadwinner, and the woman is expected to perform domestic duties like cooking, cleaning, and providing childcare. To Rener, this was normal.

His wife, on the other hand, did not come from this kind of background. Both her parents worked, and they shared the domestic responsibilities. To his wife, this was normal.

While Rener wanted to argue that the results of having a family with more traditional roles could speak for themselves, he also noted that his wife’s parents are still together and that they have produced some amazing kids who are now scientists, doctors, and lawyers. Meanwhile, Rener’s parents divorced when he was 12 and most of his brothers and sisters, while successful, are not doctors or lawyers or scientists.

He relented after several hours of conversation because he recognized two things. First, the idea of “normal” gets extremely contentious when someone doesn’t share your vision of what “normal” is. Second, his wife was not going to be happy if he imposed what he believed was normal on her. This would be damaging to her wellbeing, the kids’ wellbeing, and the marriage. Accepting this fact ultimately made all of these relationships stronger and better.

The Grandmaster Principle

The Grandmaster Principle is about learning to get creative and to use the other 31 principles as your guide while doing so.

After Rener’s grandfather, Hélio Gracie, began developing his specific style of jiu-jitsu, he didn’t really have a mentor. He was his own teacher, and he had to learn how to adapt his developing martial arts system to scenarios as they arose. As Rener explains, most people don’t give themselves permission to be their own teacher. They are waiting for others to guide them. When left on their own, they don’t know how to apply theory and turn it into practice. They know only how to follow instructions and to listen for prompts.

Rener relates to his experience of earning his black belt at the age of 19. It was a strange experience for him because he thought he would feel that he had attained the same status as some of his more famous family members. Instead, he felt that there was still so much more to go and that he couldn’t possibly be at the top. He looked for instruction but found nothing.

What the Grandmaster Principle teaches is that instruction and mentorship is useful for beginners and people at the intermediate level. However, as you develop any skill and come closer to mastery, you will need to understand what you are doing well enough so that you can successfully improvise because sometimes you will find yourself in truly unique scenarios.

Looking back, Rener feels as though he has grown more in the time since becoming a black belt than he did between the time he went from white belt to black belt. He’s also come to realize what the black belt really symbolized: It was his permission to become his own teacher and to begin applying the Grandmaster Principle in jiu-jitsu, and in life.