Things You Will Only Know About If You're Doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a complex martial art, which involves ground fighting and submission techniques. For this purpose, practitioners apply different techniques and strategies that entail neutralizing their opponent’s strength and dominating them. BJJ aspirants can only learn about these techniques through personal experience. One can not learn all the terminologies and techniques of BJJ without performing them. In this article, learn about different aspects of BJJ that require experience.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling sport. To start BJJ, you must be confident and strong enough to welcome any inconvenience. Before starting, conduct thorough research, visit BJJ academies, and meet with instructors to understand the training process, intensity, and basic requirements. Start your BJJ journey by finding a local BJJ gym with capable instructors and a friendly environment. Get all the necessary equipment and safety gear before taking the first class. It won’t be easy at first, you will experience muscle soreness and tiredness. However, one may know about the pain and difficulty of training BJJ before starting, but one can grasp the intensity of pain after experiencing it.

BJJ is a defense-oriented martial art with strange practices and concepts. BJJ aspirants only begin to understand and embrace these concepts after starting training.  Here are some strange yet fascinating ideas exclusive to BJJ:

After starting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training, you will realize that there is no concept of your personal space or shyness on a BJJ mat. You will end up in situations where your face is at an unimaginably weird angle and you don’t have any kind of reservation or shyness with your training partner. During a fight, you will end up in such unusual or physically intimate positions with your opponent. Surprisingly, you won’t feel uncomfortable during training sessions or in a competitive environment.  So, BJJ redefines your beliefs of personal space and intimacy.

After some time in Jiu-Jitsu training, you will find yourself becoming familiar with the smell of your sweaty gi. Over time, you will start appreciating it and thinking of it as the smell of your hard work on the mats. However, keep in mind that your gi should not give off a bad odor as it is a sign of bacteria. You must keep your gi clean and practice hygiene to avoid infections.

After practicing BJJ for some time,  you will start picking up BJJ jargon. You will use names of fundamental BJJ positions and techniques in your routine life, making your non-BJJ friends confused. You will adapt to the language of BJJ as your common language and start using words like guard, 50-50, shrimping, and choking as you progress in the journey of Jiu-Jitsu. But you should embrace the BJJ language as it is quite fun.

To practice Jiu-Jitsu and improve your skills, you need a training partner. Solo efforts are not enough to become a successful grappler. Therefore,  finding a good partner is very important in BJJ training. On the other hand, it is equally important that you prove to be a good training partner for other practitioners.  Most BJJ black belts excel in this game by learning techniques and strategies from fellow students practicing at different belt levels. However, a BJJ white belt can use BJJ dummies to practice drills until they find a good training partner.

While training BJJ, your body will show that you are a fighter through certain bruises, marks, and \mat burns. Expect to have several injuries like grip marks on your wrists and arms, and bruises due to knee-on-belly pressure. Your feet tops will be covered in mat burns and several peculiar bruises and you won’t even remember how you got them. These bruises and marks will become a testament to your dedication and hard work.

As you become a BJJ practitioner, your gi becomes an enhanced version of you. Sometimes, you will find comfort in your gi, while there will be times when you become frustrated with it. It’s a kind of love-hate relationship with the gi. You might feel overwhelmed by stepping onto the mats wearing a  freshly washed gi, but you may also hate it when it’s sweaty or when you are stuck in a tight grip. Searching for a perfect gi can also become very difficult. Only a few brands offer the perfect e balance of comfort, fit, and durability. Once you find the right gi, you will feel attached to your favorite gi, but there will be times when you feel more comfortable in no gi rather than gi.

The cauliflower ear is a mark of achievement for many BJJ practitioners. It is because of cartilage breakdown, caused by repeated injury to the ear, making the ear swollen and disfigured. Some people like to take precautions like draining their ears or wearing headgear when necessary, while others appreciate their cauliflower ear as a sign of success. However, it is necessary to be cautious and know how to deal with it if it becomes a problem. Some Jiu-Jitsu practitioners have made their home remedies and rites to cure or prevent cauliflower ear.

Patience is very important in BJJ. Everyone wants to be a BJJ black belt, but it can’t be done without patience and hard work. BJJ teaches you patience more than anything. The harder your goal, the more time and patience it will take to achieve and master it. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teaches you no matter how difficult your craft is, persistence and patience will help you to achieve it.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has many other advantages beyond self-defense. It helps you gain a strong mentality, confidence, good relations, and a sense of purpose in everything while enjoying your time. It creates a great impact on your life, through discipline, confidence, and hard work. BJJ makes you a hard worker and willing to take risks in life.

Jiu-Jitsu teaches you how to make yourself comfortable with the uncomfortable. BJJ instills a sense of calm and prepares you to handle situations where your personal space is invaded or someone forces you to tap. Staying calm is very important because you can not think properly when you are in anger, fear, or anxiety. To become good at BJJ, you have to set aside your ego from day one and make yourself calm in every situation. You will get injuries and muscle soreness, but you have to stay calm during these situations as well. When you lose in a fight, it is easy to get frustrated but if you want to progress, you need to be calm and understanding and learn from your failures.

The first thing you learn in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is usually the basic techniques and principles of the art. Learning BJJ is hard, but it teaches you how to be quick, flexible, strong, and in complete control of yourself and your opponent. BJJ is a self-defense combat sport, so it also teaches you self-defense techniques from the start.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, and you cannot know everything about it without experiencing it. These things may comprise being submitted by a smaller and less experienced grappler,  understanding the importance of being consistent and patient, learning to tie your belt properly, learning to let go of personal space, ego, and shyness, and concentrating only on the belt advancements.

Jiu-Jitsu can entirely change your life but in a good way. You will see yourself adopting the BJJ language after practicing it for a while.  Moreover, BJJ helps you to be punctual, hardworking, social, and confident in your life. It makes you strong enough to take risks in your life because Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu itself is a challenging sport.

As you continue advancing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you will see yourself adopting these peculiar concepts of the sport as they are amazing but enigmatic to outsiders. From being okay with no personal space or shyness to embracing the language of BJJ and honoring your bruises, marks, and cauliflower ears, BJJ will change your life immensely. You will enjoy the fights and be amused by the quirks that make Jiu-Jitsu so unique and endearing. As you become a BJJ practitioner, you will see yourself casually talking about different techniques and positions at social gatherings, making your non-BJJ people confused.