What is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
Sport
The sport component of BJJ can be thought of as a series of movements against an opponent with the intent of scoring points or submitting them. Scoring points is based on competition style rule set. Points are generally attributed to take downs, advancing to a dominant position and submission attempts.
With the point system, take downs, guard passing, mounts and back takes demonstrate that the athlete has a clear positional advantage. Once in a more dominant position, submission attempts are made in order to make a decisive victory. In the case that no submission was made (time ran up), the athlete with the most points wins. Submissions are achieved when an opponent verbally or physically “taps”, to signal that they surrender.
Submissions include joint manipulation or chokes. Joint manipulation places the opponent in such a way that a joint will be damaged to the extent as to render that specific body part incapable of defending or attacking. This usually means ruptured ligaments or acute damage of other soft tissues (meniscus, labrum, cartilage). When the defending opponent experiences pain, they will tap and the match will end.
Chokes are designed to occlude (cut off) the blood supply to the brain, thus rendering the opponent unconscious. Use of the limbs and/or gi can achieve this end. In sport jiu jitsu, the opponent ought to tap to prevent from passing out.
Self-defense
BJJ is also a very effective form of self-defense, even in cases where the opponent is much larger or stronger. The task of the defender is to position themselves to minimize damage to themself in addition to gaining an advantage to secure a submission. Similar to sport jiu jitsu, self-defense necessitates the use of submissions to end the fight. There are no “points” other than survival. Controlling the aggressor is the ultimate goal, with preservation of your own body to survive the encounter.
Once a take-down is initiated, the fight ends up on the ground, where the defender can use gravity (top position) or their legs (bottom position) to attack. The asymmetry created by gravity (top) or the difference in leg strength versus upper body strength (bottom) can create a clear tactical advantage to someone well-versed in jiu jitsu. The goal once both combatants are on the ground is to immobilize the opponent. Similar to sport-JJ, the attacks are very similar: joint locks and chokes.
While smaller sized defenders can attempt to gain an asymmetrical advantage, there is an obvious limitation to how much of an advantage can be gained. In the case of someone weighing 120 pounds fighting a 260 pound person, the absolute strength of the 260 pounder will more than likely have an advantage regardless of the positioning of the 120 pounder. For example, the larger individual may be able to pick up the lighter person and simply spike them onto the ground, knocking them out or perhaps paralyzing them. The tactical approach of the lighter person may very well be to limit this exposure.
Jiu Jitsu is arguably the best form of self-defense, as most fights end up on the ground. Well placed punches and kicks can thwart or injury an attacker, but those attacks are generally useless when on the ground (unless you’re on top). Even the bare minimum of jiu jitusu, learning how to control an opponent to stop an attack, can be extremely useful for smaller or weaker individuals.
Biomechanics
When fully assessing how to gain an asymmetrical advantage, there are a few things to consider. If we take the example of two combatants of equal stature (height, weight and experience), we can immediately see that minimizing energy expenditure and maximizing mechanical leverage is the first and foremost goal. A poorly conditioned cardiovascular or muscular endurance system will fail to “win” even if the athlete is brilliant and talented. The lack of a mechanical advantage will most likely result in a failed submission attempt.
A well-conditioned cardiovascular and muscular strength/endurance system will allow an athlete to continue to move towards a better position despite having exerted a tremendous amount of energy to match an opponent of equal stature. This can be extremely physically and psychologically demanding, as the end result of a failed movement can place the athlete once step closer to a submission, or points scored against them.
Having a better understanding of how to create and manage mechanical advantages can preserve energy to further create an asymmetrical environment. Think about it this way- if you had to only exert 5% of your force to gain a positional advantage, but your opponent had to exert 55% of their energy to defend that movement, you will clearly “wear them out” in a short amount of time. This will greatly increase the likelihood of a submission. Very often, mechanical advantages are intuitively understood by somewhat experienced grapplers.
In summary, a well-condition athlete with the requisite knowledge of “mat sense” can begin to dominate an opponent to work towards a submission. Let’s take a closer look at how mechanical advantages are gained. With the goal of maximizing submission completion and minimizing risk, we can look at the body as a system of levers, fulcrum and forces to achieve this aim. To have a better understanding of this system, we will review the three types of levers, how fulcrums function, and the minimal application of force to create positional advantages.