Gracie Jiu Jitsu – The Legacy

Gracie Jiu Jitsu is the primary style of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu aka BJJ, promoted by the Gracie family. This martial art primarily deals with grappling and fighting on the ground. By using a very scientific approach, it uses specific techniques that allow the practitioner to gain control over a larger and sometimes stronger opponent.

BJJ uses these techniques to achieve the proper position to strike or submit the opponent. Submission holds are those in which the opponent is placed in such a degree of pain or threat of serious damage that they submit or surrender. This is usually signaled by the tapping of the ground and is known as ‘tapping out’.

Brazilian jiu jitsu has its roots in the Japanese marital art of the same name. However, it has foregone some techniques that proved futile and added others that have proven themselves useful and effective over the years. In recent years, the art has become more popularized in all areas of the world, but none so much as in the United States. For years, Brazilians have known and studied the art, but it has not been until the 1990s that it gained worldwide popularity.

Mitsuyo Maeda brought the art with him from Japan when he came to Brazil in 1910. Maeda was a renowned martial arts teacher in his own right, but little did he know he was about to see a new art born from his teachings. A respected Brazilian business owner, Gastao Gracie, help Maeda settle and become successful in the area when he first came to Brazil.

To return the kindness of Gracie, Maeda began to teach Gastao’s sons his martial arts. Gastao’s boys learned well and quickly and soon began teaching locals in their own schools. However, the tough streets of Brazil helped to transform the art into its current form. Forced to use their art for self defense, many changes transpired and the evolution of necessity taught the family to take what worked and discard what did not.

Flash forward to the mid 1990s and the Gracies promotion of the controversial Ultimate Fighting Championship created to introduce Gracie Jiu Jitsu to the world, everyone paid attention to the family legacy. Today, mixed martial arts competitors dedicate large portions of their training time to the family art, if they wish to win.

People from all sorts, professionals, mothers, and kids participate in Gracie Jiu Jitsu for fitness, protection, and competition for numerous reasons. The art given birth in the streets of Brazil has grown into a position of world renown. Translated it means ‘gentle art’ but has been anything but gentle in its advance to world prominence, as it has forever changed the face of martial combat and given rise to mixed martial arts. Read more about: gracie jiu jitsu

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