Royce Gracie Self-Defense

November 14, 2008

This is the first in our new series of articles featuring tips and techniques excerpted from the excellent book from Royce & Carlos Gracie, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense Techniques. This article is taken from the excellent introduction to the book:

If you are familiar with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, you probably know that it has revolutionized the martial arts world in the past decade, and that Gracie is perhaps the best-known name in the martial arts. What you may not know is that the Gracies began teaching Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a means of self-defense, beginning in Rio de Janeiro in the 1920’s. As Brazilian jiu-jitsu has come to dominate the mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions, the streetworthiness of the art has been neglected.

As Royce Gracie explains, “A fight (in real life) does not start with a referee asking if you are ready…if you cannot escape from such an attack and bring the situation to your comfort zone, then you are in for a long day.” So what is it about Brazilian jiu-jitsu that makes it so effective as a self-defense system? We can break the answer into four main points:

it is designed to work even when you are surprised
it is designed by and for small people to defeat larger ones
it allows you to develop instantaneous reactions by practicing in extremely lifelike exercises, and
it provides you the option of dealing with your attacker using various levels of severity

Surprise

Grappling arts are designed for close contact, so even if you are surprised by an attack, from behind for instance, or caught in a clinch or a headlock, you will have a range of effective responses at your disposal. Brazilian jiu-jitsu famously turned the martial arts world upside-down by showing that, when flat on his back with his opponent on top of him, a skilled Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner was still in an extremely favorable position.

Size and Strength

As Royce points out, “It is very important to realize that striking someone bigger and tougher than you may just aggravate the situation.” With our techniques, we us the pain from an arm lock or another submission hold to control the situation.” Because Brazilian jiu-jitsu was developed by men of relatively small build, it had to develop ways to defeat larger opponents that could be employed by smaller ones.

Lifelike Training

One drawback to the striking arts, as opposed to the grappling arts, is that, when training with a partner, at some level you have to “pull your punches.” Because the striking arts are designed to injure an opponent with kicks or strikes, you can only go so far while sparring before risking injury. Because Brazilian jiu-jitsu relies upon chokes, arm locks and other submission holds, it can be practiced exactly the same way it would go down in an actual fight.

Severity

“In our style,” adds Royce Gracie, “the techniques allow you to choose the severity level of your response. If the person you are facing is a friend who is temporarily out of his senses, you can control him without hurting him. However, if you are dealing with a criminal or a deliberate act to injure you or a loved one, you can apply a more suitable response level and cause as much damage as you need to.”

There, in a nutshell, are some of the reasons why Brazilian jiu-jitsu self-defense is the perfect system for most people who want to learn to protect themselves. In our future articles, we will describe street situations and specific responses that are taught in our Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu curriculum at U.S. Blackbelt Academy.

For the full text of this introduction, and to follow the fine points about the techniques we’ll highlight here in future articles, we recommend that our jiu-jitsu students purchase the excellent book, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense Techniques, in our ProShop at USBA, or online right here on the USBAPride.com website.

Written by USBA Staff · Filed Under Tips & Techniques