Why Jiu-Jitsu?

Why Jiu-Jitsu is the ultimate form of self-defense

When the majority of jiu-jitsu practitioners first walk into an academy, their goal is to learn practical self-defense skills. As time goes on your goals may change but it’s important to always remember what motivated you to first walk through the door to take on a new challenge. Learning how to defend yourself is an extremely valuable skill that can potentially save your life in certain situations. Although we’d like to believe that we live in a world where we would never need to use our skills in a real situation, the fact of the matter is that these situations can occur even if you are actively trying to avoid them. When it comes to learning self-defense, you want to learn an art that is highly adaptable, doesn’t inflict severe damage to yourself or your opponent, and that you can train in a relatively safe manner. These factors make jiu-jitsu the most effective form of self-defense in the world. 

Jiu-Jitsu Is The Most Adaptable Martial Art

Jiu-Jitsu is the most adaptable martial art in the world. While some striking martial arts require speed, flexibility, and power to be effective, jiu-jitsu can be molded and adapted to every age and body type. Because it is based more on timing and leverage than speed or strength, you don’t have to be in peak physical shape to learn the art. Once you figure out a set of techniques that work for your body type, you can start to build an effective self-defense system that will work on someone younger, stronger, and more athletic than you.

Not only can jiu-jitsu be modified for practitioners, it can also be adapted to opponents with completely different attributes. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to defend yourself or a loved one, you’ll have no control over the physical attributes of your adversary. Jiu-Jitsu techniques can be adapted to all body types and still maintain their effectiveness.  

Control An Adversary Without Inflicting Damage

Jiu-Jitsu is an art based around establishing a dominant position of control leading to a submission. In self-defense situations, it’s best to avoid inflicting damage to an adversary at all costs. This is where jiu-jitsu differs from other martial arts. With the proper amount of training, you’ll be able to take an opponent to the ground and achieve a dominant position that will not cause any serious damage. You can even talk to an opponent and calm them down while controlling them. This ability to deescalate a potentially dangerous situation without causing physical harm is completely unique to BJJ. 

Train In A Safe And Sustainable Manner

While most martial arts have at least some degree of practical application, jiu-jitsu is arguably the safest to practice. Since the art is not based around throwing strikes, practitioners don’t have to be as concerned with sustaining significant head injuries. Additionally, since a significant portion of your training will take place on the ground, you’re less likely to sustain high impact injuries that are more prominent in other grappling arts where the vast majority of the techniques are performed from the standing position. Being able to practice in a safe manner is important because if your body is injured from your training, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are. You won’t be able to apply what you’ve learned in a self-defense scenario.

There’s no better time than now to start learning self-defense skills with jiu-jitsu.