WHAT IS BJJ?
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defence system that focuses on grappling and ground fighting and is considered by many to be the most realistic and effective form of self-defence available. It was made famous world wide due to it's complete dominance of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events - mixed martial arts events with few rules that pitched one martial art against another. In the first UFC held in 1993, Royce Gracie, a small and physically unimposing BJJ practitioner, shocked the world when he showed exactly how effective BJJ was in a real fight.
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Practitioners of the style are often able to utilise position, technique and leverage to control and apply submission holds to much larger and stronger opponents. BJJ is highly effective and involves problem solving under intense pressure with a vast and almost never ending variety of situations for you to experience and learn to overcome. Despite being an individual activity, everyone in a club benefits from a strong team environment where concepts and techniques are shared openly and where nothing is hidden. This practice creates a friendly and social environment and fast tracks progress for everyone who embraces it.
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As you undertake realistic sparring or ‘rolling’ your body quickly adapts to the demands of the sport leading to weight loss, strengthening, flexibility and an increase in confidence and fitness. Many people find that BJJ becomes part of their lifestyle rather than something they do in their spare time to keep fit. It is also a great way to meet interesting people and make new friends.