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As the founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the Gracie family casts a long shadow over the martial art. They not only created a unique style of jiu-jitsu; members of the Gracie family were also some of the most important innovators with respect to the evolution of jiu-jitsu. They also served as the most important ambassadors of jiu-jitsu, leading to its popularization in Brazil during the 1940s and 1950s. The dominance of Royce Gracie during the first few Ultimate Fighting Championships in the early 1990s catapulted jiu-jitsu from a somewhat niche discipline into the global spotlight. It has only grown in popularity since then.

It’s impossible to talk about the evolution of jiu-jitsu without discussing the Gracie family. Carlos Gracie, the eldest brother of the family, is typically credited with being the primary force behind the development of the martial art after adapting the judo of Mitsuyo Maeda, a martial arts master who rose to prominence in Brazil in the early 20th century.

The popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) has been growing at an exponential rate since being introduced to an international audience with the first Ultimate Fighting Championships of the early 1990s. MMA fighters are now some of the most well respected and famous athletes in the world, while major MMA fights are given tremendous media attention. Given the fact that there are an estimated 300 million MMA fans worldwide, it’s little wonder why.

Everyone who has done jiu-jitsu for a few years or sometimes just a few months has come across a person who has a natural talent for it. After the instructor teaches a new technique, they seem to execute the move perfectly and to immediately understand how it fits with other techniques. When asked how they picked it up so quickly, they can’t tell you. They just have an innate talent for jiu-jitsu.

Ryan Young of Kama Jiu-Jitsu recently interviewed Randy McElwee of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Athens and American Black Belt Academy. Randy opened the academy in 2005 following his retirement from the United States Army. His 23 years of service had taken him all over the world, including to war zones in Afghanistan, but eventually landed him at the University of Georgia, where he taught at the Military Science Department. He decided to remain in the college town and open a gym that began as an indirect affiliate of the Pedro Sauer Association, then became an indirect affiliate of Gracie University, and then an affiliate of Pedro Sauer Association again in 2016.

Sports are a great escape from everyday life, and they bring excitement to the lives of everyone involved. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a tussling fighting sport that focuses on locking joints and chokeholds (Tarver & Levy, 2023). It was developed in the early 20th century and applies the principles of knowledge in the human anatomy, angles, leverage, pressure, and timing to ensure that an opponent submits without using violence (Hinz et al., 2021; Bartoli, 2024). BJJ is believed to have its roots in Kodokan judo, which was introduced by Mitsuyo Maeda (who was a Judo master) in 1914, and the Gracie family from Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), mainly Carlos and Helio are associated with it (Spartacus, 2024). Throughout the years, BJJ has evolved from being a type of self-defense to introducing a new dimension of close-quarter combat. BJJ has grown in popularity worldwide because it is highly effective in mixed martial arts (MMA) and self-defense. The sport has many participants and several stars, which has helped it rise in popularity (for example, Gordon Ryan) (Quiggins, 2023).

As we discussed in the first post in this two-part blog, self-defense is not just about defending yourself during a home invasion, a street altercation, or in a tournament setting. Self-defense is also about self-preservation with respect to your ability to stay healthy and continue doing jiu-jitsu late into life. That means avoiding serious injuries and being sure to protect your joints and ligaments from getting overly stressed to the point that you begin to lose mobility.

When you think of self-defense, what typically comes to mind? Is it defending yourself from an attacker on the street? Is it a home invader? Or is it less about a specific scenario and simply a desire to feel comfortable with your own abilities?

Jiu-jitsu is not a single discipline. As Ryan Young of Kama Jiu-Jitsu explains in the below video, just because something is called jiu-jitsu doesn’t mean we’re talking about the same thing. It’s not that one is right, and that one is wrong; there are just different styles, and each gym or organization will have its own method of teaching it. Even different affiliates of the Gracies are different.

Survival is the guiding light of jiu-jitsu. It is the foundational principle of jiu-jitsu, and the way one survives is by conserving energy through efficiency, being comfortable and patient while defending, and making the most of offensive opportunities through perfectly executed technique. Speed, agility, and strength may make you a formidable fighter, but being able to weather the storm and survive anything is how you triumph in the world of jiu-jitsu.

Ryan Young of Kama Jiu-Jitsu often gets asked if competing is necessary. Obviously, it depends, but he recently responded to a question from someone who is a 39-year-old purple belt with a wife, three kids, and a full-time job, who specifically asked about getting back into training later in life. As the guy explains to Ryan in the below video, he’s been training on and off for several years and has not seriously competed in a while, and he’s concerned that getting back into good enough shape to seriously compete could be too time-consuming for someone with so many responsibilities.

You can think of what goes into learning jiu-jitsu in three dimensions. The first is frequency. This is how often you go to the gym to train. The second is volume. Volume is how much time you dedicate to actually practicing jiu-jitsu while you’re at the gym. The third is intensity, which is the level of energy you expend while rolling.

There is no one correct way to train jiu-jitsu. For people who want to get in shape, learn self-defense while doing so, and have fun on the mat, jiu-jitsu presents a great opportunity. You can spend years casually developing your technique, eventually becoming a purple or brown belt who participates in regional competitions with success. You can also not compete in tournaments, which is totally fine. You may also have a goal of racing through the entire belt system in under a decade and becoming a tournament champion or MMA superstar. 

For years, the conventional wisdom in martial arts has been that anyone who wants to develop as a fighter needs to earn their skills through blood, sweat, and tears. “Bleed for blue,” was a common phrase you’d hear in the jiu-jitsu gym as intermediate white belts struggled with conditioning or learning the subtleties of new moves. The culture was even more intense in MMA gyms, where people would spar as though their lives depended on it.

Thinking of rolling as playing also allows you to step out of your comfort zone. Far too often, fighters will treat sparring sessions like they are a matter of life-or-death, meaning that they’ll not only push the level of intensity up; they will also become personally invested in their performance. This is inevitable when you allow the ego to get involved in your training.